May we accept God’s gifts and then use them to serve God and others around us each day.

Jesus is teaching the people to be aware of what is not of God, that what enters us from the outside cannot defile us, but it is what comes from within that defiles. That we can honor God with our lips, but our hearts can be far from Him. It is the same thing that Moses was telling the people, to hear and listen to God’s voice and follow His commandments, which was what Moses was teaching them. For in following these statutes and decrees of God, God will see us as a wise and intelligent people, who are willing to experience the closeness of our God to each of us. St. James writes to the people to humbly welcome the Word that has been planted within each of us and then be doers of that Word. St. James further says that all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father. So as Jesus, Moses and St. James have all taught us, we may know the great generosity of God for us, may we accept God’s gifts and then use them to serve God and others around us each day. Peace, Fr. Fred