hearts. Rather than being repelled by our brokenness, He presses forward, calling us to be with Him and work with Him to catch men and women in the nets of His love. Our task is not to depart from Him, for we easily forget His presence and His mission that He entrusts to us. We become occupied with our own tasks, hopes, and desires. We are called, like the Apostles, to leave “everything” and follow Him. While we may not leave house and family to follow Him, we are called to leave behind all that would distract us from His will and would lead us to depart from Him in affection or deed. What distractions cause you to depart from Jesus in daily life? How can you leave behind those distractions this week and focus on the mission He gives you? 3. “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” St. Paul recognizes – like Isaiah and St. Peter – that he is unworthy to be called by the Lord. Yet he also admits that His “grace to me has not been ineffective.” The Lord delights in calling those who would seem to be unfit, to prove the power of His love. In this, the Resurrection becomes manifest in our lives. For one way that we know that Jesus is risen is that He is alive in each of us, who are members of His mystical Body. Apart from Him, we can accomplish nothing, like St. Peter with no fish after a night of labor. But with Him and in Him, we can toil “harder than” others by the “grace of God that is with” us through Holy Communion. True humility does not end in the recognition of our poverty but in the confession of His resurrecting power at work in us. The reality of the Resurrection lifts us from our sinful life to eternal life, even now, as we share in the risen life of Jesus through Holy Communion. How do you experience the grace of God at work within you? How do you toil to cooperate with this grace? By Fr. Thaddaeus Lancton, MIC Author Stepping on the Serpent: A Journey of Trust with Mary Shining in Spotless Splendor: Consecration to the Immaculate Conception Available on Google Play and IOS App Store
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