Sixteenth Saturday in Ordinary Time

Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with his neighbor; if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place, or follow strange gods to your own harm, will I remain with you in this place, in the land I gave your fathers long ago and forever.

We all need to reform our lives in some way. We all have weaknesses we need to strengthen, failings we need to fix, and bad habits we need to break. We have temptations we need to resist, false idols we need to destroy, and sins we need to atone for. We also have opportunities for good we need to take advantage of when they present themselves. Only when we do all these things can we hope to make our hearts a worthy place for the Lord.

In what ways do we need to reform our lives? What can we do to strengthen ourselves in faith, hope, and love? How can we place God more firmly into the center of our lives?

O Lord, help us to reform our ways and our deeds.

Amen.