Memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs

The Lord remembers his covenant forever. For he remembered his holy word to his servant Abraham. And he led forth his people with joy; with shouts of joy, his chosen ones.

God doesn’t go back on His promises. When He says He’ll do something, He does it. When He says He won’t do something, He doesn’t. His “Yes,” means, “Yes.” His “No,” means, “No.” Thankfully for us, God has promised to love us like His children and to be merciful to us. He wants what is best for us and will do all He can, short of forcing us, to lead us to everlasting life with Him. He helps us to be good and faithful and holy people. He lifts us up when we are down. He lights our way when we are in darkness. He leads us forth with shouts of joy. He has picked us as His chosen ones. To accept this great gift, all we need to say is, “Yes,” to Him and mean it with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths.

Do we go back on our promises? If so, then how can we make our “Yes,” mean, “Yes,” and our “No” mean, “No”? What can we learn from the authentic life of Jesus, who showed us most perfectly how to be true to our words?

O Lord, help us to remember that you always keep your word.

Amen.

Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church

As God is faithful, our word to you is not "yes" and "no." For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, Silvanus and Timothy and me, was not "yes" and "no," but "yes" has been in him. For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him; therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory.

Sometimes our plans change. Our honest “Yes!” to someone else’s request, might suddenly become an unintended “No.” The course of our lives is not always set by ourselves. There are times when God, outside forces, and even enemies pull us down a different path. This might cause others to be disappointed in us. We can even become disappointed in ourselves for not being able to fulfill a promise. However, no matter what happens in our lives, expected or unexpected, we need to recognize each situation as an opportunity to grow in the faith and become better servants to God and all His children. God will forgive us if our good-intentioned promises fall through as long as we tried our best to follow through on our word.

Do we try to follow through on our good promises? Do we realize how even the obstacles that pop up in life are opportunities to grow in faith, hope, and love? Are we trying our best in every good thing we do?

O Lord, let all our promises be founded upon bearing you into the world for all to see.

Amen.

Tenth Saturday of Ordinary Time

But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the Evil One.

It's amazing how much truth can be captured in one sentence. Let your "Yes" mean "Yes," and your "No" mean "No." This saying is something we all should take to heart. It can be so easy to say, "Yes," to something, but then change our minds. We break promises. We forget. We let fears, doubts, and anxieties keep us from following through with our plans. We can be too hasty in saying, both "Yes" and "No." We should put more thought into our decisions and make sure we are making the right choice from the beginning. We shouldn't make decisions lightly or with the knowledge that we are only saying "Yes" or "No" with no plan to follow what we say. This is not to say there aren't times when we should change our minds, especially when new information is discovered. Being too stubborn to change our minds is also a fault. However, changing our minds should be something we take very seriously precisely because we put effort into our initial decision.

Does our "Yes" mean "Yes" and our "No" mean "No?" Do we take time to properly weigh our decisions and responses to others? Do we take our decisions to heart and follow through on them to the best of our abilities?

O Lord, let our "Yes" mean "Yes" and our "No" mean "No."

Amen.

Tenth Saturday of Ordinary Time

Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the Evil One.

We all say things we wish we could take back. We all have made promises we’ve broken. We’ve all said we’d do something and then failed to do it. We’ve even told people we can’t do something, and then went ahead and did it anyway. This is because we speak before we think things through. We should always try to take a step back and weigh our options. We should ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” Deep down we probably know what the right thing is, but sometimes we can convince ourselves that we know better than God. This is why Jesus warns us against swearing oaths. Because sometimes we will agree to do something and then discover that it’s not the right thing to do. But because we have sworn to do it, we do it disregarding our conscience. Jesus isn’t telling us not to change our minds, but rather to think about what we promise to do so that we don’t have to change our minds. It isn’t bad to do the right thing, in spite of your promises, but it is far better thing to promise to do what’s right from the beginning.

When have we said yes to the right thing, and then failed to follow through? When have we said no, and then realized that saying yes was the right thing? Do we speak before we think and pray about our situations?

O Lord, let our “yes” mean “yes” and our “no” mean “no.”

Amen.