Some of us will say we are followers of Christ but pick and choose what we want to follow and believe. Then there are some of us who think ourselves leaders of men but have great difficulty in following the directions of other gifted leaders;let alone Christ Himself. Many of us have different ideas of what it means to be a follower of Jesus our Lord.
In order to have some idea of just how much of a follower of Christ we truly are, we need to ask ourselves. Have we truly emptied ourselves so as to be filled with His grace? Have we truly died to ourselves? Have we placed all our heart and trust in Him? Have we placed our hands on the plough and are only looking forwards? Are we carrying our cross and following Him?
O Lord my God, I want to give You my everything. Not just in word but in deed. Help me to overcome all that prevents me in doing so. Let me be holy as You my God are Holy. Amen
First reading
Apocalypse 14:1-5
In my vision I, John, saw Mount Zion, and standing on it a Lamb who had with him a hundred and forty-four thousand people, all with his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. I heard a sound coming out of the sky like the sound of the ocean or the roar of thunder; it seemed to be the sound of harpists playing their harps. There in front of the throne they were singing a new hymn in the presence of the four animals and the elders, a hymn that could only be learnt by the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the world; they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they have been redeemed from amongst men to be the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb. They never allowed a lie to pass their lips and no fault can be found in them.
Gospel
Luke 21:1-4
As Jesus looked up, he saw rich people putting their offerings into the treasury; then he happened to notice a poverty-stricken widow putting in two small coins, and he said, ‘I tell you truly, this poor widow has put in more than any of them; for these have all contributed money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in all she had to live on.’
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