{"id":4479,"date":"2026-10-23T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T14:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/?p=4479"},"modified":"2026-10-21T08:36:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T13:36:59","slug":"weekly-reflection-october-25-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/weekly-reflection-october-25-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Reflection \u2013 October 25, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heart, Soul and Mind<\/strong><\/p>\n

The trouble with us humans is we are far too human. By that I mean we fail, we make mistakes, we freely choose to do the wrong thing, we ignore the big picture, we don\u2019t dig deeper, we miss the point \u2014 in other words, our very nature is fallen, it\u2019s broken, it\u2019s a mess.<\/p>\n

But the root of the trouble is that being human is not supposed to be the way it is. We were created in the image and likeness of God. Our first ancestors walked and conversed in the garden freely with God. Our God, as our readings tell us today, is compassionate, living, and true. Compassionate \u2014 so full of love that He used that love to create us, simply because He loves us and wants to give love completely. Living \u2014 so full of life that He gives us life, and gives it to us abundantly, both here and in eternity. True \u2014 the very definition of reality, the source of all existence, the source and ultimate standard of what is and how we perceive it.<\/p>\n

I would be remiss if I didn\u2019t add something we all probably know already, but is worth repeating. Unlike the world would have us believe, love is not a feeling or an emotion. It may give us a good feeling, but that\u2019s just a byproduct. Love is far more. It is the giving of self for the good of another, putting the other\u2019s welfare first. That\u2019s definitely what God does when He loves us.<\/p>\n

And out of His love, life and truth, God also gave us free will, because His love means He wasn\u2019t looking to make puppets, but beings who could freely love in return. We chose \u2014 and often continue to choose \u2014 something besides love. In the garden, the choice was not God\u2019s love but an attempt to be like God, and not in the way that God set out for us – loving Him with our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.<\/p>\n

Thousands of years of sinfulness resulted in the living and loving true God to so love the world that He sent His Son, who lived, suffered and died for us, taking our sins upon Himself and becoming the sacrificial lamb offered up to the Father. Jesus saved us from our sins! Yet, in our human frailty and brokenness, we don\u2019t yet end our sinfulness.<\/p>\n

But our readings today show us the path to remedy that situation. Love, people. Turn to God, and worship and serve Him. Love others, and bring God\u2019s love to them by serving them. Imitate Jesus by sacrificing yourself for the good of someone else. Step outside of yourself and care about others. Be compassionate, as God is compassionate. Love, indeed, is the answer. And remember, as St. John tells us, God is Love. Loving God with our whole heart, soul and mind is loving how God loves. Salvation history is fulfilled in Jesus\u2019 love, but it only continues to grow when we love as well. Lord, help me love as I should.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mike Karpus<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Reflection provided by diocesan.com. Reprinted with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heart, Soul and Mind The trouble with us humans is we are far too human. By that I mean we fail, we make mistakes, we freely choose to do the wrong thing, we ignore the big picture, we don\u2019t dig deeper, we miss the point \u2014 in other words, our very nature is fallen, it\u2019s broken, it\u2019s a mess. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4480,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479\/revisions\/4480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulmacomb.com\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}