From The Bishop

The Gospel of the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time reminds us that we should never be complacent about sin in our lives. Jesus gives examples that may sound rather extreme to our ears when he states that whatever causes us to sin we should remove, “if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.” This is not to be taken literally. Our Lord is simply stating that we should avoid sin and sinful situations. The enemy is complacency, which causes us to become comfortable with our sin. In both the First Reading (Numbers) and the Second Reading (James) we find some of the sins that we commit in our lives (jealousy, greed, selfishness etc.). In the First Reading from Numbers, God shared some of the spirit given to Moses with seventy elders. We have received the Spirit of God in baptism, confirmation and Holy Orders. The Spirit helps to strengthen us in our weakness and shakes us out of spiritual complacency. Come Holy Spirit.