THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

January 22, 2017

COLLECT

Almighty ever-living God,
direct our actions according to your good pleasure,
that in the name of your beloved Son
we may abound in good works.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Reflection:

This Collect of the third Sunday first appears Hadrianum Sacramentary, a papal sacramentary given by pope Hadrian I in 785, as a prayer for one Sundays of January.

The Collect begins with God’s initiative and “good pleasure” in sending us his Son. It ends at the response to which we are called: to “abound in good works.” We followers of Jesus call that “discipleship.” It talks also about the our transformation according to the directives and the plan in Christ so that we may be worthy of abounding in good works in Him. Directing of our way of life means living out the gospel values. It is putting into our actions the teaching of Jesus Christ. Every good works that we do here on earth is participation of the works of God. It is through cooperation with the will of God that our actions can bear much fruit. Human as we, are is not a robot but by the gift of freedom of God we can do his own will for our salvation. We are saved by His grace. We become children of God through Jesus Christ. It is our identity and a dignity as people of God. Through the direction of God, we can do good works for His glory.  We can’t do everything, but we use the gifts we have to transform our world as we have first been transformed in Christ. When we walk with Christ through our humble service to God and to our neighbors.

Therefore, we are called to discipleship. A disciple transformed by the grace and love of God in Jesus Christ so that we can share our ‘transformation’ to others through our good works. Amen.