October 29 , 2023 Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Homilist: Fr. Chris Bollegar Readings (Track 2): http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_R... Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. — Collect of the Week “Make us love what you command…” These words caught my attention in the collect for this coming Sunday and they suggest to me that one of the primary matters addressed in our pursuit of God and God’s pursuit of us is the transformation of our loves. To love what God commands: this is the call of the Christian, and this is what we seek to do. Yet, if we find ourselves asking God to “make us” love what He commands, it suggests that perhaps there are other forces at work in our minds and hearts that do not love what God commands…Which is why we also pray… increase in us the gifts of faith, hope and charity…May it be so.