Stay Clean

The WORD today reminds me that I should stay clean in life, and always be grounded on God. 

There is an important principle in work that also applies in life. “You are only as good as your last achievement.” Makes sense, right? This should always keep us in our toes, always sharp and ready to accomplish things. We should not sit on yesterday’s achievements and not be complacent and overconfident with what we are doing.

In our spiritual life, this is true as well. We should not be overconfident of our change of lifestyle or our state of being free from evil in our lives. We should constantly strive to live good lives all the time.

After we change, God does not want us to get back into our old sins and habits, and go back worse than what we were before. In the gospel, Jesus said that an unclean spirit who has gone out of the man can return, bringing with it more spirits. So the last condition could be worse than the first. If that happens. If the evil spirit can return. And the evil spirit can return only if the man will not fill his life with God. The evil spirit can return only if there is sin in the man's life again. 

When we sin, we choose the devil over God. Sin opens the door to destruction.

We hurt God when we sin, not because what we do affects him, but because when we sin, it is like choosing the devil over Him. When we sin, we choose to love ourselves more than we love God. When we sin, we tell God something or someone is more important than him. That’s why it hurts Him. That’s why sin opens the door to destruction – because when someone or something takes God’s place in our lives, it is very easy for the devil to take his place in our lives.

What is the state of my heart and my life? Am I filled with God or with sin? What do I do to keep myself filled with God? Do I choose God over myself and my desires? How can I improve my relationship with Him?

May we be encouraged to live straight and clean, and choose God every time.

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another chance to love and serve you. Thank you for another reminder. Lord, sorry for the times I sin. Sorry for the times I choose to love myself more than I love you. Sorry for the times I put other people and other things ahead of you. Sorry for the times I do not make you first in my life. Help me live right, Lord. Help me life for you. Help me honor and glorify you. May my life be a testament of my love for you. Help me fill my life with you and your love, so that there will be no space for the evil one. Amen.

Blessed Day!

In Christ,

-g-

Daily Readings

October 11 2019

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Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 465

Reading 1 JL1:13-15; 2:1-2

Gird yourselves and weep, O priests!
wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
O ministers of my God!
The house of your God is deprived
of offering and libation.
Proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the elders,
all who dwell in the land,
Into the house of the LORD, your God,
and cry to the LORD!

Alas, the day!
for near is the day of the LORD,
and it comes as ruin from the Almighty.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all who dwell in the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming;
Yes, it is near, a day of darkness and of gloom,
a day of clouds and somberness!
Like dawn spreading over the mountains,
a people numerous and mighty!
Their like has not been from of old,
nor will it be after them,
even to the years of distant generations.

Responsorial Psalm PS 9:2-3, 6 AND 16, 8-9

R.(9) The Lord will judge the world with justice.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will declare all your wondrous deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, Most High.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.
You rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
their name you blotted out forever and ever.
The nations are sunk in the pit they have made;
in the snare they set, their foot is caught.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.
But the LORD sits enthroned forever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.
He judges the world with justice;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.

Alleluia JN 12:31B-32

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The prince of this world will now be cast out,
and when I am lifted up from the earth
I will draw all to myself, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 11:15-26

When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said:
"By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons."
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
"Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

"When an unclean spirit goes out of someone,
it roams through arid regions searching for rest
but, finding none, it says,
'I shall return to my home from which I came.'
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits
more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there,
and the last condition of that man is worse than the first."