Today's Gospel

Make Great Decisions

I've always heard that as being about John the Baptist or the measures stick being John the Baptist. But what I heard today is that the way things are assessed, valued, measured in the Kingdom of Heaven is radically different to how things are assessed, valued, measured in this world. So here's John the Baptist. He's the greatest in this world. But in this other world, the least in this other world is greater than the greatest in this world. So put together your list. Put together your top 10 list, right? Put together the top 10 list of the greatest people who have ever lived. Probably people put some like sports people on there and some musicians or whoever. But the least person in the kingdom of heaven, no matter what great deeds those people did on this planet, no matter what great things they accomplished or invented or resolved or restored. Whatever it is they did in this world, the least person in the kingdom of heaven is greater than the greatest human worldly achievements. And dad, that's a value shift, right?

That's a different paradigm to make decisions out of. And the gospel is constantly challenging the way we make decisions. Every single day we read the Gospel, it's about many things, right? We've talked about different lenses or paradigms to look at the Gospel through. We talked about the idea that, okay, you can read the whole gospel, let's say, of Matthew or in Matthew today. Read the whole Gospel of Matthew just through the lens of patience or just through the lens of generosity. But here's another one. Read the whole Gospel of Matthew or any Gospel. Just through the lens of decision-making, and what does each reading teach us about making decisions? And today, clearly, Jesus is trying to teach us about making decisions. He's trying to say, okay, here's the world. That's a paradigm. Great things can be accomplished in this world. And here's the kingdom of heaven. And what makes you great here doesn't make you great there. And what makes you great there in even the tiniest way is more important than all the greatness on this planet. It's a paradigm shift, and we need to be constantly reminded of it. Otherwise, we make decisions in the world and of the world, and our heart gets taken over by the world. And then we begin to feel what we read about a few days ago. Our hearts become heavy, burdened with the cares of this world. And we've lost the Spirit, lost the gospel when we get in that path. Let's go out in the world today and make decisions that are kingdom-worthy. Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.