Today's Gospel

The Power of Encouragement

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we're listening for just a word, a phrase, or an idea to anchor our day in the Gospel. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew 10:34-11:1. "'Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. He who receives you receives me and he who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives to one of these little ones, even a cup of cold water, because he is my disciple, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.' And when Jesus had finished instructing His 12 disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in the cities."

It jumps out at you today. The idea that strikes me today is Jesus' invitation to help, encourage, serve those people who are doing his work. And so my challenge to you today is to send an encouraging word to your priest. A lot of priests, all they hear all the time is just complaints. I encourage you to sit down today either in an email or in a handwritten note and just encourage your priest because we all thrive on encouragement. And sometimes our priests can be the-- and sometimes there's a lot of negativity directed at our priests. So take a moment today, encourage your priest. Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.