Rev. Daniel E. Pilarczyk

God sent the prophet Elijah an associate in the person of Elisha. God calls all of us in various ways to offer support to one another in God’s work.

Jesus talks about the importance of being on good terms with our neighbor. Any antipathy to our neighbor is a capital offense. Love for our neighbor sometimes can even take precedence over the defense of our own rights.

The purpose of the law and the prophets was to foster and deepen our relationship with God. Jesus and his teaching bring the law and the prophets to a whole new level of meaning and intensity.

Just as salt and light do not have their effect through words, so also the effectiveness of the disciple does not arise so much from what we say as from our general savor, and from the rays of illumination we put forth.

The Beatitudes constitute a summary of what the Christian life is supposed to be: openness to God and generosity to our neighbor. Everything else is a derivative of these fundamental directions.

It is not important to be important Jesus says. By the widow’s expression of total dependence on God she stands higher in the sight of God than all the scribes and religious leaders.