The Gospel reading for the 5th Sunday of ordinary time, challenges each one of us: to go out to the world; to become salt and light for the world. Jesus uses the image of salt and light, to describe the transforming impact of God’s work in our lives and how to impact other people’s lives.

There are some really beautiful, powerful words and images offered us in this morning’s readings: how God sees the vast, immense universe around us, and all that exists in it.

As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the word of God accompanies us in the ascent of Jesus to Jerusalem, where the Lord will celebrate his “exodus,” that is, the Paschal Mystery of his death and resurrection.

It is the Holy Spirit who gathers us into the cry of all creation and of all humanity thirsting for salvation. Distracted by the daily concerns of life, we do not know what is really essential to ask. And so, the Spirit nourishes in us the question and hope of the true good that God has prepared for us.

Throughout his Letter to the Romans, Paul maintains that it is useless to rely on the Law of Moses, since it does not free humanity, but rather enslaves and condemns humanity.

The passage from Paul offered in today’s liturgy is at the very heart of his Letter to the Romans. Behind the statement that the human person needs to be redeemed, there is the conviction that guilt taints our relationship with God.

In today’s Gospel (Lk 11:5-13), the theme of friendship is prominent. The Gospels are rich in examples of Jesus approaching others in friendship.

The Our Father is more than a prayer; it is, as Tertullian said, “the compendium of the whole Gospel,” because in it we find the fundamental principles, the deepest hopes, and the most decisive needs of the disciples of Jesus.

Luke presents this parable within the context of a larger episode, in which Jesus encounters a lawyer who believes he can put him to the test. Jesus has already been tested at the beginning of his public ministry, when he was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert and tempted by the devil.

This story that Jesus told used to confuse me. On the one hand the rich man didn’t seem to do anything really harmful to someone else or “something really evil”, and yet he ends up in burning fire, excluded from Abraham’s bosom.