Today’s readings disturb my comfort in ways they are surely meant to do, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald. They push me to reflect on the way I think about justice, about my efforts to contain God, and my tendency to think I am entitled to this or that. It’s one thing to ponder such matters, but what am I going to do about them?

When all is said and done, today’s readings are all about the limitlessness of God’s mercy and forgiveness and the need for us to imitate that to the best of our ability if we really want to be credible as disciples of Jesus, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald.

While today’s gospel-reading begins with the issue of how we are to deal with a family, community or parish member who has hurt another member, we have to read it in the context the parable of the lost sheep which immediately precedes our gospel-reading, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald. The bottom line is that we have to end up reconciling with the offender and restoring her or him to the community. In Jesus’ view, there is simply no room for criticising them or whinging to others about them. We have to talk directly to them and hold out to them the hand of reconciliation and forgiveness.

In the concluding lines of this Sunday’s gospel-reading, Jesus urges us to let go of anything in our lives that is empty, of little substance or self-centred, so that we might grow into a way of living that is nourished by the love of God, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald.

If we care to think about it, everything we do and say in our lives is meant to be a response to Jesus’ question: “Who do you say I am?” Most times our words and actions testify to our belief that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ of God. Sometimes we falter and miss the mark, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald.