June 23 - Tuesday
Our Lady Justinienne at Carthage
(6th Century)
Weekday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 7:6, 12-14
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| Image created by Google AI Image Creator. |
Today’s Gospel
strings together three short, sharp teachings: don’t throw what’s holy to those
who’ll trample it, treat others exactly as you’d want to be treated, and enter
through the narrow gate, because the wide road that looks easier leads
somewhere you don’t want to go. Three angles on the same demand: live deliberately,
not by default.
The easy road
is always more crowded, the path of least resistance, the comfortable
compromise, treating people only as well as they treat us first. The Golden
Rule and the narrow gate both ask something less convenient: choosing the
harder, more deliberate way simply because it’s right, not because it’s easy.
Make a dramatic
change in your life if you haven’t already, and choose the narrow gate in every
single one of your decisions instead of the wide one, and treat others better
than they’ve ever treated you. Making the harder choice isn’t always easy, but
it’s the right thing to do. The narrow gate was never about restriction; it’s
about leading you in a direction that goes directly to Jesus. Narrow is the
road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Our Lady
Justinienne has been venerated at Carthage since the sixth century, a faith that
chose the narrow, less-traveled road across a long and turbulent history rather
than letting it widen into convenience. Our Lady herself walked the narrowest
gate of all, saying yes to a calling few who could carry. Something to sit
with: where have you been drifting toward the wide road simply because it’s
easier?
Rosary Man Jim 🌹
Freely given. Freely shared.
