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We experience happy events in our lives. Balls and entertainment are held. In the middle of these days, we can notice that there are people around us who are not laughing, not rejoicing. Why? They are sick, the pain distorts their faces instead of smiling. Indeed, many cannot remember the last time they laughed. Today, the Church wants to remind us of something in the Gospel. Jesus loved all people. After all, his arrival on Earth is the biggest proof of that. Jesus did not preach sorrow. His teaching – the gospel means glad tidings. Although we have no record of Jesus laughing or joking, we cannot say that he did not know how to enjoy himself. He was happy when mothers brought their children to him. He rejoiced when he returned a living daughter to Jairus, the wife of Naim with an only son, Martha, and Mary, the brother of Lazarus. but he was happy, even though he was recovering, and this Gospel also says: “I want you to be clean!” (Mt 8:3).

In our surroundings, we must also notice the suffering and those who need our help. The sick man of this gospel was very courageous. He came to Jesus himself. He disregarded the prohibition under the Mosaic Law. He left aside what should have been waiting for him for violating this order, or the consequences. The desire to be healthy was stronger than everything else. In those days, such a person did not arouse the interest of others, he was condemned to a slow death. But he wanted to live! That is why he came to beg for life from the Giver of life, from Jesus Christ himself. He did not disappoint. Jesus fulfilled his wish.

When we look around us, we find that there are many suffering and those who require our help. They will not turn on us, they will not come to us like the sick from the gospel to Jesus. They won’t for many reasons. Some cannot come because their health no longer allows it, others will not come because they are ashamed. Indeed, we must realize that there are also those among us who, out of some tact, do not raise their hand for help. Many are full of hopelessness and melancholy, so they want to die forgotten. And we should focus on those. We have to help them, give them a helping hand. How beautiful it is when such a person feels that he is not needed. According to the Church, a sick person is necessary and with his suffering, he purifies the world. All sick people are a warning to us, they are a nuisance. Who will count the sufferings, the sacrifices, the prayers, which are weighted in gold in the plan of redemption of the world?

Suffering is not an insignificant thing. Look how many people and families came to their senses, and returned to God, when one of them had to carry the cross, illness, and suffering from life! It is beautiful when the sufferer hears words of comfort from our lips, that his suffering is an enrichment of our life. True, only one who has faith, i.e., a believer, can evaluate this, because he understands the value of sin and the value of repentance. Saint John of the Cross, the lover of the cross, says: – Brothers, our suffering here on earth cannot be compared to the suffering that awaits us after death for our sins. If we had to choose, let us choose to suffer here on earth and to rejoice with God as soon as possible after death. – Conscious and voluntary acceptance of suffering saves a person from further sins and helps him to voluntarily cleanse himself from sins already forgiven. Suffering properly understood raises the mind to higher values.

Let’s remember this and never make it feel, true, if it is not exaggerated, when our elderly and the elderly need our help, that it is a nuisance to us, that they are a burden on us. Let’s not talk insultingly about them. Let’s not wish them death! Only God can withdraw from this world. As long as a person is alive, he has the right to be given attention and love. Let’s not forget this, especially when it comes to those who gave us life, who made more sacrifices for us than ours, when we have to make more effort even for several months, when there is less sleep, free time, etc. Jesus himself is a role model, strength, and example. Jesus also teaches us that where modern medical science can no longer help, a good word, care for them, a visit, and the like can help, or at least alleviate pain and suffering. Sick of the gospel did not give up. And that is an example of the sick. He did everything in his power. He did not resign! And this is necessary for the sick and old to realize. Many are impatient when they don’t get everything they want right away. Such a person is then really a burden, a weight in the family.

Brothers and sisters, sick and old, in your prayers often remember those who take care of you, but do not forget yourself, so that you can bear your crosses patiently. Realize that this suffering of yours has meaning. Be an example of patience to your dearest. Don’t forget to thank them for the good they have done. You yourself know that today’s world is very busy, that even those who take care of you do not have it easy. They have other responsibilities besides you. Don’t say they don’t like you. I believe that this is a matter of honor for every Catholic Christian, how he can approach this problem. The sick and the healthy must realize that in such situations tensions and misunderstandings arise from small things, and therefore we must be able to rise above them, forget, forgive, and not immediately turn small things into anger, inconvenience, which are often forgotten and forgiven only after death. Why spoil what we worked hard to build before? Sickness and old age must not break a single Christian heart. We should not blaspheme, often ask: why me?! After all, I haven’t sinned in anything! Only one who has not understood the teachings of Jesus Christ speaks like this. It has certainly happened to you that you have visited such people and left them ashamed. Why? Many a suffering believing Christian knows how to encourage and please more than we who are healthy. Such a meeting is what we have to adopt and learn today. I know many positive and negative examples. It has certainly happened to you that you have visited such people and left them ashamed. Why? Many a suffering believing Christian knows how to encourage and please more than we who are healthy. Such a meeting is what we have to adopt and learn today. I know many positive and negative examples. It has certainly happened to you that you have visited such people and left them ashamed. Why? Many a suffering believing Christian knows how to encourage and please more than we who are healthy. Such a meeting is what we have to adopt and learn today. I know many positive and negative examples.

I like to go to one disease that doesn’t feel unnecessary. She is not demanding on domestics, she prefers to be kept in a room. He doesn’t mix with young people. What is her strength? Pray! She says that when she was young, she did not have much time for prayer. Now she takes this illness as a gift from God to survive it in prayer and to apologize for her sins. But he doesn’t forget the home team. She won’t tell them, only she and the Virgin Mary with Jesus know how many graces she has already begged for the family and others. And this is not unnecessary, although I know that many consider such old age a loss and would rather see their mother-in-law, mother, or father doing something, even if they are ruffling feathers. Mammon! No, such a person, who thinks like this, must be careful not to live to a sad old age or a tragic one. I believe that this reflection was not harmful. However, we should also be careful about souls. We should not give offense.

Today we celebrate the feast of the apostolic princes of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Today we celebrate the day when the holy apostle’s Peter and Paul gave the highest testimony of their faith that the crucified Jesus is alive. They let themselves be martyred in the firm belief that they would live forever with the Risen Christ. Together with the entire Christian world, let us journey in spirit to the tomb of St. Peter in the Vatican and to the tomb of St. Paul outside the walls of Rome. Saint Peter and Saint Paul – these are two wings of one eagle. They are two columns that carry the vault of a single building – the building of the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. They were quite different personalities. It could be said that each of them was a typical representative of one of the two directions in the Church, and yet they maintained mutual respect and mutual love throughout their lives. Such an example of unity in diversity is as necessary for us today as it was in the ancient times of the Church.

The apostle Peter personifies the authority and the governing center: the papacy. Apostle Paul is a believer in individuality and personal freedom. The sign of Saint Peter is the keys of supreme power according to the words of the Lord Jesus: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of God.” Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.” Saint Peter holds in his hands the keys that guard the sacred treasures of Tradition. Saint Paul holds a book in his hand because he is the Teacher of the Nations. And he also has a sword with him, with which new paths are cut in the jungle of the pagan world and new methods are sought in spreading the kingdom of God. And with the sword, which is his sign, Saint Paul was executed for his faith in Christ the Lord. Peter could also have another identification mark, namely a rooster. I think this symbol would be very telling for our Christianity today.

About that rooster, the Lord Jesus told Peter that he would start singing when Peter succumbed to unbelief and fear. And when Peter, on that evil night when Christ the Lord was arrested, began to deny that he belonged to his followers, the rooster crowed. Three times the rooster had to crow before Peter’s speech got stuck in his throat before he stopped crowding among the enemies of the Lord Jesus before he went away and wept bitterly from shame and regret for his cowardice and lack of faith. Don’t you think that we would also need that rooster today – and a good one? That those who, under the influence of modern scribes and Pharisees, waver in the true Catholic faith would need it? That we, little-believing priests, would also need it when we prepare Sunday sermons – so that in them, we do not complain about today’s world and corrupt youth, but realize that the world was just as sinful in the time of Christ the Lord when not only the youth but the apostles themselves ran away from Jesus! One of them – Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ, the other – the apostle Peter – denied him three times and renounced him, and the other apostles fled.

Only one of the Twelve – the holy apostle and evangelist John, the Beloved of the Lord – persevered, did not run away, and went with Christ to Calvary. Lord Jesus did not have better listeners than today’s preacher has. There are no other times but sinful ones – just as today as in the past. We, priests, need Peter’s cock even today. And I think that even you, today’s Catholics, should have that rooster in front of your eyes. That you may hear his cackles when small-mindedness and unbelief come upon you. When you lose faith in God’s love. It is very good that the Gospels have preserved for us the portrait of the apostles untouched, and that some “pious censorship” has not deleted what is not an apostle to honor. It is good that we have a story in the Gospel about the fact that even the apostles knew the temptation of small-mindedness, they had moments of hopelessness, weakness, and mistrust.

So when something similar happens to us, we can trust, following the example of St. Peter, that we will get out of it, and that the merciful and benevolent God will forgive us – just as he forgave Peter for his threefold denial. So it’s about not hearing the rooster crowing in the bad moments of our lives. God’s voice calls us in many ways, and it calls us tenaciously, persistently. God’s voice is constantly calling us to get out of our bad ways, to sincerely mourn our betrayals, and then to hear again the question of Christ the Lord, which he asked Peter after his Resurrection: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others?” And how will you answer this question of Christ the Lord – you, me, him, each of us? I wish we could answer it with the words of the holy apostle Peter, who confessed: “Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you!” God’s love to this day has not stopped making the rooster’s voice into nets of love, with which it catches and saves not only the princes of the apostles but also you, me, him – each of us, the little fish of God’s kingdom. Therefore, I would like to give Saint Peter a rooster in his hand as a sign. And I think that St. Peter would willingly agree that we should always have the “cock’s lesson” in front of our eyes: To err is human. However, to be told and corrected is truly Christian.

Saint Peter the Apostle is for us the embodiment of the rock in which the Church is securely anchored. The Apostle St. Paul is, in turn, an instrument of the storm of the Spirit of God, which propels the Church to the forefront of human history and events. And now let’s imagine that these two people with such different personalities met. What did that mean? When these two apostles met, the fate of the young Church was decided. Will these two strong personalities bump into each other and there will be a split? Will Christ’s church split into Peter’s Judeo-Christian church of “conservatives” and Paul’s pagan-Christian church of “modernists”? But we know that nothing like that happened. When they met for the first time in Jerusalem – a rock with a whirlwind – Paul wanted to get to know Peter from his own experience and stayed with him for two weeks, as St. Paul in the letter to the Galatians. Why did Paul go to Peter? He wanted to know with his own eyes the first of the apostles, taught by Christ the Lord himself. It was from him that he wanted to gain recognition as an apostle. What do you think? Will Peter do it? Will he, a simple fisherman, trust a learned Pharisee from the famous school of Rabbi Gamaliel? Will Peter not be jealous of Paul’s achievements? All credit to Peter. When making decisions, he was guided by common sense, love, and the Holy Spirit. He shakes Paul’s hand.

All credit also goes to Paul. When a dispute broke out about the style of missionary work among the Gentiles, Paul went to Jerusalem for the second time to see Peter. Before the apostolic council, he patiently explains his rich missionary experience and achieves unity of opinion. At the third meeting in Antioch, although he reproaches Peter for allowing the will of the harvest to be imposed on him and fights hard with him for compliance with the council’s conclusions, he maintains his respect and love for Peter and calls him “the first of the apostles” and “the pillar of the apostles”. In the same way, for Peter, Paul always remained a “beloved brother”. The fourth meeting of these apostolic princes in Rome was the last. Both were brought to Rome with the same idea: to be where Christians are at their worst, where the cruel enemy of Christ, Nero, is liquidating them. It is there that they want to testify about their faith in Christ the Lord, about their faith in eternal life with the Risen One, whom they both saw alive with their own eyes. Peter was crucified, and Paul as a Roman citizen was beheaded.

Together, their blood sanctified pagan Rome as the seat of the head of the Church. Their united love gave the Holy Church solid support of Peter’s Rock and the eternal youth of Paul’s missionary zeal. The holy apostle’s Peter and Paul also give the Church today a great lesson: it does not matter the diversity of opinions as long as there is unity in love. Only when the smile among people fades, when people start frowning at each other because of different opinions, Christianity also fades away. Therefore, following the example of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, let us strive for the unity of all Christians in the love of Christ. Therefore, following the example of Saints Peter and Paul, let us love Christ the Lord with a burning heart, try to seek and find his holy will, so that one day – when our time comes – we may receive from him eternal life in perfect joy. Holy apostles Peter and Paul, pray for us! 

There is a lot of resentment between us. A bad example, inciting sin and not punishing sin has a bad effect on those around us, and at the same time, it robs us of grace. A passage from the Gospel reminds us of this: “Do not give what is holy to dogs and do not cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn against you and tear you apart” (Mt 7:6).

Every believer must be aware that the gifts he received from God – reason and free will – are to help him discern. We are all called to proclaim the Gospel. This means that we are responsible for it in our surroundings. Not only words are needed, but above all an example. Our approach to fulfilling the responsibilities of our faith is like an open book to unbelievers. They, too, know the words: “Verba movent, exempla trahunt!” – “Words move, but examples attract!” Therefore, let’s realize what the Lord Jesus wants to say with the parable about pearls and swine. It was known to the Jews that what was sacrificed in the temple did not belong elsewhere. For example, the meat of the victims was not allowed to be given to dogs or pigs. From this, we can conclude the following: Just as it was useless to feed inedible pearls to unclean pigs, so it is useless to present the truth to people who are not ready for it, or who do not have the desire or willingness to accept it. He who proclaims the pure must not pollute it, allow it to be dishonored. Because if the preacher of the Gospel preached the teachings of the Lord Jesus excessively and without consideration, he would do more harm than good.

The holy things are the truths of faith and all the means of grace which the apostles received for the good of the faithful. Therefore, they should not be unnecessarily awarded to people who would only make fun of them or humiliate them in some way. Perhaps this place also gave rise to the fact that the Church has been hiding sacred things from pagans for a long time. The so-called golden rule of love for one’s neighbor shows without long paragraphs that the core of the Christian attitude toward other people consists of Everything you want people to do to you, and do to them. We talked about how we can forgive others, so let’s expect others to forgive us. That is the essence of biblical morality. True love for God is proven precisely by love for one’s neighbor. The Gospel passage ends with a call to those who follow Christ not to follow the path of the masses. Lord Jesus explained it with a figurative comparison of two gates. The wide gate through which the masses of people pass who reject the words and teachings of the Lord Jesus, or do not take his truths seriously, leads to damnation. The believer must break out of this group, even if it is difficult when there are many temptations, such as stating that the majority is doing it, that it is not so bad, and so on. The Christian must pass through the second gate, the narrow one that leads to eternal life. Lord Jesus wants to emphasize the other teaching that he said earlier. Only by a narrow path can one pass into eternal life. The young man did not know how to renounce wealth. Pharisees of their pride. Herod and Herodias each other. So these did not pass through the narrow gate. Through it, we see John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary, and Joseph, who fulfill the will of God, and do what God requires of them.

 There are people who, in order not to see, prefer to squint their eyes. But of course that doesn’t change reality. On the contrary, they harm themselves. So it is with the existence of God. Whether God exists does not depend on us. God is not dependent on our knowledge to exist. Those who have studied philosophy know that there are people who do not regard the material world, perceptible to the senses, as an objective reality. According to them, the material world does not exist outside of us, independently of us, it is a product of thought, an idea. That is why we call this philosophical direction idealism. Any sober-minded person will recognize that this philosophical idealism contradicts our everyday experience. We reject this direction as objectively wrong, and misguided. To the other extreme fall those who maintain that there is only matter, matter. That is why they are called materialists. Materialists, while admitting that there is something higher than matter, maintain that everything spiritual has its roots in matter and does not exist without matter. Therefore, materialists do not admit the existence of any spiritual being. Thus they do not admit the existence of God. They regard God as a figment of human imagination, as something unrealistically mistaken. This is roughly the basic position of MATERIALISTS. According to the Christian worldview, there are spiritual realities independent of our knowledge True spiritual realities cannot be perceived directly by the senses We can only understand them by knowing them in varying degrees with our reason. We recognize both the material and the spiritual as real, therefore we call our worldview Christian realism. God is an objective reality for us. But we can neither see nor hear God; we cannot perceive Him. But our knowledge can be lifted to God using perceptible things. Even in the material world, some things can be known only by instruments or calculations. Thus most of the stars are invisible to the naked eye. To observe them, we need powerful telescopes. Bacteria, on the other hand, are so tiny that they can only be seen with a microscope. Even atoms are so unimaginably small that they cannot be seen even under a microscope. We know them only from their effects. So also God can be known, from His activity, and His observable works. The greatness of the universe and the beauty of nature speak of God. They speak of the fact that these things did not come into being of themselves, that man did not create them, for they were here long before man. In the laws of nature, we see rationality purposefulness, and planning and this cannot be the work of chance. And it cannot be the work of chance. Whoever says that is blind. Friend, if you are reading these lines you need to realize that God exists and start looking for Him. And do it right away.

We are all faced with a decision in life. Narrow gate or wide road. One of these two paths can be chosen. We have a choice—the narrow path with the Lord Jesus, or the broad path of the world. Most people would prefer there to be a third way between faith and unbelief—a mixed zone. According to the words of the Lord Jesus, however, there is no such third way. I either stand in faith or I don’t. I am either saved or lost.

Now we can think, “Am I standing on a wide or narrow road?” When I go only with the flow of the Internet, fashion, and television, I live on my terms, just for fun and only for my happiness – then I stand on a wide path. The Broad Way is the path of a person who does not have close fellowship with the Lord Jesus—and most people walk it. The narrow road is arduous and it is not worn today. Many quickly give up to make some exertion.- Should I get up and go to church on Sunday morning? think about my future? read the Bible?, forgive?, help? -All this takes effort and time.

It is also difficult to answer the questions: what is good and what is not, who is a Christian and who is a fascist, what is character and what is not, what is life, love and what is death, who is God and what is an idol. Yes, even if we tell others about faith, even that will be difficult. If we invite them into communion with the Lord Jesus and set an example of Christian character for them, this will also be our narrow path.

When you have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, then you are given new strength to go further toward the goal described above both gates. On the wide is the inscription – the goal is death. This is not noticed by many. They’re just interested in who everyone is already going through that gate and how fun it is. Above that tight gate is an inscription – the goal is life. But, as the Lord Jesus says, few notice. Therefore, let us rather choose the narrow gate, the narrow road! Difficult, but leading to eternal life. Let us accept the Lord Jesus as a guide to our lives, so that we may walk the joyfully narrow path together to eternal life!

We know the principle: Loving people always have something to say. A kind word also belongs to love. If the word dies, love will also become bitter. And that both in prayer and in deed.  Jesus says: “Do not judge… Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye…” (Mt 7:1,3). At first glance, it is clear that Jesus’ words speak of magnanimity. Love your enemies, “..with what measure you will measure you, such…” (Mt 7:2) and “…pray for those who insult you” (Lk 6:27-28). This is no longer an external manifestation of magnanimity, but a basic virtue, which God himself teaches us. We see the magnanimity of God that he did not spare his only Son and sacrificed for us on the cross. He loves even those who do not return his love and live in enmity against him. His love far surpasses our love.

Christ’s words raise many questions. How does the Church fulfill this command? Do Christians live by these words? Church of Christ, how are you? Is it possible to escape from the answers to these and similar questions? What about statistics on anger, trials, murders, hatred, but also alcoholism…? Church of Christ, what are your members, your hands, feet, eyes, and ears…? These and other questions are not just a poetic metaphor. It is necessary to give a personal answer to these and similar questions, but an answer on behalf of the Church is also expected. Each individually and all together. Christ does not divide us into loved ones and rejected ones. Whoever accepted the sacrament of baptism assumed obligations and rights. And this includes loving your neighbors, forgiving and forgetting insults, but also doing acts of mercy. The world needs witnesses. Witnesses of love. There is no place in their hearts for revenge. Christ does not entrust anyone with the role of avenger. The Church does not entrust anyone with the right of retaliation. We must not forget the memento. The great fighter for human rights, a black man, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and a great and fearless follower of Christ, Martin Luther King, who was shot by an assassin for his beliefs, said in response to these words: “Do to us what you will, but we will not stop loving you.” We realize that we are to love those who do not love us. Jesus gives the commandment of love to every person. The commandment of love binds every believing Christian. Every Christian receives an example from Christ. Christ died for our sins. 

St. Basil says: “Man is a creature commanded to become God.” And St. Athanasius says: “The Son of God became man, that the sons of men might become the sons of God.” Blessed John Paul II. in the encyclical “Redemptor hominis” (art. 8) writes: “Christ united himself with every person”, and every person is at least potentially grafted into Christ. In this light, the statement of St. Augustine is very instructive: “How many times have we thought that we hate the enemy and we hated the brother

Many of us may sometimes wonder: What is hidden in that name? Does the name express something specific, does it hide something, or does it mean something special? Shakespeare also dealt with a similar question and answered it as follows: “A rose, by whatever name, would still smell just as lovely.” Of course, he was right. The name we give to a thing does not determine its essential nature. A rose would be just as beautiful. and fragrant, even if we decide to call it, say, a mouse’s ear or a rabbit’s ear. In our culture, names are not as important as they were, for example, in the ancient Jewish culture. We can say that for us, names are primarily a means of identification: so that we can mark the thing we are talking about in communication, and that the listener imagines the same thing as us.

For example, if the parents have two sons, they name one Peter and the other Paul. Then they know which is which. And that’s how they address them. For us, names are simply some kind of labels that we attach to a person at birth, and which the person then carries throughout his life. Of course, not all names are liked by people. There are cases when people cannot get used to their name when they internally reject it, and there are even those who change it. The use of names in the Holy Scripture, as many of us know, is special. Names usually expressed something. They were given with a clear intention. Sometimes they expressed thoughts or feelings that the children’s parents felt about their birth. Let’s look at the name Isaac, for example. This name can be translated as “laughter”. When Abraham and Sarah had a child in their old age, they called him Laughter.

This name probably expressed to them how they felt when they faced the miraculous and unexpected event of the birth of their son. Another time, the name given to the child was a kind of proclamation or expression of faith. For example, the name Elijah. It means “Yahweh is my God”. The child Elijah was born at a time when tensions were growing in Israel over the worshipers of Baal. And so his parents wanted to express their devotion to the God of Israel in this way. In our Gospel today, there is an account of the naming of a little Jewish boy, John the Baptist. It is necessary to remember what preceded the event about which today’s Gospel writes. Elizabeth, his mother, was already old when she became pregnant. She and her husband Zacharias were childless until then. Her pregnancy was too much for both of them, but especially for Zacharias. Although he wanted a child, he was unable to believe in God’s promise that a child would be born to them. When it came down to it, he somehow couldn’t process it internally. Therefore he was given nine whole months to keep his mouth shut and his mind open, and to think and meditate properly on all this. He was simply speechless.

When a child was born, according to Jewish tradition, on the eighth day, circumcision and the naming of the child were to take place. Dad should have done it. But the father was incapable because he was mute. Therefore, the Relatives simply assumed that, according to custom, he would be called after his father, Zacharias. But Elizabeth intervened. “He shall be called John,” which meant “God is gracious.” The surprised relatives consulted Zacharias about this, who agreed. Yes, this was exactly what he felt too. He remembered what the angel had told him at his conception: “he shall be great before the face of the Lord.” And just after this, his mouth opened. As soon as his mouth opened, it caused a truly justified astonishment among the neighbors. “Whatever this will be boy?” It is the same as many parents feel when their child is born: “What will become of him, of her?” How will this child change the world? Will he be a person who loves people, suffers for people, is loved by people, respected, honored, and sought after? Or will he be a selfish, self-centered individual whose only object of respect and will get attention? What does this name mean? If someone asked us or our parents this question, they would probably answer: “I have no idea.”

Names were not given to us – certainly in the vast majority of cases – because they carried some special meaning. They were simply given to us as a kind of label so that our parents and other people could identify us. But even this is not a negligible fact. On the contrary, it is a very important fact. My name is just my name. My name means me. When someone hears my name, they think of me. And it emerges not only in my face and form but also in my qualities and characteristics. The opposite is also true: when I hear my name, I pay attention. And that even if it sounds inconspicuous, quietly, somewhere in the crowd. I strain my ear. And I wonder what they’re talking about. In this sense, my name is me. Someone once said: The sweetest music on earth is the sound of my name.” And it’s true. Our names can be words that have no special meaning. Well, they are important to us. My name is me. My name expresses me as a person. For me, it is what sets me apart from the crowd and makes me unique. What does my name mean? The definitive answer depends on me. Each of us represents something in the minds of those who know us. And when people hear your name or my name, they think of something.

What do they come up with?  What do they think of it? What feeling fills them? Will a feeling of pleasantness or resistance, sympathy or hatred arise in them? Does my name convey honesty or dishonesty? Kindness or cruelty? Pleasantness or arrogance? A name represents a person and a person represents a certain lifestyle. What our name symbolizes ultimately depends on us. John grew up, and thanks to his deeds, the surname “Baptist” was added to his name.  And so he became a great name for us. He was the forerunner of Christ and this Christ he publicly presented and brought to the scene when he baptized him.  He did not receive his surname at birth. He was given based on deeds of life.  Many names and surnames are known in history, which were given to people based on their deeds in life: for example, Ivan the Terrible, Pippin the Short, Peter the Great, John Chrysostom, Basil the Blessed, etc. What surname could I get?

What do we consider our treasures? Why?
Jesus tells us clearly and emphatically: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:21). Jesus encourages, guides, directs, directs, and takes care of his “little flock”, the Church. This is what Jesus cares about so that the Church takes the most correct attitude towards the world. The Church must guard its teaching, which God has entrusted to it, that is, the Church must be vigilant and always be ready to fulfill God’s will. Jesus gave the Church the gift of words of encouragement: “Have your loins girded and your lamps fastened” (Lk 12.35). We are taught the responsibility of knowing God’s will. If we live in the presence of God, then moths, rust, and thief do not destroy our treasure.

Some religions greet each other: “Memento mori.” – Remember death.”
A greeting for us as a call and an address, so that we too live in the constant presence of God. In today’s society, both in the economic, cultural, political, and sports fields, the principle of staying awake, being vigilant, being on guard if we want to prove something, succeed, and gain – more vigilance means lasting, eternal values. It is therefore a challenge for us in spiritual matters that the Lord, that is Jesus, finds us at his coming to be awake when he knocks, that is in the hour of our death. The words “blessed shall be” those whom he finds ready, watching, speak of the reward that Jesus himself “will gird himself, and seat them, and shall minister.” That is the reward of a wise steward who faithfully discharges his duties.

Our time is more often, more and more talked about as apocalyptic. We have signs that call us to be vigilant. We must have a burning heart. In natural life, we can recognize the steps of the expected. Shouldn’t this apply in the spiritual life? How often are the words of a preacher, confessor, or exerciser such steps for us? We know it’s not a scare. To live in the presence of God, it is enough to read today’s Gospel again. It is worth renouncing everything that means nothing before God. Take up your cross and follow the Crucified One. Let’s mature to a state in our life, to live whole and completely with God. Indeed, only He can give us the real thing that we need. He cannot disappoint, lead astray, or promise what He cannot fulfill… He is truly the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
He realizes that there are also false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing, bloodthirsty hyenas, trained fraudsters, and killers of human happiness in our surroundings… We need to live in the presence of God and help others so that they are not led astray and deceived by the aforementioned.