In the second reading today from Romans we hear “Brothers and sisters: You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” What does it mean for us today as Christians to have “the Spirit of God dwell in us?” What must we think about “Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him”?

In a nutshell, we cannot be “something” if we do not become or practice that “something.” Simply put, one cannot be a golfer if one doesn’t golf—one must be a practitioner, right? So then one cannot be a Christian Disciple if one doesn’t practice the Chris-tian faith. Believe it. Live it. Share it. It is as simple as that. Seems pretty straight on.

Again we hear: “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” So how do we invite that Spirit of God to dwell within us? We have been given His Spirit at Baptism, that indelible mark that comes to us by way of supernatural grace (from God) to be nurtured by faith and by family so that we may grow to freely love God back and to choose to follow Him—to become a practitioner of His faith, a Chris-tian Disciple. By Believing our faith, by living our faith out in action, and by sharing that faith with our family, friends and strangers along the journey—then we will truly be His Disciples--living, breathing illus-trations of Christ’s Love to the world.

As we grow in our faith and become more and more practitioners of it, we then prepare ourselves for entry in the meaning of today’s Gospel of Mat-thew and better understand the truth of the “Little Ones” in today’s proclamation. Personal ego isn’t bad in fact we need it to feel confident as we set out in our careers and life. But ego cannot be “wise and learned” about what really matters in the continuum of Christian life, what really matters. We must all become “Little Ones” in faith—no ego, no pretense, no illusions about our power and our greatness. We must be open to the Spirit of God, welcome it to dwell within us and to be the prime mover of our thoughts and actions.

In doing so, we let go of all the pretenses of the secular world and accept the simple Truth of God, to accept the sacred and great gift of Christ—as He accepted the Cross—and we take on His Yoke, the Cross He accepted and His great gift of eternal life by living out the faith of Christ in our very words and deeds.

I have seen this happen here at our parish by many, many people. Successful and talented people recognizing that the gifts and blessings they possess are from God, not manmade. And then counting those blessings they are willing to share them: in feeding the hungry, in supporting our youth ministry, in being one with the Knights of Malta House of Care, in
supporting Pantry Partners, or Manny’s Meals, or St. Elizabeth House, in knitting prayer shawls for the grieving, or offering support through our Prayer Line, in teaching countless hours in Faith Formation and Confirmation classes, through helping neighbors with the lawns or rebuilding homes via the Men’s and Women’s Clubs or by giving to the Advent Giving
Tree and Lenten Mercy Projects. These, my friends, are indeed practitioners of faith—disciples of Christ. When we all lift the yoke in our well practiced faith, the burden overall becomes lighter