Reflections of Caritas

“I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” – Galatians 2:20 

“When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her…” – Luke 7:13 

The first reading and the Gospel passage for this Sunday tell a similar story. In both passages a boy, the son of a widow, is raised from the dead and restored to life. The prophet Elijah performs this miracle in the first reading, while our Lord Jesus works the wonder in the Gospel. Mercy is a central theme in both of these stories.

“They all ate and were satisfied.” – Luke 9:17 

Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, Antony and Cleopatra. Three famous love stories that have captured hearts and imaginations for generations. Yet, according to Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, “The greatest love story of all time is contained in a tiny white Host.”

“O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!” — Psalm 8:10 

Perhaps the greatest mystery of our faith is that of the Holy Trinity. To explain it in the most basic way, we worship one God in Three Persons without “confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance,” as it is stated in the Athanasian Creed.