2 Corinthians 6: 1-10
Brothers and Sisters:
As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,
“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Unity of Minds and Hearts
In today’s first reading St. Paul reminds the Corinthians of the pervasiveness of God’s grace in all aspects of their shared reality: “as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way.” It then proceeds with an extensive and graphic list of paradoxical experiences in which the church at Corinth experienced God’s grace. They have come through divisive times and God has been with them through it all.
Moments after his election, Pope Leo XIV told the world that he wanted to pursue unity, peace, and communion among people in a fragmented world. Given the enormity of this pursuit during these fractured times, I wonder…in what ways am I making space for God’s grace to work in me for the sake of unity, peace, and communion? Am I putting up obstacles or clearing the way?
—Ann Holmquist serves as the Vice President for Mission at Loyola High School of Los Angeles.
Prayer
The Prayer for Courage
Courage comes from the heart
and we are always welcomed by God,
the Heart [Croí]* of all being.
We bear witness to our faith,
knowing that we are called
to live lives of courage,
love and reconciliation
in the ordinary and extraordinary
moments of each day.
We bear witness, too, to our failures
and our complicity in the fractures of our world.
May we be courageous today.
May we learn today.
May we love today.
Amen.
—Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community, by Padraig O Tuama; Canterbury Press, 2017.
Pray with the Pope
Pray with the monthly prayer intentions of the pope.