Febuary 28th

February 28, 2023
Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Readings: Is 55:10-11/Mt 6:7-15 (225)
Naya Ochoa: Senior
In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. He grabs their attention by
saying, “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of
their many words. Do not be like them.” In saying this, Jesus wants us to ask ourselves: Who or
what do we put our trust in? Do we give into secular humanism of the world and allow it to guide
our lives rather than letting the Holy Spirit guide us? Secular Humanism is the idea that self-
fulfillment can be achieved without the help of God in our lives. God wants us to call upon him
in everything that we do and that we continue to give him time out of our days to build a
relationship with him. We come to Holy Cross, a Catholic school, a school where we have the
opportunity to grow in our faith and build a relationship with God. God wants us to take
advantage of this opportunity, or do we push it away because we think we know what is best for
us? As Jesus said in today’s reading, “the Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
Jesus encourages us to take advantage of this opportunity to grow with him and to carry it
out into our daily lives outside of school and not revert to what society wants us to turn to as
soon as walk outside our school’s gate. In today’s Gospel, Jesus also teaches his disciples the
“Our Father.” This prayer is common but there is a specific line that I would like to focus on:
“As we forgive those who trespass against us.” As we heard yesterday from Elena, she had us
reflect on how important to love our neighbor. Once again, I emphasize what she said and ask
you: How do you treat other people? There are some people that we may not like, and there are
some people that may have hurt us, there are others who may have not been nice to us, or they
annoyed and upset us to the point where you being the nice guy doesn’t seem appreciated. No
one perfect except our Father who is in heaven. But Jesus calls us to forgive and love those who
may have done us wrong, because we are all created in the image and likeness of God, and it is
our Christian mark to forgive just like our Father who is in heaven forgives everyone. By treating
each person with dignity and respecting them even in their wrong, we are choosing to love God
also.