Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
How Much?

	How much is good enough? How much is too much? How do we know when we’ve given all that is required of us? How do we know when we have been generous enough or faithful enough to please the Lord? How do we know we have done enough to avoid sin? 
	Although I do not for one minute believe that God is sitting up in heaven next to a giant scoreboard keeping a tally of our good and bad deeds, we will be judged at the end of our lives. Today’s second reading provokes self analysis in this regard: “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.” While this may most often be interpreted as becoming a martyr, it also makes me think of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemani. He sweat drops of blood because His whole being resisted the idea of enduring His Passion and Death. 
	How does our body react when we sin? Do we give into temptation so often that we don’t even feel a ping to our conscience? Do we instantly regret what we have done and seek forgiveness from the person we have wronged? Do we look for the next available confession time? Do we let our sins pile up one upon the other and only seek the Sacrament when we can no longer stand it? 
	Our Lord revealed to St. Faustina sheds light on how much our sins hurt His Sacred Heart. If we truly took that to heart, we would flee from sin so much more often. It would become repugnant to us. During the Divine Mercy Novena, we read “bring to me all mankind, especially sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me” (Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska). 
	So let us turn away from sin and instead spread love and joy and truth. Let us set the earth on fire with the blazing love of God! (see today’s Gospel)  
Tami Urcia

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Short Version
How much is good enough? How do we know when we have been generous enough or faithful enough to please the Lord? How do we know we have done enough to avoid sin? 
	Although I do not for one minute believe that God is sitting up in heaven next to a giant scoreboard keeping a tally of our good and bad deeds, we will be judged at the end of our lives. Today’s second reading provokes self analysis in this regard: “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.” 
	How do we react when we sin? Do we give into temptation so often that we don’t even feel a ping to our conscience? Do we instantly regret what we have done and seek forgiveness from the person we have wronged? Do we look for the next available confession time? Do we let our sins pile up one upon the other and only seek the Sacrament when we can no longer stand it? 
	Our Lord revealed to St. Faustina just how much sin hurts His Sacred Heart. If we truly took that to heart, we would flee from sin so much more often. It would become repugnant to us. During the Divine Mercy Novena, we read “bring to me all mankind, especially sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me” (Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska). 
	So let us turn away from sin and instead spread love and joy and truth. Let us set the earth on fire with the blazing love of God! (see today’s Gospel)