20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
R. O God, let all the nations praise you.
Written by Ashley Appleton
How blessed are we to know God and His goodness? To fear Him, exult Him, and receive His blessings. The thing is, so many don’t. So many of God’s people are wandering aimlessly without His love, guidance, or grace. Whether they chose that, are just ignorant of it, or have turned away temporarily. And yet like the psalm says, “let ALL the nations praise you!”
Personally, I think the greatest gift my parents gave me was the gift of faith because from that faith has flowed every beautiful part of my life. And during the uglier parts, that faith carried me through to the other side. Can you imagine the type of world we’d live in if everyone had that faith? It’s not our job to judge those without faith or those who don’t praise in the same way we do. But it is our job to pray and to be a witness to the beauty of life in Christ. Because when the time comes for God’s judgment, will we be able to say that we did all we could to bring our brothers and sisters to Christ? Or that we just looked out for ourselves. If all the nations should praise God, we have to be aware of our role in making that happen. Our actions, words, choices, relationships, and way of life in general all can make a positive or negative impact on those around us.
And so our role is to live a good and honest and joyful life and, of course, to pray! Pray for those who don’t know God or who have turned away from Him. That they may find their way to God and praise Him and live a life centered around Him!
What can we do to bring this joy to others so that they may be glad, exult and feel His goodness each and every day?
Ashley Appleton is an elementary teacher who lives with her husband and their two (almost three) kids in Wisconsin. A product of Catholic education ending with a degree from St. Norbert College, Ashley and her husband, Paul, love spending time with family & friends, slow nights at home and the simple things like a big bowl of air-popped popcorn! They hope to instill the same values and faith in their family as their parents did in them and spread joy and positivity to all they meet.
Pray with today’s psalm.