To me, this week’s first reading means a lot and can definitely teach us a lot, just like all the other readings during the Masses. Generally, I think the reading teaches a very good and useful lesson: that in life, we make a lot of choices and when we make these choices, we should always try and make the best choice or the choice that the Lord would want us to make. The reading teaches us that if we do not choose the best choice and instead, we choose or continue to make the bad or the worst choice, that our choices could have consequences or lead to other things happening to us. Our bad choices could lead to us falling from grace or dying. Another thing that the reading teaches us is we should always turn from our bad choices and start making the right choices. We should do this because our lives will prosper when we choose the right from the wrong. I think this is relevant because we should consider the long-term consequences or effects of our choices when we make them. I think this is shown through the reading when it says “But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, he does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”
To me, this week’s second reading also teaches a lot and we should learn from it. Mainly, the first lesson from the reading that stuck out to me is that we should always try to be more like Christ in many aspects. It teaches us that Christ basically gave himself to us so that he could become like us and one with us and us, one with him. It also says that we should have this same attitude, meaning we should also be willing to give ourselves to other people and to God so that one day, we can be united with God. The first part of this reading tells us the we should have a mindset that has love and is united in heart. The part of this reading that stuck out me is a part of advice or instructions that we should follow as human beings. It tells us that we should not always be worrying about ourselves and to not do anything out of excessive pride in ourselves. Instead of reflecting or thinking about ourselves, it tells us to also tend to others and their needs and that we should be doing this as we honor and respect others.
In a way, I think this part of the reading hints at that we should follow the golden rule, meaning we should always treat others as we would want to be treated because that’s part of what we are meant to do. A quote from the second reading that gives me this idea or way of thinking is “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory, rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others.”