Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We should acknowledge Jesus as first in everything. When we wake up, the first word on our lips should be “Jesus.” Our first activity each day should be praying in the name of Jesus. Before talking to anyone else, we first talk to Him. Before we pick up the phone, answer the doorbell, or put the key in the ignition, Jesus comes first. Before turning on the TV, opening the refrigerator, or pressing a button, Jesus is first. Before we pay any other bills, we pay our tithe. Jesus has the primacy in everything — financially, sexually, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Jesus is “the First and the Last” (Rv 1:17), “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Rv 21:6). Jesus is first chronologically. We seek first His kingdom and give Him prime-time (Mt 6:33). Jesus is first ontologically. “He is before all else that is…the Beginning, the First-Born of the dead” (Col 1:17, 18).

Jesus is God. He is not only Lord, but Lord alone. Therefore, we should love Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, and all our mind (Lk 10:27).