Today's Gospel brings to a close the great discourse known as the Sermon on the Mount, a discourse that began with chapter 5 and ends with chapter 7.

In closing His sermon, Jesus reminds us that to be His disciple it is not enough to simply know the truth and understand it, nor is it enough to simply to be a member of a community that professes Jesus as Lord. Not even the ability to perform deeds of spiritual power is a guarantee that one will be recognized by our Lord. One must, like Jesus Himself, do the will of the Father, and put the words of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount into practice by living them out in everyday life.

Today we celebrate the feast of a great saint whose writings provide us with one of the most important sources of information concerning the beliefs and traditions of the early Church. One of the more famous quotations from his writings often heard reads: "The Glory of God is a human being fully alive." What a beautiful way to state the call that each of us has received to develop all the gifts we have been given by God. It is not enough for us to be "half-alive," dragging through life without having developed our minds and hearts, the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions of our humanity. God delights when we become the creatures He intended us to be - alive and awake to the world, to people, and to the beauty to be found in nature and in all branches of human activity.