Click here to read the daily readings from the USCCB website. 

Have you ever known someone whose faith and trust in God really makes them stand out in the crowd? They have a sense of peace and tranquility that you notice every time you interact with them. After talking to them, you always feel better about yourself than before you had the conversation.  
 
I had an Aunt like this who has been gone almost 5 years now. Aunt Retta had a way of making you feel like the most important person in the world. She would comfort you when you were down and be your biggest cheerleader when you were up. She made you feel good about yourself and gave you the confidence to face life head on.
 
I was reminded of my Aunt after seeing the 1st reading from today from the prophet Ezekiel. His metaphor about the stream flowing from the temple signifies the Lord’s precense. This stream of life giving water represented the coming transformation that Ezekiel envisioned for his people after the Babylonian exile.
 
The reading from Ezekiel mentions that along the “banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall bear fresh fruit…and their leaves for medicine.”

We have probably all had someone in our lives like my Aunt. They are like the trees on the river bank that Ezekiel described. They are sustained by God’s life-giving water. Their roots of faith are sunk deep in the river bed and they never fail to produce fruit, even in a drought.

As we come together in the Lord’s presence in the Eucharist, let us pray that our roots of faith will grow ever deeper and we produce good fruit today.