Acting like animals

In today’s Gospel (Matthew 10:16-23), our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ warns us to be “be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.”

What does our Lord mean by this? For one thing, the world is a complex and dangerous place and we must be careful, clever, and shrewd in dealing with it, but we must be careful that the cleverness with which we deal with the world not infect our own hearts and consciences: that we retain clarity of faith, purity of heart and simplicity of spirit – "shrewd as serpents and simple as doves", prudent but not rationalizing.

May the Lord Jesus guide us always through the traps and perils of this world by the power of the Holy Spirit.