Active participation in the Mass, advised Pope St. Pius X, is the indispensable source of the true Christian spirit, how to pray and how to live. The Epistle bids us reflect who you are, "not debtors to the flesh," by which "you shall die"; but "sons of God, joint heirs with Christ," by Whom you shall live.
The Gospel dramatizes this dignity and duty in the parable of the Steward, the meaning of which is "be wise," you children of God; use material treasures so as to make eternal friends; exercise your talents in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, and those whom you help to save will help save you.
Finally, the Offertory assures salvation to the humble, warns the proud of their final humbling. Christianity is not so much a "giving up" but rather an "exchange" of "gifts" (Secret), the human for the Divine, to bring healing to "soul and body" Postcommunion.
Today is Feast Day of St. Dominic of XII-XIII Century France, great preacher who formed the Order of Friars Preachers, who fought the Albigensian heretics, who murdered priests. Pope Innocent III dreamt that the Lateran Basilica was collapsing but held up by the strong shoulders of a friar. St. Dominic was known for purity, and statues of the Saint oftentimes show him holding a lily. He was especially devoted to the Holy Mother of God and the Holy Rosary. Although not commemorated in the Mass using the 1962 book, one can pray to the Saint today for help in maintaining purity and coming closer to Our Holy Mother Mary.