Going On A Journey

This summer, in the middle of July, I am planning to go on a trip to a place I've always wanted to go to, Arizona.  I am very excited about the trip and I am already planning what I am going to bring along with me.  I am going to pack my goose down jacket, a heavy sweater, a pair of gloves, a warm hat with fur ear flaps, snow boots, and of course a bunch of those chemical hand warming packs. I am going to need my bowling ball, a dozen dead batteries, a paper cup with a hole in the bottom of it and a fistful of pens that don't write.  With all of these things, I will be ready for my trip. I can hardly wait to go! What do you mean that the stuff I am going to take is not appropriate or useful for the journey? Oh, I know it is hot in Arizona in July but these are my favorite things, the things I feel comfortable with, I want to take them all with me!  

Okay, so I am not really going to Arizona this July and I certainly would not be taking that ridiculous list of things with me if I were going there in one of the hottest months of the year. The point I am trying to make is that very often when it comes to packing for our heavenly journey, we pack the wrong things. 

Our life is a journey from the day of our birth to the day of our death.  Along the way, we pick up things to sustain us on the journey.  Some of the things we choose to carry are things that will help us while other things will most definitely hinder us.  Most of us plan more carefully for our retirement, an event that may last twenty years or so but we fail to plan carefully for our journey to heaven which will last forever.  

The problem all of us face is how to determine what to bring with us.  First of all, we have to consider the amount of luggage space we will have.  For the sake of argument, I quantify that space as the size of your heart. So, immediately we have a problem.  That is not a whole lot of space so we will have to fill it carefully.  If we place prejudice in our heart, there will be no room for love.  If we attempt to place a bit of retribution in, the forgiveness won't fit. Stuff in some anger and the joy will have to be left out for want of room.  You see where this is going I assume. 

Sometimes, the secular world can give us a hint about the eternal world.  The song The Gambler by Kenny Rogers is an example of this.  In the song, the gambler states, "Every gambler knows, that the secret to surviving is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep."  This is true for us in the spiritual realm and is probably more important for us because a gambler is vying for something that will soon crumble into dust.  We, on the other hand, are looking for things that will be useful for the journey to our eternal destination. 

We need to be very selective in what we pack. The things we put in our suitcase should be able to pass one test.  Does the item help or hinder us in following the instructions of Jesus "to love one another as I loved you?"  The wonderful thing about our spiritual suitcase is that it will expand to accommodate all of the things that will help us.  So, this week, as you go through the mundane tasks of your life, tend to your packing for your eternal journey by placing a lot of joy, peace, and love into your suitcase by looking for ways to serve others even in the smallest of ways.  Mother Teresa gives us a hint on how to do this; Do small things with great love. 

Are Protestants Really Christians?

©1985 by Jack T. Chick LLC
Used in this blog under the fair use clause

Okay, buckle your seatbelts, helmets and eye protection is recommended because we are about to descend into the murky anti-Catholic world of Jack Chick.  Don't worry, we are not going to hang with him long because quite honestly both your and my time is too valuable to listen for long to the nonsense he prints in his tracts. In this gem, he patiently goes through the life of a Catholic girl and comes up with reasons that although she is a Catholic, she is not a Christian. Here is a brief summary of what he says:

• She is not a Christian because she was baptized as a baby.
• She is a citizen of two countries, the USA and the Vatican.
• She goes to confession which he says is not Biblical.
• He casts doubt on priests, nuns, monks and says that these are not mentioned in the Bible.  Then again, neither is the Trinity nor is there any mention of a pastor. 
• He rejects the Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in spite of the Biblical evidence in the Gospel of John. 
• Jack then condemns the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and says that the Catholic girl is hell bound because she was never "saved." 
• Next, he accuses Catholics of worshipping Mary. He states that our affection for Mary is caused by a devilish plot to take our eyes off of Jesus. 
• Finally, he says that what we should do is to pray his version of the sinner's prayer, can't find that in the Bible, but he is okay with that and we should reject the Catholic Church as the whore of Babylon. 

Good Grief!  Let's rise up out of this muck and mire and get back to the clean world!  Jack and his poison pen are tools of the devil.  It is very sad but some Catholics can be pulled away from the Church because they are not well-grounded in the truths of the faith.  It is a sad thing in this day and age that otherwise intelligent men and women do not take an interest in learning about their faith. But that is a subject for another post.  I want to tackle the question that forms the title of this post, "Are Protestants Really Christian?"

In the Bible, we are granted something amazing.  We are privy to a conversation between Jesus and God the Father.  Jesus pours his heart out to God. In this prayer, he prays that all be unified even as He and the Father are unified. At this very meal, he made it possible for us to be one with Him when He instituted the Holy Eucharist.  For over fifteen-hundred years there was no doubt about what the Eucharist was. It was believed by all Christians that it was the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. It is this sacred meal that makes us one.  Most Protestant denominations do not believe in the True Presence, they see the bread and wine (they use crackers and grape juice) as mere symbols that have no meaning outside of a memorial to Christ. The unity conferred by the Eucharist is therefore broken between the Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations.  But does this take away their birthright to be called Christian? 

Martin Luther did have a good reason for being upset at some of the practices that were going around in the sixteenth century.  The sale of indulgences by a minority of clergy was abhorrent and took something that is good, holy, and part of the treasury of faith administered by the Church and put it into a bad light. Protest against this was a righteous act and Martin Luther was right to condemn it.  However, Martin strayed into sin when he decided that it was his way or the highway.  He did no favors for the world by striking out and forming a new church. He was culpable for the sin of schism. Those that followed him away from the church also sinned by association. Once broken the unity of the Church started to run like an old sock. Today we have thousands and thousands of denominations of Christians that are not in full communion with the Catholic Church, the Church founded by Christ which is the vehicle that will help us attain salvation. 

Are the people that meet in the Baptist Church down the street or the Presbyterian Church on the next block, are they Christians?  After all, they worship outside of the unity that Christ prayed for and their forefathers sinfully split the Church asunder so can they be considered Christians?  Without a validly ordained clergy can these thousands of offshoots have any claim on being Christian? 

The answer, of course, is yes.  Those of us that call Jesus, Lord, are brothers and sisters in the Lord.  Unlike the dreary world of Jack Chick, the Catholic Church does not impute guilt to those, through no fault of their own, are born into a different Christian tradition.ey are in fact our brothers and sisters in the Lord.  They do not carry the burden of the sin of schism on their souls.  The fact is, many of our separated brothers and sisters love the Lord more than we do.  Many of them model their lives more directly akin to that of Christ than some of those born into the Catholic faith.  So, we must pray that someday, and that day may not be until the return of Jesus, that all will be one again.  The fact is simple, there will be one flock and one Shepherd.  

What about Catholics that are ripped from union with the Church by fundamentalist evangelists?  I, for one, cannot fathom why one would leave the Eucharist for the Book. The Bible is an important way to meet Christ and it is said that ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. The fact is that people who leave the Catholic Church do so because they are not well grounded in their faith.  Every Monday night I watch a show on EWTN called "The Journey Home."  This show features former Protestants, former atheists, reverted Catholics all sharing their testimony and prove that all spiritual roads lead to the Catholic Church.  I am not qualified to say whether or not these poor people have sinned in leaving the Chruch. Perhaps it is a situation similar to the act of suicide.  In old days the souls of a suicide were consigned to hell. Today we have a better appreciation for the complexities of the human mind and very often the person doing away with himself is not able to fully consent to the act because of mental disturbance and therefore has not committed a mortal sin.  A Catholic kidnapped by the honey-laced words of an evangelical is in a similar situation.  He is unable to defend his faith because he does not have the requisite knowledge. I do not believe that our God who knows what is in our hearts would reject the hijacked should because of the soul's ignorance of Catholic doctrine.  

Finally, I do believe that there are people out there that would do anything to bring down the Catholic Church. I do not fear them because their mission is doomed to fail.  The Jack Chick's of the world base their teaching on hate and discord and it shall never, ever, prevail.  We as Catholics have a duty to remember that all that profess the name of Jesus as savior are brothers and sisters in the Lord.  We as Catholics have a duty to be willing to defend the Church from those who wish it ill.  We as Catholics have a duty to work towards the unity and brotherhood of all in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We as Catholics have a duty to learn about our faith and safeguard it as the treasure it really is.  We have the duty to evangelize our separated brothers and sister while respecting them as kindred spirits. 

Live Truth - Live Catholic. 

What Do You Think?

Goodness Gracious it is good to be a Catholic!  Why?  Well, I am glad that you asked.  It is because I am Catholic I do not have to really think about the following stumpers. 

1. If Sola Scriptura is really true, please show me where it is taught in the Bible.  Search high and low, through the Old Testament, through the New Testament, and you will not find it mentioned.  So, Sola Scriptura is not scriptural. As a Catholic, we know that God's truth is found both in the Bible and in Sacred Tradition. I can depend as a Catholic, that my Church will not teach error. 

2. If the message of the Bible is so simple that anyone can read it and interpret the truth it contains on their own because the Holy Spirit will guide them, then why don't all of the Protestant denominations believe the same things?  As a Catholic, I can depend on my Church to tell me exactly what a particular passage means and how to incorporate it into my life.  The Church bases her teaching on Sacred Tradition of which the Bible is part of, plus all of the truths that have been passed down through the ages, especially from the Church Fathers who lived in the early centuries of the Church. 

3. Protestants of an earlier generation recognized abortion as the murder of innocent life.  Today, many of the denominations fight for the right for a mother to murder her unborn child.  This change in belief usually comes from a synod where the matter is voted upon and the side with fifty point one percent of the votes wins and thus truth is changed by a simple majority. How very democratic.  Catholics have not forgotten that the Kingdom of God is just that, a kingdom. We have no right to change the truths taught by Christ, as it is His Church and his Kingdom.  As a Catholic, I can depend on the fact that our doctrines have not changed, that they are the same things that we have believed from the beginning.  The Holy Spirit protects the Catholic Church and keeps its teachings pure. 

4.  I find the belief of "once saved, always saved" a curious belief at best when you extrapolate what that means as far as it can go. For example, let's say one day I decided to be saved. I have an evangelical friend who leads me through the "sinner's prayer" and I accept Jesus into my heart as personal Lord and Savior. He tells me that is all I need to do to secure a place in heaven, I am saved. He tells me that my place in eternity, real estate bought by the blood of Jesus on Calvary is mine forever.  My name has been inscribed in the Lamb's Book of Life, never to be effaced.    I smile and thank him.  I then ask him if I can continue to go to the Catholic Church?  He says, "Oh no, you have to quit the Catholic Church and go to my Church of What's Happening Now."  So, I tell him that actually being saved is not actually enough. I need to be saved AND I need to go to his church. I go one more step, I ask, "What if I rob a bank and kill the teller, will I still get into heaven even if I was not sorry for it and did not repent of it?"  He tells me that I have to repent, so now to get into heaven I have to; accept Jesus, Quit the Catholic Church and join a Protestant church, and finally, I have to repent. If I miss even one of these steps, I guess my name would be erased from the Lamb's Book of Life. It would seem that once saved always saved does not quite work out. This doctrine fails to take into account God's justice. Of course, once saved, always saved is put to rest by Jesus Himself. We can see how he views this teaching if we read this in the Bible in the tale of the sheep and the goats in Matthew Chapter 25.

I am not pointing these things out because I think that only Catholics go to heaven.  The people born into other denominations are NOT guilty of the sin of schism.  That sin was committed by the so-called reformers who broke the unity that Christ wanted for us as stated at the Last Supper.  The people born into other denominations are guiltless of the sin of separation. They are brothers and sisters in the Lord, they are just not in full communion with the Catholic Church, the church that Christ established on earth. Many of them love the Lord and follow His teachings in their everyday life.  God will not turn them away.  

The Mercy of God is for Everyone.  For me, I prefer to live the way of a Catholic.  As they say on EWTN, the Catholic Cable Channel,  Live Truth, Live Catholic! 

It Does Not Make Sense

Sometimes things happen that defy explanation. Two dear friends of mine experienced a tragic loss of a family member this past week.  It happened in the worst way you could imagine. The man was felled by a blow delivered by one whom he loved. Illicit drugs were involved but that does not make this event any less sad. My friends watched the man grow up and as a matter of fact, she and her husband were legal guardians for a time when the man was but a boy.  So this event hurt these two fine Catholic Christian people to their very core. 

When something like this happens, you have to ask the simple question of why.  There is no answer to the question.  It is beyond what we can know. 

I pray for Arden and Jack that their loss may me mitigated by the thought that the man is now in the hands of God and that he will rest in peace, safe forever from the ravages of drugs.  

In this Easter season we have to remind ourselves that for a Christian, life is not ended, just changed.  God bless you my dear friends, if there is anything I can do, just ask.   

Michael 

Easter - We Are Risen !

When I was in High School, I was fortunate to have as my public speaking teacher a man by the name of Mr. Cassidy. He was the designer of the Ho-Hum Outline.  It was a guaranteed method of creating a speech that would keep your audience's attention.  One of the steps is Ho Hum, thus the clever name!  This step is to engage your listeners so as to get them to buy into the fact that you are worth listening to.  I mention him because I know if you've been to church either for the Easter Vigil last night or at one of the masses today you probably have heard the words, "Easter People." You probably heard how we are the Easter People and how Jesus rose from the dead.  But did you really consider what this means for you, personally? 

We all will die someday.  The thought of death is one we push out of our mind.  As a matter of fact, death is something that happens to someone else, not to me.  We go to a funeral and in America most often we gaze at the body of the guest of honor, we offer our condolences to the bereaved family.  Our next task is, if possible, to get the heck out of there as soon as possible. The body in the casket hits too close to home, we know that someday that we will be the one that is getting a grand send off.  That day is coming all too soon and we do not want to be reminded of it.  Personally, what I do not like about this death thing is the fact that when I am busy taking my last breaths, the world will be continuing without a thought about what is happening to me.  It is this continuance of routine that really offends me.  I can accept the fact that all of my "stuff" will pass either to another person or end up in a landfill somewhere, I have no problem with that.  I just think that while I am dying, should there be a family celebrating a birthday? Should another family be leaving on a Disney Cruise?  Should my neighbor treat the day as just another work day?  I know that this sounds very silly and self-centered, but hey, that is what is inside of me. 

The messy death of Jesus would have meant very little if that is where the story of Jesus ended. We know not only did it not end there but that His story is never ending. He took upon Himself all of our sins.  He turned our disobedience into obedience. He then did something that no other man had done.  He rose from the dead in a body that people could recognize.  The one who was dead was now alive.  Now, while Jesus was on the cross, the temple crew that was standing nearby mocked Him by saying, "He helped others, He cannot help Himself!"  On the third day, He proved them wrong by rising from the dead.  He stayed on earth another forty days.  He ate with the apostles.  He walked to Emmaus.  He forgave Peter.  He removed the doubt from doubting Thomas. Then he physically rose up to heaven and lives there at the right hand of God. 

What He did, we also will do.  On that Easter morning when the angel rolled away the stone he defeated the final enemy of the human race, death.  When we die, we will immediately be judged. We will choose our destiny, heaven, purgatory, or hell depending on how we lived our life here on earth.  Heaven will be a place of complete joy and happiness.  There will be no sorrow, not a bit of discord or hate.  We will recognize our family and our friends.  We will know people we did not know on earth.  We will be with the saints we prayed to and we will know t the complete love of God.  If we juge ourselves to be not ready we will choose to go to purgatory to prepare ourselves to be received by God. There will be intense joy and intense suffering in purgatory.  The suffering in purgatory will be the fact we are separated from God.  The intense joy will be the knowledge that we will soon be joining Him in heaven.  If we choose hell, I am afraid that there would be no turning back.  The fires of hell are forever and there is no hope of seeing God.  But then again, those that go there made their choice here in life when they turned their backs on God and lived according to their own desires.  The pains of hell are enhanced by the knowledge that the darkness of the loss of God is for eternity. 

The Rising of Jesus from the dead means that we too will rise from the grave.  We too will have a glorified body that will be assumed into heaven. On the last day, that which was subject to corruption will be restored.  The sea will give up her dead, graves will open and all of us will be finally judged and in our new, perfected, glorified bodies will be taken to heaven. 

This is what being an Easter People means.  Death, while still inevitable, looses its power over us and together we will join the angels and saints in heaven. Being an Easter People, we no longer fear death as for us, life is not ended, it is just changed.  Now, does that mean we should do everything possible to hasten our death? No of course not.  Each of us, man, woman, boy, or girl, have a mission on earth, a job that no one else in the universe can do and we have to do it.  Our life is a precious gift that was given to us by a loving and caring God.  All God asks of us is that we try, we may not always succeed.  I am in a choir at my church.  I have the devil of a time reading music, but our leader just asks that we try.  Over the years I have gotten better.  God asks us to try, to work to improving.  We will never be perfect and God knows this.  This is why He has provided us with the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Not so that we can sin with impunity but we can reflect and repent and come back into fellowship with Him when we see the error of our ways and He for His part will always welcome us back.  

Death, oh death, where is thy sting?  

Easter Vigil Saturday

A short entry today.  

Tonight, all over the world, congregations of Catholic Christians will come together to celebrate The Easter Vigil.  It is the most solemn and joyous celebration of the year. It begins with the lighting of the new fire which chases away the darkness. We then hear the stories of salvation history.  It is at this mass that newcomers are welcomed into the Church.  I will have a lot to say about Easter but will save that for tomorrow's entry. 

Today I beg you to please pray for peace.  The situation on the Korean peninsula is getting very tense. Pray that the tensions can be resolved without the shedding of blood. 

Good Friday - The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Jose climbed down the rickety ladder.  The coyote, who had taken his last dollar, assured him that this was the safest way to get into the United States.  The empty tank car was never checked by the border patrol.  When he reached the bottom of the tank, the coyote dropped the paper bag that contained all of Jose's  worldly possessions, a pair of pants, some underwear and socks and an old Bible that was all he had left of his old life.  As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of his temporary shelter he saw that he was not alone.  There were twelve others including two young children and a very old man. The coyote called out and threw down two flashlights and a couple of gallon jugs of water.  Then the shaft of light disappeared from the opening as they heard the hatch close and lock. Jose clicked on the flashlight and played the dim beam around the tank. It was getting hot. The twelve other people had sat down and he could see them each with a rosary in their hands.  He remembered the prayers from his youth and he moved nearer to them and joined in.  He had not prayed for years.  A week later the empty tank car was opened by the border guards for inspection after it had crossed into the United States and the thirteen immigrants were found dead, dehydrated, with two flashlights and two empty gallon jugs beside them.  The Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these.  

Simar turned his head and looked at the young nun dressed in white and blue. He was burning up with fever and the nun wiped his brow and smiled at him. When she found Samir on the street she had summoned an ambulance and when the driver said that no hospital would accept this dirty beggar, she told him where to take the man. The driver took pity on the nun and with her help, he loaded the stinking drug addict into the ambulance and brought her to the nun's makeshift hospice.  He helped her unload the man and to bring him inside. He then turned his back and left the hospice.  The nun called one of the volunteers and together they removed the beggar's rags and tenderly bathed him with warm water and scented soap.  They carefully dressed him in new pajamas that had been donated to the hospice and laid him on clean sheets on a soft mattress. Simar had not felt a soft mattress in years. Tears formed in his eyes and flooded down his cheeks. He had lived on the street like a dog, but he would die like a man.  The Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these. 

Jerry had beaten her. She looked in the mirror.  The face that looked back at her was a mass of bruises and cuts. The neighbors had heard the commotion and had called the police.  They came and although Hilda said she did not want to press charges, Jerry sucker punched one of the policemen and the other cop shot him with a taser that took him down to the ground.  The cops said told her that he was now under arrest for assaulting an officer and there would be no point in trying to bail him out because they were going to see to it that he would miss night court. They also told her that there was a good chance that Jerry would be going to jail for awhile because he had committed a felony.  They took him away and Hilda felt very alone. The policemen gave her a card with a phone number on it, it was a shelter for abused women.  They told her that they could help.  She called the number and the shelter came and helped her pack some things and took her in.  She was beginning a new life.  The Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these. 

Jay and Jill were brother and sister, twins as a matter of fact.  They had a wonderful home life, got good grades in school, and they got along with each other.  Today was Good Friday and they were going through their possessions and carefully selecting things that they would be donating to the poor.  They went through their toys and each of them chose not only things that they did not play with anymore, but at least one of their newer, favorite toys to give to another child who had nothing new to play with.  They listened carefully to the story of Jesus and how he sacrificed His life for them and they wanted to make a sacrifice to show how thankful they were for what He did for them.  The Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these. 

Anna sat looking out the window, not that there was much to see. But she could not get around like she used to and the window was her only connection to the world.  She longed to hear from her son and two daughters but they did not call. To say she was lonely would certainly be an understatement. Her arthritic arm reached to the table and picked up her Bible.  She opened and began to read. The doorbell rang. She looked at her watch.  It was eleven o'clock already.  She stood up on shaky legs and slowly walked to the door.  She looked through the peephole and saw it was David!  She opened the door and David smiled at her as he brought in her lunch. Usually, he just brought in the lunch and left but today he asked if he could stay and visit for awhile. With a twinkle and a tear in her eye, she said yes.  The Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these.  

All of these stories profile Jesus on the Cross. We speak of the passion of Jesus.  His death on the cross was meant to be an example to us. He had a passion for people and He is calling us to have that same kind of passion. The story of His death on the cross is well known to all Christians.  The passion of Christ sometimes escapes our notice due to the drama of the story.  May the passion of the Christ of the Lord inflame you this day as you meditate on what this day means to you.  Remember, your mother, father, sisters, brothers, your boss, your enemies, the Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these. 

Tuesday of Holy Week - Betrayal

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,

"Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."

I don't think that there is anything more painful to the human heart than an act of betrayal.  What makes betrayal so painful is that it is an act of a friend.  A person who does not know you cannot betray you. We all have been the victim of betrayal in our lives.  When I was a seventh grader, my friend Dennis and I went over to McKinley Park, a beautiful place when I was a kid, it was filled with bicycle paths, playgrounds, and a lagoon that you could actually catch fish at. This, of course, was in warm weather.  My friend and I were going to the park on a day when only fools and idiots were out of doors as it was very cold. We had a purpose in mind.  The cold snap would have frozen the lagoon solid and we wanted to take some time to explore the three islands that were on this man-made lake.  And so we did.  It turned out that these three little islands were nothing very special, a fact which we took note of and started to use the ice for its native purpose, sliding.  All in all, it was a lot of fun for a couple young boys on a cold and blustery Chicago winter weekend.  At one end of the park was the "inlet" that kept the water fresh.  The inlet was not a spring, it was a pipe that poured fresh Lake Michigan water into the lagoon to prevent it from becoming a stinking swamp in the summer months.  We gravitated towards this pipe because even though it was freezing cold, there were six feet of liquid water surrounding the pipe.  We got to the edge of the ice and my friend pointed at something and I bent low to see what it was.  The next thing I knew I was under the water. The icy water made me gasp and I was out air quickly.  God was with me at that moment because I did not panic and thrash about so I stayed near the hole.  I remember seeing the ice from the bottom with the weak sunlight lighting it up.  I struggled and pushed myself up and my friend's arm pulled me out and deposited me on the ice like a walrus.  I began immediately to shiver. My friend found it all hilarious and called me a clumsy oaf.  My lips were blue and I knew I could not walk the two miles back to my home but luckily my Uncle John lived not too far from the park.  My friend said he had to go home and turned and left me shivering and freezing to death on the ice.  I trudged off the ice and walked to my uncle's house which, luckily, was only two blocks away. My uncle provided me with warm clothes and hot chocolate and called his brother to come and pick me up.  Later, I learned that my friend, Dennis, was bragging and laughing about how foolish I looked after he pushed me into the lagoon.  That was the first time in my life I felt betrayed and it hurt. It hurt badly.  If you think back, I am sure that you will remember a time when a friend turned on you.  How did it feel? 

Judas Iscariot was a friend of Jesus. He was one of the twelve picked to be His special friends, His Apostles.  These would be the men He entrusted his kingdom, his Church on earth to.  Judas was an important Apostle. He had charge of the money.  He saw to needed purchases and made sure that the charity people offered were put to good use.  He may have also kept a bit for himself, at least there were suspicions that he did so but Jesus did nothing when it was brought to His attention.  This emboldened Judas and he began to think that if he could get away with stealing from the common purse, then how could Jesus be the Messiah, the Son of God?  Judas could see the writing on the wall.  He could tell that the Pharisees were baiting Jesus and were just waiting for him to make a single wrong step. If Jesus were to be arrested, so would anyone close to him unless that person had a special relationship with the high priest.  Judas decided to sell Jesus to His enemies.  Of course, once Jesus was arrested he could keep the common purse because it was money belonging to a criminal.  Inwardly, Judas was delighted with his plan.  Outwardly he continued to pretend that he was a faithful follower of Jesus.  When the time came, he received all that he had hoped for. He got the donations, he got thirty pieces of silver, the cost of an unskilled slave, and he was immune from prosecution because he had turned Jesus in.  In the end, he realized his betrayal cost him a lot more than he had received.  He could have asked Jesus for forgiveness and he would be forgiven.  Instead, he gave in to despair and committed suicide.

We all like to think that had we been around in the time of Jesus we would have been faithful followers of Christ. Back then, being a Christian brought with it dangers of death. Would we have become martyrs for our faith of would we have offered incense to the emperor's statue? 

Today, in America, we do not risk death for being a follower of Christ. But are we afraid to show we are Christians?  The America we live in is hostile to Christian ways. We can lose friends and esteem if we point out things that are wrong.  But if we fail to do this we are just like Judas in that we are trying to make friends with those who are in power who may hate Jesus and His Church. We cannot choose to be an undercover Christian. To do so would be a betrayal that would make Judas's betrayal seem mild in comparison. 

As we approach the end of our Lenten journey, let us look at where we have missed the mark, where we have sinned.  Forgiveness is just one reception of the sacrament of Reconciliation away.  If you haven't been to it in years, so what?  Tell the priest and he will help you along.  Our sins are betrayals of the One that loves us. We can ignore them and sign on to follow the world or we can face them, confess them, and receive forgiveness.  We can be Judas who betrayed and died or we can be Peter who betrayed and lived.  The choice is up to us. 

Lent - Palm Sunday - Irony

When Pilate saw that he was not succeeding at all, 

but that a riot was breaking out instead, 

he took water and washed his hands in the sight of the crowd,

saying,

"I am innocent of this man's blood.

Look to it yourselves."

And the whole people said in reply, 

"His blood be upon us and upon our children."

There was a lot of innocence being proclaimed here.  Both of the parties doing the proclaiming were far from being innocent.  Pilate, what a wimp he was. Earlier, he had found Jesus innocent.  Pilate at that moment should have simply ordered Jesus to be freed and he should have given a hard glaring look at the crowd and with all of the dignity of a Roman Procurator he simply should have walked away.  Instead, he reopens the case.  The Temple gang keeps insisting that Jesus is a criminal and deserves to die.  Pilate keeps trying to release him, especially once his wife sends word that she had a dream about Jesus and advised Pilate not to have anything to do with Jesus as he was an innocent man.  Eventually, Pilate is backed into a corner and he, the Roman Procurator, employs a Greek procedure and while washing his hands proclaims that he is innocent of shedding this man's innocent blood.  The rabble from the temple yells back that his blood is on them and their children.  This was simply saying that they felt no guilt about condemning this man because they knew he was guilty.

I say that this last saying, about the blood being on them and upon their children, is just what Jesus had in mind for the events of this day.  In history, these words said by the Jews on this fateful Friday were used to begin persecutions of the Jews by making it seem that they, and they alone, were responsible for putting Jesus on the cross. Nothing could be further from the truth.  Jesus came into the world to die on that cross, for our sins, and so that we might live forever in heaven.  The blood of Jesus flowed that day on every man, woman, and child that was there. His blood flows down to every generation, cleaning them and making them fit for heaven. To God, there is no Jew or Gentile any longer.  We all are washed by the blood of the lamb.  

We like to think of ourselves as being different from the delegation from the temple there in Pilates courtyard that day.  We like to think that we would have yelled for Jesus to be freed.  Is that really an honest assessment?  The truth is that most likely we would not have known what was going on and would not have been there at all.  If in fact, we were with the crowd, which side would we have been on?  

I propose that what the Jews said that day turned into a prophecy that came true.  The blood of Jesus was poured on them and it has flowed to each generation since that first one. That was what the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ was all about. 

 

Lent - A Flash of Lightning - A sign of things to come

"You know nothing,

nor do you consider that it is better for you

that one man should die instead of the people, 

so that the whole nation may not perish."

The wind was blowing from the east. The clouds obscured the stars that normally twinkled their messages in a code that is unfamiliar to us. The heat was oppressive but the wind held the smell of coming rain. All of these signs tell us that a storm is coming. 

In the Gospel reading for this Saturday before Palm Sunday, the high priest shows why he is the high priest.  The Romans were unusually kind to the Jews. They allowed them to practice their religion, they did not require them to sacrifice to the genius of the emperor. All of the other peoples that they conquered had to do this as a matter of course.  As a matter of fact, one way a politician could be sure that his career would be a short one would be to stir the Jews up so that they rioted.  Pilate, a very mediocre governor at best, knew this as did Caiaphas the high priest.  Just so the Jews remembered who was in charge, the Romans held the priestly garments that had to be worn when the high priest was going to enter the Holy of Holies.  The high priest would have to go to Pilate and ask to use the garments.  Pilate would not refuse, but, the fact that they had to be asked for served as a reminder to the Jews that they were what might be called "free slaves."  They were free to practice their religion as long as it served the need of the empire to allow them to do so. 

Besides fig and olive trees, Palestine had a whole lot of messiahs appearing at this time.  Jesus was one of many at the time.  Normally, these so-called messiahs could be tripped up and deported out of Jerusalem with donkey dung in their beards, by just a few questions posed by the Pharisees or failing that, if a messiah got too troublesome, the Romans would be pressed into service and the pseudo-messiah would soon find himself preaching in the mines or decorating a cross.   

Jesus was different. He did not preach revolt against the Romans, as a matter of fact, he counseled the people to give to Caesar what was his.  He would not be tripped up by the Pharisees, and some of them were masters at the game. Jesus also did things that could not be readily explained.  He cured a man that had been born blind, unheard of!  He also fed thousands on just a few fish and crusts of bread.  This man was dangerous because the people, the great unwashed, not those that worked for God in the Temple, were finding this man to be a credible Messiah.  The messiah was thought by some to become a leader that would throw the Romans out of Israel, an idea that the emperor would hardly approve of. 

With the kind of support Jesus could bring to bear, he was a threat to the peace. Pilate had no love for the Jews and would like nothing better than an insurrection with a sword carrying messiah at its head that he could crush with impunity.  As a matter of course, should this happen, the temple would be destroyed and the priesthood of Yahweh would disappear and be no more.  

The High Priest knew these things.  He could see the big picture here.  Jesus had to go and so the plot to not only trip him up but to kill him began in earnest. He told his assistants that it is better for one man to die for the nation than for the nation to disappear. 

Enter our friend Judas.  Judas was never really accepted by the other apostles.  Judas controlled the purse strings and was always complaining about how much was being spent.  He too could see that those in power were bent on neutralizing the threat that Jesus was.  He saw a way here to both make a little bit of money and to win favor from the high priest and his friends.  Judas went to them and offered to give Jesus up at a time and a place where the crowd would not see, important because the Temple did not want to have a riot on their hands.  

So now, the stage is set.  In a little less than a week, Jesus would be arrested, tried at night, a violation of the law, be found guilty and condemned to death.  Judas would receive his thirty pieces of silver, the price of an unskilled slave. Judas, the traitor, who was feeling very guilty over his betrayal and despairing of God's mercy, would go out into the darkness, which was his only friend and by his own hand precede the Messiah in death. 

Tomorrow, while you are listening to the Passion of Christ, keep this background material in mind.  Watch how the parts all fall together from the arrest in the olive garden, through the various trials, through the torture until Jesus cries out in a loud voice, "It is finished."  Watch the players in this drama.  If you pay attention, you will garner a greater respect and awe at what Christ did for you on that terrible yet wonderful day.  

Lent - The Big Bang Theory

"If God were your Father, you would love me,

for I came from God and am here;

I did not come on my own, but he sent me."

I have to tell you that I am very concerned about the situation we find the world in on this nasty, cold, rainy, windy day.   It is not the lack of bright sunshine that bothers me because I know that above the clouds the sun is shining brightly.  I am concerned because of a little rotund man in North Korea, who is going through life with only seven of his eight cylinders firing in his brain box.  I am also concerned of a despot in Syria who has decided the time to come to murder his people with sarin gas.  I am concerned because of a godless ex-KGB man who sits in Moscow pulling strings here and there simply to increase world tension.  I am concerned because I have a singular lack of trust in our president and his government. It is a scary time.  Events could even as I am writing this, could come to a head and missiles capped with nuclear warheads could start something that no man could stop.   It would be the Big Bang all over again except with us in the middle. 

If it were not for my faith in God I think I would be in a state of depression right now because I know how inhumane man can be to other humans.  But I know that above these dark and scary clouds we have a God that loves us.  We have a home where we will be happy forever.  No matter what, we will live in the bright sunlight.  Praise you, Jesus.  Your Sacred Heart beats a song of love for us.  With you, at our side, we will stand firm.  With you, we will live forever. 

Lent - Dodging The Stone Throwers

Monday's readings were about justice and judgment.  We have as our Old Testament story a tale that could have been ripped from today's Six O'clock News report.  Susanna was a beautiful girl. Two dirty old men, politicians who held the power of life and death over the people of Israel, fell madly in lust with her.  They waited until all of her servants had left the garden and the entered and closed the door so no one could see what was going on.  They then made her an offer that she could not refuse. They told her that she had to make horizontal hokey pokey with them or else they would accuse her of adultery, which of course, carried the death penalty.  She had been brought up to be a follower of the Law of Moses and she told them that she would rather die than to offend the Lord. Sure enough, they accused her of adultery and the crowd descended on her and was dragging her away to stone her.  Daniel yelled for them to stop and he said it was not right to execute a person without proof.  He proceeded to grill the two politicians, separately and got to the truth of the matter. The two old lecherous politicians got what the Law of Moses prescribed, they received the penalty they attempted to railroad Susanna into and were led away for execution.  

Our Gospel story is of the woman caught in adultery.  This woman was caught in the arms of her lover and righteous indignation infected the crowd.  I always thought it took two to play the game, so I wonder where the offending man was hiding.  Anyway, this all too human woman was being dragged out to meet the fate spelled out for those that committed this offense.  Those that were out to get Jesus saw a way to trap Him into saying something that they could use against Him.  They dragged the woman before Jesus and asked Him what should they do?  They pointed out that the Law of Moses specifies death to be the award for this offense.  

Now, Jesus was in a pickle here. If he said that she should be killed, He would have a hand in her death and all the talk about love, mercy, and forgiveness would sound like so much prattle. On the other hand, if He said to forgive her, well, then He is running counter to the Law of Moses and therefore would be proving Himself to be a charlatan and a fake. Jesus did not rush to judgment.  He bent down and started writing in the dust.  The suspense started to build.  His enemies thought that they had Him now!  He looked up from what he was doing and told them that the one that was without sin should cast the first stone.  He bent back down and continued scribbling in the dirt.  One by one, starting with the elders of the temple, they turned and walked away.    Soon, it was just Jesus and the woman, alone. He stood her up and asked her where her accusers went?  She told them they were all gone. Then Jesus smiled at the woman and told her to leave and to commit this sin no more.  He had given her the forgiveness of God.

What great parables these two stories are. In both we see the power of the law and the law being tempered by God's mercy. Susanna was saved because she put not offending God at the top of her list of things to do while the woman caught in adultery was saved from her sins by the direct action of the mercy of God.  Jesus did not gloss over her sin, rather, He made her confront it head on and deal with it but in the end, mercy triumphed over justice.

We live today in a time of mercy. Our Lord has announced through Sister Faustina that mercy is available to those that want it.  The gentle hand of God calls us to His side.  He wants us to tell Him what we need the most in our life. For me, I need His friendship and I need His forgiveness.  I am not the twenty-something kid that ran roughshod over his laws.  I grew a large crop of wild oats. As a Catholic, I have an opportunity to receive this forgiveness in the sacrament of confession. In this sacrament, we do not gloss over the symptoms of our illness.  We get straight to the point and through the priest acting in persona Christi, we receive the forgiveness of God and of His Church. 

If you haven't been to confession recently, think about going before we celebrate the joyous feast of Easter. If you go to confession often, make this one special. Pretend that you haven't been to confession in a while and spend some time making a full examination of your conscience.  Bring it all to Jesus.  Lay the burden down, it is too heavy for you to carry. Remember, today is the day of mercy. I do not mean to scare you but when Jesus comes, he will bring justice with Him.  

Better mercy today than justice tomorrow. 

Lent - Did the undertaker give a refund?

The story of the raising of Lazarus in this week's Gospel is a familiar tale to all Christians. Remember that Lazarus was in the grave for four days. A four-day-old corpse was dead indeed! Jesus had heard of his friend’s plight well before the tragedy of death struck Lazarus down. Yet, Jesus did nothing, he allowed his friend to die. He then went to the sisters and they professed faith that God would do anything Jesus asked him to. It was a touching demonstration of faith and yet when Jesus ordered the rock to be removed from the tomb Martha showed how little faith she really had when she said, “He has been dead four days, surely there will be a stench.” Then, when the rock was rolled away, Jesus commanded Lazarus to “Come Out.” And out he came, all wrapped up in his burial ensemble. His friends, filled with wonder and awe, untied him and he went home. 

How do you think Lazarus felt? Had he been to heaven? Was he happy to be back on earth? The Gospel is silent on this but if it was me and I was called back from the bliss of heaven, I would be ticked off, to say the least!  But here is a question.  How do we know that Lazarus was really dead?  After all, he was a friend of Jesus.  Perhaps he was just feigning death to make it appear Jesus brought him back to life. Well, that is a nice conspiracy theory but it does not work.  Lazarus would have laid completely still and without movement as his body was washed and wrapped for burial.  He would have had to make it appear that he was not breathing.  He could not have done these things convincingly. A more burning question would be, did Martha and Mary demand a refund from the undertaker?

Today let us compare the raising of Lazarus to our own Baptism. Before we were baptized, we were enemies of God. When we were drowned in the Baptismal font we died to our original nature and became an adopted child of God. But is that enough, just to be a child of God? We were brought to life like Lazarus by our baptism. This was an action of God, and like Lazarus, we are called to “Come Out” and take up our duties as the son or daughter of the Great King. Those duties are simple and at the same time profound, they are to “Love one another as I have loved you.” Like Lazarus, we have to depend on our friends to remove the bindings that hold us back from being a full partner in the redemptive work of God. That is why Christians get together. We get together to worship God, of course, but we also get together to help one another. Will we truly open our hearts to let Jesus in or like Martha will we say, “Surely there will be a stench!

Lent - Giving It All - St. Damien of Molokai

St. Damien of Molokai

Sacrifice is a large component of what Lent is all about.  Some of us give up something that is dear to our heart for the forty days as a sacrifice to discipline ourselves.  This is a good thing to do.  Some people are called to do more and they give all that there is to give.  Such was the man we now call St. Damien of Molokai.  In previous times leprosy was considered highly contagious and incurable.  Modern science has found that about five percent of the world is predisposed to the disease. Back in the 1800's, however, those afflicted were removed from society and strictly quarantined.  Damien was sent to Hawaii by his order and there he was ordained a priest. The authorities built a leper colony on Molokai and Damien volunteered to work there with the lepers. 

When he arrived on Molokai, he found a colony beset with problems.  There was a lot of alcoholism and lawlessness ruled the land. He immediately began to get things organized and he began to serve his flock of sick men, women, and children.  The authorities thought that they had performed a magnificent work by setting aside the land that the leper colony was on. They felt all warm and fuzzy inside because of their act of charity. They then proceeded to forget the people that were sent there.  Damien fought for his congregation.  He fought for medicines and better food.  His work was not appreciated so much by the authorities and some even spread lurid stories about the young priest.  Damien continued his battle day by day.  He embraced his flock and tenderly cared for them.  One day, he stepped into a pot of boiling water. He felt no pain. It was a sign that he had contracted the dreaded disease.  He continued his work with love and devotion. At mass that day he began his sermon with the words, "We lepers..."   He died on April 15, 1889. 

Damien was a man who gave all he had to give. He is an example to us all of what a Christian should be. He was given work to do and he did his job each day with the attitude that he was serving Christ.  

Not all of us have the privilege of giving up our life for our ministry but we are all called to live a life of ministry.  Our ministry may be raising our family or caring for a sick spouse or being there for someone who is lonely.  Whatever we are called to do, we are called to do it with the same determination of St. Damien the Leper.  We should minister with love and remember no matter what the face of the person we are ministering to looks like, it is the face of Christ.