God, Donald Trump, and the I Phone

Do not love the world or the things of the world. 
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
For all that is in the world,
sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life,
is not from the Father but is from the world. 
Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. 
But whoever does the will of God remains forever.

We live in a world that has very different values than we have. Just really watch some of the commercials on television.  Light years away from earth I wonder what the little green men think of the people from earth as they intercept our television signals.  I know that they must think that all of us have failing digestive systems because you cannot go five minutes without learning about some new laxative or antacid product. It is kind of funny actually, did you know that there was quite a controversy in the early days of TV when a company wanted to advertise their deodorant?  The censors thought it was too personal to mention in polite company.  Today, there is no limit, they even allow ads for condoms, personal lubricants, and whiskey to run at times when children may still be watching.  But, this entry is not about TV or advertising, the ads that run are just a symptom of the malady that afflicts us in the twenty-first century.

The world has become a more complicated and deadly place. News from countries far away breaks mere minutes after the incident occurs.  As a whole, we think more of ourselves and our own comfort than we do about others.  We tend to get entangled in the world and lose sight of what should be the most important thing in life, our eternal destiny.  What good will our thousand-dollar Apple phone do us when we stand before God?  What about that beautiful car or our 401K plan? Will God ask what kind of retirement you had or if you liked driving that Lexus?  We spoil our health grasping for the things of this world and when we have what we want, we realize that we want more.  Forgive me for saying this, I think that God gave the United States Donald Trump and the chaos he brings to the job as our leader to be a wake-up call.  But even if He didn't, it is time to arise from our slumber and take stock of where we are and where we are going. In our reading, John is reminding us that the things of this world are passing away.  Holding on to them is like tying yourself to a large rock when the ship you are on begins to sink.  Technically you are prepared for the sinking but you made the wrong preparations and you will sink faster than the ship. 

Look, we all need things to live. We need food and shelter, work to do for example. But we must try to be prudent and try to give more than we take.  This is what love is all about, giving as opposed to taking.  Imagine a world where we fell all over ourselves in looking after our brothers and sisters.  It would be a world without want, a utopia.  Set yourself realistic Christian based goals and remember everything on this planet stays here when you leave. 

In this season of joy, can we take a few minutes to pray for the poor souls in purgatory?  Try this experiment.  Open your newspaper obituary page or go to a funeral home's web page.  Select at random one of the poor souls listed there and just for today, pray for that person's soul. What should you pray? An Our Father, A Hail Mary and a Glory Be is all that is needed to start your ministry to our brothers and sister in Purgatory. It does not matter if the person is Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or Muslim.  God loves all of His children.  Or you could do this.  Pray for a deceased relative.  Yes, I know they were a good person and maybe they really did go straight to heaven, but what if they didn't?  A prayer for them today won't be wasted.  If they do not need it, it will be applied to someone who does.  Please always remember:  As they are, you may someday be.