The Antichrist Came Out Of Our Own Number...

First reading	1 John 2:18-21 ©

You have been anointed by the Holy One

Children, these are the last days;

you were told that an Antichrist must come,

and now several antichrists have already appeared;

we know from this that these are the last days.

Those rivals of Christ came out of our own number, but they had never really belonged;

if they had belonged, they would have stayed with us;

but they left us, to prove that not one of them

ever belonged to us.

But you have been anointed by the Holy One,

and have all received the knowledge.

It is not because you do not know the truth that I am writing to you

but rather because you know it already

and know that no lie can come from the truth.

I think that is most appropriate that the reading for the final mass of 2018 contains the inditement "Those rivals of Christ came out of our own number but they never really belonged..."  As this year comes to an end we pew dwellers can see more clearly that not all that dresses in the crimson of the Church's elite are actually really part of the Church.  Oh, they are members, but their hearts are far from doing what is right.  They seek to steer Peter's boat into the shoals and attempt to make an end of her once and for all.  The devil has entered into their hearts and even men whose loyalty cannot be questioned are being tempted by having their ears tickled by that which sounds good but leads to evil. 

As 2018 comes to an end, pray that Francis receives the grace to finally come out as the hero of the Church as he strikes at the source of the infection.  Pray too that the Spirit reveals those that are responsible for attempting to sully the purity of the Bride of Christ with teachings that are far from the Heart of Jesus.  Pray that those who are infested with the ideas that are born from selfishness, evil, and moral turpitude are removed from office and sent off into shame. 

Pray that 2019 becomes known as the year when the church does what is required and returns fully to those ancient teachings that have been preserved for over two thousand years and still form the core of her values and her teachings as drawn from the Deposit of Fath.  Make no mistake about it.  The Church belongs to Christ and He will purge that which needs to be purged and His Bride will remain as beautiful as before and her members will once again sing songs of praise to the Lord our God.  

May the God of Our Fathers bless you on this last day of the year as we look with hope for a new beginning, as we continue in faith our prayers and good works, and infuse the world with the love that comes from knowing Christ as our King, Our God, and our Brother. 

Please Remember the Poor Souls today in your prayers. 

The Hardest Teaching Of All!

Colossians 3:12-17

Be clothed in love

You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same. Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful.

  Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and advise each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God; and never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

ONE OF THE STUPIDEST THINGS EVER WRITTEN

"Love means never having to say you're sorry."  The previous sentence is a load of dingo's kidneys. Being in love does not exempt you from saying your sorry, it never has, it never will.  The fact is that if you love someone, you will go out of your way to NOT do things that upset or anger them.  As a matter of fact, we are called by Paul to "forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins."  We are to fall all over ourselves to be the first to apologize and the reason is simple, God forgave us all of the rotten things that we have done.  He sent his only Son who endured a horrible death.  And Jesus, from the Cross, forgave His tormentors. Look what they did to Him and how he forgave. Can we do less if our loved one leaves the toilet seat up or forgets to take out the garbage or says something mean without thinking?  

Two Reactions to Wrongs Committed Against Us.

When we are wronged we can react in two ways.  The first is the easy way, it takes no thought, nor does it cost us anything as far as our ego goes.  This first reaction is striking back.  She condemns you for leaving your socks on the floor and he tells her how her relatives are all 'ner do wells. She responds by pointing out that his drunken brother only comes around when he wants to borrow money.  He responds by telling her that she needs to grow up.  And on and on it goes.  Hurt is piled upon hurt in this game called "Escalation."  And what is it all over? A pair of socks left on the floor.  

The second way that this scenario could go is much shorter and what we should be doing.  She mentions that he left his socks on the floor, she says it not in a pleasant manner and he defuses the situation by apologizing.  You can turn this scenario around and have him complaining about something and her apologizing, either way, we are called to respond in love. 

RESPONDING IN LOVE SOMETIMES MEANS RUNNING AWAY! 

Now I am not a fool and I know that there are some things that would not qualify for easy forgiveness except that they do.  If a husband beats a wife, she should forgive AND while she forgives she should get the hell out of the situation. Removing oneself from a violent situation is an act of charity for both parties.  It removes the near occasion of sin from the person who is doing the beating and it is saving the dignity of the victim who, after all, is a member of the Household of God.   Being required to forgive is not a license for one person injuring another.  Our dignity as a person beloved of God does not require us to stand there with a smile while someone is breaking our jaw. All possible things should be done to protect one's self from harm. 

Solution:

If all of us took this teaching seriously, there would be no husbands beating wives, there would be no need to fight wars and people would be generally happier.  This only requires someone to start the peace by taking the teaching of Paul seriously and attempting to apply it to all situations one finds oneself in.  Someone needs to be first, would that person be you? 

Please remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory in your prayers this week.  This prayer may be helpful. 

The Revelation of An Old Man

Gospel	Luke 2:22-35

'You have prepared a light to enlighten the pagans'

When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord – observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord – and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Now in Jerusalem, there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:

‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace,

just as you promised;

because my eyes have seen the salvation

which you have prepared for all the nations to see,

a light to enlighten the pagans

and the glory of your people Israel.’

As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’

For most of the world, Christmas is over, it ended as they turned off the lights on Christmas evening and went to sleep.  For us Christians, the play is just beginning.  We have witnessed so far the drama of finding a place to stay, the Holy Birth among the animals and hay, the shepherds who heard and believed and now we are amazed at the words of an old man, Simeon, who was waiting, as all of Israel for the Messiah.   Simeon had it revealed to him that he would not die before he saw the anointed one of God.  He came to the Temple every day, for where else would one find the Messiah.  Would not the Messiah come to claim what was His by birthright?  He came, like the shepherds, in faith and with the belief that God would fulfill His Word.  And God did, and Simeon was amazed!  The Holy Spirit pointed out to him Joseph, Mary, and the Baby.  The Messiah was in the Temple and the Messiah was a child, the son of a poor man and woman who was carrying two small doves which were the required sacrifice when the first son was dedicated to the Lord. 

Simeon hastened to the Family and looking right into Mary's eyes with tenderness and love he wordlessly asked to hold the Infant in his arms.  Mary, sensing the goodness of this holy man and inspired by the Holy Spirit placed the Child into Simeon's arms and great joy filled his heart.  He thanks God for revealing to him the Messiah and says that he is ready for God to take him home.  He turned to Mary, and with tenderness and a touch of sorrow he told her that her Son was destined for great things and the sign from God that He carried would be rejected and she too would feel the pain of this rejection.  We fade to black.

The presentation of Jesus at the Temple was to show that this boy would accept no privileges, would fulfill the law and in doing so He would free us from the law.  Mary would support her Son and His mission and in doing so would feel great joy and great sorrow that would break her heart.  It is telling that no words were spoken to Joseph by Simeon, but it is Joseph's name that the Child bore and this made the child legitimate in the eyes of the law for an illegitimate child had a rough time in Israeli society.  It was Joseph that would teach the Boy what needed to be taught.  He would instill in Him a work ethic, a respect for the Torah, and would point him on the way to His ultimate destiny, the Cross.  But Joseph would do these things and bow out of the story through death and Mary would have to do things on her own after that day.  

For now, however, the Family completed their task at the temple and they began to live the ordinary life of an ordinary family and they awaited, perhaps with some trepidation the next Work of God in this saga. 

While the video accompanying the song is not quite on point, listen to the words.  The artist is Michael Card. 

Who Wants to Be A Shepherd?

Gospel	Luke 2:15-20

The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem and found the baby lying in the manger

Now when the angels had gone from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; it was exactly as they had been told.

Lost and Alone...

It wasn't cool to be a shepherd at the time Jesus was born.  Those that listed this occupation on their resume were looked down upon. Why?  To be a shepherd meant that you had to spend a lot of time "abiding in the field."  When one abides in the field tending their flocks by night, one cannot be in the temple or the synagogue praying. But as we can see they were men of faith, they heard and they believed.  But they were seen as chronically unclean and non-observant.  So you have to ask why in heaven's name were they chosen to hear "news of great joy for the whole world, that a savior has been born to you, it is Christ the Lord."  Imagine being a lowly shepherd and hearing an angel tell you these things, they must have been out of their minds with joy. They probably also wondered why they had been told this.  After all, it is not like they could go on to the street corner and announce this to all passers-by.  They would not be believed because they had the smell of their sheep about them and there was a danger that they would be hauled before the court and charged with one crime or another and religious crimes brought nasty penalties.  So why did these simple men of the earth hear of the coming of the savior first?  Why didn't God send an angel to the high priest and the governor?  Why not appear on the pinnacle of the temple with the heavenly host and announcing it to the well-dressed, well-educated, and well-sanitized members of society?  I think I know.  The savior was to be for everyone, from the highest to the lowest and God was advertising the fact that He showed no partiality and that He would be ministering to all.  The announcement came to the shepherds because they were simple men.  They would see and hear and not demand to understand.  They would revel in the joyful news whereas the gentry of the land would demand proof, demand miracles, demand demonstrations of the Savior.  They would also have one heck of a time believing that the Messiah, the savior of Israel was at that very moment laying in a dirty cave in a manger.  This, to their thinking, was not how the Messiah would come.  But the shepherds whose lot in life was hard would see the justice in a Messiah learning about the world from a low starting point.  They would understand and they would believe. They remembered that David, the greatest king that Israel ever had started life as an unregarded shepherd boy and they knew where he ended up. 

This Could Be You!

I do not know what you do for a living nor how much you are paid or how much esteem your position brings you. On this day when we commemorate the birth of the Holy Child, bring yourself back to earth. Step out of the mist of grandeur that we show to our peers to keep our place in the temporal scheme of things.  Look boldly at the world around you and accept that no matter what, you are nothing more than a shepherd boy and believe in the wonder of God coming to earth and living among us.  As an old contemporary Christian song once said, "Where others saw a shepherd boy, God saw a king." 

A Merry and Blessed Christmas to all of you. 

Why The Birth of Jesus Matters

We are pretty much insulated from the excitement that the Hebrews felt around the time that Jesus was born.  All of them lived in constant expectation that their generation would be the one that saw the arrival of the Messiah that had been promised of old.  They waited and they watched and they watched and they waited and alas, the Messiah was taking a long time to come.  But still, there was that excitement that they felt in their hearts that it could be any day.  But why did we need a Messiah at all? 

ANCIENT PROMISE

In the Book of Genesis, we see that God was very close to his creatures, going so far as to visit them in the "cool part of the evening."  This is a time when after the work of the day was over friends would get together and would talk to each other, share stories, solve all of the world's problems or as we say it today in our  vernacular they would "hang out."  God is portrayed as a very close friend and He indeed came to visit at the end of the day.  He loved His creation and wanted nothing but the best for them and looked forward to being up close and personal with them. Man, unfortunately, disobeyed God and with that on his soul, he no longer felt close to God.  God was not to be talked to as a friend, but rather, He was to be avoided because sin had entered the world.  Sin and God do not cohabitate.  So Adam and Eve alienated themselves from God and hid from Him.  God, if he were human, would be heartbroken.  But God being God wanted to repair what was broken.  He did not want to move His hand and take away the impediments between them for man had decided to separate from God and God wanted no puppet, He wanted voluntary love from His creatures.  So, He formed a plan and told Adam and Eve about it.  There would come a Savior who would fix everything up and restore what was broken and it would come through the Woman. This is the ancient promise that the Jews were putting their trust in. 

THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND

Years passed by, many of them.  The people of Israel were not able to fulfill the Covenant that they had made with God.  They would do their best for a while but sooner or later they would go off of the tracks and end up being conquered by one enemy or another. At the time of Jesus' birth, the Romans were the masters of this stiff-necked people.  But the Romans were smart.  They allowed the Jews to worship their God and even minted special money that did not include the emperors head on it for the Jews to use.  The coin of the realm proclaimed the emperor as a god and no Jew would want to touch the coins.  An aside, this makes it all the more remarkable when the Pharisee handed Jesus a coin with the head of Caesar on it.  The Romans also avoided erecting statues of Caesar in Jerusalem.  They wanted to keep these temperamental people calm, cool, and collected so they made certain concessions to them.  In spite of this enlightened approach of the conquerors, the Jews saw them as occupiers and they longed for the day when the yoke of Rome would be cast off and Israel would take her place at the top of the food chain just as she was at the time of David.  The Messiah would see to this, of that they were sure.  They did not understand that God had other plans. 

THE HOLY BIRTH

Mary was found to be with child, about three months along after she returned from a trip that oddly enough lasted three months.  Joseph was going to send her away but after getting "the word" in a dream he took Mary into his home and they were husband and wife.  Meanwhile, the emperor looked at the funds in his treasury and found that it was looking a little thin.  He decreed that everyone should go to the home city of their ancestors to register and pay the tax.  He was no fool, he wanted every penny!  So, Mary and Joseph loaded up their donkey and headed to Bethlehem even though Mary was almost ready to give birth.  This was the town of David was from. As a matter of fact, at that time, everyone was from Bethlehem because it was a small backwater famed for sheep and shepherds.  It was not considered a lush vacation spot.  Since the whole world was on the move, when Joseph and Mary arrived, they could not find a place to stary.  All of the hotels, motels, and boarding houses were filled to the brim with happy taxpayers just itching to give their hard earned money to the emperor.  To top things off, Mary began her contractions.  Joseph went to the door of another guest house and was immediately rebuffed.  He begged the landlord for a place, any place because his wife was going to give birth shortly.  The landlord said he had no room but he was free to use the stable, at least the hay was clean!  Joseph, disappointed and feeling like a failure, thanked the landlord and turning to Mary he smiled and said that they have a place that they could stay, the stable of the guesthouse which was a cave, there was no fire, but the heat from the stabled animals should make it tolerable.  Mary smiled and told him that it sounded wonderful and they made it to the cave just in the nick of time.  The baby was born, in a stable in Bethlehem and he was wrapped in the clothing that Mary had brought along and placed in the manger, literally the animal's food bin.  Bethlehem means place of bread and Jesus rested in the manger, a place where animals took their food.  The birth gives a hint at the end of the story, but that is for later. 

WHY

God could have said to Adam and Eve, "Okay, just don't do it again."  But that would have not cured the problem.  God was not holding a grudge.  He still loved his creation but knew that if He was going to get them to love Him back that He would need to do something more to both prove His love to them and to wipe out the debt that mankind owed for the sin of Adam and Eve.  This is why Jesus was born.  God would come down from heaven above and lead the life of a man and experience everything that a man could experience in life.  He would feel joy and sorrow, weariness and pain, and loneliness and temptation.  He would show man what to do and how to do it.  His watchwords would be, "Love one another as I have loved you."  And to prove His love, he would take it the bitter end, He would die as a criminal, filled with pain and suffering. He would die and then He would destroy death and open the gates of heaven to us again. The penalty earned by Adam and Eve would be paid for by God Himself in an act of love like no other.  So this is why Jesus was born, why He lived, why he taught, and why he died and rose from the grave. 

ACT ONE

We can consider the events of Christmas as Act one in God's passion play.  God is passionately in love with us.  By us I do not mean as a group, I mean He loves each individual person and sees in them the potential for them to become saints and to live with Him in heaven. 

GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST AND PEACE TO PEOPLE OF GOODWILL! 

Michael The Lesser wishes all of those who read my blog a very Merry and Holy Christmas. 

Why Are Protestants Afraid of Mary?

Gospel	Luke 1:39-45 ©

Why should I be honored with a visit from the mother of my Lord?

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honored with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’

Well, here we are.  Yes, the fourth week of Advent is upon us. In my mind, I can still remember the Thanksgiving turkey and all of the trimmings that we enjoyed.  Christmas seemed so very far away that day.  But today, like a thief in the night, the fourth Sunday of Advent is here and the fourth Advent candle joins the other three beacons of hope in announcing our wait is almost over. 

Two thousand years ago, a young virgin, who was with child, went to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth.  No sooner did Elizabeth lay eyes on Mary when the child in her womb "leaped for joy."  John the Baptist knew he was in the presence of the Messiah and joy filled his still developing body and he could not be restrained as the love he had compelled him to honor the Christ Child and he did so with an embryonic dance of love.

Our Protestant brothers and sisters have a great fear of Mary.  They are afraid that showing her the honor due to the Mother of Christ will in some manner anger Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit because it takes honor from Them and deposits it on Mary, a mere mortal. We, on the other hand, know that the first person who gave Mary the honor befitting the Mother of God was her Son, Jesus. 

There can be no argument that Jesus kept all ten of the commandments faithfully throughout His whole life without breaking even one of them, as a matter of fact, he never, ever, came close to breaking a commandment as demonstrated on how He bested the devil in the desert causing him to flee to await another opportunity.  So, in His perfect example of obedience to the standards set by the Father on Mount Sinai so many years ago.  

The obedience of Jesus would have included the fourth commandment which was "Honor your father and mother."  In the Scripture, we see that Jesus took this commandment very seriously indeed.  As a boy, once he was reunited with his parents in the temple, he went with them and was subject to them.  Imagine, the Son of God listening to a man and woman, creatures that he created. But obedience was what Christ was all about. 

The wedding feast at Cana was where we can see the obedience and respect that Jesus paid to Mary very clearly.  I can see Him looking into the eyes of His mother stating, "Mom, I am not ready yet."  Mary for her part gave Him the Mother's Stare and a smile and told the servants to "Do whatever He tells you."  So, Mary, like a good mother should launched her Son out of the nest and freed Him to begin to fulfill the work He was sent to do.   At the cross we see how much Jesus loved His mother as in His last moments He summoned almost super-human strength and placed Mary, a widow with no additional offspring, in the care of John the apostle.

Such is the care that Jesus took of His mother.  We Catholics recognize the love Jesus had for Mary and the love Mary had for Jesus.  Our Protestant friends who look to the Bible alone for all of their inspiration do not understand how very special this woman was. They are suspicious of honoring her and heaven forbid praying to her as we Catholics do.  For them, prayer is addressed to Jesus or the Father alone.  To offer prayers to someone who, when all was said and done was a mere mortal seems to them to be a very special form of idolatry that infects the Catholic Church and which leads to all sorts of forbidden things.  They fear offending God by giving Mary her due honor. They could not be more wrong.  

Jesus never sinned and He honored Mary.  We do what our Savior did for Mary is our Mother too. We ascribe no divinity no Mary, she has no powers that approach that of Jesus, as a matter of fact, the only power she has is the same one that we exercise on a daily basis, the power to pray for one another.  Addressing a prayer to Mary causes Protestants to rage at our idolatry because addressing a prayer to a mere mortal takes away that which belongs to God alone, it is sinful!  This argument falls apart when you consider the fact that each of us mortals accepts the task to pray for one another as a routine task.  Protestants consider death a door that nothing can penetrate.  For them, you are either alive or you are dead.  If you are alive, well then you can pray for someone else, even though you are acting as a mediator between them and Christ.  What?  Horror of horrors!  Perhaps praying for one another is sinful?  (Hint: it is not sinful to pray for one another and it is okay to be a mediator for your brother or sister when you pray for them.)

In actuality, death is not a door, it is a portal to the world of God which we call heaven.  We lose our bodies when we die but we do not lose that which God created in His image and likeness, our souls.  We are dead in body but really alive in spirit and we join with the uncounted millions upon millions of souls that went before you know, people like mom, dad, grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, and sometimes even our children.  They are not dead, they live with God, Jesus, The Spirit, and yes, Mary in heaven.  These "dead" relatives form one arm of the Communion of Saints.  We know that those in heaven view the Majesty of God in real-time and without the veils that are present during our encounters with the Trinity on earth.  Even Mary did not get the invitation from an appearance of God to her, but from the Angel Gabriel who was the Father's special messenger. 

So, Protestants of the world, do not be afraid of honoring Mary because the practice was not started by the Catholic Church but rather it was started by the founder of the Catholic Church, a fellow named Jesus who was born in Bethlehem, and after a fruitful life of sewing seeds and growing HIS Church, He chose to die for all of us on the Cross.  He started the practice of honoring Mary as the Mother of God,  we Catholics are just following the example He gave us as recorded in the Bible. 

Saint Joseph - A Strong and Humble Man

Gospel	Matthew 1:18-24

How Jesus Christ came to be born

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honor and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son

and they will call him Emmanuel,

a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.

Enter stage left a new character in our drama.  We see a man, his hands are the hands of a working man, he is proud of the work he does, which is that of a carpenter. While he is not old, he is not a wild-eyed youth either.  He has been around and knows life, both the good and the bad.  He is head over heels in love with a young girl named Mary and today she is returning from an out of town trip where she visited her kinswoman, Elizabeth.  He could hardly wait for her.  He was making great strides in preparing a home for his soon to be bride.  He would make her as comfortable as a carpenter could in this town. Then he saw her. He went up to her and he noticed that her figure was fuller than it was when she left three months ago. The joy in her heart was flowing over when she saw Joseph and he asked her if what he thought was true and she answered that it was, she was pregnant. Joseph's heart broke. He was betrothed to Mary and while that conveyed the rights of a husband over her, it was custom to wait until the wedding to consummate the marriage.  He had no knowledge of her.  He looked into her eyes and without another word, he walked away, tears forming in his eyes.  Mary did not run after him.  She turned and went into her family home and to the room where the angel had spoken to her three months earlier.  She prayed and was rewarded for her prayer as the Lord instilled a calmness into her and she knew in her heart that all would turn out well. 

Joseph, on the other hand, was in a stew. He was an honorable man with a keen sense of justice and he knew that he could not wed the girl since she had been unfaithful to him.  If he denounced her and swore that he had not had intercourse with her and if she was indeed found with child, there would be no choice but she would be condemned to death and would be stoned.  He could not see his way clear to do this to her.  She had broken his heart but he still loved her and would do nothing to harm her in spite of her betrayal.  He resolved to send her away to have her child and to stay out of his town and his life.  He would remain celibate and alone and in deep mourning for the foreseeable future.  His world, which was so beautiful when he opened his eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them this morning had crashed and changed into a world of sorrow and woe.  He began to weep bitterly and he fell into a deep sleep.  As the night wore on, Joseph dreamed about the life he would now not enjoy.  Even in his dreams the pain of betrayal infiltrated and changed the joyful into the sorrowful. It was right before he woke up when the dream changed again.  This time he was in a beautiful forest, in a clearing.  The air was cool and crisp and he was looking up into a blue sky when the sun appeared overhead and he raised his arm to shield his eyes.  The glow penetrated his hand and dazzled him but did not cause any pain.  There was an angel in front of him with a kindly face and he carried a golden spear.  He looked lovingly at Joseph and Joseph heard inside his mind these words. "Do not scruple to take Mary as your wife.  The child she carries is holy and the offspring of the Holy Spirit.  Be a father to the boy, bring him up in righteousness and train him for He is the Messiah, the promised one.  You are a just man, Joseph, and God has chosen you for this mission."  Joseph immediately agreed and with that, he awoke to a new day, his heart as light as a feather.  He hastened to the house of Mary and on that day he took her into the home he had been preparing for them.  He told Mary that he now understood.

Joseph was a man of deep faith, he had to be.  No actual angel came to guide him, he just had dreams.  His faith in God and the love he had for Mary carried the day.  Very little is known about Joseph.  He is mentioned even less than Mary in the Gospels. But we know him to be the model father that brought up the child Jesus.  He was called home early in our story because he is not at the wedding feast at Cana when Jesus begins his ministry nor is he at the Cross when Jesus died because if he had been, it would have been his duty to bury his son and we know that his disciples took charge of the broken Body and laid it in a tomb.

Joseph is an example of trust.  Learn to trust in God and He will guide you along.  This honest and humble man descended from the family of David gave Jesus his name and taught Him the humble work of a carpenter.  Jesus was a son to Joseph and Joseph was a father to Jesus. 

Please, remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory during this Advent season. 

The Simple Truth

Gospel	Luke 3:10-18

'Someone is coming who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire'

When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do?’ he answered, ‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’ He said to them, ‘Exact no more than your rate.’ Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What must we do?’ He said to them, ‘No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!’

  A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptize you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’ As well as this, there were many other things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them.

IT IS REALLY SIMPLE SOMETIMES

I guess I am a lazy person because I really like it when these reflections just about right themselves.  Our Gospel reading for this third Sunday in Advent is a reading that lends itself to this.  We humans like to make things more complicated than they need to be at times.  John, anticipating the teaching of his cousin breaks it down for the people. 

DEFEATING THE ME FACTOR

First, ordinary people come and ask John what is it that they could do to prepare for the Messiah.  He keeps it simple.  He tells us that we should step out of ourselves, look less at what is good for "me" and share with those in need.  Again he keeps it simple.  Clothe the naked and feed the hungry. To the tax collectors, he says to be honest and to do your job, collect only what is due. Next came the soldiers.  They were told to be content with their pay and not to demand through intimidation money from innocent citizens. 

LET'S MAKE IT REALLY SIMPLE 

We can boil this down to its organic essence, free from additives or complications and needing very little by way of explanation.  Stop doing evil and start doing good.  Make the world a better place by thinking of others before you think of yourself.  That's it.  Look outside of your little world and engage with those in need around you.

A VIEW OF THE MESSIAH

John also gives us a view of the Messiah that is at odds with the thinking of the time.  The Messiah was going to save Israel, throw the Romans out, bring back the glory days of David, and make Israel the number one nation. Hot Dog!  They could hardly wait!  But what is it that John says about the Messiah?  He says that the Messiah will separate the useful from the useless, the good from the bad.  The good will be gathered up and the chaff, that which is blown away by the winnowing fan, will be cast into an everlasting fire.  

COULD HE BE THE ONE?

John spoke as no other prophet had spoken to the people up to that time.  The people, the pew dwellers of the day, could see that his teaching was new, novel, and they had never heard such a thing from the learned Pharisees and Sadducees in the temple. John tells them that he is not the Messiah and that he, John, is not worthy to stoop down and untie the Messiah's sandal. The people, I believe, read between the lines and while John was not the Messiah, it seemed that the Messiah was very close to arriving. The crowd left wondering if they were the generation that would see the Messiah.  

SO IT IS REALLY SIMPLE

Listen to John.  Stop doing bad and start doing good.  Turn away from evil, repent, and start walking with the Messiah. Prepare the way as John did.  Let everyone know what you know.  Life can be good if we look around and share with one another.  The Messiah is coming and is already in our hearts. 

Prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory by St. Gertrude the Great

According to tradition, St. Gertrude the Great was told by Our Lord that the following prayer, each time she piously recited it, would release 1,000 souls (or a vast number) from their suffering in purgatory:

“Eternal Father,
I offer You the most precious blood
of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen.”

What Is Pope Francis Thinking? - Is He In Over His Head?

Okay, I know that I use this space and your time to reflect a bit on the daily reading/  Today's reading at mass speak about how John the Baptist fulfills the prophecy regarding Elijah returning before the Messiah comes.  The readings are self-explanatory and I have already written all I care to about John the Baptist.  Today, I want to speak about Pope Francis and his leadership and where he has brought the church to during his reign. 

WHERE MY LOYALTIES ARE

I am a faithful Catholic and I have believed and continue to believe that where Peter is, there is the Church.  To believe anything else would, in effect, be slapping Jesus in the face and telling Him that He is not able to protect His Church as He said He would. I do not desire to ask him to step down.  The care and feeding of one retired pope is enough for one generation. I believe that when it comes to faith and morals and any definitive teaching from the chair of Peter that Francis makes will enjoy the benefit of being infallible. Outside of that which is promised by Jesus and delivered by the Spirit, I question some of the things he has done, said, and not done, and not said.  

HIS LEADERSHIP STYLE

I wish I had the words to describe the leadership style of Pope Francis because as best as I can tell is that he does not have one. He makes spur of the moment pronouncements on airplanes and at audiences that seem to come out of nowhere and often require the Sala Stampa to rush to fill in the vacuum that his words create.  He seems to speak without considering the consequences of what he has said. He incites liberal clerics to float liberal ideas and he seems to give them informal approval but he never explains what his thoughts are on the subject.  He leaves questionable pseudo-teachings to hang in the air being held up by nothing more than skyhooks. 

CHINA 

If I could have a private conversation with Francis, I would ask him straight out about the China "deal" he brokered. I would ask him if he was out of his flipping mind or if this deal were the first signs of senile decay creeping into his thought process.  To make a pact with the communist government of China defies all logic.  Okay, religion is not logical but statecraft is and the Church gets nothing from signing this deal with the devil. The Jesuit martyrs shed their blood in vain.  The underground Church, which is completely loyal to the Vatican and is passing on the true beliefs of the Catholic Church to its members has been betrayed.  Two bishops have been asked to step down by Francis to be replaced by bishops that belong to the "patriotic association church."   The store has been turned over to the shoplifters. Has the persecution of the Church in China ended with the signing of this secret protocol?  Heavens no.  Churches are still being demolished and priests have been taken into custody.  We got nothing, absolutely nothing, except a photo op and a page two story in some papers.  Francis, what were you thinking?  

COMMUNION AND THE DIVORCED AND REMARRIED

Francis has made some informal pronouncements regarding the receipt of communion for persons who have divorced and remarried but have not obtained an annulment of the first marriage.  Traditionally, people in this state are not supposed to receive communion until they have gone through the annulment process which goes back to the first marriage and states that there were canonical reasons that the marriage covenant that was entered into by the parties was not sacramental in nature and therefore in the eyes of the Church, it did not as a sacrament exist, but only was a marriage in the civil sense of the term.  Francis said in an impromptu fashion that there could be a path other than annulment to rehabilitate these couples in the interest of charity.  The song was taken up by bishops and embellished and fleshed out, especially by Cardinal Casper and it was at this point the Holy Father stopped speaking about it.  Diverse opinions were all over the place and some bishops started to welcome divorced and remarried people to the altar to receive communion.  Other bishops, scandalized by the prospect of this event, sent a question to Francis asking for clarification.  That was about a year ago, I believe, and Francis has been silent about it while the Church stews and argues amongst itself and those of us who have undergone getting an annulment are asking ourselves, "Why?"   Sometimes when a leader is silent on a subject, it speaks volumes.  In this case, however, the silence of Francis is just that, silence and the Church bubbles and fizzles waiting for guidance.  Let me know when that guidance comes and if it is in line with traditional Catholic Doctrine. Actually, let me know if Francis says anything about this.

SEX AND THE SINGLE PRIEST 

Perhaps there is no place where the inept leadership of Francis has done more harm than in the continuing, never-ending, always entertaining (to the enemies of the Church) sex scandal.  I am not sure if Francis is keeping up to date with what is happening in this part of his domain. He has done very little to combat the abuse a certain minority of church employees have committed over the last fifty or sixty years.  The investigators keep finding more and more as they go back further and further.  By ones and twos he is accepting the resignation of a bishop here and defrocking a priest here and there and he is speaking about protecting youth ad nausium.  Francis, wake up and smell the coffee.  The youth are protected, at least in the United States. For example, as a choir member at my church, I have to submit to a background check every year because it is possible that my ministry may bring me into contact with children once or twice in that year.  I had to take training on how to comport myself around youth.  I have to be aware that I should never be alone and out of sight with a young person unless a second adult is with me.  No, Francis, the youth are pretty much protected.  The scandal is that bishops and cardinals have developed the long black line of protection and silence that keeps the perpetrators happily plying their trade as they move them from church to church hoping against hope that the mentally deficient priest can conquer the personal devils that dwell within him and will not offend again.  Here again, we have silence where there should be commands and we have actions that are too little and too late to make a difference.  It is a shocking truth that the Church in America is in danger of being convicted of being a continuing criminal enterprise because of the ill-advised actions that were taken by the magisterium in America over the years.  Imagine, the same laws that put Gambino in jail might be used by America's pro-Protestant regime to punish the American Church.  Payments made to victims over the years were nothing more than hush money and the money came from the faithful and their donations so it was a fraud perpetrated against us, the pew-dwelling public.  Francis is right to condemn what has happened but his words ring hollow because they are not being followed through with action.  Even a Cardinal that had been sanctioned by Pope Benedict, who decreed that the cardinal  should spend the rest of his life out of the spotlight and live a life of prayer and penance for the crimes he had committed was rehabilitated by Francis and rose steadily in the ranks until now he is a major embarrassment to the Church once again. This mess was completely avoidable as Francis knew or should have known the circumstances that were attached like a devil's tail to this criminal.  Finally, there is the possibility that Francis himself engaged in the Wack a Mole game of priest transferring when as a prelate in his native land.  How can he dispense justice when he himself may be guilty of the same crime?  

CONCLUSION

I hear you breathing a sigh of relief.  Michael the Lesser has gone off on a tangent.  If you have read this far, thank you.  I admire Francis.  He is a gentle soul with a humble heart and does many good works of charity.  When he visited Korea, he was driven around not in a limo, but rather in the backseat of a KIA soul - a working man's car.  He visits prisons and has no problem engaging in dialogue with people of other denominations or faiths.  He is an example of how a man should be, a friend and servant to all.  That being said, I have to say I do not think he is a good pope.  It will be left to history as to what his reign will wreak upon the Church for good or bad.  I know that the church will survive even the papal reign of Francis.  I am saddened that a papal reign that started with such great promise has ended up stuck in muck and mire that for the most part are of his own making.  If I could speak to Francis, to give him a one on one evaluation, I would congratulate him for being such a good example of humility and I would castigate him for being such a silent and lackluster leader.   PRAY FOR OUR HOLY FATHER THAT HE RECEIVES SOME INSPIRATION AND STEPS UP AND BEGINS TO PILOT THE BARQUE OF PETER, WE NEED HIM TO DO THAT, WE CAN LOOK TO NO OTHER AT THIS TIME.

Be Not Afraid

First reading	Isaiah 41:13-20

I, the Holy One of Israel, am your redeemer

I, the Lord, your God,

I am holding you by the right hand;

I tell you, ‘Do not be afraid,

I will help you.’

Do not be afraid, Jacob, poor worm,

Israel, puny mite.’

I will help you – it is the Lord who speaks –

the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer.

See, I turn you into a threshing-sled,

new, with doubled teeth;

you shall thresh and crush the mountains,

and turn the hills to chaff.

You shall winnow them and the wind will blow them away,

the gale will scatter them.

But you yourself will rejoice in the Lord,

and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The poor and needy ask for water, and there is none,

their tongue is parched with thirst.

I, the Lord, will answer them,

I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.

I will make rivers well up on barren heights,

and fountains in the midst of valleys;

turn the wilderness into a lake,

and dry ground into waterspring.

In the wilderness I will put cedar trees,

acacias, myrtles, olives.

In the desert, I will plant juniper,

plane tree and cypress side by side;

so that men may see and know,

may all observe and understand

that the hand of the Lord has done this,

that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

We live in a crazy world, that is a statement that needs no defense. In France, they suffered yet another terrorist attack where innocent people were put to the sword while enjoying some time with family and friends at a Christmas market.  In my hometown of Chicago, brother kills brother in gunfights that would have appalled gunslingers of the old west at the hatred and violence that they display.  An innocent child, asleep in her bed was riddled with five bullets fired by a stranger at her from her bedroom window.  Men and women with money sacrifice their souls in pursuing chemical highs that take their mind off of their prosperity and to help propel themselves into despair and poverty.  We fear the city, we fear the small town, we fear the lonely countryside for man is man's worst enemy and he is a predator in all of these places.  What are we to do?

The Lord tells us to not be afraid, He hears us and He hears our prayers, he sees our poverty, he feels our fears.  He is ready to move His arm and change everything in a heartbeat in the desert of our heart is ready to sow a forest of good and to help us bear fruit and to build up His kingdom.  He waits for us to turn to Him and say, "Father, I have sinned. treat me as a hired hand." Yet, when we turn to Him, He will treat us as a prince of the land, as an heir to His fortune and nothing will be too good for us.  The evil things, He will defeat and change what is bad into things that are good. His love will fill our hearts and with joy, we will drink at a place where at one time there was only dust and dry sand.  We will eat the fruit of the land at a place where at one time there were only brambles, weeks, and thickets.  We will be refreshed body and soul and God's life will flow through our veins and we will know a happiness that no power can ever take from us.  Be not afraid young warrior, God is with us and for us forever. 

Here is a golden oldie Advent hymn for you: