God Is In Control - Always Has and Always Will Be

While he was still speaking,
people from the synagogue official's house arrived and said,
"Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?" 
Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid; just have faith."
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside
except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official,
he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to them, "Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep."
And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out.
He took along the child's father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum,"  which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!" The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.  At that, they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.     (Mark 5: 21-43) 

Today's reading is very long so I have reproduced only part of it here.  In the first century, death was a faithful companion that visited most every family.  Rare it was that a family did not lose a child to one disease or another.  Jesus was walking and was accompanied by a large crowd.  Mark, who was a doctor, makes a point of stating that there was a lady in the crowd who was sick and had spent all of her money on doctors trying to find a cure to no avail.  This lady was desperate and so she reasoned that if she could just touch the clothing of Jesus that she would be cured.  So, almost miraculously, she was able to get close to Jesus and touched Him and her disease was immediately cured.  Jesus stopped and asked, "Who touched me?"  The apostles pointed out to Him that He was in the midst of a huge crowd so how could they tell who touched Him?  The lady who was cured owned up to what she had done and Jesus told her that her faith had cured her.  Then word came that the little girl He was going to see had died.  Jesus pushed forward and arrived at the little girl's house which was surrounded by hired mourners who wailed and cried and made a great noise.  He told them to stop the caterwauling because the girl was just sleeping.  They began to ridicule Him.  He took the parents and three of His apostles inside.  He approached the bedside of the little girl and commanded her to arise.  She opened her eyes and was very much alive again.  Jesus gave her back to her parents and told them to give her something to eat. 

These past few days we have seen Jesus display his ability to control things and we have seen Him calm a raging storm but today he does something astonishing, he raised a little girl from the dead and gave her a second chance at life. He did this for a family whose father was described as an official of the synagogue. He told the stunned parents not to tell anyone about what happened.

So, we learn today that Jesus cannot be defeated by any enemy. We have seen Him cast out demons, cure the sick, and today he shows that He has power over death.  Is it little wonder why people were following him?  Yet, as we know all of His miracles and shows of power were not enough to save Him from the Cross.  What more could he have done to establish His bona fides?  

Today, we read about the miracles of Jesus and I would imagine that at times we think that it would have been great to live in the time of Christ and to be present for these great miracles that Jesus wrought.  But, Christianity is a religion of miracles!  We pray and God provides, without fail. Because everything that we need for us to get to heaven will be provided to us.  He feeds us with His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity which is provided at every mass we attend.  He forgives us our every transgression against God and man in the sacrament of penance.  He watches and blesses our marriages and families in the Sacrament of Matrimony.  He makes provision for our spiritual needs by providing priests and deacons in Holy Orders.  When our time grows short and we are ready to close our eyes and return home, even then he gives us food for the journey in Viaticum and a blessing that absolves us from sin that we have repented of.  He has thought of everything and add to this our free will and we have the opportunity to join with the Creator, not as a slave, but as a friend. 

So, no matter where you are today, in joy or in sorrow, know that Our God is an awesome God who loves us more than we can ever imagine.  Our troubles are His troubles, our tears, He will wipe away.  His strength He will give us so that with our cooperation we will join Him for coffee and biscotti in heaven forever!  God bless you this day. 

Someday you might experience Purgatory for yourself. On that day you will hope and pray that someone on earth will pray for you to help you get to heaven sooner.  Please remember to pray for the poor souls - they are desperate for our help and our prayers.  

A Bad Day To Be A Swineherd.

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!" (He had been saying to him, "Unclean spirit, come out of the man!") He asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "Legion is my name. There are many of us."  And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory.                                                                                             

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him, "Send us into the swine. Let us enter them."And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear. Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. Then they began to beg him to leave their district. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, "Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you." Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him, and all were amazed.

(Mark 5: 1-20)

There is a name for the situation the man that was possessed by the demons and that is a technical term that we still use today and that is the word, "hopeless."  This man is dwelling among the tombs in this area and hurting himself every chance he gets. The demons are having a hell of a time (forgive the pun.)  Attempts at restraining the man all fail as the demons give him the power to remove any shackles or fetters that they try to use.   

Now here comes Jesus and his apostles.  The demons recognize Jesus a long way off and cause the man to scream "What have you to do with us, Jesus, the Son of God?"  Once again, the announcement from demons as to the true identity of Jesus was not a thing that could be tolerated.  Jesus commands them to come out of the man and he asks the demon his name.  The reply is "Legion for we are many."  To be cast out would mean having to report failure to their boss, Satan, who would not be too pleased with them so they begged to be allowed to infest a herd of swine that was nearby.  Jesus allows this and the whole herd ran and plunged into the sea and were drowned.  It was a bad day to be a keeper of swine in this town to be sure. 

Once again, Jesus demonstrates that he has the power over everything, even hopeless situations where a man is possessed by a legion of demons. How many demons would that be?  A legion in the Roman army could be as many as six-thousand men if you include all the auxiliaries.  More typically so the army could move faster a legion normally had one thousand and forty troops.  So, one way or another, this man was in big trouble, in a hopeless situation, and Jesus was able to fix even this. 

But why did Jesus agree to the demon's request to be allowed to go into the swine?  Was it out of mercy to the demons?  Hardly! It was to show His power and to prove to those who had seen this miracle that there were countless demons expelled that day, not just one.   

Perhaps we should remember this story when our life takes some evil twists and turns and things seem hopeless.  We should remember that Jesus is the Son of God and can command all things.  We just need to ask and what is best for us in the situation will happen. 

How I wish it were true that everyone immediately goes to heaven when they die.  It is a comforting thought for those of us who mourn a person's passing.  While it is possible that we can die and go straight to heaven, most of us I fear end up in Purgatory where we will spend time making satisfaction for the temporal punishments for sins committed that we did not take care of during our life.  Please, remember those you love and pray for them by name. They may need your prayer and they may have no one who will pray for them.  Don't let your love for them end at the grave.  Thank you! 

Don't Worry

Then they came to Capernaum,                                                                

and on the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;
he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
Jesus rebuked him and said,
"Quiet! Come out of him!"
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.All were amazed and asked one another, "What is this? A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him." His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

You know, we had this reading, Mark 1: 21 -28 not too long ago.  I remember that I wrote about how Jesus taught with authority and did not just discuss the words of other learned rabbis of the time. This is what made the people listen to Jesus. They knew this man, He, as a boy, had played in their streets and worked as a carpenter with His father, the late Joseph.  So they were amazed that he spoke as if inspired, and of course, as we know, He was! 

But let's backtrack a bit here.  Yesterday had Jesus in the boat going from one side of the lake to the other, a distance of some eight miles at the place where he left. They got to the point of no return, halfway so it was just as far to go on as it was to go back. A storm came up and these hearty men of the sea melted like yesterdays jello.  Remember how the apostles ran to and fro and worked up a sweat bailing the boat?  Then they woke up Jesus.  He yawned and stretched and probably gave them a look of disappointment as He told the storm to stop. He shook his head and asked why they had so little faith.  

What we saw in this passage was Christ showing He was in control of the forces of nature, they obeyed His commands.  So is it a coincidence that the Church chooses this passage of Mark to follow to show that Jesus controlled even the unclean spirits who had to obey Him.  These were signs and wonders that no other so-called messiah had ever been able to do.  These signs and wonders were proof of his mission and proof that He was the Son of Man. 

Our God is an awesome God.  He set everything in motion, authored the laws of the universe, and when He came to earth to save us from our sins, He showed how he was in control.  We are very fortunate. We know the end of the story, it has already been written and yes, the good guys win. Those unclean spirits were pretty talkative at the start of this passage, telling all within the range of their voice who this Jesus actually was.  Yet not a word came out of them once Jesus rebuked them, told them to be quiet, and told them to hit the road.  They convulsed the patient to be sure, but they said nothing more and the left the poor man. 

What I would suggest as we get ready for another week of craziness, that we take to heart this lesson.  Jesus is in control and He will not eventually win, He already has.  Nothing on earth can ever, without your consent, pluck you out of Jesus' hand.  Be brave, be as joyful as you can, look at life in a positive manner secure always in God's love and the victory against sin and death that Jesus has already won. 

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.”

Storm Chasing

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:  "Let us cross to the other side."
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.  And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!"
The wind ceased and there was a great calm.
Then he asked them, "Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?" They were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?"

"A Messiah's labors from sun to sun but an Apostle's work is never done."  Our reading from Mark 4: 35-41 has Jesus deciding to go from one side of the lake to the other. I think it was because he was tired and needed some sleep because the author makes a point of mentioning the crowd.  Nothing could be more restful than to be snoozing in the back of a boat on a comfy cushion, listening to the waves gently break across the bow as the experienced sailors worked sails, line, and rudder to assure you of a most pleasant ride.  Well, that is until a storm comes up.  The boat which seemed so sturdy before seemingly becomes a cork as it first plunges this way and then that.  These hearty men of the sea bravely started to squeal like little girls that have seen a spider. All the while Jesus is resting serenely in the stern of the boat.  The Apostles were bailing madly as the waves broke over the gunwale.  The only thing they didn't try to do was to drill a hole to let the water out!  Finally, exhausted and scared out of their wits, they shake Jesus awake and ask Him if he doesn't care that they are about to be drowned. For his part, He stood and stretched and after giving a slight look of disapproval at his followers he told the storm to "knock it off."  At that, the lake became placid and Jesus asked them why they had so little faith. To a man, the Apostles stood there with their mouths agape in utter amazement at this Jesus fellow that they were following.  How is it that He had the power to calm the sea and the storm? 

Christianity is a religion of miracles. There are many described in the Bible. The apostles, it appeared, had no clue who it was they were hanging around with and what He could do.  So it is with us.  We participate in a religion that is known for its miracles and yet we are surprised when one occurs.  That is unfortunate.  But miracles can sometimes be hard to recognize as such.  Some go completely unseen and unknown even to the people that they happened to.  For example, a child prays for her mother's good health, not that there is any outward concern, her mother has no symptoms, she just loves her mother.  God for His part hears this prayer and inside the mother's body, some cells that had begun to divide wildly suddenly are attacked by antibodies and destroyed, thus saving the mother from a bout with cancer.   

Far fetched you say?  Nonsense, it happens every day.  This is why prayer is so important. We can never fully know the results of even our shortest but heartfelt prayer.  God will smith miracles for us out of the forge of his great love if we but ask either for ourselves or for others.  Mind you, the miracle we receive might not be the miracle that we requested because as the old song says, sometimes Jesus calms the storm and other times He calms the child. 

Pray for the poor souls in Purgatory, do it now! 

Imposition of Hands - Get Moving!

For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. 
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.

Today's reading is taken from Paul's second letter to Timothy.  Placing your hands on someone's head is such a small gesture but it can convey such power.  For example, when the Archbishop of Canterbury places his hands on the candidate to be king or queen, whoosh, they are king or queen.  Personally, I do not think that there is any work of God going on when they crown the royals, I think that it is just a symbol used to convey obedience of the Church of England to the new monarch.  

How very different it is for people like you and me.  When a bishop, who is appointed by and in league with the head of the Catholic Church in Rome, the Pope, places hands on our foreheads we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit in confirmation.  When a man has hands imposed on him and receives the sacrament of Holy Orders, he becomes one that is empowered to officiate at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and change ordinary bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.  He is also empowered to speak the words of absolution and in persona Christi forgive our sins.  Imposition of hands is truly a small gesture but what a great effect it can have on us. 

For those of us who are not ordained, do we just sit on the sidelines and watch as the priests, bishops, and cardinals work their power on a lost and forsaken world?  No, what we are to do, what Paul is telling Timothy, and us, is to not be afraid, not be ashamed, and above all not be cowardly when it comes to evangelizing others.  The Spirit is within us, we hold Him captive inside of us.  He longs to use us to bring the Kingdom of God into bloom on this cold gray desert we call home.  Open the cage and let the Spirit work in your life.  He can and will do amazing things with such a person as yourself.  What? You are a sinner?  Of course you are!  God's power is made known in our weakness.  He is the cure for all of our sinfulness and He will use us just as we are to spread the seed of the Kingdom of God.  You have a mission for the Kingdom. No one else is able to complete the task you have been assigned.  The job was created with you in mind and it will help advance the Kingdom in ways you cannot even begin to dream about.  And yes, we are speaking about little old you, frail, and weak as you are.  All you have to do is to take the first step and then hold on to your hat, the ride, which might be bumpy at times, will be magnificent! 

Mud...after it snows and the snow melts the path we have to use to get to the back of our house turns to rich black mud.  We tread to it with our laundry basket and we open the door to the basement and before stepping on to the stairs, we scrape the mud off of our shoes. Purgatory is a lot like this.  We end our lives and certain minor sins have not been forgiven and some for some sins we have not taken care of the temporal punishment due.  We go to Purgatory to clean up and prepare ourselves for an eternal life of joy with God.  Once there, we know we cannot help ourselves, we need the prayers of the Church Militant, the people on Earth to help get us out.  I wish everyone went straight to heaven when they died, there is great comfort in that thought, but the fact is many of us will go to Purgatory.  Please pray for the Poor Souls - they need our prayers. 

St Paul - Or is it St. Saul ?

Paul addressed the people in these words:
"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia,
but brought up in this city.
At the feet of Gamaliel, I was educated strictly in our ancestral law
and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.
I persecuted this Way to death,
binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.
Even the high priest and the whole council of elders
can testify on my behalf.
For from them I even received letters to the brothers
and set out for Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem
in chains for punishment those there as well.

"On that journey as I drew near to Damascus,
about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.
I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me,
'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'
I replied, 'Who are you, sir?'
And he said to me,
'I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.'
My companions saw the light
but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me.
I asked, 'What shall I do, sir?'
The Lord answered me, 'Get up and go into Damascus,
and there you will be told about everything
appointed for you to do.' 
Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light,     

Acts 22: 3 - 16

I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus.

"A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law,
and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,
came to me and stood there and said,
'Saul, my brother, regain your sight.'
And at that very moment, I regained my sight and saw him.
Then he said,
'The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will,
to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice;
for you will be his witness before all
to what you have seen and heard.
Now, why delay?
Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away,
calling upon his name.'"

Today, the Church celebrates the life of St. Paul the Apostle. You have to give credit where credit is due. Paul went at things wholeheartedly with a lot of enthusiasm and with an eye for getting the job done. He hailed from a city named Tarsus which was the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia on the southeast coast of what we call Turkey.  He was no country bumpkin as the city he was from was a port city and center of commercial trade.  If you told someone you were from Nazareth they might ask you, "Oh, where is that?" But if you told someone you were from Tarsus, they knew exactly where you were from. 

Paul was an educated man.  He learned his religion, that of a Jew, at the feet of Gamaliel who is known even today as a famous Jewish teacher. Paul was what we might call today a radicalized follower of the Jewish religion. As a matter of fact, he and Gamaliel were on the outs for a while because Paul disagreed with Gamaliel's open-minded attitude when it came to the Christian sect.  Paul was of a mind to go after the Christians and nip this Jesus thing in the bud. 

Paul was a Roman citizen, he inherited it, and this is important because it gave him certain rights that could not be violated.  For example, at one point, this happened after his conversion, of course, he was going to be interrogated and to encourage his cooperation, they were planning to scourge him.  They prepared him and before they got the conversation started he asked them if they really wanted to do this to a Roman citizen?  The soldier assigned to the task went back and asked if his excellency really wanted to scourge a Roman citizen who had not been condemned to death.  They let him go.  Paul as a citizen of Rome had one other right, and that was to have his case decided by the emperor.  He claimed that right and was sent on his journey to Rome.  Paul reaped one final benefit as a Roman citizen, after he was condemned by Nero, instead of being crucified, which was terribly painful and long-lasting, he was sent home by being beheaded, a quick and painless way to die. 

Often in the Bible, when someone's name is changed it shows that their mission has changed.  Our hero was known as Saul and in Acts 13:9 we are told, "But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit looked at him..."  In this case, Saul and Paul are actually the same names but Paul is easier to say in Greek with whom Paul had many conversations. 

As we know, Paul was thrown from his horse, saw a great light and heard Jesus ask why Paul was persecuting Him.  From that moment, Paul converted and with his whole heart, he took on the establishment and pushed Christianity and helped it grow.  His conversion was, to put it mildly, a shot out of the blue.  We are called to convert just as Paul did, we are supposed to move from being an enemy of Christ to be an ambassador for Him.  We Catholics know that conversion is a lifelong struggle.  We don't just say the "sinner's prayer" and get on with our lives.  We have to work at it day by day and sometimes minute by minute.  As we remember today Paul of Tarsus, let us also remember the day our conversion started and let us look and see where we are at and what we need to do to get where we need to go. 

I keep beating this into the ground, but it is IMPORTANT.  One day, maybe today, it is possible that you will die and end up in purgatory.  Wouldn't you want those who loved you in life to show that they still love you by praying for you now?  For heaven's sake, don't forget the Poor Souls.  They may include your parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, nieces, and even if it doesn't pity the Poor Souls and pray for them.  They cannot help themselves, they depend on us.  

Farming Your Soul

Jesus said to them, "Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once 
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, 
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, 
they quickly fall away. Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,  but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,  and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold."

You have to be careful with what you have learned about the Kingdom of God.  The knowledge is wonderful to have but you can lose what you have received.  Jesus points this out in the parable of the sower and the seed. We tend to think of ourselves as the seed that falls and bears fruit but is this a true picture of where we are?  I think it might be possible that at various times we find ourselves in the more dangerous parts of the farm where the seed has been sown.  How can this be? 

We Catholics have heard the truth.  We are fortunate to have the whole truth of salvation, properly interpreted for us. The seed is watered by graces that flow from the hand of God and we bloom and show the world what a joy it is to be a Catholic Christian.  Then, for some reason, in spite of what we know and what we have experienced, we stray from the path that we are on and we find ourselves among weeds or in soil that has no depth and we begin to wither and die.  Or one day we find ourselves in a position of being persecuted, and we just cannot take it and we cave in and begin to follow the world. 

I know that this is a bit of a stretch today and bit on the nebulous side.  What I want to say is that we need to remember our roots, remember where we get our strength and who it is that nurtures us.  We have to be well grounded in our faith.  Many of us stopped learning about God when we were confirmed, some as early in the seventh grade!  I dare say that most of our seventh graders today are better equipped than we ever were to face the world and to spread the seed that is the Gospel.  But just because we are older we cannot forget that we must keep the Good News fresh in our minds and we must never take our faith on faith alone.  We have to participate with the Lord and use the graces He sends us in such a great abundance.  Cheer up, if you go at this as an adult you will soon overtake the seventh graders in your parish! 

Do you know someone in Purgatory?  Don't forsake them and let your love stop on this side of the grave. Pray for the poor souls, especially people you know who have died.  True, they may be in heaven already but what if they are not?  Help them today by praying for them by name, they will be forever grateful to you.  If they are already in heaven and do not need your prayers, your prayers will benefit others.  It pleases God when we offer prayers and sacrifices for the Poor Souls.  Do not forget them.  Remember, as they are today someday you might be. 

The Brothers and Sisters of Jesus - Say What?

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
"Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you."
But he said to them in reply,
"Who are my mother and my brothers?"
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
"Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother."


Okay, I confess, this passage is my least favorite in the whole New Testament because the only thing I can think of when I read it is but a single word, "brat."  Also, the translators do us Catholics no favors because they cannot adequately translate the words used to describe brothers and sisters so the verses seem to show that Mary the Mother of God did not remain a virgin because all of a sudden we have these brothers and sisters hanging around. Gleefully, evangelists who want to trample on Catholic Doctrine point out that if Jesus had all of these brothers and sisters then it follows Mary did not remain a virgin. They then close their Bible, thump it, and close their minds and stand there with a smug smile on their face demanding the Catholic that they are talking with refute the what the Bible plainly says.  Many of us would stand there with mouth agape hemming and hawing until we give up, close our mouth and hang our heads thus giving victory to the Thumper.  What we should have done is tell the Thumper that the word used in the original translation is "adelphos" and that it does mean "blood brothers" (Thumper smiles knowingly.) but it also means step-brothers, cousins, uncles, nephews, in other words, extended family of all types.  (Thumper is visibly displeased and is about to say something when you give him Biblical proof of what you are saying) You point out that this is the same word used in Genesis to describe the relationship between Abraham and Lot.  They were not blood brothers, but uncle and nephew. (Thumper is getting uncomfortable speaking with a knowledgeable Catholic.)  You point out that Laban and Jacob are described as brothers but here again, the word used is the same adelphos used to describe who is waiting to speak to Jesus, and they too are uncle and nephew. (Thumper lowers his eyes and with a final mighty thump on his King James Bible, turns on his heel, head down, and softly whispering the sinner's prayer under his breath, walks away sorry that he took on a Catholic versed in the truth,)  Oh, by the way, although I am not going to go into it, the word used for sisters is similar in nature, it refers to extended family as well.  So, plainly Jesus says that those who follow Him by doing the will of God are his true relations. 

So, I am sorry that I did not have anything to say today in my blog, I just don't like this passage of scripture.  Maybe we will have better luck tomorrow. 

Do you know someone who has died?  To think of them as already in heaven is a very comforting thought for us that are still on earth. But it is possible that they are in Purgatory and waiting for your prayers to help get them out. Don't let your love for them stop at the grave, pray for them by name, they need your prayers because they cannot help themselves, they rely on us.  If your loved one is not in Purgatory, then your prayers will help someone else who needs it.  Pray today for the Poor Souls, they will be forever grateful.  Always remember, as they are, someday you may be.

The Unforgivable Sin

Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies 
that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit 
will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin."

In the first post for this year I wrote about how much God loves you.  By "you" I didn't mean you in the generic sense, I meant you as you see yourself in the mirror every morning.  Our Father in heaven is so much in love with us that it is possible to even hate Him for most of your life and to repent of your stupidity and love Him at the last minute and in spite of all of the abuse you have heaped upon Him, because of His Son, and His infinite love for you, He will take you back.  

Rob a bank, commit a murder, lie, cheat, steal, be an adulterer, and repent and He will forgive you. There is a catch, but it is not in the terms and conditions I've already spelled out.  Any sin can and will be forgiven if you repent.  But there is one sin that will not be forgiven and that would be blasphemes against the Holy Spirit.  This is a ridiculously hard sin to commit but I fear that it is committed daily and many people are ending up in the infernal regions because of it.  But, if the sin is so hard to commit, how is it that so many commit it on a daily basis?  

God is with us every day of our life. We receive abundances of grace to help us live in the manner that a son or daughter of the Great King should live.  Daily we choose between good and bad, between ourselves and others.  Our lives are years and years in the making and all of it, every day and every decision is an occasion to love God or to hate Him.  Every day we progress in holiness, or not, as our choices propel us. This love that is poured out on us, this grace comes from the Holy Spirit and He endows us with much more than we can ever use. 

The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit comes at the end of our time on earth.  When we are finally given the choice between heaven and hell, if we have been docile to the grace of the Spirit and accept it and have used it wisely, we will choose heaven because that is where our sight has been for our whole life.  We have seen and have experienced the love of God in our life.  On the other hand, if, at that awful moment, we see that we were given every chance and rejected the goodness of God and the graces He lavished on us, and in effect rejected God at every turn in our life, we will reject God at that moment as well and we will hang our heads and trudge off to the destiny we chose when we blasphemed the Holy Spirit by refusing His gifts through our whole life.  The sin of rejecting God cannot be forgiven because it is our choice made in accordance with our free will and God loves us so much that He will let us choose eternity without Him.  

Do not despair. Turn to God and enjoy the graces he showers down upon you.  It will help make your life joyful and your time on earth a foretaste of heaven. God really wants YOU with Him and even now as you read this is gifting you with the graces you will need to live out this day. 

Purgatory is proof positive that we have a loving God. He provides it as a way for us to prepare ourselves to be in His presence by removing the attachments we have to things that are not holy and to make up any temporal punishments we have not made up during our lives.  Please pray for the Poor Souls.  They will remember you forever if you do.