Flowers, Weeds, Conversion

Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house.
His disciples approached him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the Evil One,
and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his Kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the Kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."



Today is the day that the Church remembers one of her special saints, St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order.  Following are seven fun facts about Ignatius and they are courtesy of Loyola Press. 

1. He once allowed the donkey on which he was riding to determine whether he should follow and murder someone he thought had insulted the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Fortunately, the donkey chose the path that led away from the insulter.)
2. He thought that his leg had been set poorly after the cannonball incident and that, as a result, he wouldn’t look good in his courtier’s tights. So he had a doctor rebreak his leg and start over!
3. He may be the only canonized saint to have a notarized police record—for nighttime brawling with intent to inflict serious harm.
4. He was hauled before the Spanish Inquisition on a number of occasions.
5. At age 33, he joined a class of young children so he could learn Latin.
6. He sometimes cried with so much devotion at Mass that he couldn’t continue, and he feared he would lose his eyesight.
7. He penned over 6,800 letters in his lifetime, making him one of the most prolific letter writers of his time—or any time, for that matter.

Conversion, that is the turning around of one's life can take place in many different ways.  For St. Francis of Assisi, it was a talking crucifix that told him to rebuild the church for it was crumbling.  For St. Paul, it was being thrown from a horse. For Ignatius, it was being wounded by a cannonball. For each of us, it was most likely something less dramatic in appearance but no less dramatic in effect.  Through the conversion experience, you are changed, turned one hundred and eighty degrees around and the path you were once on is changed for another path.  Sometimes we are willing partners and are looking for this change, but, I believe that for most of us, conversion comes only after an internal war with one's self.  It may come hard, but for those who love God, a conversion will not only come, it will continue for the balance of your life on earth.  You can fight it and yes, you can prevail against conversion but this struggle will take until you draw your last breath on this earth and you will have lost the opportunity to taste heaven on earth. Our Gospel reading tells us as much.  At the end of time, the friends of the Lord will be gathered in one place and those that did not want His friendship will be gathered in another. The friends of the Lord will be led by Jesus into the ultimate happiness of heaven while those that have preferred their way and followed their wisdom will march off to an eternity filled with loneliness and pain. 

It is truly up to us and God will prompt us and remind us of His love but we make the ultimate decision to follow Him or not and out fate rests not in the Hands of God, for He has given us the power to love Him or not in total freedom.  That is why hell will be such a terrible place, there will be no God, no joy and every evil temperament will be allowed to express itself without restraint and there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

Please pray for the poor souls in Purgatory. 

Mustard Seeds

                                                                                                             
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"







So, illustrated above is a mature mustard bush.  This plant begins from a seed that is little more than a speck and yet, given the right conditions, it grows into a fairly large bush or maybe you could call it a small tree.  Some specimens can grow up to thirty feet tall although a twenty-foot height would be much more typical.  Jesus says that this bush can be compared to the kingdom of heaven.  What does He mean by that? 

Think of the beginning of this tree.  It is started by a seed about the same size as the period that ends this sentence.  It is nothing much to look at as it is cast off onto the ground where it begins to grow.  It first appears to be a weed amid the crops and it is not much to look at.  If left to grow it grows into a large bush where the birds of the air can alight and find rest.  So what Jesus is saying to us is that His Kingdom will come even if it seems to come slowly and that when it arrives, there shall be room for all. 

Please remember the Holy Souls in Purgatory.  

Why I Won't Hold Your Hand at Mass

Brothers and sisters:

I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

First of all, please understand that Michael the Lesser cannot, under any definition of the same be considered a conservative Catholic. I actually prefer my Mass in English, I enjoy singing modern hymns and to my way of thinking there is nothing wrong with the priest facing the people as he leads our prayer.  I do have a problem with the holding of hands when it comes time to say the Our Father during the communion rite. The practice, I guess, is innocent enough but I do not participate in it, at least not at Mass because it is the wrong symbol being displayed at the wrong time.    The reason I am against it is very simple. Protestants use this gesture to convey unity because they do not have another that they can use in their worship services. A Protestant worship service normally consists of a hymn or two, the reading of the Word of God, and a sermon to help the congregation to incorporate the message into their lives.  Once in a while, they will distribute crackers and grape juice and call it the Lord's Supper but for the most part, they do so as a memorial to Jesus not as the unbloody re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Christ to the Father as we see it.  We Catholics, on the other hand, have the Eucharist and it is this, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity that is the real sign of our unity.  When we receive the Eucharist, we unite ourselves with Christ Himself and with every other Catholic in our worship space, in our city, in our country, and in our world.  We do not need to hold hands to signify our unity, the Eucharist does that for us.  This is one reason we Catholics are so particular as to who receives it.  The "Amen" that we speak as we receive this wonderful sacrament, reverberates throughout the universe and marks us as united in Christ. It says "Yes, I believe that the Eucharist is the Body of Christ and I am a member of that body."   The holding of hands during the Our Father is a gesture that is very much out of place as it comes before we have an opportunity to testify to the effectiveness of the Sacrament that is Most Holy.   Am I condemning Catholics who do this to the fires of the netherworld?  Of course not!  Mistakes made in ignorance are always completely forgivable and forgettable.  And, outside of the Mass, if you want to hold my hand when we say the Our Father together I am more than ready to do so because at that time the symbolism being portrayed does not run counter to that which we are conveying at Mass.   I am not going to pin my objections to the church's door in protest for I am not a Protestant, nor am I going to actively campaign for the excommunication of those that do it because while their intentions are misguided, they are good.  But, brothers and sisters, we ought to keep in mind the unity that the Eucharist brings us.  It is the Eucharist that we partake in that witnesses to the world that there is One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism that unites us all to the Father.  

Weeds Amongst The Wheat

My best friend's father lived in Central Illinois. Now, if you ever have been to Central Illinois you know that the roads down there go for miles and miles without a curve.  You can take a cue ball and if you were able to roll it down the centerline of the highway, by the time it got from you were to the next town, it would not be more than an inch off of the center, that is how flat it is out there.  It is so flat that one town is famous for its Indian mound, it is called Blue Mound and people come from miles around just to see something that is not flat!  

Jim's father related a story about something that happened between him and his father many years ago,  Jim Senior was but a boy and his job was to weed the wheat field.  He spent one Saturday morning weeding and to his way of thinking, he had done a superb job.  He reported to his father that the weeding was done.  Jim's father congratulated his son and went out to the porch to admire his son's handiwork.  It was almost as Jim had said. The field of wheat looked weed free!  Now his father shook his head and said that he saw a weed about eighty yards in and about six feet to the right of the fence and he suggested that his son go and pull it.  The boy peered into the distance and he could see nothing but a field of wheat and he turned and started to question his dad.  His dad was not one to be questioned and a glare at the boy propelled him on his way.  Once safely away from his dad, he mumbled under his breath that the old man was going senile.  He made it to the spot that was pointed out and there it was, one half of an inch taller than the brown wheat plant there was a very healthy stinkweed growing fat and happy right next to a stalk of wheat.  He turned and looked at his father who stood on the porch, arms crossed, and a big grin on his face as he saw his son pull the offending weed out.  Jim senior said that his dad could see a weed in a clover field at a thousand yards and that he would send you out to pull it! 

God, our Father, has absolutely perfect sight.  He knows weeds when He sees them and He also knows and appreciates the beauty of the wheat.  In our parable today, Jesus, explains why there is evil in the world.  It is not because the Father wants it, it is because He knows that if he mounts an expedition to remove the weeds, some of the wheat may be uprooted as well.  He wants every grain of wheat that he has planted to flourish so he allows them to grow together until the harvest time.  At harvest, the wheat will have had the most amount of time to grow and mature and to provide a bountiful harvest.  The weed too has seemingly grown but the difference comes at harvest.  The wheat is carefully selected and placed into the barn while the weeds are gathered and used as fuel for the fire. 
So, when you see evil in the world, be assured that God knows about it and it is being tolerated for the good of the wheat.  The wheat is more precious to him than anything and in the end, both wheat and weeds will end up where they belong.  

The Good Old Days Are Here Now

"But blessed are your eyes because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

We are truly blessed by God in this time of waiting for the return of His Son to claim what is His own.  We have all of the advantages of the complete Bible, writings that have come down through the centuries that tell us God's plan and God's hope for His children.  We have learned that He loves each of us as if we were His only child and we know that He gives us everything that is good. If the prophets and righteous people of times gone by had what we had what marvelous use they would have made of the knowledge. We know what it is that God wants of us. It is up to us to fulfill these requirements which are simply to love others as He has loved us.  To forgive others as He has forgiven us.  To let no one be without when we have.  Yes, if our forefathers knew what we know today what a different world we would have inherited.  We need to act on what we know so that those that come after us will inherit a world that is better, more gentle and more docile to the promptings of the Spirit.  Some say it was better in the good old days.  I ask how can that be true when we, today have more complete knowledge of the God who loves us so much?

Our brothers and sisters in Purgatory beg for our prayers.  Do not forget them as you go through your day today.  Offer up the pains and sorrow that may come your way for them and pray an Our Father, Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.  It will mean so much for them. 

Who do you work for?

But Jesus summoned them and said,                                                              

"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

The last shall be first. The great shall be a servant. Whoever wishes to be first will be your slave.  These are sayings of Jesus that we do not always remember.   Let me point out that those who are in charge of the Church have titles and are called respectful names such as, "eminence" or "your excellency" or in the case of the pope, "your holiness."  What we call these men are titles of human respect that reflect the office that they occupy.  How they occupy the office and what it is they do is more important than the title.  Some of the leaders of the Church have accumulated for themselves great wealth. And the key word here is "themselves."  A true leader in the Catholic Church is a man that has the title but works hard at proving the title does not mean anything special.  Pope Francis is one such person. He has the title but lives without a lot of the pomp and circumstance that his predecessors have taken as their due.  He has also told those that work under them that they should not build great houses for themselves but rather they should tend to their jobs as shepherds of the poor, the meek, the humble.

So it is for us. We may occupy positions in the world that give us certain rights over others.  With these rights come obligations. In our everyday work, we should take care of what we need to take care of but we should also be willing to serve those we are in charge of.  We may occupy positions where the only direction to look is up.  We may be at the bottom of the food chain and having to do the bidding of everyone else but we too are called upon to be humble and meek and to do what we are called on to do to the best of our ability.  For, in the long run, we do not do our work for our boss, or our company, or the people that buy the products we make.  We work and share in the creation that God began so long ago in the Garden of Eden.  God is the ultimate boss we need to answer to and his evaluation of our performance in this world will have consequences that reach into eternity and that, my friend, is a long, long time. 

Please remember the poor souls in Purgatory today. 

Was Jesus Being Rude?

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds,  his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him.  Someone told him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you." But he said in reply to the one who told him, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother."

I have a hard time with the way Jesus is portrayed by Matthew in this reading.  Where I grew up, the easiest way to pick a fight with another boy was to mention something negative about his mother.  Do this and the fight was on and it would continue until you either won the tussle or ended up apologizing for what you said.  Also, there is no relationship on earth that can be more close than a mother to a son.  Now I know there are some cases this is not true, but more often than not you can take a two hundred pound middle-aged man and using nothing more than the voice of his mother, turn him back into a compliant twelve-year-old adolescent looking to please Mom.   For most of us, that is how important this relationship is. 

So, was Jesus being rude to His mother in this episode of the Gospel?  His mother probably wanted to speak to Him about getting some rest and perhaps a bite to eat.  Jesus knew the drill and yet he seemingly dismisses her and says that those who are doing the will of His heavenly Father makes up His family. 

I do not think Jesus was being rude here, He was just telling us that our relationship with Him and His Father is much more important than any relationship that we have here on earth and that we should strive mightily to build that relationship and make it strong. 

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Someone told me that their mother was so sick and in so much pain that she certainly did her Purgatory on earth.  Is this something that can be done?  Yes, it is possible to make satisfaction for your sins on earth through sacrifice, fasting, prayer, and yes, even the pain you suffer can be dedicated for this purpose.  The better thing to do with your suffering is to offer your earthly sufferings up for the good of the Poor Souls in Purgatory.  Remember, those of us in Purgatory cannot lessen our time there on our own.  We need the help of others.  Think often of our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, friends, and strangers in Purgatory and pray for them and offer sacrifices for them.  They will be forever grateful for your work on their behalf. 

Signs and Wonders

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,     

“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
He said to them in reply,
“An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it
except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, 
so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment, the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.”

The scribes and Pharisees, the learned of the age, came to Jesus and asked him for a sign.  It would be almost as if we came up to Houdini and asked to see a trick.  Jesus knew that no matter what sign he performed for these men it would be looked upon as Egyptian magic and would provide fodder for their table talk and not much more.   Jesus was not a mere magician using sleight of hand and distraction to do what He did.  He rather reached deeply into the treasury of love that God has for His children and cured the sick, made the lame walk and yes, even raise the dead.  So, He was not about to dance for his dinner for these men.  He told them to watch for the only sign that they would receive would be the sign of Jonah.  He told them that the Son of Man would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.  They must have been confused and had no idea of what he was speaking about.   Jesus went on talking about the story of Nineveh who repented when Jonah came to them but the Pharisees and scribes did not and had no idea who they were dealing with. 

In our day we have the benefit of hindsight and can see all around us what the Lord has done. Yet, there are those that are still looking for signs.  They consult mediums, tarot cards, tea leaves, and horoscopes all in a vain attempt to see into the future. These "New Age" practices are as evil as any that have been used in the past.  For a Catholic Christian, there is a sign that we can look at and trust in daily.  That sign is that of the Eucharist, the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.  For signs and wonders, look no further for we have the very Son of God in our presence. 

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If you have a problem understanding what Purgatory is, here is a brief (4 minutes) video from YouTube on it. 

Please remember to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory today.  Remember too that as they are you may someday be.

A Crack in the Mirror - Unity is Broken

Woe to the shepherds
who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture,  says the LORD. 
Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people:
You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.  You have not cared for them,
but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.  I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands to which I have driven them and bring them back to their meadow; there they shall increase and multiply. I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble, and none shall be missing, says the LORD

It was the worst day ever.  A day that should never have been but one that came anyway.  It was a day that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that things could always get worse.  This day is celebrated each year as Reformation Day on October 31st. On this day the unity prayed for by Christ at the Last Supper was broken and the church was splintered and unity was lost.  On this day a man filled with pride and novel ideas began to preach a new gospel, one not written by the apostles and this man named the new pseudo church for himself and the Lutheran Church was born. With the birth of this inferior system of belief, countless millions of people have been led astray away from the shepherd that built His church upon the Rock of Peter.  It was a sad day for humanity.  30,000 versions of Christianity all claiming to be true is a testimony to this fact. 

But why is unity so important?  Unity is important because there can only be one truth.  There can only be one source for that truth and that source is named Christ.  But surely those that are following their faith outside of the Catholic Church are beloved by God?  Of course, they are!  Every one of them who call Christ Lord and walks the path of Christ faithfully is my brother and that is what the Catholic Church teaches.   Well then, it does not matter if they are Catholic or not then does it? Yes, it does. Even though they are brothers and sisters in the faith, they follow strange interpretations of the Scripture because every one of them is thought to be able to interpret correctly the Holy Scripture. They say they follow the Bible but if a portion of the Bible inconveniently goes against what they want to believe they gloss over it or change it to fit their teaching.  Martin Luther himself changed scripture and even wanted to delete the book of James because it taught things that went against his novel and incorrect view of faith and works.  

But what do you think the fate of people like Luther, Calvin, Knox were?  I don't pretend to know for sure but our reading today is a sobering look at what could happen to those that get in the way of Christian Unity and I think that you might be able to agree that it seems that there will be repercussions for those guilty of carving up the Church.  But I think that it goes further than that.  What about the Catholics that were Catholics in name only.  What was the fate of the bad popes, who never taught heresy because they were too busy getting rich using their office?  What about the Catholic clergy that participated in sexual misdeeds of all kinds?  What about priests, bishops, and cardinals that stole or failed to remain celibate in accordance with the promises they made to God?  Their example probably chased people from the Catholic Church and into the perilous waters of Protestant theology with its many dangerous rocky shores.  They will have to answer for what they have done as we all will.  

Jesus is the founder of the Church, the Catholic Church and scripture says that He built HIS church on the rock of Peter and it was his desire that there would be one flock and one shepherd. The Lord will one day come and heal all of the divisions and bring all into unity again under the flag of His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.  That day will erase the divisions between Christians and once again we all will be one.  I apologize if I seem to be a very right-wing soldier in my views about unity in the Church but I believe that Jesus did not want separation of his followers.  I would challenge those who say otherwise to find my a quote in Holy Scripture where it says that when people disagree about the doctrine that they are free to split from the Church Christ began and start a church in their name.  Search for it how you will, you will never find it for Jesus wanted us to be one as He and the Father are one. 

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Please pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.  You will make a forever friend if you do.

Evil Cannot Win

Woe to those who plan iniquity,                                  
and work out evil on their couches;
In the morning light, they accomplish it
when it lies within their power.
They covet fields, and seize them;
houses and they take them;
They cheat an owner of his house,
a man of his inheritance.
Therefore thus says the LORD:
Behold, I am planning against this race an evil
from which you shall not withdraw your necks;
Nor shall you walk with head high,
for it will be a time of evil.
On that day a satire shall be sung over you,
and there shall be a plaintive chant:
"Our ruin is complete,
our fields are portioned out among our captors,
The fields of my people are measured out, and no one can get them back!"
Thus you shall have no one to mark out boundaries by lot in the assembly of the LORD.

We all can recognize evil when we see it. We see the evil of idolatry as people put the trust into things of this world instead of into God.  We see the evil of abortion and upon the sanctity of marriage.  We see deacons, priests, bishops, and cardinals who have been lured away from their vocation by temptations of the flesh.  We see our poor mistreated by having their funds for food cut and our senior citizens watch as our senators and congressmen as they help themselves to the money put aside for social security payments. We know we are looking at evil when we look into the eyes of a killer as he is sentenced to prison.  Evil appears on our computer screens in the form of pornography and we see it is evil.  Every day we see evil things happen to good people.  Is there no justice to be had?

As Catholic Christians, we are called to face the evil in this world and day by day chop it out as a noxious weed is removed from a garden.  Our labor will be unceasing and we will tire but the Lord will refresh us and we will continue the fight.  As for the evil that we, ourselves, cannot overcome, well, there is hope even here.  For the Lord, Himself will address it in His time and in His way.  The evil will lose what they have and their gains will be distributed to the servants of the Lord.  Evil cannot and will not win.  In fact, the victory is already assured!  Work for the Kingdom of Heaven and do not give in to evil yourself.  Pray to the God who loves you.  Pray to Him as a loving Father and He will give you all of the strength you need.  Today we cry as evil seems to have its sway but tomorrow the sun will rise on a brand new day, the Day of the Lord is coming and knows that you will see it.

Please pray for the poor souls in Purgatory. 

Mercy is the Currency Of God

I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.

If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,

you would not have condemned these innocent men.

For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

Have you ever noticed that you get from God what you give to others?  The economy of salvation is like that.  The Treasury of God's Mercy is infinitely vast and inexhaustible because no matter what we do, no matter how far we stray, He will always take us back.  He loves us so much that the insults and hurts that we hurl at him, which we call sin, are absorbed by Him and yet His love does not diminish. This is good news for all of us! But there is one caveat.  We must be willing to forgive others in the same measure that He has forgiven us.  That is the economy of mercy.  We will receive mercy in the exact same measure that we dole it out ourselves.  

What does this mean to us?  It means that we have to be as generous as God in forgiving the insults and hurts that are hurled at us. We must be peacemakers and we must be meek, we must recognize others as being better than ourselves.  In other words, we must turn ourselves around and be less human and more like our Father. 

I once read in a book about a brother named Brother Bernard.  Brother Bernard was a rough-hewn man who did the physical labor at the monastery that he was a member of.  While some of the brothers were doing spiritual reading and studying, he would be doing gardening or repair work.  It was not that he was dumb, it was that he felt called to simple work and he did what he did so that his other brothers could do what they do.  He never liked gossiping or telling tales out of school about others.  When confronted with such a situation he would always say in reply, "Wouldn't it be interesting if he were closer to God than we are."

So, on this Friday, where I am it is humid and warm and the weather gurus are promising us a steamy, rainy day, I am going to try to be more generous with my mercy supply.  I will bet you that if all of us were to do this that the world would be a better place and that we would find that God has given us an inexhaustible supply of mercy of our own to dispense as freely as He does. 

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I know I ask this every day but today the Lord is calling me to be especially persuasive but He has challenged me to do it in just a few words so here it goes:  

Pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory

 sow your mercy for them 

and they will grow in love for you. 

Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt

Jesus said:
"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

"You Load Sixteen Tons and What Do You Get? Another Day Older and Deeper in debt. St. Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store..."

It seems some days never end. We get up at the crack of dawn, we shower, shave, dress and go to work.  We handle what comes our way and marvel at the stupidity of some of the customers, we laugh with others, and some we just serve because we have to.   We sweat, we eat lunch, we go to meetings that never seem to end then we go home and prepare to do it all over again.  Will it ever end? 

Jesus has been there too. In his time, in His father's shop, he waited on all types of customers. He slaved away at a tricky piece of work and was pleased when Joseph complimented Him.  He was dismayed when a customer just took that same piece of word just as if it was his due and made no remark on the wonderful quality of what Jesus's hands had wrought.  He went to bed tired and got ready to do it all over again.  He wondered if it would end. 

Jesus knows how hard you work, both in the world and in the kingdom.  He invites you to come to Him and He will lift your burdens and in Him, you will find rest that absolutely refreshes.  Today, give in to Jesus.  When the weight is heaviest on your shoulders, call to Him and He will be there. 

Please remember the Poor Souls.  Grant them the mercy of your prayers today. 

Simplicity In The Gospel - A Childlike Response

At that time Jesus exclaimed:                                              

“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

Someone after reading my blog asked me straight out, "Where do you come off writing a blog about the Catholic faith?  You do not have any real formal training, so why do you think you should be writing about religion?"

I explained to them that first of all I write for myself more than others. I communicate well via the written word but have a tongue that stumbles.  When I write the thoughts come out better organized and usually easier to follow.  Not so when I speak although I have given talks during the time I was involved in RCIA and they were well-received. I told him also that I am not writing about religion, I am writing about feelings.  I read the Word of God and things come to me and I just have to jot them down.  

Am I claiming to be a prophet, heck no!  Those that know me will tell you I am a simple man, a quiet man, somewhat shy when among those I do not know well.  But I have always felt the presence of God in my life.  He has always been there, even at times when I was very angry with Him and still He has never abandoned me. He has put up with a lot of nonsense from me but never ever has He left me alone. I have often prayed to God that He never remove His presence from my life because I do not know what I would do without Him.

The Gospel message is a simple message no matter what the theologians tell you.  How hard is it to learn to be nice to another person?  How much theology do you need to wipe the tear from a child's face?  What diploma is required to console the widow or widower?  What degree do you need to feed the hungry or give a cool drink of water to the thirsty?  

The message of Jesus is simple.  It is made so that we all can understand it and for the parts that we do not readily understand and have questions about, He gives us the Church and protects her from error in the answers she provides.  Today become childlike and do something nice for someone.  If you do this you are one step closer to paradise. 

God Bless! 

Free 1,000 souls from Purgatory - devoutly say the little prayer below.

Pray for them today 

for tomorrow you may be among them.