Power in Prayer

"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,

who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them.


Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door,


and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you."

JUNE 20, 2017 —One of Africa’s worst conflicts may have finally ended through a rare type of diplomacy. On June 19, more than a dozen armed groups in the Central African Republic signed a peace accord. Yet they did not do so through an official negotiator. Rather a religious group in Italy used what it calls a “spiritually inspired” method – building empathy and compassion – to help forge a truce. This diplomatic feat was achieved by the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Roman Catholic lay group that works quietly and discreetly around the world to end conflicts. It puts prayer at the heart of its mediation. Its efforts have been so successful that the United Nations formally signed an agreement on June 9 to cooperate with Sant’Egidio in ending other conflicts. Its president, Marco Impagliazzo, says the group’s success lies in being seen as a neutral party that relies on patience and shared values to create trust between foes. (Christian Science News Monitor) 

Christians pray.  It's what we do. If you do not pray then you are a nominal Christian at best.  The thing that amazes me is those times when we get what we have prayed for, we are amazed, we are pretty much speechless.  The evidence of the power of prayer is all around us and it seems to remain invisible to us.  The fact that the sun rises and you are able to hear the birds sing is the result of someone asking God for this.  Does that sound fanciful? Surely, the sun rises and sets in accordance with the laws of the universe.  True, but the fact you are there to see it may be because a prayer warrior somewhere prayed for your well -being and that load of bricks on the fiftieth floor of the office building did not plummet to the ground while you walked over the exact spot that they would have landed.  All of us owe a lot to those who faithfully pray every day.  

Prayer is not our attempt to twist God's arm so as to force Him to give us what we want.  This is how pagans from ages past tried to control their gods.  We who worship God whose fingerprints are on everything and everyone in the universe have no need to twist His arm.  Mother Angelica says it best when she said, "Our prayer, no matter what it is, is asking God, "Do you love me?" and His answer, no matter if it is "Yes" or "No" or "Wait" is His affirmation that He does love us."

So, become a prayer warrior.  Pray for others and get out of yourself.  Your trust in God means that He will meet your needs, not necessarily your wants. He wants us to ask and he longs like a loving Father to give us what is best for us.  When you pray you don't change God, you change yourself. 

Jesus 102 - THe Gospel of John

For many Christians, this beloved passage from John is where they get their first taste of Christianity.  John the Apostle was the last of the apostles to be called home to heaven.  His Gospel is different than that of the other three evangelists. I believe that his Gospel is Jesus 102.  By this, I mean that the Book of John has to be read after you have a familiarity with the Synoptic Gospels. I do not mean that it does not stand on its own, it does.  I mean that its lessons are better understood after reading Matthew, Mark, and Luke and becoming conversant in the story of Jesus.  For example, you would not tell a new Christian to begin his journey with Christ by reading Revelation, would you? The symbolism would be beyond what they could understand. 

A reader could spend the rest of his or her life studying the Gospel of John and daily come up with fresh ideas to inspire their life.  The one chapter that gets the least amount of attention is John Chapter Six.  Protestant preachers just do not know what to make of this chapter that discusses in great detail Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. 

I've never understood why people who read Genisis and claim that the world was created in six days because it says so, do not believe that Jesus meant what He said about eating his Body and drinking His Blood.  Reading John 6 leaves no doubt as what the intent of Jesus was at the Last Supper when he took bread into His sacred hands and He blessed it and broke it and gave it to His disciples saying, "This is my Body."  He then took the cup filled with wine and passed it to them saying "This is my Blood."  He then said, "Do this in memory of me."  The word "this" refers to the action Jesus had just completed, changing the ordinary bread and wine into His Body and Blood.  The apostles were to do this over and over again. This was to be how Jesus would remain with His people through all generations until He returned at the end of time. 

It is in the Body and Blood that God demonstration how much He really loved his errant children on earth.  Not only would His Son take upon himself all of the sins of the world, but He would make Himself available to all of His people in the Eucharist.  To take the Eucharist is to absorb the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus into your body. In a most intimate way, Jesus is physically present in you!  It is difficult to understand why Jesus would choose to do this except that He loves us without end and it is his fondest desire to do this for us. 

May Jesus be adored, praised, and loved, in all of the tabernacles in the whole world and especially when He is with me as I receive him in the Bread and Wine at the table of the Lord.  Amen.  

It's good to be a Catholic! 

Second Sunday of Lent - Hardship and Triumph

Paul writes in his Second Letter to Timothy 

Beloved:

Paul writes in his Second Letter to Timothy 

Beloved:

Bear your share of hardship for the gospel

with the strength that comes from God.

He saved us and called us to a holy life,

not according to our works

but according to his own design

and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,

but now made manifest 

through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,

who destroyed death and brought life and immortality

to light through the gospel.

Hardships and suffering for being a Catholic in the United States of America actually do exist. Fundamentalist Evangelicals of the Jack Chick, the "Christian" that produces those hateful little comic books that spread nonsense about the Church and Lorraine Boettner who published an error-filled tome with the clever name "Roman Catholicism" form the sources of Anti-Catholic Thought in America which allows the prejudiced to trot out those antiquated lies about the Catholic Church  that have been their stock in trade for years. 

In the 1960's the world marveled as a Roman Catholic was elected president of the United States.  The fear for the "Old Time Religion" boys was that Kennedy was going to invite Pope John XXIII to move into the White House and dictate policy. We know that this did not happen. 

In prior years Catholics were kept from certain jobs and were considered second-class citizens. Even today when Christians, in general, are looked down upon by the liberal left wingers and proponents of abortion and so-called gay rights, Roman Catholics seem to receive especially harsh treatment. It is a fact that at one time most of the mainline Protestant churches were aligned with the Catholic Church in its stand against abortion and even birth control. Today, some of these same denominations now see no issue with birth control and abortion as a matter of choice. Some denominations have admitted gay clergy, and see nothing wrong with same-sex marriage which is an affront to the Law of God. The problem is that these denominations have abandoned doctrine based on the law of God for doctrine based on popular vote. The Catholic Church stands alone in maintaining the pure doctrine from Apostolic times until today. Yet, it is quipped that Anti-Catholicism is the last allowable prejudice in America. 

I don't want to make it seem like it is too bad for American Catholics because it isn't.  Today, while there is certainly still an undercurrent of prejudice against Catholics, it is a war of words and as the old cliché states, "Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me."  We are still free in the USA to practice our religion as we see fit and no one can stop us. In the rest of the world, not so much. 

In parts of the world Muslim fundamentalists, spouting a strange interpretation of Islam are carrying on genocide against any group that does not believe exactly as they do. This includes Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox and oddly enough Muslims who believe differently. For the Catholics in the middle east, the luxury of attending mass has been taken away from practicing Catholics as over three-hundred-thousand Christians, including many  Catholics, have been chased from their homes by ISIS.  The passage from Paul was written for these refugees.  These martyrs were peaceful people. They were people just like you and me. They had their homes, their families, their dreams. They also had Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and it is in His name that they suffer. Children have seen their fathers killed, some of them crucified in imitation of our Lord.  Mothers and fathers have buried their children who have been killed by ISIS because they professed the name of Jesus.  Please pray for the people chased from their homes and those that have been the victims of genocide in the war-torn middle east. 

God weeps when people of any religion kills in His name. We must remember that we know how this story will end.  The Transfiguration of Jesus prefigures His return to earth to bring His children to glory. God is Love and on this Sunday we heard the words of God approving of his Son, Jesus when he said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him."   I think we should do as God suggests.   

Attitude Is Important

The Sodom Chamber of Commerce Welcomes You!
What happens in Sodom stays in Sodom. 

Today in this world we have created for ourselves, a world where little by little God is being edged out and being replaced with what seems good, or feels good, or doesn't offend, we Christians have a grave duty.  It is a duty to our to our God, to our Church and to our fellow human creatures.  Our duty is to be the pain in the ass for the world. (I cam't believe he said that!) It is the easiest thing in the world to be politically correct, just sitting back and letting what happens around us happen. We need not participate. No we just need to stand by and watch it happen. This will promote peace and harmony among all of the people and isn't that what we are after?  Peace is a good thing after all isn't it? Well, there is peace and there is peace. In 1938 Neville Chamberlain stumbled off of his airplane clutching a piece of paper in hand and proclaimed that he had brought back "peace in our time." We all know what happened. On September 1, 1939 NAZI Germany started World War II which caused millions of deaths world wide. 

The men and women living in ancient Sodom kept things politically correct, they were at peace with one another and we know what happened to them. I am afraid that peace is something that is going to be hard to achieve in our world. We Christians have the duty to point the way, to be a lighthouse that points out the rocky outcrops that litter the pathways of life. This duty is not going to make us popular with the people around us that have chosen to turn their back on the law of God and to follow their own law. It is very important that in being a PIA we do so keeping in mind that those we are trying to help are beloved by God our Father just as we are. The most rabid homosexual activist, the Muslim who bathes in the blood of the innocent, the abortion doctor who has filled his wallet with money by creating baby cadavers, all of these are loved by God who is just one step away from them with His arms outstretched waiting for them to return to Him. 

In a soul where God is absent, ego grows to imperfectly fill His place. A soul without God can never be satisfied because no matter what he/she obtains in gratification of their wants still leaves them wanting more.  They are in a most pitiful shape because they cannot see the trouble that they are in. When we point out an issue where Christians and they are on opposite sides their ego shuts off their ability to see and they that cannot see, will not see. 

Okay, lets get to the bottom line. We must love our brothers and sisters back to life. Do you remember Chinese handcuffs? You put your fingers in them and if you pull hard, they hold more tightly to your fingers and you cannot get out of them. Release the pressure and your fingers slip right out. While we have to confront people about behavior that is sinful we must do it in a loving and respectful way. We must always remember that we are the planters and God Himself is the harvester. If we sit back and say nothing then we are guilty as if we committed the sin ourselves.  If we attack frontally and insult our brothers and sisters, we can only expect them to hold on to their beliefs even more strongly. We must love them back to health. Our good example and gentle prodding will do more good than anything else. 

God bless all of you. Please leave a comment, even if it is only to say you think I am nuts! Michael