Lent Day Nineteen - A Ha-boob , A Lady, And a camel

Gospel	Luke 1:26-38 ©

'I am the handmaid of the Lord'

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favor. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob forever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

We were lucky today.  Before dawn today a great wind came up and one of the things even seasoned desert travelers fear came up a sandstorm!  My first thought was of Benjamin, I rose and began to dress quickly so I could do something to help the camel that I was in charge of.  I was just getting ready to leave when Uriah, our leader, stopped me and asked where I thought I was going.  I told him that I was going to help Benjamin and find a safe place for him to weather the storm.  Uriah almost died laughing when he heard this.  He said. "You idiot, the camel is happier than you are right now.  If we had to we could load up and march on.  The camel is perfectly adapted to whatever this cursed desert can throw at him.  His hooves are large so he has no trouble walking in the soft sand and his eyes are protected by his eyelashes.  If you go out there, you will take the chance of breathing in the sand into your lungs and perhaps somewhere down the line get an infection.  No, sit and meditate and enjoy this brief respite.  It will be over soon and I will be all over you to get that stinking camel loaded so we can make up the time we are wasting because of this ha-boob, which is a word that means sandstorm."  He walked away still laughing over my ignorance.  It gave me pause though to think about how the camel received everything he could need from God to live in the space allotted to him.  He was perfectly adapted.  

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation when God sent the Angel Gabriel to a young girl named Mary and with her consent, the Savior was sent on His way to become a man and to save us from our sins.  

May Mary, the Mother of God forgive me, but she like the camel is perfectly adapted to her role in the story of salvation.  She, by a favor granted by God, was born without original sin. This was a necessary thing that God did because the mother of God could have no connection with evil, not even the stain of original sin.  So, while we were drawn out of the pit of sin by the work of Jesus, God, drawing on the benefits of the sacrificial death of Jesus beforehand, He caused Mary to be carried over the pit of sin that the rest of us all fell into.  So God saved Mary and was her needed savior. 

While the winds were howling I broke out my Bible and read the account of the Annunciation.  I was struck by one phrase and that was "Hail Mary, full of grace."  The angel did not bring a supply of grace to Mary, he recognized that her soul was filled with it.  When something is filled, you cannot fit in anymore.  The angel Gabriel simply was greeting the woman and saying what was in his view. 

How do we know that Mary was full of grace?  That is simple, she was humble and selfless and immediately took on the work that God had asked her to do. She could have refused without any consequences what-so-ever but she didn't because her whole heart was turned to God and refusing God anything would not be something she would want to do.  She was, like the camel, forgive me gentle mother, adapted to her role.  

Today, I believe her to be physically in heaven and always beside her Son.  I pity those who take little notice of her because they miss the opportunity to receive graces from Jesus through her.  Jesus loves His mother so much that He cannot refuse her anything.  For her part, her eyes are on the hands of her master, her Son, and the spiritual mother of us all. 

The haboob came to an end and Uriah was as good as his word. He was all over us to get the camp struck and us on the move.  I could imagine John Wayne playing his part if this were a movie because one of his favorite sayings in the morning was, "Let's get a move on.  We're burning daylight."  And so I put my back into breaking camp and loading the camels, breakfast will happen at lunchtime today.  Another day which would pass like so many others.  Funny, isn't it?  I now have a greater love for the Blessed Mother because of a camel named Benjamin. 

Lent - Day Eighteen - Two Sins and A Father's Love

Gospel
Luke 15:1-3,11-32 ©

The prodigal son

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:

  ‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

  ‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.

  ‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

  ‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

  ‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’

I wasn't able to write in my journal yesterday so let me recap what has gone on yesterday and today.  Yesterday was a lost day.  We were at a small oasis and the Master said he needed to be alone for a while to pray so we did not break camp, we stayed in oasis the whole day while the Master was by himself.  He sat under the coolness of a palm tree near the waters of the oasis.  Uriah, our team leader, used some of this time to have us make needed repairs to the saddles we use to load our camels down.   But by lunchtime, all of the work he could think of was done and he told us to rest for the rest of the day.  The Master was still in his place by the water. None of us dared to interrupt Him while He was in prayer.  He neither ate nor drank that day and He sat there all night.  Around the campfire, we spoke only softly because we did not want to disturb the Master.  When bedtime came we all silently departed and took to our beds in silence.  I had a hard time sleeping that night so I spent time in prayer.  My soul needed this time more than my body needed rest I guess.  I audited carefully my life to date and I found myself lacking in many ways. It jolted my soul to realize that the person I thought I was, actually was an airbrushed caricature of what I really was.  I glossed over my many mistakes and sins and yet held others strictly accountable for them.  My vision was clear and could detect other's errors at a thousand yards, yet I could not see how I had failed my family, my friends, and my Church so blatantly and with no remorse.  Tears began to fall from my eyes and it was in this state that sleep claimed me.  I awoke it seemed only moments later to the call from the leather lungs of Uriah getting us out of bed to start another day.  The Master, looking well and rested even though he did not come to His tent at all, took breakfast with us and He made the meal memorable with His wit and charm.  

Twelve hours later we stopped again for the night.  It was kind of an odd place, a windswept dusty plain that had the look of utter devastation and loneliness.  The only thing good about it was there was a supply of dead wood from the scorched plants about so making the fire tonight was easier than usual. The Master recounted to us the story of the Prodigal Son. We, being Christians, know that story well.  The young son abandons his family, loses all he has and comes back with his tail between his legs ready to beg for forgiveness. He decides he will offer his father his services as a slave for his food.   The father for his part had spent the time since his youngest departed from home watching for his return, he saw him while he was far off.  The father abandoning his dignity ran to the son and immediately treated him once again as the son that he was. He threw a party, it was a good day for all, except for the fatted calf of course who fulfilled his destiny at the dinner that day.  Meanwhile, the elder son, who had stayed with his father, came in from a hard days work in the fields.  He heard that his stupid younger brother was home again and that dad was throwing him a party.  He was outraged.  He refused to go in.  Once again, leaving his dignity behind, the father came out and pleaded with his son to come in.  The elder son, who momentarily forgot his place, vented his spleen against the father and pointed out that he had worked like a slave and yet there was no party for him.  The father reminds him of his love and tells him that everything he has belongs to the elder son.  But he as the father has to rejoice because the younger son, after being lost to the family has returned.  He was dead and now lives again. 

As I said the story is a familiar one.  The master talked at some length about it.  He gave us an insight into the story that I had never considered before.  He pointed out that both sons, each in his own way, were disobedient to the Father.  The younger son told his father, "The heck with you, I want to go out and see the world while I am still young enough to enjoy it."  The father, of course, could have refused, but he did not stand in his son's way.  But the question then comes how did the elder son sin against his father?  Did he not stay and work his fingers to the bone to make his father even more wealthy than he already was?  Didn't he do this without complaint and did he not serve loyally all those years while his sibling was consorting with lewd women and drinking cheap wine? The answer was, of course, he did all these things but what he said to his father showed that his appearance to others did not match what was in his soul.  In his own way, he showed he was working not for the father but in fact for himself by making the farm a success he was doing so to preserve his future and to necessarily please his father.  

So one son left and came back willing to be called a slave and the other son stayed and worked and felt like a slave.  The father loved his sons without measure and he forgave them each their respective sins which were sins of disrespect due to him because he was the Father.  And the father showed himself to be righteous because he did not stand on ceremony.  He did not wait for the boys to appear before him.  He surrendered all dignity he was due and went out to them.  He forgave them.  They were lost and now they were found. But the question remains, did the elder son join the party?

Lent - Day Fourteen - Lost and Found

Alternative Gospel	Luke 2:41-51a ©

Mary stored up all these things in her heart

Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.

  Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’

  ‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied. ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not understand what he meant.

  He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority.

Lost

It was one of those days where the work seemed lighter than usual. It was the same thing that we had been doing for the last couple of weeks, that is walking in the desert dragging stinking ornery camels behind us only to end up in a place that looked like the place we were in twelve hours ago.  But today the sun, although brutally hot seemed to step back a bit and did not weigh so heavily on our backs and the camels, except for Goliath, seemed cheerful in their own way.  Goliath, of course, was not happy with his load and I had to help my brother adjust it to Goliath's liking before the spit would stop flying.  Our walk was easier and the brothers were all in a good mood.  We stopped for the night in yet another nameless, featureless place where we set up camp and the cook got busy preparing the daily dinner.  It was about this time that I found that I had a problem.  It pulled my canteen out of its place in my belt and found that the cap, which had been held on by a stout chain, was nowhere to be seen.  A canteen without a cap is useless and in a race would be beaten by useless by less than half a step.  I could not imagine what had happened to it.  Perhaps it was a manufacturing defect coupled with a bit of carelessness on my part that has placed me in a dilemma.  If I had lost it outside, well, there would be no hope because the desert is a vast place with no point of reference to guide one to follow his path back.  Besides, the sand eventually swallowed everything and it would not have remained uncovered long.  I was beside myself.  I did not have a spare canteen so while I could fill it in the morning, walking would cause it to empty by our noon break.  I went to my space and tore through my belongings without luck.  I went mournfully to my cushion and sat down.  I jumped right back up because I sat down upon something and in the desert that something would deliver a powerful and potentially deadly sting.  I jumped up ready to stomp on the desert creature that dared to invade my bed.  What I saw was the dark black cap to my canteen sans the chain which somehow had fallen off.  I was relieved that I had found it. 

The Master told the story about the Boy Jesus who when twelve years old, went up to the Temple with His parents.  They all worshipped in accordance with The Law and as was custom the caravan reformed with the men in one group and women and children in another and they began the journey back to their home.  Joseph thought Jesus was with Mary and Mary thought Jesus was with Joseph.  They discovered he was not with either and not among their friends and acquaintances.  The two of them broke camp and spent the next three days searching for Jesus.  They finally decided to go to the Temple and pray to God for the return of their son.   They entered the courtyard and what did they see?  A group of elders engaged in lively discussion with their boy.  This should have been a proud moment for the Holy Family but they had just spent three days searching for Him and they fretted over the penalties that they would merit had the lost the very Messiah over whom they had been placed in charge. Mary asked the Boy why He had done this.  Jesus gave what sounds like a "smart" reply to His parents and said that didn't they realize that He had work to do for His Father?  Then without further delay, he left the elders and went with Joseph and Mary and lived under their authority.

It is good to live under authority.  People who live by themselves and have no one to answer to can develop squirrelly tendencies.  They have to answer to nobody except themselves so that they develop a misguided sense of importance.  That is why it is not good for man to live alone.  We all benefit when we place ourselves under authority of some kind.  We are meant to be a social animal and without the hints that being among our kind provides we lose our way. Sometimes it is not possible for a person to live with others and be comfortable.  It is rare, but it happens.  These people are the most vulnerable to become dislodged from the corporate behavior pattern.  This too, is why it is important for us to come together to worship so that we can see our fellow Christians and talk with them, be with them and refresh our spirits by engaging in social congress with them.  It is why the Eucharist binds us together into one local church that extends ever outward until we are united to all Christians who receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the Eucharist.   This unity brings us strength and reminds us that as good at is to have an "It's just Jesus and me relationship" that such a relationship is only one part of the Christian experience. 

So as the campfire dwindles and sleep invades my eyes I thank God for helping me find what I had lost and I thank Him too for restoring the cap to my canteen. 

Lent - Day Twelve - Between Heaven And Earth

BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH

Second reading Philippians 3:17-4:1 © Our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes Christ to transfigure us My brothers, be united in following my rule of life. Take as your models everybody who is already doing this and study them as you used to study us. I have told you often, and I repeat it today with tears, there are many who are behaving as the enemies of the cross of Christ. They are destined to be lost. They make foods into their god and they are proudest of something they ought to think shameful; the things they think important are earthly things. For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the savior we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which he can subdue the whole universe. So then, my brothers and dear friends, do not give way but remain faithful in the Lord. I miss you very much, dear friends; you are my joy and my crown. This morning we almost had a tragedy and it was just the luck of the Irish that kept it from happening.  One of the brothers whose turn it was to make breakfast started the fire which had gone out during the night.  He went over to the bag which held the cooking utensils and noticed that it had not been sealed properly the night before.  He opened it and reached in and got the coffee pot and the pot used for making cereal.  As was his custom he grabbed a towel and was going to dust the inside of the pot but something made him look inside it first.  Inside was one of the deserts most fearsome creatures, a deathstalker scorpion had taken up residence there during the night my companion was just inches away from getting what could be a lethal injection of the neurotoxin that this delightful desert creature uses to kill its prey.  The tiny beast was ready and willing to dispense a jolt of his special elixir but to his credit, the man holding the pot did not panic.  Instead, he went to the edge of camp and catapulted the creature out of the pot as hard as he could.  The little guy had an experience most deathstalkers do not receive, the experience of flight!  Now, in spite of the colorful name of this creature, death to a healthy human, while not unheard of, is unlikely if they are stung by this scorpion.  From what victims say it is not an act of mercy to survive the sting as the potent venom causes great pain.  Children and the elderly are most vulnerable but it is considered a medical emergency if you are stung by one of these and in our present situation, medical help and the antivenom that is required is so far away that any dying that the victim would be doing would be done by the time any help could arrive.  So it was on this cheery note that our day began and in our morning prayers, we thanked God that our friend was spared the agony of a sting from this scorpion. After breakfast, as usual, we broke camp but it took a bit longer because we were carefully checking to make sure that the little fella hadn't brought any friends of his own.  No other examples of this miniature death machine were found and as the sun rose above the horizon, we began our trek.  While walking today, I began thinking of death but not death itself with all of the pains that might be attached to it but rather what happens after death. Physically, once the blood stops pumping your body begins it's the journey back into the elements that it is made of.  Tissues break down and in no time the only thing left of bodies that are not specially embalmed such as the Egyptians of old will be our bones.  And years from now, even those bones will return to dust.  All that was "me" will be gone.  The flesh that I work so hard to keep animated, the brain that fuels my thoughts and emotions will be no more.  Yet, through this all, I survive not as a memory on a tombstone with a date of birth and date of death and if I were rich enough some clever saying to mark my time on earth. What will remain of me is any of the good that I accomplished.  My mark will not be a long obituary story nor a small death notice.  My mark will be the seeds of love I planted while I, a body and a soul, walked and talked on this earth.  My soul will be in heaven.  I will be next to those I love and those that love me and we will glorify God together in songs of worship and praise.   This reward, this new life after death is as certain as gravity and as we are counter-culture people, our ways will receive persecution for "forward thinking" men and women who only can see what is in front of them and who take no notice of God, His laws, and His rewards.  They will be furious when we point out that their way of life is contrary to the Word of God.  They will tell us to follow our God in our own way and to leave them alone.  If that was only possible.  They do not live and let live as they want us to do, they pursue through the rule of law to make their rights to sinful things the law of the land.  They will do all that they can to enforce their rights while limiting ours.  But these people who are the most pitiful creature on earth are the enemies of Christ and the Cross. They existed at the time of Christ, at the time of the early Church, at the time of the great revolt of the Protestants, and exist until today.  Our Church is built on rock and in spite of the scandals of the moment it will survive and thrive because Jesus said so.  Paul tells us that our real homeland is in heaven.  We cannot keep silent about this because God wants a bountiful harvest and wants as many as possible to join Him in the never-ending feast. So, stir up your spirit, gird your loins and announce the Good News by the way you live and by the people you love.

Lent - Day Seven - It Was So Important That He Said It Twice!

Gospel	Matthew 6:7-15 ©

How to pray

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven,

may your name be held holy,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.

And do not put us to the test,

but save us from the evil one.

‘Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.’

We saw something strange in the desert today, dark rain clouds passed overhead, lightning sounded but the hot air from the desert floor ascending consumed the water before it could hit the ground. I am not even sure how this storm made it over the mountains,  On our side of the mountains, there is nothing but sun and sand like a never-ending beach but no water to sully the dry, lifeless, and hot sand. 

The day had been long and except for the ten or fifteen minutes of the "storm", the sun beat mercilessly down on us.  Every step was harder than the step before.  Everyone, except the Master, was on edge when we stopped to eat lunch. The meal was over and we were checking the camels, making sure that none of the bindings were chaffing and that the load remained balanced.   Two of my companions were checking Hercules who as usual was in a sour mood when it happened.  One of the men checked a strap by pulling on it and thus loosened it and immediately the whole load became unbalanced.  The Hercules, not a camel to suffer fools easily started to walk away and the whole load fell off the camel's back into the grit of the desert floor.  The man who had charge of the camel called the other a bloody fool and as men do he followed that up with curses, threats, and saber rattling and a description of the culprit's home life that was hard to believe.  The two began to fight. The Master came and after a moment He demanded that they stop.  Reluctantly, they separated.  One of the men had what looked to be a black eye and the other was bleeding from his nose and his upper lip. Hercules for his part was standing and peering at his masters and if a camel could chuckle, that is what he would be doing at this moment.  

The Master was not happy.  He told everyone to unload and set up the camp because we would go no further this day.  The Master walked off to be alone while what He commanded was completed.  When the camp was set, the Master came to where the fire would be built and summoned us and had us sit around as we would at night.  Except that doing this during the day was almost worse than walking through the sun.  We sat with the vain hope that our hats would protect us from the sun.  Once we were all assembled, with the two combatants separated on opposite ends of the circle, the Master joined us.  He stood near the center of the group and He looked at us with eyes that, for once, did not reveal the inner peace that dominated Him.  Rather, the eyes seemed to register concern for someone or something.  This look was as rare as a rainstorm in the desert. He stooped and picked up a handful of sand and examined it intently for a moment and then He addressed us. 

"Every man here volunteered to follow me on this journey.  Every one of you took on the responsibility for taking care of one another, looking out for the good and pushing away the bad.  What happened to us today is a symptom.  There is tension between us and that may interfere with our journey.  We are on our way to Jerusalem for reasons that have been explained to you already.  You need to keep the goal in mind and it seems we have lost that because of petty squabbling and now even fisticuffs.  The two who were fighting, arise and face one another. Now approach and each of you apologize to the other."

 One of the culprits refused.  The Master took it in stride, almost as if he expected this to happen.  He told them to sit down. He began walking around the circle and continued his talk.

"We pray a common prayer. We say "Our Father" which means that we are all brothers.  We are not strangers who pass each other in the night.  Look at the people around you.  When you get to heaven these faces and those of a million trillion others will be ones you see.  When you go to Church on Sunday, look at the people in the pews.  Among them are your companions in heaven.  Yes. the lady with the squealing baby, and yes, the man who is constantly playing with his smartphone, and even the family that arrives late to mass and leaves right after communion every week.  Besides your friends, besides the people you know and love, there will uncounted millions of people that will be brothers and sister to you.  But once again, let us look at our common prayer, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  There! There it is!  Take heed of this sentence as you learn which is the hardest part of being one of my servants!  You must learn to forgive.  I was not kidding or exaggerating the need for you to forgive.  If you carry hate or bitterness in your heart for even one of your brothers or sisters, your entrance into heaven will be delayed or if your hate has hardened your heart so greatly, it may send you to be with the goats into everlasting torment. This fight that occurred today was minor and I know that it was caused by feelings of frustration and the uncomfortable heat we are dealing with during our journey.  But one bad word between friends can change the destiny of one or both of the brothers unless it is followed by an apology and a deeply felt need to right the wrong.  The devil looks for weakness. Imagine the dam at Aswan.  It is a marvel of human engineering.  But, all it takes is a small crack that is ignored by those whose job it is to tend the dam, and sooner or later, the dam will break and the loss of life will be great.  When you hate somebody, imagine if you will, that God's grace is in your soul protecting you and your brother insults you.  That is the crack in your dam and sooner or later the dam will burst, you will learn hate and your fate will be like that of the rich man who refused to feed Lazurus.   I say again, you must forgive those who hurt you.  In order to enter heaven, you must be a person of peace.  Now the two that were fighting, approach one another and settle this score at once." 

The two men walked towards one another.  One with his black eye showing beautifully against his tan skin and the other with a lip that seemed to be swollen twice as large as normal came together, embraced and when they dropped the embrace, each looked at the other, one pointing to a black eye and the other pointing to a split lip and they burst out laughing and took places next to one another in the circle.  The Master was pleased and he showed it with his warmest of smiles.  He left the circle and went to His tent. 

The Immaculate Exception

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house                                        

 of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom, there will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel,
"How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?"
And the angel said to her in reply,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God."
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word."
Then the angel departed from her.

Today's Solemnity makes me happy that I am a Catholic.  This feast is a prime example of the Church getting something right, right from the start. The readings presented will confuse some people because it is the dialogue of the angel and Mary on the occasion of the Annunciation.  That, of course, is not what we celebrate on this day.  The reason that the Church uses this particular scripture passage on this feast day is because of what both of the characters say.  The Angel Gabriel tells Mary that she is full of grace.  The timing of this announcement is important.  It was said BEFORE she agreed to become the Mother of God, not after.  The Angel was therefore not bringing her Grace, she already had it and she had it in an extravagant abundance, she was full, absolutely full of grace.  Her soul could not contain even one more ounce of God's love and Grace.  If you have a jar and fill it to the top with sand, you cannot get any more in it.  Mary was born without the stain of original sin on her soul, her soul was pure and beautiful in God's sight.  But why did God do this? 

Look at what we know about the nature of God.  God is infinite goodness and love.  Nothing that is impure or sinful can ever be in His presence.  The Virgin Mary was going to be the Mother of the Messiah. For nine months she was to bear in her body the body, blood, soul, and divinity of the Son of God.  I never thought of it before, but, her womb could be considered a tabernacle. If I was going to be flippant about it, I might call Mary's womb a branch office of heaven because God was present inside of her. This being the case, there could not even be a hint of sin in the place God was to dwell. 

How did God do this?  It is true, God could have created Mary as singularly different creature, one who had a specially built soul which was absolutely resistant to sin but that would make Mary a creature at least one step removed from being a human being, she would be in effect Human Being Mark II.  The genus man had sinned and it was man that had to pay the price for the sin so Jesus would have to be born through the office of an ordinary woman. Mary, therefore, required a savior. 

God is not bound by space and time. He exists in the past, present, and future as we see it all at the same time. Therefore, God knew that Jesus was going to pay the price for the sin of Adam and Eve by dying on the cross. He, therefore, applied the graces to Mary before the fact as we see it and preserved her from any taint of original sin.  The old example is that while Jesus rescued you and me from the pit of sin, Mary was carried over it by her Son. 

As I said, the wonder of this feast comes from the conversation between Mary and the Angel. To her eternal credit, Mary never hesitates, she asks only how that she would conceive a son because she never had relations with a man. Then she accepts, meekly and humbly calling herself the handmaid of the Lord and she says, "Let it be done to me as you have said."   But, doesn't this immaculate conception thing kind of make her a puppet?  Could she have refused?  

Mary was a human being.  In many ways, she was very, very, ordinary.  She was a pious girl in an age where piety was the expected norm and she was taught to love God and keep the commandments.  She also was born with free will and she was free to say no to the angel.  Because she was full of grace, her whole mind, body, and soul were turned to God in a way that made it much more likely that she would say yes rather than no but she had that decision to make. And as I pointed out, she never hesitated but she nullified the no of Adam and Eve with her "Yes" to be obedient to God. 

Our Protestant brothers and sisters have a great deal of difficulty with the concept of where Mary fits into God's plan of salvation.  We Catholics are very fortunate that we understand the truth of the matter and that we have a mother in heaven that has the ear of the Savior.  What does Mary tell us in scripture?  At Cana, she gave us her best advice, "Do whatever he tells you to do." 

Please remember to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory today.  An Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be will help them so much.  Remember, As they are, someday you may be.

Every Tear Will Be Wiped Away

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,

about those who have fallen asleep,

so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose,

so too will God, through Jesus,

bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 

Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord,

I have been present at both the deaths of my mother and my father.  They died eighteen years apart, my mother in nineteen-ninety and my father in two-thousand eight.  My mother died young, at age sixty-four and my father at eighty-seven years of age.  Both slipped from this world to the next without much trauma, they went peacefully.  In both cases, I cried but when my mother died I went into what I now know was depression.  My sorrow at the passing of my father was just as great as when my mother passed but I was older and was able to deal with it better.  Death will happen in all families.  Just as sure as there is a God that loves us, there is the certainty of death. 

I do not want to bust up your Sunday and bring you down to consider the ultimate facts of life and death.  I want to encourage you to remember that the death of one we loved is not an ending but rather it is a new beginning.  We are assured that we will meet those that we have loved in the afterlife and we will be together again. More than that, at the end of time, we will not be disembodied spirits but we will have our bodies back and they will no longer be subject to decay and disease. They will be resurrected bodies that will be recognizable as our own but endowed with miraculous powers.

Then there is where we will be. We cannot imagine what heaven will be like. It will be a place where love reigns and there will be no tears of sorrow ever again.  Sickness will be something that no longer exists.  The aches and pains we suffer today will forever be gone.  The light will forever be bright in heaven because it's source will be from the holiness of God.  The rich people of the planet earth live in great splendor here where rust and moth take their toll.  For us, there will be the mansion built by Jesus Himself for us and it will be grander and more beautiful than any dwelling place ever constructed on earth because it will be built just for us! 

Today, all around us, are people who are closer to death than we are.  Some are in hospital or hospice counting the days, hours, or minutes until their destiny is wrought.  Or they have received word from their doctor that there is nothing more to be done and that they should plan for the end.  There are those that are afraid and are holding on to what they know with grim determination and grasping at torturous medical procedures in the vain hope of prolonging their life.  There are those also who are but moments or even seconds away from their encounter with eternity and with God.  We have to pray for all of these people.  We have to pray that they are given the help they need to accept God's invitation to experience eternity to not hold foolishly to the things of time but to embrace the things of eternity.  Each of them is beloved by God and no matter what kind of life they have lived, they will all have a final chance to claim their birthright as a son or daughter of the Great King in that final moment.  For those who have lived their lives in a worthy manner who have loved God above all, the choice will be simple, sweet, joyful, and immediate. For those who are still attached to the world, who carry with them the burden of sin, forgiveness will there for the asking, but many will choose to remain mute before the great judge because their guilt, their sinfulness, their rejection of the graces that were sent them will be self-evident and they will move away from the light of Christ towards the everlasting darkness.  Others, who are aware that they are not yet ready to stand in heaven will choose to purify themselves in Purgatory.  There they will have the joy of knowing for certain that in the future they will experience the joy of heaven when they are cleansed of the effects of sin and from attachments to worldly things.  That joy will never be taken away from them.

So today, my friends, make it a point to pray for all of those among us who are at a point in their life where they approach a crossroads. Pray that all of them experience a peaceful and joyful death and that those among them that need to accept the final chance that God will give them.  It will be a tough choice to turn away from a life filled with hate for the Holy but it can be done.  And for our friends and relatives in Purgatory, pray for them too.  Remember, as they are, you might someday be. 

Seeking Is A Way of Life

Seek the LORD while he may be found,
call him while he is near.
Let the scoundrel forsake his way,
and the wicked his thoughts;
let him turn to the LORD for mercy;
to our God, who is generous in forgiving.



For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so high are my ways above your waysand my thoughts above your thoughts.

The first reading at mass today is taken from Isiah and is really quite a written reminder to us as to who we are and where we fit into the universe.  

We are to seek the Lord while He may be found - does that mean that there will come a time when He cannot be found? Well, He will always be within our reach, we can push Him just one arm's length away, that's as far away as He will go from us.  He will respect our privacy and our desire to be without Him in our lives but He also will be ready to come at the first whisper of His name.  But, there will come a time when it is too late.  When we take our last breath and still keep our desire to be away from God, well, He will honor our request and we will spend eternity without Him.

We are then reminded about the wonder that God is and how far above our human ways He is.  Scoundrels and the Wicked are called to repent and call upon God.  Who are these scoundrels and who are the wicked?  It is you and me. Oh, I know that there are persons in this world that are far better at being a scoundrel and being wicked than I am.  I am a poor sinner. By that I mean I am not really good at it because my conscience calls to me and the prompting of the Holy Spirit convict me of my sin.  The professional sinner can sin and think nothing of it.  He (or she) goes through life trampling on the laws of God and not fearing the consequences of the sinful acts. Those of us who are poor sinners, we know enough to call to God and to return to the path of holiness before it is too late. 

This week, in all you do, Seek The Lord Where He May Be Found!  

Please, Please, Please pray for the poor souls in Purgatory.  I know I sound like a broken record but they really need YOU to step up and pray for them,...Thank you. 

A Clear Case of Discrimination !

Pharaoh then commanded all his subjects,

"Throw into the river every boy that is born to the Hebrews,


but you may let all the girls live."

Today's first reading at mass relates the story of how the Children of Israel fared after a new pharaoh came to power who did not know the deeds of Joseph.  The first thing that the pharaoh did was to make sure that he had slaves but not people that could rise up against him should an enemy come to attempt to take over Egypt. He proclaimed that all of the Hebrew boys should be drowned in the river.  This eliminated the chance that the Hebrews would get strong enough to eventually raise up an army against Pharaoh but kept the girls around to act as slaves and probably as entertainers on those long cold nights along the Nile.  He was sacrificing the future of the Hebrews to ensure the continued greatness of the Egyptians.  The Lord arranged a powerful good to come out of this murder of innocent infants and that good was Moses.  Moses would grow up in the house of Pharaoh and become one of the most powerful men in Egypt.

God can make good happen where we see only bad.  I do not know what it is about mankind that through the years we see that there is a hostility against the infants of his kind.  We have our story above, we have Herod killing the boys in the time of Jesus, and today, we have caused the deaths of millions of babies under the guise of "women's health" in the death chambers of Planned Parenthood. 

To sacrifice the future for convenience sake is a horrible thing. The right to life is something that is guaranteed by God because it is He that gives us children.  Pray for an end to abortion in the world and especially in America.  Pray for us to return to God in tears and repentance for what we have done since the dark day of Roe v Wade.  Find your voice and speak out for the unborn. 

The Poor Souls in Purgatory - Remember them and pray for them today! 

There Is No Small Sin

"Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments

and teaches others to do so

will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.

But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments

will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."

When we think of Jesus we most often think of Him as kind, loving, gentle, and meek.  This is good because He is all of these things.  In today's Gospel reading we catch a glimpse of another facet of Jesus.  We see what I call Jesus the Prophet.  Today His words tell us that we are God's children and we are called to obey and he tells us that there are consequences when we disobey and commit sin. 

Sin happens anytime when we place our will above that of God's. Our Church wisely classifies sin into two types which are venial or less serious sin and a mortal sin which is a sin that does just what it says, it destroys the relationship between the person and God.  Praise God that all sin is forgivable through the sacrament of reconciliation which we can use to express our sorrow and receive assurance that we are truly forgiven for what we have done. 

While I agree that there are two types of sin and that every sin, no matter how grave can be forgiven, I want to talk a little about the nature of sin itself.  Father Larry told this story.  He was driving to work one day and a person cuts him off.  He lost his temper and mentioned things about the other driver's ancestry that would have amazed the driver had he been able to hear them.  This act of cussing out the man that offended him was, of course, a venial sin.  He did not know the person in the other car and he did not really mean the things he said so it was not a grave sin.  Now imagine the same circumstances but the other driver happened to be his mother.  He has the same reaction.  The sin would be greater because of the dignity of the person he was sinning against. 

This is why I say that there is no small sin. There are sins that are milder than some but every sin, no matter how small, no matter how venial, is an offense against God and it is no small thing. The wonderful thing about sin is that it always can be forgiven. God is always there with His arms outstretched waiting to hug us back into His family. 

So today, I challenge you to stop and think before you consider committing even the smallest sin and remember who it is you are offending.  I challenge you also if you haven't taken advantage of the Sacrament of  Reconciliation in a while, even if it has been years or decades, to consider swallowing your pride and approach the throne of grace to be received back into God's family.  Sometimes love does mean we have to say that we are sorry. 

Pentecost and Chef Boy Ar Dee

The apostles were told by Jesus to go to Jerusalem and to wait.  They were more than happy to comply with this direction because it was not safe for them to be out and about on the street.  The Temple Gang, still feeling their oats from their victory in getting Jesus crucified, wanted a chance to scatter the disciples of the so-called Messiah to the four corners of the earth. So Peter and the rest of the gang happily went back to the Upper Room and the scriptures say that they spent the time praying.  They probably were praying to be spared from being discovered by the Jews.  They also prayed that the lock on the door held and that no one had seen them steal back to the Upper Room.   When they were not praying, they filled the time discussing recent events and the words of Jesus and there probably was some discussion as to the meaning of the parables Jesus taught them.  They waited and continued to wait, happy that they could not hear a hostile crowd gathering outside their door.  In short, they appeared to be a pathetic gang of losers that would be very happy to just fade out of the public's memory. Then suddenly, everything changed.  There was the sound of a mighty wind and the Holy Spirit descended upon them and now they could not open the door fast enough to get out of the Upper Room.  They almost tore the door off of its hinges in their effort to get outside.  When they were outside, the fruits of the Spirit became manifest.  They threw caution to the wind and were not able to stop telling the crowd about Jesus and the good news that sin and death had been defeated.  More than that, there were people from everywhere, from all of the civilized areas of the world.  Not since the attempt to build the great tower of Babel had there been so many people, speaking so many different languages in one place. Everyone that was there heard the Good News, the Gospel, being proclaimed to them, each of them in his or her own language. Those losers, those timid and frightened bunch of rag-tag followers of Jesus had now lost all of their fear and boldly taught in the Holy Name of Jesus. They would NOT be silent!  The Apostles claimed their first converts that day and the Catholic Church was truly born and was visibly under the protection of the Holy Spirit as Jesus, the Son of God, had promised. 

It's an amazing story, the Holy Spirit infusing His gifts into the eleven like that!  What is even more amazing is that we have all been drenched in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the very same gifts that were infused into the Apostles were infused into us when we received the Sacrament of Confirmation.  If that is the case then why didn't we react as the Apostles did on that Pentecost Sunday? The reason, I believe, is that such a display was not needed when the bishop laid his hands on us.  We received the very same gifts that the Apostles did and they are as much a part of us as the very blood that circulates oxygen throughout our body through our veins. 

When I received the sacrament of Confirmation, I have to tell you that the only thing I felt at that moment was hunger, not a hunger for the Word of God mind you, a hunger for the pizza I knew was going to be waiting for me at home once this ceremony was over. It was a Chef Boy Ar Dee pizza kit that I made by myself.  Please keep in mind that this was prior to the opening of Falco's Pizzeria, the Cathedral of Pizza in Brighton Park on the southwest side of Chicago where I grew up,  

and even today a stop on the All-Chicago Gluttony Club Tour, although your attire should now include a bulletproof vest and if possible you should hire armed security guards to accompany you. So I was ignorant as to what pizza was supposed to look and taste like but the homemade treat filled us up and living in ignorance kept us satisfied. It was truly a memorable night.  To be very honest on this Thursday night I felt no different than I did at the close of Wednesday night.  Does that mean that the Gifts of the Spirit have passed me over?  Did the bishop make a mistake when he laid his hands on me? Did he not slap me hard enough? (That used to be a feature of the ceremony - a slap to ready you to be a soldier of Christ - this is not done anymore.)  I did receive the Gifts, the bishop did not make a mistake. The simple fact is the reception of a sacrament does not depend on the emotions it may or may not stir up. When I go to communion, for example, sometimes I feel the True Presence and other times I do not.  I still know intellectually that Jesus is present and my prayers are no less fervent because I know what I know. That is the genius of the Sacraments, they work as designed no matter how the person receiving them feels.  

But, where is the evidence that I received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit?  I barely speak English well much less any other language so I don't have the gift of tongues.  I can go on and prove negatively that I do not have evidence that I received anything like the gifts that the Apostles received, except, that I did receive them. Our pastor, Father Joe, in his homily pointed out that we use these gifts all of the time.  He pointed out that perhaps one time when you were more patient with someone that you normally had no patience with, well, that was one of the gifts of the Spirit that you were calling upon. In daily life. these gifts express themselves in many different ways which we sometimes do not recognize.  The gifts are there to be called upon when needed.  I cannot imagine, for example, those poor Christians in Iraq that were offered a choice between giving up Christ in favor of Islam, and to a soul, they refused to betray Christ and they were shot by the radical thugs whose god is not the same God of decent Christians and Muslims.  The Spirit was present in these people and gave them Courage.  So it is with us.  The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are there in each of us who have been confirmed in Christ and they are at the ready when we need them. 

The fact that they are there and we don't recognize them makes me wonder what we Catholics COULD do if we used these gifts like the Apostles did on the birthday of the Church so long ago?  We could make this world different if we wanted to and if we depended upon the Holy Spirit to help us as Jesus intended. If we truly used the gifts of the Holy Spirit, what a wonderful world we COULD have.  God bless.