Top Secret. No Longer

Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,

nor secret that will not be known.

What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;

what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

Did you read the story about Harvard University?  It seems that this grand old college is about to do something rather unique.  It is about to close their doors to all fraternities and sororities and make Greek life on their campus a thing of the past. This draconian decree is not aimed at all of the groups but rather at the secret societies that the college community is famous for.  These single sex groups instill in the members, a sense of entitlement and it is said that most of the incidents of non-consensual sex, a polite term for rape, comes from male members of the secret clubs. The notion that banning the organizations will change how these self-entitled men handle themselves around women is quaintly naive. The fact is that you would have to go back in time and teach the young hooligans how life should be lived and this is not possible.

The darkness conceals a lot of things but all will be brought to light on the Day of Judgment. We will be surprised on that day when we see some people we assumed were destined for hell be welcomed by Jesus into the Kingdom.  Surprised indeed we will be when we see some who gave all the outward appearances of being saints only to be sent away in eternal disgrace. The Christian should be not afraid to allow the secret thoughts in his/her heart to be revealed to the world.  Our inside self should be a mirror of our outside self and our behavior should be a transparent map to the whole person that we are.    

For us Christians, it is not enough for us to have knowledge of salvation, we are called to shout from the housetops the Good News that Jesus brought into the world.  The Church is NOT a Secret Society.  Like it or not, the Church IS God's Kingdom on Earth.  It has a king, Jesus and the King appointed a Prime Minister, the Pope to take care of the Kindom's earthly business while the King is away.  Protestants, whether they realize it or not, depend on the authority of the Catholic Church for their teachings. For example, it was the Church that defined the Trinity because nowhere in the Bible is the Trinity defined, it is only alluded to. All of the things that the Catholics and Protestants hold in common come from the teaching authority of the Church.  It was the Church that gave the Bible to people and it is the Church that has the authority to determine what is meant by the holy infallible words in that great library of books. Bishop Baron says in an infallible book without an authoritative interpreter is a useless book. The Protestant notion that every man can interpret scripture for himself is absolute nonsense, otherwise, why would we have over thirty-thousand Christian denominations in the United States alone, each with a slightly different interpretation on this or that point of scripture?  The Holy Spirit is said to guide individual readers.  Why does the Spirit guide one person one way and another person a different way when interpreting scripture?  Jesus built His Church as a kingdom on the Rock of St. Peter and gave the Church and by Church I mean not an invisible mystical group somewhere in the ether, but rather flesh and bone human beings, the Pope and the magisterium of the Church the ability to discriminate what is true in scripture from what is false under the protection of the Holy Spirit. 

We Christians must take what we have learned and share it by shouting out to others what was whispered to us in the dark. We are responsible for helping to get the message out and we should do so without delay for the time of God's mercy for those in this world is finite because if we do not accept His mercy we will have to accept his judgment. 

PLEASE REMEMBER THE HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY IN YOUR PRAYERS TODAY, THEY DEPEND ON US TO HELP THEM AND THEY WILL NOT FORGET THOSE THAT PRAY FOR THEM

Einstein Proven Wrong !

What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;

what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

Albert Einstein explored the wonders of God's universe by exploring the properties of light.  His "E=mc2" told us what the speed of light was and his further meditations proved to a reasonable degree of certainty that nothing could exceed the speed that light travels at.  Of course, we know that he was, while not actually wrong, just not one hundred percent right. Why do I, a man with an IQ of about 120 claim that Albert, who never took an IQ test but whose IQ was estimated to be somewhere between 160 and 180 was wrong?  Well, it is simple. Remove the light and what immediately takes its place? Why darkness does! So, all of his calculations, to my way of thinking, are based on the wrong phenomenon.  I say that what he applies to light can be equally applied to the darkness. So, put that in your pipe and smoke it, Albert!

The Gospel reading proclaimed at Mass today tells us that what we hear in the dark, we should proclaim in the light.  We cannot hear about the love of God for us and keep it hidden as a treasure belonging only to ourselves. Once we have the light of Christ in our hearts and in our souls we must enlighten the darkness of the world.  Yes, this will be inconvenient for us because nothing could be simpler than to just take the perfect joy of the knowledge of what God did for us and how He feels about us and for us to keep close to the vest and hidden away from view. To share the Light of Christ with the world will not make us popular because in doing so we are interfering with other people's freedom to choose darkness.  It is our duty to show others that there is another way.  Once a person has been touched by the bright light of Christ, they can no longer, try as they might pretend that the darkness is a good to be in and certainly not a place to live in. 

Albert Einstein was a brilliant man. He fell short in one respect.  He believed in a supreme power,  but not in a God that takes personal care of His people. So I guess that even a man with a huge IQ can be wrong. So, what you hear in the dark, proclaim in the light this week. Jesus is the light of the world. Share Him and let His light shine through you.

 

You Are The Light of The World

When I was young, my best friend and his family went camping in the wilds of southern Illinois at a place called "Lincoln Trails State Park."  Now, if you are going to rough it for a week, this is the place to do it in.  Each space had an electric hook up, there were honest to goodness flush toilets and immaculately clean showers.  Couple this with a beautiful fishing lake and you had a little bit of paradise on earth if you are into camping that is.  We had a good time that week.

What I remember the most is the night I walked down to the dock.  I am a city boy and when I looked up into the sky and had my first look at the Milky Way, I just knew that God had something to do with this.  The sky was black velvet and there were a billion stars in view.  I looked at that and realized just how small and insignificant I truly was. I knew from science class that the light of some of those stars had taken thousands of years to reach my eyes.  There was a great majesty in the sky above me and it took my breath away.  God is the great builder of things and of souls.  If the Milky Way is so impressive, what must the soul of a saint be like? 

We are called in the Gospel for today to be reflections of Our Father's love. We are called to shine like stars and even brighter than that!  Our brightness, fueled by our love of God, will attract others to Our Father because of the beauty our souls receives as grace from Him.  

A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  During the day the sun points out its location and at night the lights of its streets and byways show exactly where it is.  The Catholic Church, through each of us, must be that city on the hill. If we treat others with the love that God is treating us, then people will be irresistibly drawn to God and that built in desire to be one with God, which they have buried deeply in their soul, will blaze forth and they too will add to the light of the City of God.  

In The Beginning - The Creation Story

        

          "God said, "Let there be light..."

I love early mornings.  I sit here at my desk gazing out of the window watching the darkness of night, slowly being replaced by the light of day.  In the summer, at a certain moment, the birds awaken and begin their song of praise to the Father, thanking Him for bringing them through another night, another time of darkness.  Our God is Light and that is what distinguishes Him from all other deities that men worship.  With the light that the God of the Universe brings comes life.  Life not only in the physical sense, the light that the animals thank Him for daily but light for the souls of His children on earth.  This light, of course, is Jesus.  Every moment of every day God continues the work of creation.  The sun arrives to brighten the physical world and for those of us who believe and desire Him, He enters in and sheds His light and brightens our soul.  

The light of God's sun melts that which is frozen on earth and the light of God's Son, Jesus, infuses our soul with joy and peace. This is the reason that God created the world, to share Himself, to share His light, His Creation with us.  Breathe deeply of the morning air and inhale the recreation of the first day in which God said, "Let there be light."