Lent Day Thirty Six - Creeping Darkness

Gospel	John 11:45-56 ©

Jesus was to die to gather together the scattered children of God

Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him, but some of them went to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting. ‘Here is this man working all these signs’ they said ‘and what action are we taking? If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy the Holy Place and our nation.’ One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said, ‘You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.’ He did not speak in his own person, it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation – and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of God. From that day they were determined to kill him. So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with his disciples.

  The Jewish Passover drew near, and many of the country people who had gone up to Jerusalem to purify themselves looked out for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood about in the Temple, ‘What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not?’

We've crested the mountain and below us in a sweeping vista is the city of Jerusalem.  It is a site that fills me with awe, a site that fills me with wonder, and a trophy for this long, hot walk.  Uriah tells us that tomorrow, Sunday, we shall enter the great city. He has sent word ahead and we will be greeted as if we were conquering heroes!  The Master after admiring the view turned around and gathered us together.  His smile was warm as He faced us. He told us that after tomorrow He would no longer be with the group as he had urgent business in Jerusalem. He told us that each of us was beloved of God because we were true believers and had followed a hard road to get to this point.  He told us that our future was secure if we but believed in the Son and were His ambassadors and field hands.  We were to bring the Light of Christ to all we met who traveled the hot dusty roads through the valley of death.  He warned us to not depend on our own strength for if we did we would surely fail.  He bid us to talk to the Father and to cast all of our cares upon Him because He cares for us.  He told us that as we go through life day by day we should also pray for what we need and that what we need would always be provided.  He told us that in heaven we had many brothers and sisters who eagerly listen for our requests for help and they will always intercede for us with the Father if we but ask.  The saints live in the constant light of God and they behold Him as He is.  They see too,  the Son who watches the hands of the Father and is always ready to do the Father's will. And these same saints basque in the glow that the Father has for the Son and in in doing so they see the infinite love that is the Holy Spirit. He told us that upon our entry into Jerusalem we would look for Him but not find Him.  He will see them again on Thursday eve at a room that Uriah will show them.  With a single tear glistening in the sunlight as it flowed down His cheek.  He turned his back on us and looked forward, with apparent anguish, at the City of Jerusalem.  

Lent - Day Twenty Four - The Proud and The Humble

Gospel	Luke 18:9-14 ©

The tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified.

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

It is hard for me to put into words just how hot the desert can be.  The sun is unrelenting in its attention to you. You do not really sweat because as soon as your body forms the sweat it evaporates without effect. The sand gets into everything.  If you have the slightest hole in a sack at the end of the day besides what you yourself placed in the sack you will find sand.  We use the sand to clean our dishes - it does that very well.  It is a little known fact that Saudi Arabia imports camels and sand from Australia.  I know, its like the Eskimos importing ice cubes.  But it is true. Don't tell Benjamin, my camel but camel meat is a staple in Saudi Arabia and the world's largest herd of wild camels happens to be in Australia.  As far as importing sand, the sand from down under possesses special qualities that the Saharan sand does not have and it is used for sandblasting.  Again I have to see if you want beachfront property but do not like the noise of the ocean, this horrible but beautiful desert is the place to come.  Here you find your place in the scheme of things. Spending hours in the hot sun with your only view being the ass of the camel in front of you gives you time to reflect on who you are. The Master said it best.  First, he read the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple. Then he went on and said:

"So, brothers, we have two men in the temple.  Being in the temple is a good thing, a laudable thing.  It is an action that pleases the Father.  But in our case, one of the men is filled with pride and tells the Father just how much he does for Him and how he cannot be compared to the miserable sinner behind him.  The Pharisee made a good beginning in coming to the temple but the lost it when he spoke with such pride of all the things he had quote, done for God unquote."

"What made him think that God had any need of his fasting or tithing or refraining from unseemly conduct?  Fasting and other works of self-mortification are not for God.  He takes no pleasure in the suffering of His people, but He does commend them for their efforts to subjugate their bodies and minds to God's will.  The actions of the Pharisee were useless because of the pride he took in completing it.  He thought that the mere actions made him better than others while that was far from the truth.  Mind you, the Father still loved the Pharisee but the Pharisee loved himself and admired himself more than he loved and admired the Father."

"The tax collector, now what can we say about him? He had a more humble view of himself and knew his life needed many changes to become a whole man, that is to say, "Holy."  He entered the temple for some reason.  Tax collectors did not spend a whole lot of time in the temple.  They spent their time collecting money and going to parties. So, our man, for some reason, felt compelled to come to the temple.  Perhaps he had a change of heart and was wanting to repent. We don't know what inspired him to come on this day but when he came he knew his place. He remained far off, in the back of the temple and he would not even raise his eyes.  He poured out his soul to the Father with the simple words, "God be merciful to me a sinner.""

"Every person has dignity.  Every person from the Queen of England to an untouchable privy cleaner in New Delhi is dignified by the fact that the Father loves him with an unquenchable love that cannot be described with human language. But the one truth that all of us have to learn is that the sum total of a man is what God sees him as, nothing more or nothing less. God's vision of you is true and He sees all down to the depths of the farthest reaches of your soul. So, remember that God can say "I AM" and only He has the right to say "You are."

Lent - Day Ten - Into The Desert - Alone

First reading
Ezekiel 18:21-28 ©

I prefer to see the wicked man renounce his wickedness and live

Thus says the Lord:

  ‘If the wicked man renounces all the sins he has committed, respects my laws and is law-abiding and honest, he will certainly live; he will not die. All the sins he committed will be forgotten from then on; he shall live because of the integrity he has practiced. What! Am I likely to take pleasure in the death of a wicked man – it is the Lord who speaks – and not prefer to see him renounce his wickedness and live?

  ‘But if the upright man renounces his integrity, commits sin, copies the wicked man and practices every kind of filth, is he to live? All the integrity he has practiced shall be forgotten from then on, but this is because he himself has broken faith and committed sin, and for this, he shall die. But you object, “What the Lord does is unjust.” Listen, you House of Israel: is what I do unjust? Is it not what you do that is unjust? When the upright man renounces his integrity to commit sin and dies because of this, he dies because of the evil that he himself has committed. When the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live. He has chosen to renounce all his previous sins; he shall certainly live; he shall not die.’

I wish I could describe to you the terrible silence that lives in the desert.  When the wind is calm and you are outside of camp you can almost hear your heart beating.  Just on the other side of the dune is your camp where men are eating, speaking, and doing chores but here, five hundred feet away there is nothing but the heat of the sun attempting to boil your brain and the heat of the sand that reminds you that you are in the desert.   There are no birds in the air and if you see birds, it is not good news because they will mostly be vultures who announce that something has died.   It is in this silent place, not too far from camp but certainly in another world that I found myself.  I fell to my knees and prayed by saying nothing, by thinking of nothing else than the great beauty that is God.  I pondered His love for me and the realization that He knew me personally and loved me personally even after all of the things I had done that were against His will, I cried and was in torment inside. Then my heart poured out wordless repentance and sorrow for my sin and there came into me a peace that defies my ability to describe it.  The love I felt entering my heart was hotter than the sun and it burned gladness into my soul.  I was beloved, I was a friend of the Father.  All was good with my soul. 

Lent - Day Eight - Forty Days And Its All Over!

Gospel	Luke 11:29-32 ©

As Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be a sign

The crowds got even bigger, and Jesus addressed them:

  ‘This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it because when Jonah preached they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.’

The days are starting to blend into one another.  Upon awakening, I really have to think for a moment to figure out what day it actually is.  I knew it wasn't Sunday because of the fact that the slow and easy attitude was not what I was seeing from my companions.  Breakfast was being prepared, the camels were being tended to.  So, I did my assigned chores and then we met around the campfire in the morning darkness and after a prayer, we sat down around the fire and began to enjoy breakfast.  Today the flat desert style bread was bulging with the fruit of dates and figs and the coffee was just perfect.  Overhead I saw an airplane heading east, the same direction we were going.  They would arrive at the Holy City in a matter of hours, but we had days of walking before we would get there and once again enjoy modern conveniences.  The Master, after He finished his breakfast, stood up and with that, all of the noise around the campfire stopped and we looked expectantly at Him.  

"Brothers, back in the day there was a town called Nineveh.  It was a beautiful place and it was busy with trade and there was nightlife and there were enjoyments of a carnal nature but there was no respect for God.  Oh, they knew what they should be doing but that would not be fun.  Some of the people who saw what was happening and loved and respected God and His ways tried to tell people that they were sinning.  For their trouble, they were mocked and spat upon and unspeakable things were done to them and their family that made them outcasts for the fun-loving characters of Nineveh.  The Lord God looked down and saw such evil that He could not believe it.  He resolved to remedy the matter but first would send them a prophet to warn them and if they would repent of their evil ways, well He would stay His hand.  But it was even difficult to get someone to do this job.  Jonah who was God's choice for the job was not a great lover of the people of Nineveh.  He defied the Father and the Father arranged for the ship he was using to get stuck in a great storm. The sailors knew that something unearthly was in play here and so they decided that one of them had to be put over the side.  They drew lots and Jonah drew the short straw.  He saw it as punishment for trying to flee God and so he allowed himself to be thrown overboard.  But God was not done with the man.  He caused Jonah to be swallowed by a big fish and he was in the stomach of this fish for three days and the God caused the fish to vomit him up onto dry land, and guess where?  Yes, you guessed right, it was right where the road to Nineveh began.  Jonah walked to the great city and as he walked through it he proclaimed that in a short time, the great city would be destroyed because of its sinful ways.  Others had tried this and met with failure.  Jonah touched the hearts of the people and even the king who immediately proclaimed a fast and they wore sackcloth and ashes and they repented of their sins and thus was the great city spared. "

"In this world, we can easily see the wicked and their actions and how every face is turned away from God and every person thinks he is a god. Your job is to be Jonah to those you see that are sinning.  Sin, no matter if it is your own life or if it is the life of others has to be stamped out.  This has to be done at the peril of your reputation, for there are those that will think that you have gone mad, or that you are old-fashioned, or perhaps a prude.  They will tell you that whatever rules you want to follow they will not interfere with but don't try to make them toe that mark.,  That is what they will say to your face, but they will interfere. They will go to those in power and demand that their sinful ways be protected and become the law of the land.  And they will go after you.  Your life will be revealed in stark detail and they will not hesitate to lie about you. You are called to spread the word that God is  Love and Mercy, but He is also God of Justice as well. Your job will be to tell them to repent and return to God and His ways.  Your job will be hard but rewarding in the end.  Now pack up this camp in record time, we have to go to Jerusalem."

You Gotta Be Kidding !

1 THES 5:16-24

Brothers and sisters:                                             
                 
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.
In all circumstances give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophetic utterances.
Test everything; retain what is good.
Refrain from every kind of evil.
May the God of peace make you perfectly holy
and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body,
be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who calls you is faithful,
and he will also accomplish it.


I always thought of Paul as a level-headed, clear thinking, man of God.  He usually has a lot of wise things to tell us that are for our own good.  But here, he tells us to do two things that I think are kind of difficult to do.  

REJOICE ALWAYS.
Paul tells us to rejoice always.  How can he expect a person to do that when life comes at you from every direction at once sometimes?  For me, I go back to 2008.  In the space of a couple of months, I lost my father to COPD or as I call it RJ Reynolds Disease. Then my car decided to commit suicide and drop its transmission and the very next day, I was laid off from my job. I can tell you with great certainty that I was not in the mood to rejoice. There was rent to be paid, car payments to make, Uncle MasterCard and Visa wanted their money so, no, I did not say after losing my job, "Thank you, Lord Jesus, for putting me in this position!."  But if I was spiritually more mature  I would have found it in me to remember that all things will work together for my good. As it turned out, the rent got paid, as did the car payment and I found a new job in only a couple of months during a huge recession.  

Corrie Ten-Boom, a Dutch lady living in Amsterdam during World War II was sent to the notorious Ravensbruk concentration camp for hiding Jews from the Nazis.  She and her sister, who died in the camp, would hold prayer meetings in the barracks. If they were caught they would be punished, almost certainly they would have been executed.  But not one SS man ever came into the barracks.  So Corie and her sister thanked God for this but they did not know why.  They found out it was because the barrack was infested with fleas.  The SS men did not want to become a host for the fleas.  Corrie told this to her sister and she immediately thanked God for the fleas!  

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.
Alright, is this even possible? Imagine this scenario. You are an air traffic controller and it is the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and traffic is very heavy, in fact, it is a record-breaking day!  Do you, in obedience to this call from scripture, close your eyes every so often and pray?  With fifty planes all converging at the airport all at once, each of them going almost as fast as bullet, if you close your eyes and prayed, chances are that a couple of those planes would attempt to occupy the same space and would fall from the sky, easing your burden, to be sure, but somewhat detrimental to the well-being of the people riding on those planes. So, I do not think that I would want an air traffic controller to pray without ceasing.  Or would I? It is possible to pray without ceasing and still get your work done.  You can start your day by offering all of your work to God through the recitation of the Morning Offering.  Here is an example.

O Jesus,through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,I offer You my prayers, works,joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart,in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,in thanksgiving for your favors,in reparation for my sins,for the intentions of all my relatives and friends,and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen.

If you say this prayer in the morning you make the work you do, the thoughts you think, everything that comes your way a prayer so in effect you are praying without ceasing just by being you and doing what it is you do so well.  

An aside here, if you want to know more about Corrie Ten Boom, there are many articles on the internet about her.  I recommend this website.  (click here)

The Poor Souls in Purgatory Rejoice in the Lord Always and Pray Unceasingly but they need your help to shorten their time in Purgatory - please pray for the poor souls today. 

REMEMBER WHERE THEY ARE, YOU MAY SOMEDAY BE

First Sunday of Advent - Wait, Wait, Wait

He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.God is faithful, and by him, you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is really hard to believe that the first Sunday of Advent is already here.  It wasn't too long ago that I was welcoming in the new year with all of its hopes and dreams.  

There is nothing so hard as waiting.  Life seems to be the period where we go from the back of the line to the front of the line.  Did you ever get into a line at the supermarket where everything was it seemed to be moving nicely and then you hear the dreaded "price check on seven."  The person in front of you has four ounces of cumquats and is insisting that they were on sale but the register rang them up at two cents more a pound than the sale price. You want to reach into your pocket and give the person a quarter so that she will get the heck out of your way!  Waiting is hard.  Can you imagine how hard it was for the Hebrew people?  

The Hebrews in the first century had been waiting for the Messiah for a long time. While they were waiting, countries were having their way with them and they wanted to be free of foreign interference with their government.  So, imagine having to wait centuries for something to happen and you think that your wait in the supermarket line with that screaming little brat that wants one of every candy bar that he has seen was long!  In the next four weeks, we will wait as we pray and reflect on the place of Jesus in our life.  Each week we will get closer and closer to that great time when our Savior will appear.   

There will be a lot of preparing to be done over the next four weeks. The house will need to be made ready to receive guests, there will be presents to buy and wrap and meals to plan, people to pick up and drop off.  It will be a mad scramble for some of us. All the while we are exhausting ourselves with the needs of the body will we be considering the needs of our soul?  There is no reason why even one of us cannot take fifteen minutes a day in prayer especially if you make time when all of the work of the day is complete.  You need this time of prayer.  Here is the painless way of doing it.  

Wait for a time just before bed.  Turn off the TV, radio, stereo and most of all the smartphone.  Breathe in and out deeply a few times and sink back into your chair.  Clear your mind of everything and just think of one word, "Jesus."  Breathe in and out as you slowly say the name. Then imagine that Jesus is there with you.  He is sitting just opposite of you and He is ready to listen to you.  Pour out your heart, let Him know how you feel.  Let Him hear of your joys and sorrows, laugh with Him and cry with Him. After fifteen minutes (longer if you like) take your leave of Him and thank Him for the blessings He has given you in your life.  

There is no secret to prayer that you need to know except this.  Prayer is simply talking to your friend.  He wants this relationship with you!  He loves you with all of His Heart.  

Advent is a great time to help your relatives and friends who might this very day be in Purgatory.  He or she is not there you say, well, then pray for the people who need it most.  Your prayers will not go unheard nor will they be wasted. 

Keep On Keeping On

Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. 
He said, "There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being. 
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.'
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.'" 
The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. 
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night? 
Will he be slow to answer them? 
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. 
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

We have to keep praying for what we need.  Asking once may not be enough.  In the parable, the judge keeps putting the woman off and she for her part does not give up.  I can imagine that every day the judge would be on his way to court, clutching his hot cup of Starbucks and his papers anxious to get on with another day of taking advantage of the law to line his pockets.  Then he passes this lady's house and out she comes, her mouth going at a hundred miles an hour and the breeze caused by her voice is cooling the hot caramel latte the judge is clutching in his hand. He swiftly walks by her and gets on with his day. The next day, he is confronted again by the lady, and on Wednesday yet again.  He rightly surmises that this issue is not going to go away and he knows that the case is really one that is open and shut, black letter law in her favor.  She is starting to be an annoyance and he is afraid that she will do him or his family harm.  So, he issues a ruling in favor of the woman just to shut her up.
Jesus is telling us that if an unjust judge can be badgered into doing his job and he has no fear of God or man, then your Father in heaven will rush to help you if you ask.  But we must be very persistent and faithful in our asking.  God loves us so very much that He will do everything He can to assure us a place in heaven.  Every grace and favor will be ours if we but ask.  We cannot do it alone and we were never meant to do it alone.  Even before the fall, God visited Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the evening.  He wants to help us so all we have to do is ask.

Please remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory in your prayers today.  They need our help and will remember those that help them.  Besides, as they are perhaps one day we shall be! 

Tick, Tick, Tick

Jesus said to his disciples:                                                                   
"Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."

The clock had stood on the mantle forever.  There was not a time that anyone going back five generations that a member of the family needing to know what time it was failed to see the ornate clock on the mantle.  Throughout all of those years, it was dusted, carefully wound, and it responded to this care by always providing the correct time.  One day, however, a bit of moisture that had started corroding one small part over a hundred years ago finally triumphed and the clock stopped.  Thinking that someone had forgotten to wind the clock, the young master of the house pulled a chair over to the mantle, mounted it, found the key and promptly overwound the clock effectively stilling the heart of the ancient clock, stilled forever, or at least until the clockmaker was able to fix it.  No one knew the exact time anymore.  They had to guess by where the sun was in the sky, where the shadows hit the terrace or of course they could look at their wrist watches or mobile phones.   Come on now, I didn't say it was the only clock!  

Just as the people in our mythical house had to judge the time using other means, so too must we.  We do not know the time or date when Jesus will return.  Maybe it will be before you finish reading this sentence or maybe it will be a thousand years after the next two millenniums fade into the period we call the past.  For the vast majority of us now living, it is possible that we will face the end of the world on our own, perhaps with family around us as we take our last breath in here on earth and make that trip to the judgment of Jesus.  We do not know when this will happen.  If we are young we feel it will be in the far distant future, sixty, or even seventy years from now.  If we are older, such as your author, we know that the time grows ever closer with every blink of our eyes.  The point is no matter if you are young, middle-aged,  or in those years we call the golden years, you must always be prepared for the call home because it will come without warning and at a time that will not be chosen by us.

I've often wondered how I would like to die.  Would I prefer everything to end at the snap of a finger, leaving this world and arriving in the next without knowing what hit me?  Or, would I like to have my end staged, gradually taking my leave as one disease or another does its mischief on my body?  I would rather have the later because it would give me time to say goodbye to those I love and to straighten any crooked lines I may have written on my soul.  But whatever God has planned for me, I accept at this moment and as I continue to live, I try to live my life in a manner worthy of my calling as an ambassador for Christ.  I place my soul into the care of the God that has loved me and who has guided me in spite of my stubborn will.  I look at the clock, its hands creep always forward, what time will the bell strike for me?  Only God knows! 

Our brothers and sisters in Purgatory need our prayers.  Won't you dedicate some of your prayer time to them today? 

The Exchange

God has given us a gift that fits perfectly and is guaranteed to operate without flaw for our whole life.  That gift is free will. When God created humans, he did not want puppets, or robots, or "yes men."  He wanted a creature that could learn to love Him for who He was, infinite love and goodness. The human being would do that through living on earth and experiencing first hand the beauty of creation.  They would experience the joy of being with each other. They would marvel at the gift of procreation, sharing in the process of God in creating a human being.  They would learn that the bounty of God, both physical and spiritual, was to be shared and treated with respect.  God Himself provided ten hints as to how this could be done, we called them commandments.  The people that obeyed them were happier and more joyful than those that did not.  That in itself is a great lesson that can be learned by the most simple of humans just by observation. 

From the beginning, however, there were those that just did not see the wisdom of obeying God's law.  Adam and Eve, for example, were told not to eat the fruit of only one of the trees in the garden God placed them in.  They were tempted by the serpent and using their free will, they chose to disobey God.  Later, Cain became jealous of his brother Abel and killed him, going down in the record books as the first person to commit murder. Years passed and the human race grew.  And instead of growing in wisdom, we grew in sin.  God told Noah to build an ark and to fill it with himself and his wife and his sons and their wives and with animals and for forty days and forty nights rain fell and all life except that which was on the ark perished, giving mankind another fresh start.   Things went on fairly well for awhile but in two towns, Sodom and Gomorrah evil things were happening between men and men and women and women. The town was wiped out except for Lot and his family who was told to skedaddle before the fire storm hit.   More years passed and the time for the Redeemer to appear on earth arrived and He set all things right.  He atoned for all of the sins committed to the date of his sacrificial death and for all that the sins that would be committed in the future. Mankind had been given yet another chance.  

Today, some two-thousand years later, we find ourselves in the same predicament that our forefathers of ancient times found themselves in.  People have once again turned away from the law of God.  The culture of death rules the land.  I am not only speaking about abortion and euthanasia here, sin in all of its guises is death. Today, the rainbow, once a symbol of God's promise to not flood the earth again, has been adopted by people who would be at home in the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Also, those that try to follow the Lord's way are scorned and when they point out sins that are occurring in the land, they are told to mind their own business because for the reprobate one belief system is just as good as another. The money god is powerful in this world and those that have a lot of it, if they are not prudent, think of themselves as outside of the law, exempt because they can pay their way clear of any trouble. 

What is my point here?  Free will is a gift that we can use for whatever we want.  It makes us in a sense like God in that no one is going to tell us what to do or not do, at least not inside our head.  True, if your free will compels you to rob a bank, you will go to jail for the exercise of it.  Free will and conscience are hard-wired together.  We use our conscience to temper the desires of our free will.  If we do not do this, if we are not prudent, we will go the way of the sinner on the wide, obstacle-free, road to perdition. 

The Lord Jesus is there to help us in this world.  He knows what it is like to be tempted.  He knows what it is like to be counter-culture and to pay the price for pointing the opposite direction that the world wants to go in. Jesus will be coming back, soon, perhaps very soon.  The day and the hour are not known to any man but we should be ready. Catholic Man, Catholic Woman, humbly admit your faults and go to the oasis of forgiveness where the Blood of Jesus will wash you clean.  The sacrament of reconciliation will make you stronger in your faith and better able to be an example for the dozens or hundreds or even thousands of lost souls around you. Turn your free will over to the Lord and be ready to be freer than you ever were before!   You may be the only Jesus some people ever see during their lifetime. 

And now a word from our sponsor: 

PURGATORY IS PROOF POSITIVE OF THE LOVE GOD HAS FOR US.  THROUGH THIS PLACE, AFTER DEATH, IF NECESSARY, WE ARE ALLOWED TO MAKE OURSELVES PRESENTABLE TO GOD BY PURGING THE TEMPORAL EFFECTS OF OUR SIN AND OUR ATTACHMENTS TO ANY WORLDLY THINGS.  PLEASE PRAY FOR THE POOR SOULS.  THEY WILL REMEMBER YOUR HELP AND WILL BE YOUR HELP WHEN IN NEED.  GOD BLESS. 

The Huge Cost of Division

"Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste

and house will fall against house."

Take a single strand of dry spaghetti out of its box. It takes very little effort to break the piece of pasta into many fragments.  It is a bit harder when you take two pieces, harder still with four, but still possible to take what was whole and to fragment it into many disjointed pieces.  If, on the other hand, you take the whole pound out of the box and try to break it up that way it is much harder to do and depending on your strength may, in fact, be impossible for you to do. 

It is said by some that Martin Luther did not want to fall away from the Catholic Church. His behavior and actions and his pride all belie this statement.  Before the "great reformer" came onto the scene, there was for over fifteen hundred years one faith, one belief, and one kingdom. Marty did have a number of good points, not the least of which was the sale of indulgences which was never what indulgences were intended for.  But his prideful action and failure to look at himself as the least of all, has had a cost that is still owing and accumulating interest some five-hundred years since the schism was created.  But, it is not about Luther and his actions that I want to write about today, I want to talk about the cost of that which divides us.  The cost is huge and people are dying because of our divisions. 

Since the Protestant Revolt, God's church has been suffering from the disease of denominationalism.  Once Luther broke from the Church it was not long before another of the great "reformers" broke with Luther and set up his own community.  All over the world brother went against brother and father against son as the rust and rot of the reformation penetrated deeply into the Christian world.  Today there are approximately thirty and some say forty thousand different denominations, each claiming to own the truth, many of them condemning the Catholic Church as the whore of Babylon and consigning members of the Church to the deepest pit of hell.  They also disagree with the other sects out in the world and First Baptist would never think that they were related to First Presbyterian Church.  In reality, every denomination can be traced only as far back as Luther.  The church founded by Luther was founded by a man, the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the present leader of the Church can trace his office back to Peter who was appointed as the prime minister of God's kingdom on earth. It is for this reason that I know I could never become a Protestant. 

But what about the cost of all of this division?  For many years mainstream Protestants stood side by side with Catholics on many issues.  But over the years, the Protestant denominations, very often by democratic vote, decided to water down their beliefs to make things more convenient for the believers.  For example, let's take abortion.  At one time Christians stood together on this subject, it was wrong, it was immoral, it was murder.  Then one by one, denominations voted at yearly meetings and abortion was taken off of the list of things that they stood against. Today, the Catholic Church is almost alone when it comes to the Right to Life issue.  Take for example as well marriage.  Marriage has traditionally been seen as to between one man and one woman.  This is how God wants it to be.  The Catholic Church, to this day, preaches this doctrine.  There can be no marriage between people of the same sex. One denomination after another is coming to the conclusion that marriage is marriage just so the two people love each other, it is okay if the couple is John and Jake or John and Jane just so there is love between the two people, their sexual identities should not be allowed to get in the way of their love.  Again, God's law is discounted and rewritten for the convenience of the people.  The denominations that allow same-sex marriage for the convenience of their congregations, are leading them into sinful behavior.  This is exactly opposite of what a church is supposed to do. 

So what?  So some Christians have gone off on another path if it makes them happy, life is short, why not?  True, Life is Short, but Eternity is Forever. One of the things we Christians are to do is to be a beacon, illuminating the way to the Kingdom of God.  Disjointed as we are, we are showing the world many different examples, many of them sinful, many of them unworthy of a person who calls themselves a Christian. These sinful examples are the ones that people like to see, they are the ones that they remember.  This is giving power to the pagans, the atheists, the LGBT community and even the satanists.  Our leaders in Washington (such as they are, God help us) are seeing that true Christian morals and values are becoming less and less important to the people of their communities and they are behaving in accordance with what they see!  So the cost of not being unified into one Church and one Kingdom are staggering.  The situation is costing lives.  Besides the millions of babies murdered in the abortion mills under the guise of woman's health, a right to die law allowing assisted suicide is on the books in some countries and even in some states.  Right now, the patient is the one who decides to end things but, I can see that there will come a day when a committee meets and decides for you the date and time when your life is no longer worth living and they, without your consent, will send you on your way by giving you a lethal injection right after you finish your hearty breakfast.  This has happened in other countries where "mercy killing" is permitted.  In one case, a man was put into the hospital for a mild case of depression.  The man's wife had to go on a trip.  When she came back just a week later she was handed her husbands ashes.  In his depression, the husband asked for assistance in ending his life and it was given to him.

We can thank Martin Luther and all of the other reformers that he spawned for where we are today.  Our Lord prayed that we be one as He and the Father are one. Due to human error and human pride, we have failed in this request.  What can be done about this sad situation we find ourselves in?  To hope for all the denominations to realize that they are in schism with the Church is too much to hope for on a human level.  We need to pray for one another and ask God to release the Holy Spirit because the job of bringing us all back together is too big to do without His help.  You know, Jesus did say that there would be one flock and one shepherd so maybe our prayer today will bring a unified, revived, strong, loving, and obedient Church back into reality tomorrow. 

Do you know somebody in Purgatory?  Please, pray for the poor souls today. They will remember those who help them and it pleases God when we share our spiritual wealth with those who need it most.  

   

Our Lady of the Rosary

Turning to the disciples in private he said, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.

For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it."

There is nothing more Catholic than the Rosary and there is no prayer that can bring the person who says it such peace and such power.  For some of us, the only time we will hold a Rosary will be when, for artistic reasons, the undertaker threads one into our cold and stiff fingers while we lay quietly in our casket.  For other Catholics, the Rosary is a living and vibrant thing, another proof of God's love for us, and a powerful source of meditation and a force that can, and has, changed the course of history.  But where did this powerful prayer come from?  What were its origins? 

Imagine, if you will, you are a peasant and your day is spent working in the fields. As you work, you hear the beautiful sounds of the brothers in the neighboring monastery singing the Psalms of David as they gathered several times a day to pray the Divine Office. As a peasant, you were not educated like the brothers, you did not have a Bible, they were very costly and only the wealthy could have a personal copy of the Scriptures.  Even if you were to come into possession of this wonderful book, it would do you no good as you were unable to read.  But, if there was one thing that was true, you were just as pious as the brothers in the monastery.  You loved the Lord and you prayed faithfully, but you wanted to do as the brothers did and pray a divine office. Given the limitations of money and education, you would not be able to sing the Psalms, there were too many for you to memorize and you did not own a Bible.  The brothers suggested that as you work that you pray one-hundred and fifty Our Father's, one for each of the Psalms.  You liked this idea but you often lost count as you worked.  When you prayed this office at home, you took one-hundred and fifty pebbles and used them to count the prayers.  This would not work so well when you were working in the fields.  Then you came up with the idea of carrying a knotted string that you could keep in your hands, moving one knot for each Our Father that you said.  This worked for a long time, but it was only the beginning.  Eventually, you said your prayers while thinking of the Bible stories you heard at church. Soon, the Rosary evolved into the prayer we know today using the Hail Mary, consisting of the words spoken to Mary at the Annunciation by the angel Gabriel, and our request that Mary prays to Jesus for us and to help us at the hour of our death. While we pray the familiar words of these basic prayers, namely, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be, we meditate on the lives of Jesus and Mary and the major events that led to our salvation. 

Contrary to what rabid, anti-Catholic Bible thumpers believe, the Rosary is not mindless repeating of words in order to get God's attention.  The Rosary is a prayer that brings those that pray it closer to Jesus, closer to His Mother, and of course, closer to God.  Those that pray (not just say) the Rosary open up for themselves a world where they gain insight into what Jesus did for mankind and what He did for them personally.  

Praying the Rosary is not an affront to God. The most important person in Heaven right now, besides Jesus, is Mary, His Mother.  She was assumed, that means, brought up to Heaven, because after her death, Jesus did not want her body to decay so she received what we will all certainly receive at the end of time, a glorified physical body that will dwell with God, Jesus, and all of the Saints forever.  As great as Mary, the Mother of God is, we do not offer her worship. We hold her in great reverence because we are imitating Jesus Himself who loved His mother so much that from the Cross, when his strength was all be spent, He placed Mary into the care of John the Apostle who from that moment cared for Mary as if she was his own mother. 

There is so much misunderstanding between Protestants and Catholics when it comes to Mary and the vast majority of it comes from true ignorance of the truth that has been fostered by anti-Catholic bigots over the years. When Jesus gave Mary to John from the cross, He was not only speaking to John but to us as well.  He gave us His Mother as our heavenly mother, one that we can turn to in our neediness and be assured that she will be an advocate for us and using her mother's love, pass our prayers, with her recommendations, to Jesus.  Recall, if you will, how Jesus began his ministry early at the Wedding Feast at Cana at the request of His Mother and said the wisest words ever recorded, "Do whatever He tells you."

Yes, it's time for the commercial...The Poor Souls in Purgatory need our prayers.  Oddly enough, one of the most powerful prayers for them is the Rosary.  Please, Please, Please pray for the Poor Souls today.  They really need our help.  Thank you!

They Lost Everything ! ! !

For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it. If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that. Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils,

We weep with those who have lost everything in hurricane and earthquake.  Millions of people have had their lives permanently changed by what we whimsically call "acts of God" as if God sits on His throne charting out all of the disasters that befall those on Earth.  The truth is, God has set the rules of nature in motion and sometimes these disasters do occur but they were not planned nor ordained by God, they are just physical realities following the laws of nature. 

These disasters do bring into focus what the letter to Timothy quoted above has told us.  We can live without a lot of things that we now consider vital.  There is one commercial that I like because it exposes the flaw in our thinking.  A man is in his kitchen and says that all we need is bread, water, and the internet to survive.  

Our prayers and charitable acts need to flow in a giant tidal wave to help our brothers and sisters that are facing the peril of the loss of everything including bread, water, clothing, shelter and every modern convenience.  While we are doing what we can, we should imagine what our friends are going through and realize that next time, we could be the victims of the laws of nature the next time something happens because the rules of nature apply to everyone. 

The poor souls in purgatory know that someday they will see God face to face and that gives them perfect joy but the fact that they cannot see Him now hurts them beyond belief. Please pray for the poor souls today.

Importance Of Prayer

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:


Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

If prayer wasn't important, then Jesus would not have done it.  But, if we look carefully in the Bible we can see that Jesus prays an awful lot. In this reading, He prays before calling the disciples from their everyday affairs and bringing them into the work of being fishers of men. 

Very often we are afraid of prayer because we believe that we do not do it well.  We look at people such as Thomas Merton, Saint Francis, monks, brothers, sisters, and nuns we have known and we know we cannot pray like they can pray.  We never have the words to say like they do.  Well, let me assure you of something, everyone on earth is an expert at prayer because prayer does not require expertise. 

God does not want flowery talk with a lot of "thee's and thous" sprinkled on top like doughnut toppings.  God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit want to hear from you, not from St. Francis, unless you are St. Francis!  Speak to God in your prayers as if He is in the chair across from you. He wants to know what you want to tell Him and He knows what you haven't said as well.  To grow in prayer is to grow in the trust of God.  The more you speak to Him as a friend, the more you will realize that God's friendship has no end and that the love he has for you is real and deep and infinite.  

We have, through Christ, an immediate audience with God. Do not be afraid, He is listening. 

Please pray for the poor souls in Purgatory.  The time for doing good is on this side of death's door. these souls cannot help themselves. An Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be take only a moment or two but it brings them such comfort.  Won't you take a moment now for them?