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. 

Tolerable is a Point of View

What Happens In Sodom Stays in Sodom...or does it?

Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.

Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town."

There is a wideness in God's mercy, but as we see both in the fate of that great pillar of society, Sodom, and the fate of those that refuse the Word of God it has a limit.  There is no way to sugar coat this, refusing to believe is to commit the sin against the Holy Spirit, the only non-forgivable sin.  If a person spends their whole life turning away from God, mocking His laws, breaking His commandments in spite of the grace that God showers down personally on every human being, well, there will be no hope for them on the day of judgment, none at all. 

We are responsible for what we hear and we are responsible for sharing the Gospel with those around us.  This sharing of the Gospel is called "The New Evangelization." In America as in any developed land, there is no reason at all for a person to be ignorant of Christ. There are signposts all along the way of life and the ignorant still are receiving grace and are responsible for working out their own salvation even if no other Christian ever approaches them with the Gospel.  But, woe to the Christians that ignored their brothers and sisters and failed to at least give them a hint of the great gift that Jesus brought into the world, they share the fate of the lost brothers and sisters they could have helped in that their place in heaven will be less than it could have been. 

Today, make it point to share the joy of being a follower of Jesus with at least one person.  You can be sneaky about it and just show them a big smile and loving tender care or you can add to that a word or two about the Gospel.  Just do something, there is no need to be afraid.  The Holy Spirit will guide you.  For heaven's sake, listen to that little voice and be a signpost to heaven for someone that really needs to be shown the way.  God Bless! 

Attitude Is Important

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

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

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

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

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

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