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.  

   

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?

Ordinary and yet Extraordinary

Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot
who betrayed Jesus.

They were ordinary men. You could say that in a way that they were just like you and me.  Arising each morning, each of them began their day full of hope and they dressed, ate a bit of breakfast and went to work. They put in a full day, went home, rested, went to sleep and the next day they did it all over again.  Yes, you could say that they are just like you and me.  One day, one glorious day, everything changed.  They were called by this man that they had heard about called Jesus. He was known to be a great teacher, afraid of neither Pharisee, Sadducee, or the Pagan Romans.  They left everything behind and they began to follow Him.  They saw many wonders and speculated between themselves who this Jesus was.  It was Peter, the first one called to be a fisher of men that first acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God.  It was Peter on whom Jesus placed the mantle of leadership, and it was Peter who when given the chance saved himself and denied his Lord, but later repented and was received back by Jesus.  Yes, these men are a microcosm of all of the eventual followers of the Lord because He chose not the strong and the wise, he chose the incredibly average.  He also included among that number one that in the end betrayed Him to the authorities, making it possible for them to rather quietly dispose of an inconvenient messiah. 

Remember this fellow Catholics, from the Pope on down, we are ordinary people, all members of the Church that Christ built on the Rock of Peter. This Church is built with Christ as the cornerstone. The founder and His teachings hold the whole thing together as we await the moment of His return to claim His bride again. Our Church was not the invention of a mere man but rather it was the will of the Father, the work of the Son, and the constant protection of the Holy Spirit that gave her birth, sustained her through good and bad and that will keep her safe until the wonderful day when Jesus returns.

It is not through any action on our part that the Church is holy.  It is because of who the founder is, Jesus, and who sustains His Church in error free teaching, the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow! 

Head in the Clouds

They said, "Men of Galilee,

why are you standing there looking at the sky?

This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven 

will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.

The apostles, now down to eleven because one of them betrayed the Lord and had committed suicide were once again confused, scared, and not sure what was going to happen next.  They had been instructed to return to Jerusalem and to wait.  They could not get back to that upper room fast enough. Their Lord and Savior had once again left them, they felt alone and afraid. 

They had seen Jesus ascend upwards towards heaven and they watched until they could see Him no more.  They stared into the sky and then He was gone.  They watched a bit longer and then two men dressed in snow-white garments appeared and told them to get a move on, that Jesus would return in the same way as they had seen Him leave.  

They were in the same room where not long ago, the Lord washed their feet and told them that to be a leader, one had to be willing to be a servant to all. He gave them a great example of His love that night. He took the form of a slave and washed their feet. Then He gave them for all-time His most Sacred Body, Blood,  Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist.  He followed this up the very next day by completing the Passover feast by drinking the fourth cup of wine on the Cross, taking upon his soul the sins of all. 

Now, the apostles were doing what they did best, they were waiting and praying.  They did not know what was going to happen next but they followed instructions and were waiting in that upper room. 

We too sometimes find ourselves locked away in our rooms waiting. We pray and wait for the Lord to answer our prayer, to give us our marching orders. It is okay to wait and listen.  But we must be ready to throw open the door to our upper room and be ready to advance once those orders have been received.  We know what happened to the Apostles, Pentecost happened.  When the time came, with the help of the Holy Spirit they threw off the shackles of fear and boldly proclaimed the Word of God.

Next week is Pentecost Sunday.  Let us spend the seven days between now and then, praying and getting ready to give to the world what it needs, Jesus.  The two men in white were sent to stir up the apostles and set them on the path that the Lord wanted them to follow.   They speak to us today as well.  Prepare ye the way of the Lord!