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.  

They Asked. He Spoke, They Didn't Listen

My sheep hear my voice;

I know them, and they follow me. 

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. 

No one can take them out of my hand. 

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,

and no one can take them out of the Father's hand. 

The Father and I are one."

Well, here He went and did it.  The crowd asked Jesus to tell them plainly who He was and he did it.  "The Father and I are one." Those words could not be plainer. The crowd heard what he said and immediately picked up rocks to stone Him. He walked away from them and went across the Jordan River. 

The people in our story could hear, but they did not listen. One hallmark of a Christian is that they hear the voice of Christ in their life.  They try, through the daily tribulations of life, to do what He commands. The command of Jesus is simple but powerful.  He commands us to love others as He has loved us.  At the Last Supper, He showed us by washing the Apostles feet.  The next day He showed us by dying on the cross for us.

It is this love we are to show one another.  It is a love that can be expressed only with the help of Grace in our lives. This Grace comes upon the wind, in the voice of the Good Shepherd.  We, His flock, must listen for His voice.

 The voice of the world will be much louder and at times more persuasive. But we listen for His voice and we are not drawn away from Him because it is His voice that we yearn for, and only His voice impels us to move. 

Today, the Lord has something to say to YOU.  Listen to what He says. Follow His voice and you will be doing His will and you will be safe with His arms around you as you feel the beating of the Sacred Heart as it beats as one with yours.