Lent Day Nineteen - A Ha-boob , A Lady, And a camel

Gospel	Luke 1:26-38 ©

'I am the handmaid of the Lord'

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favor. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob forever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

We were lucky today.  Before dawn today a great wind came up and one of the things even seasoned desert travelers fear came up a sandstorm!  My first thought was of Benjamin, I rose and began to dress quickly so I could do something to help the camel that I was in charge of.  I was just getting ready to leave when Uriah, our leader, stopped me and asked where I thought I was going.  I told him that I was going to help Benjamin and find a safe place for him to weather the storm.  Uriah almost died laughing when he heard this.  He said. "You idiot, the camel is happier than you are right now.  If we had to we could load up and march on.  The camel is perfectly adapted to whatever this cursed desert can throw at him.  His hooves are large so he has no trouble walking in the soft sand and his eyes are protected by his eyelashes.  If you go out there, you will take the chance of breathing in the sand into your lungs and perhaps somewhere down the line get an infection.  No, sit and meditate and enjoy this brief respite.  It will be over soon and I will be all over you to get that stinking camel loaded so we can make up the time we are wasting because of this ha-boob, which is a word that means sandstorm."  He walked away still laughing over my ignorance.  It gave me pause though to think about how the camel received everything he could need from God to live in the space allotted to him.  He was perfectly adapted.  

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation when God sent the Angel Gabriel to a young girl named Mary and with her consent, the Savior was sent on His way to become a man and to save us from our sins.  

May Mary, the Mother of God forgive me, but she like the camel is perfectly adapted to her role in the story of salvation.  She, by a favor granted by God, was born without original sin. This was a necessary thing that God did because the mother of God could have no connection with evil, not even the stain of original sin.  So, while we were drawn out of the pit of sin by the work of Jesus, God, drawing on the benefits of the sacrificial death of Jesus beforehand, He caused Mary to be carried over the pit of sin that the rest of us all fell into.  So God saved Mary and was her needed savior. 

While the winds were howling I broke out my Bible and read the account of the Annunciation.  I was struck by one phrase and that was "Hail Mary, full of grace."  The angel did not bring a supply of grace to Mary, he recognized that her soul was filled with it.  When something is filled, you cannot fit in anymore.  The angel Gabriel simply was greeting the woman and saying what was in his view. 

How do we know that Mary was full of grace?  That is simple, she was humble and selfless and immediately took on the work that God had asked her to do. She could have refused without any consequences what-so-ever but she didn't because her whole heart was turned to God and refusing God anything would not be something she would want to do.  She was, like the camel, forgive me gentle mother, adapted to her role.  

Today, I believe her to be physically in heaven and always beside her Son.  I pity those who take little notice of her because they miss the opportunity to receive graces from Jesus through her.  Jesus loves His mother so much that He cannot refuse her anything.  For her part, her eyes are on the hands of her master, her Son, and the spiritual mother of us all. 

The haboob came to an end and Uriah was as good as his word. He was all over us to get the camp struck and us on the move.  I could imagine John Wayne playing his part if this were a movie because one of his favorite sayings in the morning was, "Let's get a move on.  We're burning daylight."  And so I put my back into breaking camp and loading the camels, breakfast will happen at lunchtime today.  Another day which would pass like so many others.  Funny, isn't it?  I now have a greater love for the Blessed Mother because of a camel named Benjamin. 

It Ain't Gonna Fit!

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich

to enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Again I say to you,

it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle

than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said,

"Who then can be saved?"

Jesus looked at them and said,

"For men this is impossible,

but for God all things are possible."

OH MY GOSH - HE'S GOTTA BE KIDDING

NO WAY A CAMEL CAN GET THROUGH

THE EYE OF A NEEDLE - CANT BE DONE!

Now calm down, this is NOT what Jesus had in mind. 

This is what he was referring to:

The eye of the needle was a place in a wall that would admit only a camel and rider and that at a very slow pace indeed.  If the camel was laden with merchandise, the rider would have to dismount and remove all of the parcels and only then could the camel and rider enter.  This made it possible for the city fathers to collect taxes on each parcel as it was handed through and prevented armies mounted on animals from invading and pillaging their city.  All in all, quite a smart thing to have in your city wall. Also if your rider was bent on causing mischief, you had time to size him up and summon help before his weapons were pushed through. 

For us, entering heaven will be like this.  Everyone thinks that you die and you go to heaven or hell.  That is not the case.  In heaven, no sin or evil is permitted to arrive with you.  That has to be left outside the gate.  You can't bring in your love of lust, love of gold, hatred, or any other thing that separates you from God.  Purgatory functions as the eye of the needle where we cast off the things that separate us from God.  True, some of us will not have to go to Purgatory but I fear that will be very few of us.  It is very logical.  Say for example for some reason you confessed to me that in third grade you stole my favorite pencil just to annoy me and you threw it away because you thought that was funny.  You confess this to me on your death bed and immediately die.  You end up in Purgatory for that theft and it isn't too long you are brought into heaven.  I die and there is a mix up in the paperwork and they let me into heaven and I meet you.  I still hate you because you stole my pencil and when I see you coming to greet me and welcome me, I wait until you get close and bang I punch you right in the nose.  This cannot happen in heaven and there will be no mix up in paperwork so, in reality, I will end up in Purgatory to get rid of those things that don't belong there.  On the day I finally let go of the anger I have for you, I will mount my camel and right straight through the eye of the needle and will accept your welcoming hug. 

Purgatory is not a "second chance."  If you die in mortal sin you will not go to Purgatory, you will go to hell and hell is forever. Purgatory is where you clean the stain of your sins from your soul.  Jesus died on the cross for us and our sins are forgiven, but we have to pay for the effect that our sins had on the world around us.  You can break a window and the home owner can forgive you, but he still wants to have the window fixed. 

The time for making up for our sins easily is here on earth where we can pray, do penance, do sacrifices, acts of charity, and make up for what we have done.  Failure to do this here will mean we will spend time in Purgatory.  Once in Purgatory, you will be kept there until you have paid the last penny as it says in the Gospel of Mark.  You will have no way to remit even one second of your time there.  You will need to have help from the people that you left behind at home.  If they won't pray for you, who will?  Strangers from all around the world make it one of their ministries to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory. Some of us, if left to the mercies of our family and friends could expect quite a long layover in Purgatory.  Thank God for those people who use their time wisely and pray for the poor souls.  They realize two things. First, they realize that they will most likely end up in Purgatory and their hope is that someone prays for them. And second, they know that if they help even one soul leave the purging fires and arrive in heaven even one minute early. they will make an eternal friend who will not forget about them. 

I am sorry to be such a preacher about this somewhat unpleasant subject.  No one likes to think of ending up in a place of pain after death even though the joy those souls feel cannot be described in human terms for they know that they will end up in heaven with God.  That they cannot see Him now is what causes the part of the pains that they feel.  

Please, make an investment today in your future.  Pray for your friends and relatives that have gone before you and pray for the souls that have no one to pray for them.  When you go to Mass, dedicate that Mass to the poor souls.  When you go to Communion, dedicate that grace that comes from the presence of Jesus within you.  Those that you pray for will remember you and will come to your aid when it is needed.