Lent - Day Thirty - Making A Big Splash

John  Chapter 7 Verses 40 to 52 

The Law does not allow us to pass judgment on a man without hearing him

Several people, who had been listening to Jesus said, ‘Surely he must be the prophet’, and some said, ‘He is the Christ’, but others said, ‘Would the Christ be from Galilee? Does not scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from the town of Bethlehem?’ So the people could not agree about him. Some would have liked to arrest him, but no one actually laid hands on him.

  The police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, ‘Why haven’t you brought him?’ The police replied, ‘There has never been anybody who has spoken like him.’ ‘So’ the Pharisees answered ‘you have been led astray as well? Have any of the authorities believed in him? Any of the Pharisees? This rabble knows nothing about the Law – they are damned.’ One of them, Nicodemus – the same man who had come to Jesus earlier – said to them, ‘But surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgment on a man without giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about?’ To this, they answered, ‘Are you a Galilean too? Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not come out of Galilee.’

As I walked along today, the heat was just as hot as always but I did not seem to mind it so much.  Uriah says we are getting closer to our destination and the mountains are finally in what appears to be in walking distance.  He says before we can get to the mountains we have to go through territory that once was a large salt lake.  He says if you like sand, you will love salt.  He also cautions us to stay away from plants that appear to be succulent and ripe with water as they will lay you low if not kill you outright.  He says once we get through this purgatory the way will become easier and cooler.  There will be streams of cold water flowing and the heat of the desert will become a distant memory.  So, I spent the day thinking about my childhood.  I lived in the country and worked on the family farm.  But my Dad wanted me to have free time as well so he did not make me a slave of the land.  I helped out, of course, but he let me be a boy and I was able to hang out with my friends.  As the sun was poaching my noodle and the prospect of spending several days walking through salt, my mind wandered to the old swimming hole at St. Francis' Creek.  It was more than a creek, it was almost as wide and deep to be called a river.  We used to fish there and there were times when I was the one that provided the dinner for the household by bringing in a bunch of catfish.  Mom took care of all of the cleaning and cooking and I swear that when it was put before us along with cornbread and greens, it was a little bit of heaven!  But we guys used the creek for swimming.  You can imagine that our swimming attire was lacking but our birthday suits never went out of style during those carefree summer days so we didn't care.  I felt the breeze hit me as I swung out on the rope trying to get as close to the center of the creek as possible and then I let go of the rope and felt weightless for a second and then relished the feeling the of icy cold water pulling me down as I splashed down like a space capsule sending water high into the sky!  It was time that I will always remember with great fondness.   

When the Master spoke today He spoke on how Jesus made a big splash Himself when He was on earth.  He brought attention to Himself and the Pharisees and the Temple management was running scared.  Considering the procurator, Pilate, was not very fond of the Jews and in fact had killed some of them on the Temple grounds, well, they just did not need a messiah coming on the scene to stir things up.  So they sent temple militia to arrest him and haul him before the Sanhedrin.  Off they went, but then they heard Him speak and they were amazed as was the large crowd.  The prudence of a soldier was woven into the temple guards and they returned to the high priest and his cronies without the so-called messiah.  But it was not just the presence of all of the people that would have protested his arrest and have caused a riot which Pilate would be only too glad to quell.  No, it was what was said, the words were powerful and unlike other messiahs that cropped up from time to time, this Jesus did not advocate violence.  How they would get rid of the cursed Romans without bloodshed was beyond their way of thinking.  But He did not even advocate war against Rome of the emperor. So, the guards came back empty-handed.  In the council, Jesus had few friends.  But He had Nicodemus, the man who had visited Him in the night, you know when it was safe.  It was he who said that before a man could be condemned there had to be an opportunity for the man to state what his teachings and there must be witnesses to an infraction.  This annoyed the powers in the Temple who just wanted to rid themselves of this Jesus.  He was making a splash with the people and large gatherings were hearing His message.  He was making a big splash but the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes all wondered if the splash would come at the cost of Jewish blood.  They made note the sentiments and loyalties of Nicodemus, he would not be summoned when the time came for the Sanhedrin to deal with this charlatan.  They began to plot in earnest against Jesus and a gaggle of Pharisees followed Him wherever He went.  The sun began to set for the man called Jesus.  Once the temple management wanted you gone, it was only a matter of time before you were stoned (mercifully) or crucified (unmercifully).  The followers of Jesus would take note that the Pharisees had sent a team of their best goaders who would do their utmost to trip Jesus up.  They never failed, never.  But this Jesus would be the one to spoil their record and even when they were rejoicing at the sight of Jesus dying in public view on the cross, they would later come to understand that in spite of their wishes that the mission of Jesus, the Messiah foretold of old, had been accomplished in spite and not because of them.  One interesting thing, one of the Apostles, Judas Iscariot by name was more worldly than the others and he could see the writing on the wall.  Far be it from him to be on a losing team.  He began to ponder ways to profit from betraying The Christ. 

Unity - The Only Road Leads to Rome

Be united in your love     Philippians 2:1-4

If our life in Christ means anything to you if love can persuade at all, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy, then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing which would make me completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead.

Let me begin by stating up-front that I am not trying to be the Catholic Gestapo, forcing people against their will to return to the Catholic Faith.  I respect our Protestant brothers and sisters and I know that many of them are much further along the spiritual trail than I am.  I know that they love the Lord Jesus and have given over their lives to Him and that they practice that commitment every day.  The mainline Protestants set good examples as to what a Christian should be in many respects.  The one charism that they cannot demonstrate, however, is that of unity.  In the sixteenth century, an unbalanced monk went off in a new direction and created a church built in his own likeness and trashing things that made the faith united.  From that day, the Church would never be the same.  For, if you could split once because you disagreed with some principle that your local preacher was committed to, well then you could split again so that your view, in your church, took precedence and your world was once again in synch with what you thought and taught.  The man in the third pew, however, has many problems with your interpretation and knows for a fact that he is right and you are wrong.  Since you won't come around to his way of thinking, he splits and creates for himself a church in his own image.  We could carry this on for quite a while if we wanted to, at least thirty-thousand times which is how many denominations of Christianity there are.

We pray for Christian unity but it is unlikely to come until Jesus does return and sets everything straight. There is only one direction that a return to Christian Unity can take and that is for the Protestants to come back home to Rome and accept the authority of the Church that Jesus founded and which bears the four charisms of the true church and that is that the Catholic Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.  It is the Apostolic charism that most Protestants have trouble with.  First, they believe that the Bible is the sole source for all Christian doctrine. At first blush, this seems like a wonderful way to make sure that what you believe is what Christ intended.  But it falls apart rather quickly when you realize that it is the freedom to interpret that has caused the Church to splinter into so many groups.  If every man can interpret the Bible himself, well then every man is his own authority.   Personal interpretation of the Bible leads to division because one person's interpretation is just as good as another's interpretation because they only have to answer to themselves.  

The Church depends on Scripture, all Catholic teaching can be found in the Bible.  If you look to the right, there is a paper you can view that shows where the teachings can be found.  Now, the Church also has teachings that are not written in the Bible.  These are the what we call the Sacred Traditions.  Please note these are not traditions like having turkey on Thanksgiving or a tree at Christmas time or having a family reunion on the second week of August.  Those are all human traditions.  Sacred Tradition, on the other hand, is the passing of our beliefs from one generation to the next.  It is rather ironic that one of the Sacred Traditions is the Holy Bible.   From the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 

"In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church, the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority." Indeed, "the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time. This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. Through Tradition, "the Church, in her doctrine, life, and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes." "The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer." -- Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 77-78

So, how does all this affect Christian Unity?  Well, the Catholic Church occupies the high ground.  It is she that bears the imprint of her founder, Jesus Christ.  While some would say that we could become one again if we just engaged in some give and take, in compromise.  Well, there is the rub.  The Catholic Church has maintained her doctrine unchanged and her interpretations of the Biblical truth is the same today as it was in the sixteenth century.  Protestants, on the other hand, have changed and changed and changed again and again so that with the exception of Christ, there are differences that the Protestant man or woman would not want to give up in the name of unity.  Even if one denomination gave up one of their differences, there are thousands of others that would tell the Church to go peddle fish. 

What would you have the Church give up in the name of Christian unity?  Should we strip our churches of the Crucifix in favor of the Cross?  Should we tone down our belief in what the Holy Eucharist is, namely, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ and make it nothing more than a simple memorial using saltines and grape juice?  Should we give up the Pope and institute a committee approach to church government where every man has a vote?  Should we soften our stance on abortion or homosexuality?  No, I do not see any of these things happening and these are the sorts of things that other denominations believe and allow and the Church could never compromise her teachings in the name of Christian unity.

So, it is unlikely that we will see a mass return to Rome by many of the Protestant denominations because in order for that to happen, the notion of private interpretation would have to go and they would have to submit to the authority of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and that would be impossible for them to do.  

The one hope we do have in this impossible situation is that what is impossible for man is possible for God.  So, Catholics and Protestants alike should pray for unity and God may one day move His hand. 

Listen To The Call !

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father
and followed him.

Today is the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. He was Peter's older brother and very close to Jesus.  He was called from his vocation as a fisherman to become a fisher of men. He went on to teach and preach in the Black Sea area including Georgia and Romania. He was martyred by being crucified on an "X" shaped cross, the exact date is not known but it is believed he died in the mid to late first century AD. 

I have always found it amazing that when the apostles were called, that they dropped everything and followed Jesus. You have to wonder as well why Jesus picked these twelve very ordinary men?  Today we advertise an open position and collect resumes, interview acceptable candidates once, twice, and maybe even three times. We meet with our supervisors and discuss the applicants and decide on the one that absolutely most closely fits the position. This is not how Jesus operated. You would think that he would have scoured the temple and picked the wisest of the teachers and rabbis that he could find there.  But no, he picked fisherman and even a tax collector and he picked one man that he knew would betray him. He started with a team that was first of all pious.  They would have been men that followed their religion.  They would have been trained by their fathers in the ways of Yahweh and the Law.  But formal training, the kind that the leaders of the temple would have had, would not be for them.  So, Jesus would have a team of men with what we might term as an eighth-grade education, they would know just enough to keep themselves out of trouble.  Jesus was starting with a blank canvas and through the next three years what beautiful works he would make of these twelve ordinary people of the earth.  One canvas, no less beautiful than the others, would become torn when he betrayed the Lord, but even this was planned for and expected. 

We too are called by Jesus and once again he could have chosen another, wiser, smarter, better-looking person than you or I but he didn't.  Just as He did with the twelve he chose us because of who we are and not because of what we know or who we knew or what levels of education we had.  Some of us would be better schooled than others, but some of the others would have gifts and talents that could not be acquired in any school and He would use them too.  Our calling to be a fisher of men has been issued just as it was to the first twelve.  We must open our ears to hear the call.  We must also train our hearing to drown out the siren call of sin which could drive us into the rocks and sink us.  We must open our hearts to the call of the Lord.  There is no purpose on earth greater than to be a disciple of Jesus and to work for the kingdom.  There is no job that pays better or has better benefits or a better retirement plan!  We can start small.  Small is okay because being kind to another sometimes is the way people are led to Christ.  Preach with your actions before you preach using words.  Be of good cheer in all of the circumstances you find yourself in, as hard as that is to do, remembering that the things of this world are passing and temporary while our place in heaven will be forever. 

To Do Today:  Pray for the poor souls in Purgatory. 

A Lesson in Public Relations ?

Jesus said to the crowd: "They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance, you will secure your lives."

Okay, I have to say that if I were an average Hebrew and was standing in the crowd that was listening to this talk that Jesus was giving, I might be tempted to continue to look for my messiah elsewhere.  I mean, just listen to what He says.  He says that they will seize you and persecute you, take you to court and even your parents, friends, and relatives will turn you over to the authorities and you will be hated by all because you believe in Jesus.  Where do I sign up?  

Look at today's world and this is what Christians face every day.  In the East our brothers and sisters, Catholics and Protestants alike have endured years of persecution due to the madness of ISIS.  In the United States, we watched during the Obama years as our religious freedoms were eroded and laws and regulations were passed that were completely contrary to Christian teaching and morals.  I include in this abortion under the guise of woman's health, mandatory provision of contraception under the HHS mandate, and the debasement of marriage with the adoption of same-sex marriage and the marginalizing of Christians nationwide. In Canada, a Catholic bishop was taken to court for preaching against same-sex unions under a commonwealth hate law. So, the law was being honed and shaped to disenfranchise and silence Christians and to make null and void the morals we have been living under for centuries. We should expect nothing less.

Our founder came into the world and teaching with authority He scared the powers that ruled His time. The chief priest knew that the Romans had a dim view of a coming Messiah and to protect themselves they had to distance themselves from any of these street preachers that might anger the Romans.  It never occurred to them that one day the real Messiah might appear as promised.  Thus, when Jesus appeared on the scene there was only one road that he could be placed on and that road led to the Cross and Calvary. 

Today, in the United States we are getting a short respite from the evils perpetrated during the Obama years.  But we must remember that it is only a respite and that the hatred of Christian values remains just below the surface and is ready to erupt again once the conditions are ripe for it to do so. We must be ready to bear our burdens cheerfully.  We must trust in the Lord to fill us believers with wisdom that will counteract the evil teachings of the enemy and we must remain strong in our faith and attract as many people as we can to become one with us.  Let our cry be, "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad."  Let our cry be heard in a cheerful voice even as we carry our crosses.  Remember the promise of the Lord, "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the crown of life." 

Please remember the poor souls in Purgatory today. Challenge yourself to take two minutes to pray for your friends and relatives that might be there.  Please say a special prayer for the soul that has been there the longest and has no one to pray for him or her.  

The Sound of Silence

Jesus said to his disciples: "I tell you, everyone, who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. "Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

There is a cost to being silent and it is a terrible price to pay indeed!  If we acknowledge Jesus, He will acknowledge us. If we deny that we know Him before others, He will deny that He knows us as well.  Can you imagine arriving at eternity and being friendless?  At the judgment, it will truly be a case of not what you know but who you know!  Some of us will gather there and feel self-assured because we studied hard and we know all about Jesus, every fact, the significance of every word He spoke that is recorded in scripture, the fine nuances of every parable and the history of the time Jesus lived and even why He came. But, when we look for Him on that awful day we will not see Him because we only knew about Him but we never truly knew Him. Standing to our right will be that little man who spent his life in obscurity, who gave to God what was God's and who ministered to The Christ by acts of piety and charity that went unseen by those with means and power on the earth.  This little, insignificant man will be trembling with excitement because he will be able to clearly see Jesus, his friend, his counselor, his king. He will jump up and down with great excitement and holler, "There He is, there He is."  Tears of joy will stream down his face while on your face they will be only tears.  The little man spent His life ministering to people that needed it.  Although he had very little, he gave what he could and cared for each person as if they were Jesus Christ in the flesh.  He spoke out when he saw a wrong, and it cost him on this earth, but he could not remain silent while the mighty stepped on the meek.  He will be shepherded into the flock that will join Jesus in heaven while you will be sent with the goats. 

Others on that day will be surprised when they are condemned when they are told that their sin against the Holy Spirit, their blasphemy against the very Love of God for the Son and the Son for the Father.  They will ask when they did such a monstrous thing and they will be told that they died in their sins and refused the promptings of the Holy Spirit to repent and so chose the road that is wide and easy to tread. 

I know that this is not a "God is Love Feel Good" message today.  But we have to remember, our lives, our actions, our speech, our acknowledgment of the primacy of God in our lives will matter more than the knowledge that we have about God.  We have to know Jesus and follow His way.  Which way is that you ask?  It is the Way of the Cross. 

Those brothers and sisters that have gone before us and are in Purgatory need our prayers to help them finish the purging of the effects of sin and the temporal effects of sin on their soul. Offer your Mass this week for them and please if you have time, say a Rosary for them. 

The Journey Must Continue

When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled,

he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,

These two sentences say so much in just a few little words and it seems that these words can be words of comfort to us as we try to get our hands around the terrible event that happened in Las Vegas the other day.  Fifty-eight innocent party goers were slain by a madman armed with an automatic rifle of some sort.  He broke out the window of his hotel room and shot indiscriminately into the crowd gathered for a concert below and minutes later blood ran in the venue and dozens lay dead or dying.  These were innocent people, out for an evening of harmless fun at a country music concert.  Why did they have to die? What snapped in the mind of a man that had been described as a self-made millionaire, a man who had everything that the world had to offer?  We will never know the answer to this question. 

What we do know is that like Jesus, we must resolutely determine that we must continue our journey.  Along the way, there will be more moments of sorrow that will slow our travel and cause us to be stunned, to shake our heads and wonder why God has such patience with his awkward and disobedient children.  The journey for Jesus was to end in death, death on a cross, a death reserved for slaves in ancient Rome.  Jesus knew this and yet he fixed his eyes on the goal of arriving at Jerusalem where he would suffer and die for us and in doing so save us from all of our sins.  Our journey, while it sometimes goes through valleys of sadness, we do not despair for Jesus, the Lamb of God has achieved the victory for us.  Our journey, unlike His, will end in the joy of heaven. 

May the souls of those taken from us in this tragic event and all of the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace.  Amen. 

PLEASE REMEMBER TO PRAY FOR THE POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY, ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE WHO WERE THE VICTIM OF SUDDEN DEATH.  YOUR PRAYERS WILL GARNER THEIR THANKS. 

Following Along the Path of Jesus

While they were all amazed at his every deed,
Jesus said to his disciples,
"Pay attention to what I am telling you.
The Son of Man is to be handed over to men." 
But they did not understand this saying;
its meaning was hidden from them
so that they should not understand it,
and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

Can you imagine being there with Jesus, following Him as he went about day by day?   You would point at this man and relate how Jesus expelled a demon from him or point at another and explain how that child was raised from the dead by Jesus.  You might share the story of how He fed the five thousand with just a few fish and some barley loaves and how there were twelve baskets left over.  Your heart would skip a beat as you observed all of these things.  Then He goes and spoils it all by telling you one day He would be handed over to the authorities and they would kill Him by putting Him on a tree. What could these spoken words mean and why was he saying them?  He was a man that did wondrous deeds what did this talk about being crucified mean? 

As human beings, we are always ready to believe what our eyes can see.  But when what we see with our eyes does not compare favorably with what we have heard we get confused.  The people in our reading saw all of the good and amazing things Jesus did but they did not understand the true mission of Jesus and they were afraid to ask him what His words meant.  Jesus was here to serve us and He did by curing the sick, casting out demons, telling us with authority about the Kingdom of Heaven but He also told us what His ultimate service to us was going to be, death, death on a cross.  We could marvel at the good things but we could protest like Peter when Jesus revealed His ultimate goal. 

Today, in our lives, we can clearly see the good things God has provided for us.  We have all of the things that the world can give us at our fingertips and we marvel at the goodness of the Lord.  Most of us are appropriately thankful for all of these goods but we sometimes fail to hear what Jesus says our obligations are.  He is delighted to provide for us but we have to read what He wants us to do.  He wants us to share for we reap what we did not sow and we drink water that we did not carry.  We experienced the sweetness of the Lord but we have shied away from the bitterness of accepting our cross and following along the Via Dela Rosa with our Lord, walking in his bloodstained footsteps as He gives His all for us. To know Christ is to be a cross-carrier and follower of the One who has shown us the way.

The gifts that God has given you are yours and you can do one of two things with them.  These gifts can be kept hidden and locked away or they can be shared.  If we share them, they will not run out but if we hide them away, rust and moth will change them to the dust that they were made of in the first place.  

Who is Closest to Jesus?

"My mother and my brothers 

are those who hear the word of God and act on it."

What are we to make of this saying of Jesus?  He is informed that His mother and brothers can't get past the crowd to see Him.  He does not yell, "Make way for my mother and brothers to enter."  No, instead he says, ""My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it."

Is He disrespecting His mother?  No, He is reminding us that we are as close as His mother to Him if we follow Him and if we pick up our cross daily and follow Him.  Following Christ makes us part of His family and that is what he is telling us today. 

PLEASE REMEMBER TO PRAY FOR THE POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY. THEY NEED YOUR HELP AND WILL NOT FORGET YOU IN YOUR TIME OF NEED. 

Life As A Loser

"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Growing up as an American boy I was taught that I have to win. To win at a game was good and it proved to all that you were the best. One day, in the fall, we were at Kelly Park and were playing a game of tackle football.  We were all dressed for the game, of course, we had sweatshirts and blue jeans as our protective gear.  For whatever reason, this time, my best friend, Big Jim, had been selected to play for the other team. The game went on and my team was getting the better of Big Jim's team.  Of course, because he was my friend, I spent a lot of time consoling Jim except the word taunting would fit much better here.  I was having a heck of a good time because for once I was on a winning team.  The insults and taunts kept spewing through the air aimed directly at the ego of my best friend. It was going to be the last play and in the huddle, it was decided that the ball would be thrown to me and since it was the last play and we were so far ahead it didn't matter if I caught it or not.  The play went off perfectly.  The quarterback feinted left, feinted right, and let loose an easy to catch pass.  Once the ball was dead, the game would be over and my team would be the winners. I could have done anything with that ball. I chose to catch it. No sooner than it was safely in my hands, I was upended by a freight train named Big Jim. I flew into the air and since what goes up must come down, I found the earth, my head hitting first, and in a blaze of light, I said good-night as my head hit the earth full force and consciousness temporarily left me.  Sometimes being the winner can be very painful. 

What Jesus is asking us to do here is to strive to become a loser.  One of the definitions of a loser is a person that is put at a disadvantage by a particular situation or course of action. What we are asked to do is to bring our "A" game out when it comes to being a follower of Christ.  We must take up the cross and follow our leader. This means that sometimes we will need to say "no" to ourselves in situations where a "yes" would be far easier to tolerate. 

I think that what is required of us, is to realize that what awaits us is worth the trip.  Our cross may be heavy but the reward at the end will be worth it. Winning is a good thing. Winning by doing good is a better thing.  If we spend our lives engaging in everything we feel like doing and making ourselves happy, we will most certainly be living in the way that leads to perdition. On the other hand, If we take time and inconvenience ourselves, work for the good of others, be charitable and not to count the cost, then we will find at the end of the road, not a cross, but paradise. 

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE -REMEMBER THE POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY TODAY! 

Reading The Fine Print in The Gospel

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
"Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.  
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.

When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants

who owed him a much smaller amount.

He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,

'Pay back what you owe.'

Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,

'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

But he refused.

Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison

until he paid back the debt.

Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,

they were deeply disturbed,

and went to their master and reported the whole affair.

His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant!

I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.

Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,

as I had pity on you?'

Then in anger, his master handed him over to the torturers

until he should pay back the whole debt.

So will my heavenly Father do to you,

unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart."

The truth is simple, by Christ's death on the cross we were forgiven of our sins and on that day the gates of heaven swung open wide to admit believers into the bliss of eternal life with God in heaven.  This is truth in its simple yet glorious form, and God will certainly keep His end of the bargain.  

Do you remember Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the first version with Gene Wilder?  At the beginning of the tour of his candy factory each child had to sign a contract. The contract started with huge print and as it cascaded down the wall the print got smaller and smaller until it was minuscule.  The words, no matter how large or small all formed the basis of the agreement between Willy and the children. God does not use fine print in His contract with us, but we as humans tend to read the "good" things and gloss over the things that obligate us.  

It is true that we are forgiven.  The sins we commit against the dignity of God are forgiven as soon as we confess them.  We, in turn, are expected to forgive our fellow humans for what they do against us.  I can hear them coming now, the "buts."  Some of us are willing to forgive everyone except him or her or this group or that group because the evil that they committed against us was so great.   Those of us who are "But" people are in a whole heap of trouble because we are the unforgiving servant in the reading above and as you can see, it does not go well for him 

Forgiveness is the one selfish thing we can do that is approved by God.  When we forgive someone who has hurt us deeply, we are accruing graces through that righteous act and we are making our soul more God like in its attitude and outlook and we are doing something good for ourselves.  By forgiving even the biggest grievance we have against another, it becomes easier to forgive the smaller things and our life and our serenity is not disturbed as much by the thoughtless acts of others.  We also become more thoughtful ourselves and gain greater ability to put ourselves into someone else's shoes and in doing this we are offended less. Forgiving is a win/win situation for us while not forgiving is a lose/lose. 

God could not make his desires any clearer, but He does repeat Himself so as to make sure we have the opportunity to absorb the requirements he has placed upon us. 

1.  "Father forgive them, they know not what they do"
2.  "Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times."
3.  "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us"  
4.  “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”
5. So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
6. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

So, I think it is easily seen that forgiveness is one of the most important parts of being a Christian.  The word "but" cannot be used to absolve us from this duty.  It is NOT easy for us to forgive everything.  The word everything encompasses evils that are unimaginable in their scope.  Can we forgive Hitler for the Holocaust? We have to!  Can we forgive Stalin the millions of people he killed? We have to.  Forgiving is not approving what a person has done. The judgement against the Hitler's and Stalin's and bin Laden's of this world will be rendered by God, not by us.  We need not and should not approve what these people have done but we should leave it to God to mete out what payment these evil people should receive. No, it is not easy to be a Christian, if done right, being a Christian will always cause at least a little inconvenience in your life as you look deep inside yourself to see where you and Christ are most alike and where you are not.  Forgiveness is a habit and like all habits, it becomes easier the more you practice it.  When someone offends you, just think of Jesus on the Cross and what He said, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do.   There is no law saying you can't use those same words is there?

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY. PRAY FOR YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY OF COURSE, BUT DON'T FORGET THE FORGOTTEN SOULS WHO HAVE NO ONE TO PRAY FOR THEM.  

Good Friday - The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Jose climbed down the rickety ladder.  The coyote, who had taken his last dollar, assured him that this was the safest way to get into the United States.  The empty tank car was never checked by the border patrol.  When he reached the bottom of the tank, the coyote dropped the paper bag that contained all of Jose's  worldly possessions, a pair of pants, some underwear and socks and an old Bible that was all he had left of his old life.  As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of his temporary shelter he saw that he was not alone.  There were twelve others including two young children and a very old man. The coyote called out and threw down two flashlights and a couple of gallon jugs of water.  Then the shaft of light disappeared from the opening as they heard the hatch close and lock. Jose clicked on the flashlight and played the dim beam around the tank. It was getting hot. The twelve other people had sat down and he could see them each with a rosary in their hands.  He remembered the prayers from his youth and he moved nearer to them and joined in.  He had not prayed for years.  A week later the empty tank car was opened by the border guards for inspection after it had crossed into the United States and the thirteen immigrants were found dead, dehydrated, with two flashlights and two empty gallon jugs beside them.  The Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these.  

Simar turned his head and looked at the young nun dressed in white and blue. He was burning up with fever and the nun wiped his brow and smiled at him. When she found Samir on the street she had summoned an ambulance and when the driver said that no hospital would accept this dirty beggar, she told him where to take the man. The driver took pity on the nun and with her help, he loaded the stinking drug addict into the ambulance and brought her to the nun's makeshift hospice.  He helped her unload the man and to bring him inside. He then turned his back and left the hospice.  The nun called one of the volunteers and together they removed the beggar's rags and tenderly bathed him with warm water and scented soap.  They carefully dressed him in new pajamas that had been donated to the hospice and laid him on clean sheets on a soft mattress. Simar had not felt a soft mattress in years. Tears formed in his eyes and flooded down his cheeks. He had lived on the street like a dog, but he would die like a man.  The Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these. 

Jerry had beaten her. She looked in the mirror.  The face that looked back at her was a mass of bruises and cuts. The neighbors had heard the commotion and had called the police.  They came and although Hilda said she did not want to press charges, Jerry sucker punched one of the policemen and the other cop shot him with a taser that took him down to the ground.  The cops said told her that he was now under arrest for assaulting an officer and there would be no point in trying to bail him out because they were going to see to it that he would miss night court. They also told her that there was a good chance that Jerry would be going to jail for awhile because he had committed a felony.  They took him away and Hilda felt very alone. The policemen gave her a card with a phone number on it, it was a shelter for abused women.  They told her that they could help.  She called the number and the shelter came and helped her pack some things and took her in.  She was beginning a new life.  The Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these. 

Jay and Jill were brother and sister, twins as a matter of fact.  They had a wonderful home life, got good grades in school, and they got along with each other.  Today was Good Friday and they were going through their possessions and carefully selecting things that they would be donating to the poor.  They went through their toys and each of them chose not only things that they did not play with anymore, but at least one of their newer, favorite toys to give to another child who had nothing new to play with.  They listened carefully to the story of Jesus and how he sacrificed His life for them and they wanted to make a sacrifice to show how thankful they were for what He did for them.  The Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these. 

Anna sat looking out the window, not that there was much to see. But she could not get around like she used to and the window was her only connection to the world.  She longed to hear from her son and two daughters but they did not call. To say she was lonely would certainly be an understatement. Her arthritic arm reached to the table and picked up her Bible.  She opened and began to read. The doorbell rang. She looked at her watch.  It was eleven o'clock already.  She stood up on shaky legs and slowly walked to the door.  She looked through the peephole and saw it was David!  She opened the door and David smiled at her as he brought in her lunch. Usually, he just brought in the lunch and left but today he asked if he could stay and visit for awhile. With a twinkle and a tear in her eye, she said yes.  The Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these.  

All of these stories profile Jesus on the Cross. We speak of the passion of Jesus.  His death on the cross was meant to be an example to us. He had a passion for people and He is calling us to have that same kind of passion. The story of His death on the cross is well known to all Christians.  The passion of Christ sometimes escapes our notice due to the drama of the story.  May the passion of the Christ of the Lord inflame you this day as you meditate on what this day means to you.  Remember, your mother, father, sisters, brothers, your boss, your enemies, the Lord Jesus Christ died for such as these. 

Tuesday of Holy Week - Betrayal

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,

"Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."

I don't think that there is anything more painful to the human heart than an act of betrayal.  What makes betrayal so painful is that it is an act of a friend.  A person who does not know you cannot betray you. We all have been the victim of betrayal in our lives.  When I was a seventh grader, my friend Dennis and I went over to McKinley Park, a beautiful place when I was a kid, it was filled with bicycle paths, playgrounds, and a lagoon that you could actually catch fish at. This, of course, was in warm weather.  My friend and I were going to the park on a day when only fools and idiots were out of doors as it was very cold. We had a purpose in mind.  The cold snap would have frozen the lagoon solid and we wanted to take some time to explore the three islands that were on this man-made lake.  And so we did.  It turned out that these three little islands were nothing very special, a fact which we took note of and started to use the ice for its native purpose, sliding.  All in all, it was a lot of fun for a couple young boys on a cold and blustery Chicago winter weekend.  At one end of the park was the "inlet" that kept the water fresh.  The inlet was not a spring, it was a pipe that poured fresh Lake Michigan water into the lagoon to prevent it from becoming a stinking swamp in the summer months.  We gravitated towards this pipe because even though it was freezing cold, there were six feet of liquid water surrounding the pipe.  We got to the edge of the ice and my friend pointed at something and I bent low to see what it was.  The next thing I knew I was under the water. The icy water made me gasp and I was out air quickly.  God was with me at that moment because I did not panic and thrash about so I stayed near the hole.  I remember seeing the ice from the bottom with the weak sunlight lighting it up.  I struggled and pushed myself up and my friend's arm pulled me out and deposited me on the ice like a walrus.  I began immediately to shiver. My friend found it all hilarious and called me a clumsy oaf.  My lips were blue and I knew I could not walk the two miles back to my home but luckily my Uncle John lived not too far from the park.  My friend said he had to go home and turned and left me shivering and freezing to death on the ice.  I trudged off the ice and walked to my uncle's house which, luckily, was only two blocks away. My uncle provided me with warm clothes and hot chocolate and called his brother to come and pick me up.  Later, I learned that my friend, Dennis, was bragging and laughing about how foolish I looked after he pushed me into the lagoon.  That was the first time in my life I felt betrayed and it hurt. It hurt badly.  If you think back, I am sure that you will remember a time when a friend turned on you.  How did it feel? 

Judas Iscariot was a friend of Jesus. He was one of the twelve picked to be His special friends, His Apostles.  These would be the men He entrusted his kingdom, his Church on earth to.  Judas was an important Apostle. He had charge of the money.  He saw to needed purchases and made sure that the charity people offered were put to good use.  He may have also kept a bit for himself, at least there were suspicions that he did so but Jesus did nothing when it was brought to His attention.  This emboldened Judas and he began to think that if he could get away with stealing from the common purse, then how could Jesus be the Messiah, the Son of God?  Judas could see the writing on the wall.  He could tell that the Pharisees were baiting Jesus and were just waiting for him to make a single wrong step. If Jesus were to be arrested, so would anyone close to him unless that person had a special relationship with the high priest.  Judas decided to sell Jesus to His enemies.  Of course, once Jesus was arrested he could keep the common purse because it was money belonging to a criminal.  Inwardly, Judas was delighted with his plan.  Outwardly he continued to pretend that he was a faithful follower of Jesus.  When the time came, he received all that he had hoped for. He got the donations, he got thirty pieces of silver, the cost of an unskilled slave, and he was immune from prosecution because he had turned Jesus in.  In the end, he realized his betrayal cost him a lot more than he had received.  He could have asked Jesus for forgiveness and he would be forgiven.  Instead, he gave in to despair and committed suicide.

We all like to think that had we been around in the time of Jesus we would have been faithful followers of Christ. Back then, being a Christian brought with it dangers of death. Would we have become martyrs for our faith of would we have offered incense to the emperor's statue? 

Today, in America, we do not risk death for being a follower of Christ. But are we afraid to show we are Christians?  The America we live in is hostile to Christian ways. We can lose friends and esteem if we point out things that are wrong.  But if we fail to do this we are just like Judas in that we are trying to make friends with those who are in power who may hate Jesus and His Church. We cannot choose to be an undercover Christian. To do so would be a betrayal that would make Judas's betrayal seem mild in comparison. 

As we approach the end of our Lenten journey, let us look at where we have missed the mark, where we have sinned.  Forgiveness is just one reception of the sacrament of Reconciliation away.  If you haven't been to it in years, so what?  Tell the priest and he will help you along.  Our sins are betrayals of the One that loves us. We can ignore them and sign on to follow the world or we can face them, confess them, and receive forgiveness.  We can be Judas who betrayed and died or we can be Peter who betrayed and lived.  The choice is up to us. 

Lent - I've Never Been Good At Math

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,

"Lord, if my brother sins against me,

how often must I forgive him?

As many as seven times?"

Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times 

but seventy-seven times."

Okay, I will  admit it, I've never been good at math.  It all started around 1960 or 1961 when my alma mater, St. Joseph and St. Anne School decided to teach it's inmates, I mean students, "The New Math."  Even today when I think about The New Math I shake my head and wonder why humans have a tendency to want to fix things that ain't broke.  Back then I was considered stupid by the good Sisters of Saint Joseph and the transition from arithmetic to The New Math seemed to prove them correct in their assumption. In first and second grades, after my father gave up trying to help his dope of a son and my mother took over trying to help me understand math.  She was able to make wonderful progress.  Through her tutelage  I was able to master the art of adding and subtracting which included the concept of borrowing. Then, without warning came The New Math and everything went to hell in a handbasket.  In the modern world given the same circumstances, I would be recognized as having a learning disability and modern techniques would be used to help me understand what to my mind was gibberish. Sister Emerita, if you are out there somewhere, none of my employers over the last forty-something years has asked me to subtract two negative numbers, just saying.  Today I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide with the rest of humanity.  

In today's Gospel, we are told to forgive our brother seventy-seven times. That is a number I can wrap my hands around.  On a number line, it is seventy-seven places to the right of zero, it is not a prime number, it is odd, and only twenty-three places on the number line from one-hundred.  But, Jesus is not giving us a math lesson here. He is giving us a life lesson.  Peter is being generous and asks if he should forgive a person seven times.  That was a lot back then where the law was still an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  Peter may have been trying to score some points with Jesus by appearing generous.  Jesus wasn't having any of it.  I can imagine Him turning to Peter and saying ""I say to you, not seven times 

but seventy-seven times." 

The number seven, of course, is "God's Number" it is a number of the day that God rested from His work of creation when He saw that all of what He made was very good.  What Jesus is telling us to do, is to forgive an infinite amount of times. We are to strive to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.  We are to forgive as many times as the Father forgives us.  We can throw sand in the face of God every day of our life and repent just before we die and be forgiven. There is no circumstance in life that precludes forgiveness.  I know, I know, it is hard to forgive what he did, what she said, what they did.  We are called to forgive and to bring ourselves the peace that forgiveness of those who offend us will bring here on earth.  It is not easy to be a Christian.  It is not easy to forgive.  But we must imitate Christ who, from the cross, said, "Father forgive them, they know not what they are doing."   If Jesus can do that from the Cross, can we not do it as well as safe on the ground, eating an apple, we watch Him die?