Lent - Day Six - Sheep and Goats

Gospel
Matthew 25:31-46 ©

I was naked and you clothed me; sick, and you visited me

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.

  ‘Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”

  ‘Next, he will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then he will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.”

  ‘And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.

I awoke on Sunday after a night where my bed had a tendency to spin merrily as I lay upon it as the vino projected its effects and wound me up for the morning's hangover.  The coffee pot was my savior that morning.  Everyone was around the fire which was burning low and the Master was enjoying a breakfast of figs and grapes. I sat down after claiming coffee and a hunk of bread, this was the most that my body would be able to accept.  A wise man once said, "The man drinks the first wineskin and the second, but the third, the wineskin drinks the man."   I felt that I was living proof of that wisdom. 

A man wandered into our camp.  He was dirty and disheveled and it was apparent that bathing was not his habit.  His eyes held the look of madness and I could not imagine how he had come here in this oasis in the middle of the desert.   I felt a tug at my heartstring for the man who was looking longingly at the great amount of food that was on display. My companions took no notice of the man, it is as if he were invisible to them.  They kept their eyes on the Master and tended to His every want.  I noticed that the man hand no sandals and his tunic was worn to a frazzle.  No one in the camp paid him any attention.   I got up and went to my collection of belongings.  I took out a pair of new sandals, a tunic, one of my best, and I approached the stranger and presented them to him and asked him to please accept them as a gift  He looked at me and tears formed in his eyes.  He said that this was the first kindness he had experienced in a long, long time.  I took his hand and set him in my place and gave him some of the dates and figs, and bread along with a large cup of water which had just been drawn from the well and was ice cold and he ate and drank and I was pleased to see him become more human as the food gave him energy and new clothing gave him dignity.  I bent down to ask if I could get him more food or drink and when he turned and looked at me,  I saw that it was the Master's face. 

Abba, Father

GAL 4:4-7

Brothers and sisters:                                                                   
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law, 
to ransom those under the law, 
so that we might receive adoption as sons.
As proof that you are sons, 
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, 
crying out, "Abba, Father!"
So you are no longer a slave but a son, 
and if a son then also an heir, through God.

Happy 2018!   It has to be the greatest feeling in the world to know that YOU are loved.  I don't mean that God loves all of  His children, although He does. No, I mean he loves you, just as you are right now today on this first day of the New Year. He stands ready to be your father, no strike that, just like Paul says, he is your Abba, which is your daddie.  It is a term of endearment that children used.  It means the person who personally loves and protects them and who knows each of them just as he knows himself. 

Start 2018 with this in mind.  Your father is there ready to go with you every step of the way this year.  There will be no issue so great that you and He cannot work out together.   You may be close to Him now, but just you wait, by the end of this year you will be even closer, you will understand Him better and your vision of His plan for you will become even clearer tor you.  He will strengthen you when you need to be strengthened. He will wipe your tears when you need to cry and tell Him how you have failed.  He will raise your spirit up and assure you that your failure is part of His plan and you just have to wait to see the seeds you planted take root and grow.

There will be many challenges ahead of us in this year of 2018 and much room for personal growth in our love of the God and man.  Our Abba, our daddy will see us through all of it and we will help make His kingdom come.  

💔 Please join my new prayer ministry for the Poor Souls in Purgatory.  There is no paperwork to fill out, you don't even have to tell me that you joined, just promise to pray at least once a day for the Poor Souls in Purgatory and once a month say the prayer of St. Gertrude the Great and offer up one communion for the soul who has been in Purgatory the longest and has no one else to pray for them.  I promise, it will take only a minute or two out of your busy day but it will mean so much for our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, friends, and relatives who just might be there.  You loved them in life, pray them into eternal life!  Here is the prayer of St. Gertrude the Great:  

According to tradition, St. Gertrude the Great was told by Our Lord that the following prayer, each time she piously recited it, would release 1,000 souls (or a vast number) from their suffering in purgatory:

“Eternal Father,
I offer You the most precious blood
of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen.”

Living The Life

COL 3:12-17

Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 
bearing with one another and forgiving one another, 
if one has a grievance against another; 
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these put on love, 
that is the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, 
the peace into which you were also called in one body.
And be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, 

as in all wisdom, you teach and admonish one another, 

singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs 

with gratitude in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do, in word or in deed, 

do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Family, like it or not, we all have one.  It was God's intention to populate the world with them.  I believe that the idea behind them was that each of us would have a small group of people that we could always rely on to be there for us and show us the love that we needed to feel fully and totally human.  For many years this concept seemed to be working very well.  The idea is sound as is the principles behind it.  Today, in our modern world, we seem to place less importance on the family and the results are easy to see in our homes.  For example, when I was growing up in the sixties and seventies, when dinner time came around we were expected to be there and we gathered around the dinner table and shared our meal together.  It was not consumed in front of the television.  Eating and watching television was, at that time, in my family, mutually exclusive activities. We sat around the table and as we ate we shared our day, we told stories, we laughed.  When we were done, mom or dad would excuse us from the table so we could go back to being kids again. This is just one example of how the family unit is to support its members.   There are others. We all did chores to keep the family happy, mine was taking out the garbage every day.  My sisters set the table and did small chores to help mom out.  I mowed the grass when my father asked me to do it, although he had a thing for grass mowing and he really did prefer to do it himself. 

I can imagine the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph all working together in the family home. Joseph teaching Jesus all he could about the woodworking business and Mary helping Jesus with his lessons. They are the prototype for what a family is to be.  Most families today would have to work some to rise to their level. 

I don't have a family of my own anymore.  My two sisters and one brother, for some reason, do not want me to be a part of their life and so I have stepped away from them so as to allow them to be happy without considering me. I still love them and I pray for them all of the time and my heart is saddened because I do not know what I have done to turn them against me.  Even though I share my wife's extended family and they are all good and friendly people, it is not the same as having a group of people that you know so intimately because you grew up with them. I miss that connection. 

So, if up today you have not realized how fortunate you are to have a person or group of people that you can call family, think of them today.  Sure, there can be no more annoying people on this earth, but come what may, you know you love them.  On this feast of the Holy Family, think about your extended family and if you can, reach out to them and let them know how warmly you love them.  If this is not possible, then you need to pray for their well-being and prosperity.  Because like it or not we all have a family that was given to us by God and one way or another, we have to love them for who they are.   God bless you on this feast day and I look forward to welcoming you to a new year tomorrow. 

Do you know someone in Purgatory?  Not sure?  Then pray for them anyway.  If they are in Purgatory the prayers will help them and if not they will go to some other poor soul who needs it.  No prayer is ever wasted when it is directed to help the poor souls.  Besides, as they are today, someday you might also be! 

According to tradition, St. Gertrude the Great was told by Our Lord that the following prayer, each time she piously recited it, would release 1,000 souls (or a vast number) from their suffering in purgatory:

“Eternal Father,
I offer You the most precious blood
of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen.”

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. 

A Place of My Own - Heaven

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father's house, there are many dwelling places.If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.

Today I want to muse about heaven. Heaven is the place all of us Christians want to be once our life is changed and we close our eyes in death.  Some people have been heard to say that they don't want to go to heaven because none of their friends will be there.  Well, I would make better friends then!  

Of late there have been a few books written by people who have supposedly gone to heaven and have returned. I read one of them that relates the story of a little boy's visit to heaven and to Jesus.  I found the story very interesting. The book's title is "Heaven is for Real."  Colton is a child who got very, very sick indeed from a burst appendix and apparently died and went to heaven and visited with Jesus. While he was there he visited with his grandfather whom he never knew, learned that he had a sister that had been stillborn.  He relayed these facts to his parents when he was "sent back."  There was no way he could have known about the stillborn sister and he did not recognize the grandfather's picture until one was shown to him that showed his grandfather as younger.  The boy said that no one is old in heaven.  He also related what his father and mother were doing while he was in the operating room being worked on by the surgeons.  They also kept showing pictures of Jesus and he rejected all of them until he was shown one drawn by an artist who had a near death experience and visited heaven.  They showed Colton the painting Prince of Peace by Akiane Kamarik and he said nothing. His father pressed him for his comments and the boy said that this painting looked just like Jesus. 

Here is the painting - Is This Jesus?

Prince of Peace by
Akiane Kamarik 

That is a synopsis of Colton's story.  Is it true?  It most certainly could be true. What heaven will be like cannot be described in human terms.  Through my personal experience, I can tell you that heaven will be a place of great joy, I know this as fact, not as something I take on faith.  The details are for another post.  

My hopes for heaven are simple, like the old song.  Heaven will be a place where no one ever goes hungry or cold, nor will they grow old and die.  I believe that we will know absolutely everyone in heaven and will talk to them as we speak to our best friends and spouses here on earth. I believe that our minds will understand all of the mysteries of the universe.  There will be no hate or prejudice and we will all have a great love for one another. 

I've never owned a place of my own on this earth and there was a time in my life that I mourned over this fact.  But, today, I realize that no matter what we own here on earth, we can take none of it with us except that which we carry in our heart.  My place in heaven will rival and surpass the palaces in this world because it will be with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Saints.  Maybe, I can be on a first name basis with St. Francis of Assisi, and speak with St. Michael the Archangel about how he defeated the devil.  A tent on the edge of heaven will be infinitely better than a mansion on earth. 

So, that's what I have to say about heaven.  What are your thoughts? Feel free to share a comment below.   

He said what? The Reformers Curious Quotations

Today's post will cause all of us especially the Protestants among us to pause and scratch our heads. Some of the things we think that we know about the 16th century founders of the new and novel Protestant churches is mixed up and wrong.  Lest you think I am a great brain and have done a lot of research on this subject, let me confess, I have not. The quotes were researched by a wonderful author named Devin Rose in the book entitled If Protestantism is True which is available through Amazon.com's Kindle service.

Protestant apologists often castigate the Catholic Church for believing things that they cannot find in the Bible.  Well, to them I would say where does the Bible say that all Christian belief has to be found in the Bible.  But that is a subject for another post.  Today I am going to let the great "reformers" to speak on several subjects that are bones of contention between Catholics and Protestants. I will not comment on what they say, I will let their quotations stand on their own merit.  I have to say that these people are the ones responsible for creating the many thousands of Christian sects that exist today. It was through their words that we have Lutheran churches, Presbyterian churches, Baptist Churches, Churches of God, and all of the other denominations that have sprung up.  It was their sword that carved up the Church and destroyed the unity that Jesus prayed for.  And so, without further delay, direct from the frozen tundra of Illinois I present to you the reformers.

On Mary the Mother of God

Martin Luther:

"In this work whereby she was made the Mother of God, so many and such great good things given her that no one can grasp them. Not only was Mary the mother of Him who is born in Bethlehem, but of him who, before the workd was eternally born of the Father from a Mother in time and at the same time man and God. (1)

John Calvin:

"It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son granter her the highest honor. Elizabeth called Mary Mother of the Lord because the unity of the person in the two natures of Christ was such that she could have said that the mortal man engendered in the womb of Mary was at the same time the eternal God." (2)

On the Perpetual Virginity of Mary

Martin Luther

"Scripture does not say or indicate that she later lost her virginity. When Matthew says that Joseph did not know Mary carnally until she had brought for her so, it does not follow that he knew her subsequently; on the contrary, it means that he never did know her. This babble is without justification he (one who interprets the Bible against Mary's perpetual virginity) has neither noticed nor paid any attention to either scripture of the common idiom." (3)

John Calvin

"The inference Helvidius drew from Matthew 1:35 was, that Mary remained a virgin no longer than her first birth, and that afterwards she had other children by her husband. No just and well grounded inference can be drawn from these words as to what took place after the birth of Christ.  He is called the "first born"; but it is for the sole purpose of informing us that He was born of a virgin. What took place afterwards the historian dies not inform us. No man will obstinately keep up the argument except from a extreme fondness for disputation."  (4)

Martin Luther on Jews 

"The Jews are full of devil's feces which they wallow in like swine. (5)

Martin Luther on Marriage

"I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture. If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God. In such a case civil authority has nothing to do in such a matter. (6)

Back to my narrative. These quotes are shown how the two greatest reformers thought about things.  I found the antisemitism and his tacit approval of polygamy striking.  

When there appears any article about the Roman Catholic Church on the internet you can bet that the trolls that hate the Church will come out in force and trot out all of the old tried and true accusations against the church such as that we worship Mary, pray to statues, worship bread and wine, you know the stuff.  I take a few minutes to correct the troll, knowing full well that I am not going to change the troll's mind. But there may be some out there who will read what I say and perhaps, just perhaps, their heart will soften and they will start looking at the resources I recommend to them. 

We Catholics have a great responsibility to our Protestant brothers and sisters.  I am not excluding rabid anti-Catholics either, those such as Jack Chic to give an example of someone who truly hates the Catholic Church.  We are tasked with bringing them home and to undo five hundred years of separateness back into the unity Christ wanted in the first place.  The quotes just serve to indicate that some of the people that hate us the most have no idea how far they have strayed from not only the Catholic Church but from their own Protestant roots. 

We are called to be one in Christ. It is not for the Catholic Church to divide herself among the denominations to bring this about. It is rather the denominations, large and small, that must unite themselves into one Church that teaches the Good News to those who need it most.  

I have come a long way in a short period of time in my own personal understanding of our differences. At one time I considered all Protestants beyond hope and hell bound.  Then I studied what my Church teaches and found out that I was in effect the Catholic version of Jack Chick, unreasonable, uncharitable, and not very Christ like.  The Catholic Church write in the documents of Vatican II what my understanding should be: 

"Even in the beginnings of this one and only Church of God there arose certain rifts, which the Apostle strongly condemned. But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions made their appearance and quite large communities came to be separated from full communion with the Catholic Church-for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame.  The children who are born into these communities and who grow up believing in Christ cannot be accused of the sin involved in the separation, and the Catholic Church embraces upon them as brothers, with respect and affection. For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church event though this communion is imperfect.  (7)

In the Decree on Ecumenism we read: 

Moreover, some and even very many of the significant elements and endowments with together go to build bu and give life to the Church itself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spitit, and visible elements too.  It follows that the separated Churches and Communities as such, though we believe them to be deficient in some respects, have been no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as a means of salvation which devive their efficacy frin the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church. 

I as a dutiful son of Holy Mother Church therefore am to treat Protestants with great respect, admiration, and love.  This is contrasted with certain Protestant sects that teach that he Catholic Church are idol worshipers, calling the pope the anti-Christ. 

So that is all I have to say today.  thank youfor listening. 

Footnotes 

(1) On the Divine Motherhood of Mary, Weimer's The Works of Luther English translation by Pelikan Concordia St Louis V7 P 572

(2) Ca;vini Oera Corpus Reformatorium Braunschweig Berlin 1863-1900 V 45 P 348

(3) Pelikan ibid v45:206, 212-3 / That Jesus Christ was born a Jew

(4) Pringle vol 1 p 107

(5) On the Jews and Their Lies - circa 1543

(6) Martin Luther, DeWette, II 459.

(7) Second Vatican Council, Unitatis Redintgratio, I 3

How To Become A Canonized Saint

Sainthood - is it for me?

What is it that God wants of us? What is closest to His heart? What dream does he dream for us?  

God's fondest wish for us is to be with Him in heaven forever. He wants to share the perfect happiness that we mortals cannot even begin to understand how very wonderful it is!  That is why we are on earth.  Okay, then the question becomes if God is so gungho for us to be with Him in heaven then why did He place us on earth?  Well, go back to the very beginning. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Paradise, which I've always thought of as kind of an earthly type of heaven where everything was perfect. He put us there because he wanted to see if we would want to be in relationship with Him by our own free will.  Well, we know how that turned out.  Using our free will we turned away from Him and he immediately planned and began to implement our return to relationship through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. 

The people who have died in God's friendship and live with Him in heaven are called saints. The media latches on to the Church's formal recognition of certain people as having lived heroic Christian lives through canonization. The last one you may have heard of was the canonization of Father Junipero Serra, the missionary that helped bring Christianity to California. There are literally thousands of canonized saints that have been enrolled by the Church.  But does that mean that only those that the Church recognizes and has canonized are in heaven? Certainly not!  Besides the thousands of canonized saints there are untold millions of people, men and women just like you and I that have lived holy lives and are with God in heaven. The point here is that there is nothing more glorious than a soul entering heaven to be with God forever and nothing so sad and forlorn as a soul that through a life wasted on rejecting the Father's friendship ending up in a place without God.   I believe that we will be welcomed with great joy into heaven by Jesus and the Saints, all of them!  

Okay, let's say you are the type of person that only wants the best/ None of this anonymous sainthood for you. You want the full treatment and full recognition of the Church that you lived a life worthy of being emulated by the faithful.  How do you go about it? Well, I could spend some time discussing canon law but I won't. Here in layman's terms is a rather whimsical view of how get your life recognized as being saintly.

The Canonization Process – Very Simplified

So, you want to be a canonized saint.  Make 

sure you put this document with your will so that your heirs will know what to do.  The most important thing is that you be dead, so take care of that first.  Then make sure your heirs do the following:

1.       WAIT FIVE YEARS.  Candidate has to have been dead for five years.  This is to allow time for “cooler heads to prevail. It allows more objectivity. 

.       GET YOUR FRIENDS TOGETHER. The cause is started in the diocese where the candidate lived.  A promoter group, for example the parish, religious congregation, or pious association asks the bishop to open an investigation. The bishop asks Rome who sends a letter of “nulla osta” or “no impediment” and a tribunal is formed.

.      PRESENT THE FACTS and WRITE ‘EM UP and GET ‘EM TO ROME. The tribunal calls witnesses to recount the facts of the candidates life and how the candidate exercised Christian virtue especially; prudence, justice, temperance, faith, hope and charity. Documents are gathered and sent to Rome, to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.  If the Candidate has made it this far, he (she) is entitled to the title “Servant of God.”

       WIN THE ELECTION. The documents and evidence are examined in Rome by nine theologians. If the Servant of God gets at least five votes the congregation presents the results of the Pope who will give his approval (or not) and authorizes a public decree which is publicly read and distributed.

.       PERFORM A MIRACLE. For beatification a miracle, verified after his (her) death is necessary. This miracle is investigated and if it is shown to be a miracle, a decree is read. The candidate is now called “Blessed.”

   PERFORM AN ENCORE. For final canonization another miracle occurring AFTER his beatification.  It is investigated as was the virtues and first miracle were and the matter is sent to the Pope who can make the final decision if the Blessed candidate is to acquire the title of Saint.  

There you have it!  It is a simple and straight forward process and you will really get to  know who your friends are if they stick it out.  Oh, I almost forgot - you should make some provision to pay the expenses involved in the process.  Here is what you should allow for:  

For decoration of the Basilica, lights, architectural designs, labor, and superintendence — 

Lire 152,840.58 

Procession, Pontifical Mass, preparation of altars in Basilica —  Lire 8,114.58 

Cost of gifts presented to Holy Father —  

Lire 1,438.87 

Hangings, Sacred Vestments, etc.

Lire 12,990.60 

Recompense for services and money loaned — 

Lire  3,525.07 

To the Vatican Chapter as perquisites for decorations and candles Lire 18,000.00 

Propine and Competenza    (unforeseen expenses)                            Lire 16,936.00      

Other incidental and unforeseen expenses —  

Lire   4,468,40 

Total Lire 221,601.05

Total US 1913 Dollars        $42,816.87

Lawyers and Documents     $20,000.00

Total US$                            $62,816.87                                                                                               

Grand total in 1913 US$    $62,816.87   which is approximately 

$209,601.05 in 2010 dollars.

Let's remember, too, that prices may have gone up since 1913!

This whole process can and in some cases has literally taken hundreds of years.  The church is very careful who she canonizes as a saint.  There are a lot of rules that are not mentioned here, for example a "devil's advocate is appointed who brings out the less savory incidents of your life, if he can find any. 

This may be irreverent but I think of canonized saints as those that made the All Star team, and are people we should imitate and respect.  Remember too, that for every canonized saint there are thousands of millions of saints that for whatever reason did not go through this process.  The total number of saints in heaven is known to God alone.  I hope you will be the first human to count them all when you get to heaven.

Feeding Frenzy

The past week all over America there was a feeding frenzy of sorts. You know what I mean of course, we all got caught up in it, the Powerball Lottery. Now I never play the lottery, except this time I did, yes this straight laced Catholic Christian boy plunked down four hard earned US of A greenback dollars for the privilege of dreaming and dreaming big!  For a couple of days I was thinking how I would outfit my new Gulf Stream jet and who I would invite for the initial ride. I thought what my parish would do with the ten percent of the winnings that they would get right off of the top.  I envisioned a five story PADS shelter. I would have funded research into finding cures for cancer.  I would have funded a food bank that would wipe out hunger in my state.  There would have been scholarships galore for those whose grades like mine were average or slightly above. I was planning to do so much good.  That is what my four dollars bought me as I joined the feeding frenzy that captured the minds of my fellow citizens.  I have to tell you that it was kind of fun and all in all was worth the four George Washington's I plunked down to the man of mid-eastern extraction behind the counter at the Peacock Mobil Station who pushed a button that caused a machine to spit out two lines of random numbers.  

Well, I am back in the real world again.  The next lottery drawing will come and go without capturing my attention. My dollar bills will stay comfortably inside my wallet until they are called upon to purchase some pedestrian need. But I take solace in the fact that although I cannot fund my large dreams, I can fund smaller ones. I can look out for opportunities to be kind, to be generous, to let the light of Christ shine through me. If I do this without expecting any reward or payback, my example may be what brings a sinner home like the prodigal son, home to God the Father who loves him without end. My example, my love expressed can be the difference between heaven and hell for someone I do not know. 

So yes, I proved my humanity and jumped into the middle of the feeding frenzy.  It was fun and it allowed me the opportunity to think once the announcement of where the winning tickets were sold and my town was not mentioned, that I was luckier than the winners because I have Christ in my life.

Peace to you today and may the light of Christ flood your soul. Act on your good intentions today. Spread a random act of kindness wherever you go.  God bless you and yours. 

The Convert-a-Catholic Challenge is still waiting it's first daring Protestant to take up the cause. Convince this cradle Catholic that the Catholic Church has got it all wrong and that your denomination has got it all right.  Chick to start the debate rolling.  Click here/

Catholic Resources for your use: 

Catechism of the Catholic Church   (Click Here)  don't live in ignorance. If you are going to criticize or even condemn her, use her own words against her.  This free resource tells what we believe in an easy to read format.

Catholics Come Home  (Click Here)  If you are a Catholic and have been away from the Church for awhile, well, we have missed you and consider this an invitation to come home. 

Headquarters - The Vatican - (Click Here)  Nose around at the Vatican. Get to know Pope Francis a little bit better. Find out the inside story right from the horse's mouth. 

Feast of The Holy Family JMJ Makes Sister Emerita Smile

One fond memory I have from my years as a student of St. Joseph and St. Anne School on the Southwest Side of Chicago is the fact that if you wanted to really please Sister you would place squarely in the center of your paper the legend JMJ.  This of course stands for "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph" the Holy Family.   

Today the Church reminds us that Jesus came to earth to serve and not be served. The Gospel reading for today is the story of Jesus being found in the temple.  Can you imagine the fear that Joseph and Mary felt when they could not find the Child that had been placed into their care?  Like any parent they probably thought the worst.  Then can you imagine the relief and maybe just a bit of parental anger they must have felt.  Mary asked Him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been searching for you with great anxiety?"  Jesus then responds by giving a reply that at the time could only be understood by Mary and Joseph when He told them that He had to be in His Father's house.  The incident closes and we are told that Jesus became obedient to them and advanced in wisdom before men and God. 

A human being is born dependent on a family.  If a baby was born and ignored and left to his/her own devices they would soon die. The human family is the unit God has decided will be the way a human child will learn how to live in the world. The family will teach by example.  The child will learn the "who to's" of life while under the protection of their mother and father.  The parents are also responsible for teaching their child about God and the Kingdom of God and the child's place in it.  The latter is probably more important that the former. 

Today the concept of family is under attack on many fronts. To begin with the concept of marriage being between one man and one woman has come under attack.  Today in the United States and other countries marriage has been re-defined and now includes people of the same sex.  There are a couple of things wrong with same sex marriage.  First and foremost a same sex union can never procreate. Same sex families with two daddies or two mommies are not good for the child.  The ideal family, such as was Our Lord's contains both contributions from the female and male point of view. Sure, a same sex couple can be loving and nurturing to a child but the dual points of view are missing and they are very important in growing a child. 

There are other problems that assault the family as well. Even in those households where there are a traditional mother and father sometimes career and social lives take precedence in life and while the children are cared for physically they lack the care of their psyche that children from previous generations received from their parents. 

When I was growing up my mother, God rest her soul, made sure that dinner time was a time where family came together.  The television, which was visible from the kitchen where we took our meals together, was turned off.  The radio was silent and we ate our meals and actually talked to one another.  Attendance at dinner was mandatory in our household and we remained in each other's company until the meal was completed by all.  We never thought much about it, it was just how it was done and our family was not the exception, almost all of the neighborhood families followed the same ritual. 

Today when people gather around the dinner table they are most often accompanied by their smart phone. These electronic masters serve as distraction and conversation between is thus limited at best.  People feel less loyalty to their family and more to friends and organizations. 

We will eventually reap the results of our letting the family disintegrate.  We see some of the results already today. In former times aging parents were helped by their children. Today aging parents are seen as a problem to be conquered and we place Dad or Mom into the care of others and we lose the great assets that they could give us, namely their wisdom. 

People are also putting off having families later and later in life while they pursue their career and because of this we are losing the cohesion of inter-generational relationships by placing our old out on an figurative iceberg to await their call home to God because we have to sacrifice to the new god of retirement. 

Finally, we can see the results of our assault on the family and family values in any mall or store in America.   You can see many fine examples of children whining, crying, demanding, and even striking their attending parent.  These children are crying out for discipline and to be shown what to do.  Unfortunately, in many cases the parent has not a clue because he/she did not receive instruction by example from his/her family. 

Is it hopeless? Are we doomed?  For the near future I fear things will get worse but eventually their will be a revival of family values.  Someone will discover what is missing and being a family will become popular again.  On this Feast of the Holy Family resolve to show real love to your children and teach them how they should walk. 

Go with God this day and may He, through His Son Jesus bring love into your heart and through the Holy Spirit, light to follow him day by day.