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. 

Blood Moon 2015 - This replaces the Aztec Calendar as your forecaster t for the End of The World.

Okay, I am not laughing at the folks that decided this fourth blood moon forecast the end of the world.  No, I am not laughing at them because one day they will be right.  Jesus told us as much in the Bible but He also taught us that no one knows the day or time when it will occur.  Every generation from the first century on thought

that they were going to be the generation that would witness the return of Jesus. Even the Apostles when Jesus ascended to heaven were standing around watching where He went to. Jesus knew this would happen so two men dressed in white were provided to tell the twelve that were chosen to build His Church to quit standing around and watching and to get moving. The early Church thought that the return of Jesus was imminent because didn't the Master say that some of those would not taste death before the end times?  Since the late 1800's we have had people that interpret the Book of Revelation as being a road map as to what will happen at the end of the world.  Unfortunately this interpretation does not take into account the fact that the end that is described by John has already happened when the temple, which was the Jewish world was destroyed in the first century by the Romans, and yes, some people who knew Jesus were still alive and saw it happen. But what are we to believe about the end of the world?  Jesus gave us several stories to help us.  First there is the story of the smart and dumb virgins waiting for the bridegroom.  The smart virgins made sure that their lamps were trimmed and filled with oil. The dumb ones ran out of oil and were told once they came back and knocked on the bridegroom's door that he did not know them.  The lesson: Be ready for the return of Jesus at any time.  A second parable was of the servants who had been given a sum of money to take care of while the master was away. Two industrious ones invested their money and when the master returned he rewarded them. The third just buried the money in the ground keeping it safe and he returned it to the master.  The master was not impressed and took his away and threw him out.  The lesson - use what you have been given to make things better for others. The third story is the story of the goats and sheep.  The sheep sent to heaven for displaying great love for those who were not fortunate and the goats to hell because although they believed, they did so only with their lips.  The lesson: Share your love and give yourself away.

I apologize for the length of that last paragraph, it probably was kind of hard on your eyes so I will keep this short.  No I refuse to laugh at the people who are waiting for the end times for they shall surely come.  When it comes Jesus will take those who have shown love to the downtrodden, the poor, the weak to heaven because when we serve, as the Son of Man served, we serve the Son of Man.  When we serve only ourselves we serve only our selfish wants while others go without. 

So, watch and wait for the end of the world. It is coming, even if it is only the day of your death, your personal end of the world.  Be a servant of God by helping those in need. You need not do great things but as Mother Teresa said, "Do small things with great love.

I am always ready to answer questions about the Catholic Church and Christianity in general. Hate mail will go unanswered.  May the light of Christ in your life light your way and help others to find their way to the Savior.   God Bless! 

The End is Near...Again - The Fourth Blood Moon

Blood Moon - The End Is Near --- Again.

Well, it's been nice knowing you.  We survived the countdown of the Inca calendar which was predicted to usher in the end of the world. Actually the Inca's were just bored with the whole thing and decided that a couple of thousand years should give them enough time to continue making their calendar when the time was right.  In the mean time they had human sacrifices to tend to and solstices to time.  So when their calendar wound down what exciting things happened? Holy Nostradamus Batman, Nothing happened, nothing at all. 

In this latest End of the World event we are told that many things are coming together and this just has to be "the big one."  We should be getting ready for it. The first coincidence that is pointed out is that all four of these blood moons occurred at the start of a Hebrew festival.  This is not so odd since the Hebrews use a lunar calendar to set the days of their religious feasts and have done so since ancient times.  

Let's cut to the chase here. Is there any among us today that does not believe that the world is in a bit of a mess?  In America we are arresting teenage boys for building a clock.  In the middle east ISIS is killing anyone that they can get their hands on and the great powers are just watching while innocent men, women, and children, Christians, Muslims, Jews and anyone else that is drawing breath are being slain by ISIS.  There are earthquakes in diverse places, floods in others, and forest fires rage almost unchecked in the western United States.  The poles are giving up and beginning to melt as we increase our carbon footprint and poison our atmosphere with greenhouse gasses.  To keep it short, the world is going to hell in a hand basket.  We have problems on top of problems and we are tired of it all.  

Now I am a Catholic and I truly believe that Jesus is going to return some day.  Will it be on the day of the fourth blood moon, September 28/29 2015?  It could be, but then again it could be one thousand blood moons from now.  With all of the problems in the world it would be most convenient if Jesus returned today and fixed everything by creating a new heaven and a new earth.  Yes, that would be convenient, but I do not think that this is what He, in His mercy has in mind.  He has put us in a garden, a garden of plenty and has charged us to tend it, read Genesis if you don't believe me. The problems we have today will need to be solved using global cooperation and we may have to sacrifice to solve the issues. 

Today we live in a world where death is the rule of law.  We butcher each other in the name of God and think we are doing holy work.  We murder babies in the womb and we are the first generation where a child is not seen as a gift from God but rather as an encumbrance to our freedom.  I pity us if Jesus came back today because he would be coming as the Just Judge and all of His enemies will be placed under His feet are you so sure you are His friend?  

Do you know the story of the return of Jesus when He separates us into sheep and goats?  The sheep he sends to heaven and the goats he sends to hell.  The sheep cooperated with God and did good, helped their fellow creatures and in doing so ministered to God Himself and thus displayed great love and were welcomed into heaven.  Not so for the others, not so.  Oh they believed alright that Jesus is Lord, they see Him as savior and sang His praises every Sunday but they did not minister to Him. They called Him "Lord, Lord" but He knew them not.     

I guess what I am saying here, first of all to myself, is to be careful as to what you pray for. Today is the day of mercy, Jesus is there waiting for you and me to turn to Him and to do His will by ministering to His people and therefore ministering to Him. He is looking for us today also to be the counter-culture warriors that the first century Christians were.  They praised with their mouth but they sacrificed with their body as well.  

Do things for others in the name of Jesus without expecting any reward and offer these sacrifices of time and treasure to the King of Mercy for when He comes again He will be the King of Justice and He will know which of us are sheep and which of us are goats. 

Please remember I will answer any question about the Catholic Church or Christianity in general, hate mail will go unanswered. 

May the Lord Jesus Christ light your way this day as you go about your business and may he bless you and enable you to be a soldier for His kingdom.