Quite an Eye Full

"But blessed are your eyes, because they see, 

and your ears, because they hear. 

Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people

longed to see what you see but did not see it,

and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

I never thought about this before.  Sharing the earth with me are seven and a half billion people.  That is certainly a lot of people. Of that number, I can count myself as one of the fortunate ones because I have heard and have accepted the wild tale of God coming to earth, taking on our mortal bodies, working a sun up to sundown job which He learned from his foster father.  Then, after thirty years of coming to know what being a human was like he began to teach about the Kingdom of God, which angered the people in power who could not see the forest for the trees, and they hung this God come to earth on a tree and left Him there to experience the pain of death, which, like any other human, He did. Then He did something that no one could conceive of, He rose from the dead.  I am one of the blessed because I have heard and I believe these truths.

I am really happy that I am one of the chosen ones. But then again, everyone on earth is a chosen one, it is just that they have to first hear the Good News and then they have to believe the Good News. In this modern age, there are so many opportunities for the pagan (Come on now, that's what they are, I don't mean it as an insult.) can hear about Jesus and the wonderful work He did so many years ago that has changed the ultimate fate of believers.  He opened the Gate of Heaven and has readied the feast. It is just too bad that the vast majority of people on this world do not look at life through the lens of eternity.  They fix their eyes on what is and not what can be.  They rise daily, work for eight or more hours, eat, then sleep and then do it again and again and again buying this and that with their money and not storing anything away for eternity. 

So, my eyes are blessed and one of the things I have to do is to help my brothers and sisters to see, to look at the long picture, to store up things for eternity.  This is the New Evangelization, funny, it's just how the old evangelization worked too. 

THE POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY NEED YOUR HELP.  PLEASE, TAKE A MOMENT NOW AND PRAY FOR THEM.  THEY CANNOT HELP THEMSELVES, THEY DEPEND ON US.  WON'T YOU HELP TODAY?

Tolerable is a Point of View

What Happens In Sodom Stays in Sodom...or does it?

Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.

Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town."

There is a wideness in God's mercy, but as we see both in the fate of that great pillar of society, Sodom, and the fate of those that refuse the Word of God it has a limit.  There is no way to sugar coat this, refusing to believe is to commit the sin against the Holy Spirit, the only non-forgivable sin.  If a person spends their whole life turning away from God, mocking His laws, breaking His commandments in spite of the grace that God showers down personally on every human being, well, there will be no hope for them on the day of judgment, none at all. 

We are responsible for what we hear and we are responsible for sharing the Gospel with those around us.  This sharing of the Gospel is called "The New Evangelization." In America as in any developed land, there is no reason at all for a person to be ignorant of Christ. There are signposts all along the way of life and the ignorant still are receiving grace and are responsible for working out their own salvation even if no other Christian ever approaches them with the Gospel.  But, woe to the Christians that ignored their brothers and sisters and failed to at least give them a hint of the great gift that Jesus brought into the world, they share the fate of the lost brothers and sisters they could have helped in that their place in heaven will be less than it could have been. 

Today, make it point to share the joy of being a follower of Jesus with at least one person.  You can be sneaky about it and just show them a big smile and loving tender care or you can add to that a word or two about the Gospel.  Just do something, there is no need to be afraid.  The Holy Spirit will guide you.  For heaven's sake, listen to that little voice and be a signpost to heaven for someone that really needs to be shown the way.  God Bless!