Miracles Are All Around Us!

First reading	Acts 9:31-42 ©

The churches grew and were filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit

The churches throughout Judaea, Galilee, and Samaria were now left in peace, building themselves up, living in the fear of the Lord, and filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit.

  Peter visited one place after another and eventually came to the saints living down in Lydda. There he found a man called Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. Peter said to him, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ cures you: get up and fold up your sleeping mat.’ Aeneas got up immediately; everybody who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they were all converted to the Lord.

  At Jaffa, there was a woman disciple called Tabitha, or Dorcas in Greek, who never tired of doing good or giving in charity. But the time came when she got ill and died, and they washed her and laid her out in a room upstairs. Lydda is not far from Jaffa, so when the disciples heard that Peter was there, they sent two men with an urgent message for him, ‘Come and visit us as soon as possible.’

  Peter went back with them straight away, and on his arrival they took him to the upstairs room, where all the widows stood around him in tears, showing him tunics and other clothes Dorcas had made when she was with them. Peter sent them all out of the room and knelt down and prayed. Then he turned to the dead woman and said, ‘Tabitha, stand up.’ She opened her eyes, looked at Peter and sat up. Peter helped her to her feet, then he called in the saints and widows and showed them she was alive. The whole of Jaffa heard about it and many believed in the Lord.

Whenever there is an abundance of something we tend to take it for granted.  For example, we want to go somewhere in our car.  We get in and see that the gas gauge shows almost empty so we go to the gas station and fill up with gas.  We don't think about it, we just go and get it.  Go back a few years now to when the Arabs were angry because the U.S. was supporting Israel and they slowed down the amount of oil that they were sending us which meant that we could not make as much gasoline and that caused lines at the gas pumps.  We realized at that moment that we were being held hostage by OPEC.  Gasoline was now rationed.  Depending on your license number you could buy gasoline on even or odd numbered days.  On Sunday, all stations, nationwide, were closed. On the days you could drive you were mandated to save gasoline on the highway, we were limited to 55 miles per hour maximum.  This limit, which was pretty much ignored, was supposed to save gasoline.  So, you see that an abundance led to indifference and a shortage led to concern and conservation. 

Every day we can, if we look, see miracles around us. The issue is not the lack of miracles which requires much study and interpretation to see one but rather recognizing them as abundant and as gifts from our Father in heaven.  The very fact that you are drawing breath and able to see things around you is a miracle.  Life itself in all of its forms is a miracle.  The food we eat, the water we drink all came from the hand of God to sustain us. 

Our ancestors understood that their world was filled with miracles and they watched for them and thanked God for them daily.  A miracle is usually described as something that happened that did not have an explanation in nature.  Do you realize that using this definition we can consider electricity a miracle?  Sure, we know how to generate it, to distribute it, and to use it but scientists have never been able to define just what it is.  Electricity is, therefore, a miracle.  That would mean that everything that we use electric for is a miracle too!  Our smartphone could not exist without the humble electron so perhaps the smartphone is a miracle too.  

I hope you see my point. God has provided us with a wonderful world, full of miracles to help us live our lives in a better and more comfortable fashion.  It follows that when we take advantage of the miracles we find in the world that we should use them not only to enrich our lives but we should make it point to be a miracle for those in less fortunate circumstances than we are. 

You and I are walking miracles.  Inside of us is a soul that will never ever die.  We, humans, have the capacity to feel the joys and sorrows of other people.  We can empathize, which means we can share in the feelings of others.  When we do this we can reach into our resources and be of help to others.  Other occupants of this planet such as animal life normally cannot do this.

So today, think of yourself as a miracle, as the beloved of God the Father who has been so very generous to you in so many ways.  Before you eat or drink, think and thank God for what you are about to do, it is a miracle.  Before you start your labor for the day, think and thank God for you are about to do is a miracle.  And today resolve that you, an ambulating, talking miracle will not keep the joy of God's love to yourself.  Distribute miracles as you walk through life, it is why you are here! 

Just Look Around You !

All men were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God,

and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing him who is,

and from studying the works did not discern the artisan;

 

 

 

Do you want to know God?  Start by becoming familiar with the beauty of His works, nature but by all means, do not stop there, look at those whom he has put into your life - your family, your friends, strangers, men, and women from distant lands, all of these too are wrought by his mighty hand and all these people there to teach you his ways and to fill you with wonder at the glory he shares with His children. 

JUST LOOK AROUND YOU AND PRAISE GOD FOR HIS INFINITE WISDOM AND GOODNESS! 

The Exchange

God has given us a gift that fits perfectly and is guaranteed to operate without flaw for our whole life.  That gift is free will. When God created humans, he did not want puppets, or robots, or "yes men."  He wanted a creature that could learn to love Him for who He was, infinite love and goodness. The human being would do that through living on earth and experiencing first hand the beauty of creation.  They would experience the joy of being with each other. They would marvel at the gift of procreation, sharing in the process of God in creating a human being.  They would learn that the bounty of God, both physical and spiritual, was to be shared and treated with respect.  God Himself provided ten hints as to how this could be done, we called them commandments.  The people that obeyed them were happier and more joyful than those that did not.  That in itself is a great lesson that can be learned by the most simple of humans just by observation. 

From the beginning, however, there were those that just did not see the wisdom of obeying God's law.  Adam and Eve, for example, were told not to eat the fruit of only one of the trees in the garden God placed them in.  They were tempted by the serpent and using their free will, they chose to disobey God.  Later, Cain became jealous of his brother Abel and killed him, going down in the record books as the first person to commit murder. Years passed and the human race grew.  And instead of growing in wisdom, we grew in sin.  God told Noah to build an ark and to fill it with himself and his wife and his sons and their wives and with animals and for forty days and forty nights rain fell and all life except that which was on the ark perished, giving mankind another fresh start.   Things went on fairly well for awhile but in two towns, Sodom and Gomorrah evil things were happening between men and men and women and women. The town was wiped out except for Lot and his family who was told to skedaddle before the fire storm hit.   More years passed and the time for the Redeemer to appear on earth arrived and He set all things right.  He atoned for all of the sins committed to the date of his sacrificial death and for all that the sins that would be committed in the future. Mankind had been given yet another chance.  

Today, some two-thousand years later, we find ourselves in the same predicament that our forefathers of ancient times found themselves in.  People have once again turned away from the law of God.  The culture of death rules the land.  I am not only speaking about abortion and euthanasia here, sin in all of its guises is death. Today, the rainbow, once a symbol of God's promise to not flood the earth again, has been adopted by people who would be at home in the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Also, those that try to follow the Lord's way are scorned and when they point out sins that are occurring in the land, they are told to mind their own business because for the reprobate one belief system is just as good as another. The money god is powerful in this world and those that have a lot of it, if they are not prudent, think of themselves as outside of the law, exempt because they can pay their way clear of any trouble. 

What is my point here?  Free will is a gift that we can use for whatever we want.  It makes us in a sense like God in that no one is going to tell us what to do or not do, at least not inside our head.  True, if your free will compels you to rob a bank, you will go to jail for the exercise of it.  Free will and conscience are hard-wired together.  We use our conscience to temper the desires of our free will.  If we do not do this, if we are not prudent, we will go the way of the sinner on the wide, obstacle-free, road to perdition. 

The Lord Jesus is there to help us in this world.  He knows what it is like to be tempted.  He knows what it is like to be counter-culture and to pay the price for pointing the opposite direction that the world wants to go in. Jesus will be coming back, soon, perhaps very soon.  The day and the hour are not known to any man but we should be ready. Catholic Man, Catholic Woman, humbly admit your faults and go to the oasis of forgiveness where the Blood of Jesus will wash you clean.  The sacrament of reconciliation will make you stronger in your faith and better able to be an example for the dozens or hundreds or even thousands of lost souls around you. Turn your free will over to the Lord and be ready to be freer than you ever were before!   You may be the only Jesus some people ever see during their lifetime. 

And now a word from our sponsor: 

PURGATORY IS PROOF POSITIVE OF THE LOVE GOD HAS FOR US.  THROUGH THIS PLACE, AFTER DEATH, IF NECESSARY, WE ARE ALLOWED TO MAKE OURSELVES PRESENTABLE TO GOD BY PURGING THE TEMPORAL EFFECTS OF OUR SIN AND OUR ATTACHMENTS TO ANY WORLDLY THINGS.  PLEASE PRAY FOR THE POOR SOULS.  THEY WILL REMEMBER YOUR HELP AND WILL BE YOUR HELP WHEN IN NEED.  GOD BLESS. 

Can This Be Done?

Jesus said to his disciples:

"You have heard that it was said,

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.

When someone strikes you on your right cheek,

turn the other one to him as well.

It is a time of trouble for the Church. The Church is surrounded on all sides by those that wish her harm. In the Middle East, the very cradle of the Christian Faith we have seen more blood spilled since the time of the first Christians. Terrorists have killed innocent men, women, and children because the will not betray the Son of God. In our own country, our government has in recent time trampled upon the religious rights of its citizens, attempting to force even religious orders to provide contraception and abortion as part of the benefits that they provide their employees. Temporarily, the pressure has been removed because of the change of regime that came about this last January. Certainly, the amount of discrimination that is occurring against Christians in this country cannot be compared with that which is happening in the East. 

People in the East are willing to die rather than to forsake their Christian beliefs.  It has always been so in the Christian Church. Today, you can go on YouTube and easily find things that are pro-church and anti-church. On other places on the web, you can view evil men killing believers just because they are believers. What is it about this Jesus that makes people loyal unto death?  This is not a new thing, From the first century, Christians went to their deaths out of their love for Jesus and one another. The love the Christians had for one another was what attracted people to their group.  It was a different way of living in a culture that was cruel and hateful.  

I believe that inside of us all there is a desire to love and be loved. Through the generations, this desire has remained and we spend our time looking for what in most civilizations is lacking.  For the most part, we spend our lives being hunters and gatherers.  We reach out for the tings that we believe will make us happy.  Included on this list of things are food and shelter. I do not think that it is natural for a human being to say, "I now have enough."  I remember reading a story in high school about a man who visits a land where the natives will give him all of the lands that he can walk over in a twenty-four hour period.  There is just one rule.  He had to make it back to the starting position or he would get nothing. The man begins his walk and he notices how beautiful the land was. He walked over a huge portion of flat land that would be perfect for farming. He walked around a beautiful lake that would supply all of the fish he needed. He walked this way and he walked that way.  Time was running short he looked at his watch, he had to get back to the starting line.  He began to run.  Those hills that just yesterday which allowed him such breath-taking views of what was his now caused his legs to tire.  Minutes to go he sped up and just yards from the goal, he fell down dead.  The natives laughed and buried him where he lay.  In the end, the man claimed eighteen square feet of land, six feet down and three feet across. 

For the Christians, there was the point when they said that they had enough.  That point came when the love of Christ and their brothers and sisters filled up their hearts.  They shared with one another and they smiled and life became joyful.  This joyfulness was both a blessing and a curse.  For the world does not like to see what they do not understand.  What cannot be understood must be destroyed so that the normal way of hate and greed can be restored.  Yet, many were attracted to the Christian way because they saw it as the ultimate good and could change what was a hard life into what would become a joyful life as burdens were shared and people were loved for who they were and not what they could do for you. 

In the Eastern lands, the Islamic terrorists cannot understand the joy of these Christian people and so the will endeavor to destroy what they cannot understand. The Christians are not willing to give up the perfect joy of Christ for the misery of indentured servitude.  And so, they willingly accept death instead of betraying the One Who loves them. They know that their joy will be complete when they are with Jesus and while they do not look for martyrdom, they embrace it when it comes.  They do not die in vain.  Their example, their love for one another, will plant seeds in the desert and the seeds will grow and many of those whose lives are filled with hate for all things Christian will find themselves irresistibly drawn to the joy of Christ.  This is what happened in the first century and it is going to happen now. 

In America, our dry martyrdom cannot be compared to those who have given their lives for their belief in Christ.  But, we too will attract more believers if we stick to what Jesus has told us.  We are to turn the other cheek, we are to help carry other's burdens, we are to show love to our enemies and keep a holy joy in our heart.  It will not be easy for we run counter-culture to a people who seem to be in love with things that go against the law of God.  They confuse convenience with happiness and pleasure with joy.  Our example to them is that they can have so much more following Jesus than they can on their own.  

Today, I pray for the martyrs in the mid-East.  I thank God for them and for the example that they set for me.  I also pray that God moves His hand end brings to a conclusion the bloodshed in this part of the world.  I pray for our nation, that we take to heart the laws that God has given us so that we may have a happy life here and eternal life with Him later.  May we once again sing "God Bless America" and know that He will. 

New and Improved

April 17, 1964, was a warm day in Chicago.  The day prior was a record-setter when the mercury climbed to 84 degrees F.  In the Southwest Side neighborhood of Brighton Park, on 40th Place, the talk was of the new Ford Mustang which had premiered that day.  Jimmy Kane, God rest his soul was out with his skateboard on this early spring day doing what passed for tricks back in the day. Skateboard conjures up visions of young Olympians doing tricks on the half pipe. When I say skateboard, I mean a roller skate nailed to a board.  Even if we had the half pipe back then, there would be no way in heaven that the rickety gizmo called a skateboard would be able to take the pounding that the modern boards do.  Jimmy's tricks consisted of first remaining upright on the board and second going through a course of empty soda bottles without knocking them over.  He was pretty good at it. But skateboarding was not the topic of conversation that day.  The brand new 1964 Mustang had been revealed and it was the talk of all the twelve-year-olds in the neighborhood.  The car was pronounced "boss" by all of the boys and there were arguments as to how fast the car could go, which color was the best and promises that when we were old enough we all would have one of these beautiful new race cars.  As it turned out, I didn't own a Mustang until the 1980's and it was called a Mustang II.  As for Jimmy Kane, I was told he died some time back, drugs claimed him.  An aside here, Jimmy always had whatever Jimmy wanted.  He was one of the few neighborhood boys that actually made it on a Little League team at Kelly Park (not everyone automatically got to play in the 60's and 70's you had to try out) and his house always had fireworks on the Fourth of July, and if they ran low, his folks would get on the expressway and drive to Indiana and get some more.  There was a lot of good in the boy and he was a handsome red head and popular with the girls and he had lots of friends.  But I guess something was missing inside his brainbox that caused him to give himself over to drugs.  Anyway, back to our theme for the day. 

"So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away;

behold, new things have come. And all this is from God..."

When we have turned our lives over to Christ, we become a new creation.  Gone is the being that was controlled by impulse and greed and in its place, there is a person who knows that love and sharing are the most important things in life.  Well, maybe it does not happen that fast.  I know for me at least the process is just that.  When I was Baptized and died with Christ, there was presented to me a "new" soul.  It was the same as my old soul, of course, except it was now ready to be filled with the beauty of Christ and his teachings and his instructions on how to live life.  Knowledge of Christ is one thing.  I can know a lot about Christ but I have to delve into His teachings and make them a part of my life.

 I don't get too excited about the new models anymore.  But, I  am excited to be a new creation in Christ.  I just have to make an effort every day to remind myself that I actually am a new creation and that I should live in the world but not be of the world.  I have to make my life conform more closely to that of my Redeemer.  His love for me is such that if I were the only sinner in the world, He would have gone to the Cross for me. 

It seems to me that my first step in the New Evangelization should be to allow the glow of Jesus to shine forth by making kindness and mercy things that are I practice by choice every hour of every day.  This, of course, is a learning process.  My teacher provides lessons every day, I just have to keep an eye out for them.  It's a great school.  It has the world's largest classroom which is called earth. 

A new car model, even a 1964 Ford Mustang, is nothing compared to a person who has allowed themselves to become a new creation and who also allow themselves to be filled with the joy and hope that being a follower of Christ brings to life.   God Bless! 

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.   

Save Yourself From The Corruption of This Age !

Peter testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,

"Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."

Corruption is all around us.  It has been a constant companion to mankind from the very beginning of time. Corruption happens when a person entrusted with some sort of responsibility that affects other people uses his or her authority to enrich him or herself at the expense of his friends and neighbors. For the one that commits this type of fraud against his neighbor, it is always for some perceived good.  For example, in Chicago, we had an official of the public schools that used her authority to steer contracts to companies that paid her for the use of her office.  This lady had an excuse, it was simply that she wanted to make extra money so her grandchildren could go to college.  Now, grandchildren going to college is an important goal but she should not have placed her goal over the needs of literally thousands of Chicago Public School children who are already dealing with the corrupt politics of Mike Madigan in Springfield Illinois where he is using his political influence to keep the legislators from passing a budget. Corruption breeds corruption.  If it is okay for the likes of Madigan, then it should be okay for others as well.  

Corruption is a sin that is caused by a lack of faith in God to take care of His people.  Corruption always infuses riches into those that practice it and takes it from the coffers of those who need it most. In our reading today, Peter rises and tells us to save ourselves from this corrupt generation. How in heavens name can you do that in a world like ours?  

The first thing that needs to be done is our silence must end.  When we see a wrong we must point it out but we must also be ready to suggest a solution to the issue as well.  

Next, we need to watch and pray.  Our prayers will be answered but we need to be ready to accept the solution God sends to us.  Our cries will be heard and a solution will be offered.

We must be ready to take a risk.  The solutions we receive from our prayers may make us a bit uncomfortable. We must have faith that God knows what He is doing.  We must take the solution and run with it. 

We must be patient and be persevering.  Just because we ask for something once and we do not seem to receive an answer does not mean that an answer is not coming.  We must ask, and ask, and persevere in our prayer.  Our faith will be our rock. 

We must avoid the temptation to just give in and to go with the flow. The enemy may attempt to present a solution that would be great for you but would leave others out in the cold, in effect making you a part of the problem.  We must be selfless in our view and be ready to make a sacrifice for the good of others. 

We must not be afraid of failure. In our pride, we say that "Failure is not an option."  Look at the cross of Christ, if there was ever a monument to failure, that is it and look at what happened because of it, death itself was destroyed and we have inherited eternal life.  What appears to be a failure in our eyes, may just be God saying to wait.  That is hard for us to do, to just wait.  

We must remember that all of the advantages that a person of this world receives because of corruption will decay into corruption when that person is called to give an account of their life to God. 

Our life as a Christian will always be counter-cultural. It is why Christians are laughed at and scorned.  We show the example of what should be done and that gets in the way of what people, without God in their lives, want to do. 

To save ourselves and those we love from the corruption of this age, we need to not engage in it ourselves and we need to put our trust in God.  God has won the victory, we just need to keep the faith and keep ourselves from being drawn into the sin around us. It is easier to sin than it is to pray to be delivered from sin. 

Be filled with joy this Easter season.  God loves you very much.  He has proven it by what He has done and what He continues to do. Have faith even in the face of death that you will be rescued and be brought home to Jesus.