Something New

So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:

the old things have passed away;

behold, new things have come.

Well it was battered and scared,
And the auctioneer felt it was hardly worth his while,
To waste much time on the old violin but he held it up with a smile,
Well it sure ain't much but it's all we got left I guess we ought to sell it too,
Oh, now who'll start the bid on this old violin?
Just one more and we'll be through.

And then he cried one give me one dollar,
Who'll make it two only two dollars who'll make it three,
Three dollars twice now that's a good price,
Now, who's gonna bid for me?
Raise up your hand now don't wait any longer the auctions about to end,
Who's got four Just one dollar more to bid on this old violin?

Well the air was hot and the people stood around as the sun was setting low,
From the back of the crowd a gray haired man,
Came forward and picked up the bow,
He wiped the dust from the old violin then he tightened up the strings,
Then he played out a melody pure and sweet, sweeter than the Angels sing, 
And then the music stopped and the auctioneer, 
With a voice that was quiet and low, he said now what am I bid,
For this old violin and he held it up with a bow.

And then he cried out one give me one thousand,
Who'll make it two only two thousand who'll make it three,
Three thousand twice you know that's a good price,
Come on who's gonna to bid for me?
And the people cried out what made the change we don't understand,
Then the auctioneer stopped and he said with a smile,
It was the touch of the Masters' hand.

Sometimes when I am feeling low, I turn to music to turn myself back around so that I am not looking so much at me at a pity party but me as a person beloved by God.  The song I've reprinted above is called, "Touch of the Master's Hand" and it is sung by Wayne Watson. The words are absolutely on point and true. I love the beginning of the song where the auctioneer says, "Well it sure ain't much but it's all we got left..."  When I hear that I think of myself before Christ came into my life and how He tuned me up and it is because of Him that I am who I am today.  Friend, if today the gloomy sky matches your mood, or if you know you just aren't right, then surrender to the Master and let him fix what is broken, all you need to do is cooperate with His grace and the sun will shine in your soul.    God Bless.

YES, I AM SHOUTING!  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REMEMBER THE POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY IN YOUR PRAYERS TODAY. AN OUR FATHER, HAIL MARY, AND A GLORY BE TAKES BUT A MINUTE FOR US AND MEANS SO MUCH FOR THEM! 

He Shall Be Called John

Today is a rather special day on the Church calendar. Today is the solemn feast of the Birth of John the Baptist. The Church only celebrates one other birthday, we call that birthday Christmas.  No other saint is honored by having the day of their birth remembered in a special mass. They have to be content with having the day of their death memorialized by the Church. So we can see that John must be a very special person indeed.  

I remember when I was young, say about ten or eleven, I spent a lot of time with my cousin Skipper. He was actually named after his father as his name was actually Richard and forgive me but I do not know how he came by the nickname Skipper.  For a couple of summers, we hung around together and had a lot of fun.  One incident comes to mind.  We spent all day in our swimming trunks in his backyard playing in a wading pool.  When the water in the pool got too warm we would tip the pool over and refill it with fresh water.  We would get in the pool and cool ourselves down never realizing that the clear water was acting like a lens and focusing the sun on our bodies.  By dinner time we looked like cooked lobsters and when we sat down to dinner, the pain of wearing a shirt and pants was only slightly worse than what his mother cooked for dinner that day, liver and onions, yuck.  Back then we were trained to be polite and when we were guests at someone's house we ate what was put in front of us. Between Skipper and I, we used at least half of a bottle of ketchup. The pain of the sunburn we had collected was intense.  My aunt did not have anything in the house to soothe the pain.  Necessity being the mother of invention, she broke out the Vicks Vapo Rub.  This menthol laced petroleum jelly was just the thing to increase the agony on our young backs and chests. Sometimes you just can't win!

While I had a somewhat close relationship with my cousin, it does not appear Jesus spent any time with His cousin John. To my modern way of thinking, John really appears to be somewhat of an oddball. My gosh, who in their right mind would choose to live in the desert, wearing hair shirts and eating locusts and wild honey?  Come to think of it, locusts and wild honey have to be better than liver and onions.  

Jesus and John, according to the Bible, met only once in their youth and that was before either of them were born.  Mary had received word that she was to be the Mother of God and she went to visit Elizabeth, who was described as a relative to her and had conceived John in her old age as a special gift from God.  (Children were esteemed as gifts back then.) When Mary approached Elizabeth, John, in his mother's womb, recognized the presence of Jesus, the Son of God, in the womb of Mary His mother.  It is written that John stirred in his mother's womb at the presence of Jesus.  One translation used a stronger word and said he danced in his mother's womb.  The fate of these two children was tightly bound together as John would be the one who would announce the coming of the Messiah and prepare the way of the Lord. 

John was a man of great integrity.  He strived to achieve no man's favor and preached repentance and the coming of the kingdom to one and all.  He called the religious leaders of the day, "broods of vipers" and he actually won the admiration of the king of the land, a vain and lustful man named Herod.  Herod made the mistake of choosing for his wife the wife of his brother and John called him out for this adulterous relationship.  Herod did not mind so much, but Herodias, the king's illegitimate wife, was less than forgiving for being called a harlot and whore. Yet, John enjoyed the king's favor and protection but even the king could take only so much abuse. His wife continued wailing and whining against John and to quiet her shrill voice Herod had John arrested and lodged him in his dungeon.  If Herodias thought that the rigors of the dungeon would quiet the pious prophet down she failed to understand what a diet of locusts and wild honey did to the soul of a man. She also failed to understand what the grace of God could do in strengthening one's soul.  John kept his banter against Herod and Herodias up while chained in the charming confines of Herod's dungeon.  Not only did he continue berating the couple but he did so almost right under their love nest.  Herodias could not take much more of this.  She kept asking that John be silenced and buried.  The king, however, had an admiration and perhaps a bit of fear of John. He knew the stories that the priests told about the Messiah, and he wondered if the Messiah was locked up in his jail.  This thought stayed his hand for the moment.  All the while John kept up his preaching against the king and his concubine.  Herodias's soul was black with anger and hate of the Baptist and she could not understand why her husband, who respected no man, tolerated the insolence and insults that John never ceased broadcasting day or night.  Then Herod himself delivered the fate of John into her hands. 

It was the king's birthday, a time when the whole court celebrated with feasting and drinking that made the normal daily debauch pale in comparison.  The wine made the king very merry indeed. It was when he was deep into his cups that Herodias snapped the trap closed that would end the scandal of John's accusations against her and Herod forever.  Her daughter was extremely beautiful and Herod lusted after her young body.  Herodias then announced that as a special gift and tribute to Herod the greatest king of all time that her daughter, Salome, would honor his majesty with a dance. The announcement caused Herod's libido to stir and he watched with amorous wonder as Salome went through her paces.  The dance was designed to capture the lowest parts of Herod's imagination and it succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.  The king, loudly and drunkenly, stood and applauded the performance and then uttered words that he would in the next moment regret for all eternity.  He offered as payment for the dance anything that Salome wanted even up to half of his kingdom.  The courtiers gasped. Salome had in her hands the ticket to a life of independence and great ease, riches beyond what most people could imagine.  They waited silently for what she would ask for.  Then her mother entered and walked up to her brazen daughter.  Herodias smiled at the king and he drunkenly smiled back.  She turned and whispered in her daughter's ear.  The daughter grinned, then chuckled, then she finally laughed and nodded her head, accepting what her mother had said.  She walked closer to the king and bent down, her ample breasts just out of reach. She smiled into his eyes and demanded the head of John the Baptist be brought to her on a silver platter.  The king was shocked. Surely the girl would want gold or silver, or a palace with servants of her own.  Salome once again looked at the king and this time with cold fire in her eyes demanded that he fulfill his promise and to bring her the head of John the Baptist.  The king had no desire to kill John for he still retained some fear of the man.  But, fear of God was something he had never cultivated and he did not want to appear to be weak in front of all of the assembled dignitaries, some of which had the ear of the emperor in Rome, so with bitterness and a pain that the wine could not cover he sent his guard and had John beheaded and the head brought to his wife and slut of a daughter on a silver charger.  After the "gift" was presented, the king weaved his way to bed. His door was locked when Herodias came to check on him and she laughed loudly as she turned and made her way to her chamber. 

There is much to admire about John the Baptist.  He was a man of principles and he knew the difference between right and wrong and was not afraid to tell a person when they were wrong. Yet, John knew his place and he knew that he would need to decrease as his cousin, Jesus, the Messiah would have to increase. He was to be the best man for the bridegroom and he knew his role was to make an exit at the right moment. Today, the Church honors this man by celebrating his birthday which shows that he is held in great esteem by the Church. His unswerving devotion to God and his testimony to righteousness in spite of personal consequences should serve as an example for us.  He was quite bright too, he never ate liver and onions! 

Are We Being Punished ?

The world we live in today is positively crazy. Around the world, things could not be crazier.  In North Korea, we have a fat little man wanting to play with nuclear toys.  In the Philippines, there is a psychotic serial murderer as president.  In Mexico, there is no real government except what the drug cartels allow.  In the United States I will leave it up to you to judge our president, but we as a people have a lot to answer for as the corpses of innocent murdered babies pile up.  Forgive me for being so graphic with that last sentence. 

It is said that Our Lady, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the bride of the Holy Spirit, has appeared in history and has warned us that if things don't change there will be a chastisement.  In the twentieth century, there were two such chastisements that we can easily point to. We called them World Wars One and Two and millions upon millions of people died.  Mary warned us when she appeared at Fatima. 

Today, we have the scourge of radical Islam murdering Christians in the places where it has existed for two thousand years.  ISIS has used the very symbol of our religion to martyr our brothers and sisters in the middle east.  But, force of arms, God willing, may end this reign of terror.  But the punishment from this direction will continue because, in America, we have embraced birth control and abortion.  The birth rate of children being born to households where Christianity is at least marginally practiced is falling while Islamic families are experiencing a baby boom. Will there be sharia law in America? Not in my lifetime but it is very possible that it will happen in the lifetimes of our children.  We baby boomers have not been the best at passing the torch to our children.  A common attitude has been to let the children decide for themselves about God and which religion to follow. We see how well this has worked out.  Today, for example, in the Catholic Church we have a lack of men offering themselves to the priesthood.  In families where it was once thought of as an honor to have a son or daughter opt for the religious life or priesthood, now that is not even given a remote thought.  

My original question in this post was, "Are we being punished?" I think that God does not have to send a chastisement down upon us because we, ourselves, are doing very well at reaping the rewards for our sloth in spiritual things. So, right now I do not believe we are undergoing a chastisement from God.  This scares me a bit because I believe that one is coming that will make all of the terrible things that are happening in our world today seem like child's play. 

Okay, I can almost see you rolling your eyes, shaking your head, and thinking the Michael the Lesser has finally slipped his moorings and is now a candidate for a rubber room in a fool farm somewhere.  The bad things that we are paying for today are the simple result of what we have done, no more, no less.  I believe that God has given us what we have earned in the hope that we would recognize what we are doing and turn back to the right way of living.  It is evident that we have no desire to change things and turn ourselves around.  God is a loving Father and wants us to be with Him forever in heaven.  He will do what is necessary to get our attention, and it will not be pleasant.   

There are a lot of good people in this world. It is time for them to put on the armor of prayer, draw the sword of righteousness, and start using their talents to point out to family, neighbors, friends, and fellow citizens that God loves us and that He wants us to change, to repent, to come back home.  We are all prodigal sons and daughters.  We are all born to live in the light of God. We just need to make the slightest effort, cooperate just a little, and God will welcome us back. 

Begin today to rebuild the Kingdom. Start small and carry one brick at a time. Use prayer to soften the hearts of your neighbors. I suggest the Rosary as the prayer to use.  This prayer is one of the best in our arsenal.  If you don't like the Rosary, pray whatever prayer you want to, just get started. 

Am I going to turn myself into a street preacher, yelling about fire and brimstone descending upon the land?  No, I am not going to do that.  I have confidence that if each of us does just a little bit to change the world, to slightly correct the course we are on, our combined actions will bring us back to where we belong. God loves us very much, that is the ultimate truth that we can hang on to no matter what comes. 

Lent - The Big Bang Theory

"If God were your Father, you would love me,

for I came from God and am here;

I did not come on my own, but he sent me."

I have to tell you that I am very concerned about the situation we find the world in on this nasty, cold, rainy, windy day.   It is not the lack of bright sunshine that bothers me because I know that above the clouds the sun is shining brightly.  I am concerned because of a little rotund man in North Korea, who is going through life with only seven of his eight cylinders firing in his brain box.  I am also concerned of a despot in Syria who has decided the time to come to murder his people with sarin gas.  I am concerned because of a godless ex-KGB man who sits in Moscow pulling strings here and there simply to increase world tension.  I am concerned because I have a singular lack of trust in our president and his government. It is a scary time.  Events could even as I am writing this, could come to a head and missiles capped with nuclear warheads could start something that no man could stop.   It would be the Big Bang all over again except with us in the middle. 

If it were not for my faith in God I think I would be in a state of depression right now because I know how inhumane man can be to other humans.  But I know that above these dark and scary clouds we have a God that loves us.  We have a home where we will be happy forever.  No matter what, we will live in the bright sunlight.  Praise you, Jesus.  Your Sacred Heart beats a song of love for us.  With you, at our side, we will stand firm.  With you, we will live forever. 

The Holy Spirit

As a member of my church's choir, today, I am going to have the honor of singing at the Mass where fifty-eight of our young people will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. This will complete their initiation into the Catholic Church and instill in them the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The gifts are seven in number. 

Wisdom - This gift allows us to value the things of God over the things of this world.

Understanding - This gift empowers us to grasp more fully the truths of God.

Counsel - Through this gift, we are able to know, almost by instinct what is right and to stand up for the truths of our Faith. 

Fortitude - This gift we act on what we learn to be true and have the courage of our convictions and strength to defend them. 

Knowledge -  Through this gift, we attain the ability albeit, in a limited way, the power to see the circumstances of our life as God sees them. This helps us to determine what God wants us to do in life.

Piety - This gift empowers us to go beyond the feeling that we are to obey because we are told so.  Piety allows us to see the good of God's law and we want to obey because it is good. 

Fear of the Lord - This gift gives us the ability to respect God and to not want to offend Him.  It also places in us the certainty that God will supply the graces we need so that we will not offend Him. 

I still remember the night I was confirmed.  At that time, things were a little different. The ceremony was very similar to what the young men and women will experience today.  One thing they will not experience is the slap. In my day the bishop would administer a slap to the face of each person he confirmed.  This slap was to remind you that you would suffer persecution for your faith and that through this sacrament you were now a soldier for Christ. 

Imagine that!  On that one night, I went from being just a snotty young seventh grader to a soldier in the army of God.  What did I feel on that glorious day?  To be honest, not a whole lot.  When I left the church I could only think of the pizza we were going to have when we got home.  Does this mean that the sacrament was but a sham?  Does it mean that it had no effect on me?  Certainly not.  

That day I did become a soldier of Christ and I did receive the seven gifts, and I did become in God's eyes a spiritual adult and one of His ambassadors. It would take time and the gentle prodding of the Holy Spirit over the long yet swiftly running years between that Thursday evening and today.  There would be times when I went my own way and would find myself in a foreign land among aliens who did not know and did not want to know my Father.  There were times when I was angry at my Father and let Him know so in no uncertain terms. He responded by gently calling my name one afternoon when I poured out my heart in the confessional at St. Peter's Church in downtown Chicago where the priest welcomed me, the prodigal son, back again.

Over the years I have been blessed because I have always felt the presence of God in my life.  I have experienced no black night of the soul because my Father knows that I would perish without his Presence.  Over the years, He has led me, step by step, as we faced together one fault or another.  He has been with me in times that tried my soul to its limit when I buried my mother and then my father. He has comforted me in the sorrow and loneliness I feel because the family I grew up with have turned their backs on me and abandoned me. He has shared the great joy I feel when I contemplate the blessing he bestowed on me by giving me Mary my wife of twenty-four years (so far.) 

I guess what I am trying to say here is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to all who are confirmed.  These gifts do not manifest themselves all at once. I think they are there as a treasury of power to be drawn upon when needed.  

Our young people who will be confirmed today will walk away from church changed forever, yet they might not realize it for some time.  May they receive these gifts and may they prove as useful to them as they did to me.   

Come, Holy Spirit, Come. 

Light our hearts that we may bear the cross of life and carry it with courage as we share the Word of God with those who so desperately need it.  Amen.