This Is What Being A Christian Is All About

Yesterday's readings defined for us what Church is. Today's readings define how we are to treat one another as members of this Church.  In the first reading for this Sunday, we are told to treat everyone with kindness, not to abuse immigrants, not to take advantage of widows and orphans and not to take advantage of others with the example of usury being given as one thing not to do.  God also tells us that if we abuse widows and orphans that His wrath will rise up and make our relatives widows and orphans.  In the Gospel reading, Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is.  He rightfully quotes the first commandment, we are commanded to love God and he quotes the second commandment, we are to love our neighbor not just a little bit, but as we love ourselves.  Jesus tells us that in these two commandments is the whole of the law of God. The eight remaining commandments tell us exactly how we are to execute the requirements that God has given us. 

It is not easy to perfectly follow the ten commandments.  The old testament Hebrews were always finding themselves at odds with one or another of the commands.  Their solution was to flesh out the commandments of God with more and more rules to follow.  They would split hairs and split them again. They had rules for everything.  For example, they had the rule that no one could walk further than two-thousand cubits on the Sabbath. That meant that you could walk about two-thirds of a mile.  The intent of this rule was two-fold.  First, it kept the Sabbath as a day of rest and secondly, it kept you close to the temple or synagogue so that you could spend your time wisely.  Even today in Israel the modern Jews can be very scrupulous when it comes to rest on the Sabbath.  Elevators stop on every floor of a high rise so they do not have to push a button for that is considered work.  Some families hire non-Jewish help for the Sabbath so that lights can be turned on or off for the act of making a spark would be considered work. 

Now that is how we humans are.  We have a tendency to take things that are simple and turn them into things that can be incredibly complex. That is okay, I guess, because some of the rules and regulations we have to follow, both religious and non-religious have to be fleshed out some so that what is expected at minimum is known to all.  But, if the truth is to be known, if we work on the first two commandments, if we truly set out sights on observing them as perfectly as we can, then the whole of the law of God will be observed because if we are doing all to love God and love our neighbor, we will not be doing the other things that the commandments forbid. Perhaps the law can be made even simpler as elsewhere in scripture it is written that we should do unto others what we would have them do unto us.   That is what being a follower of Jesus is all about.  What Jesus wants from us is to show the same love to others as He has shown to us.  He went to the cross as a victim, taking our place and paying our penalty.  We are to imitate Him and carry our cross and bear the burdens of others as best as we can. What we cannot carry on our own, He will help us carry.  

They Lost Everything ! ! !

For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it. If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that. Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils,

We weep with those who have lost everything in hurricane and earthquake.  Millions of people have had their lives permanently changed by what we whimsically call "acts of God" as if God sits on His throne charting out all of the disasters that befall those on Earth.  The truth is, God has set the rules of nature in motion and sometimes these disasters do occur but they were not planned nor ordained by God, they are just physical realities following the laws of nature. 

These disasters do bring into focus what the letter to Timothy quoted above has told us.  We can live without a lot of things that we now consider vital.  There is one commercial that I like because it exposes the flaw in our thinking.  A man is in his kitchen and says that all we need is bread, water, and the internet to survive.  

Our prayers and charitable acts need to flow in a giant tidal wave to help our brothers and sisters that are facing the peril of the loss of everything including bread, water, clothing, shelter and every modern convenience.  While we are doing what we can, we should imagine what our friends are going through and realize that next time, we could be the victims of the laws of nature the next time something happens because the rules of nature apply to everyone. 

The poor souls in purgatory know that someday they will see God face to face and that gives them perfect joy but the fact that they cannot see Him now hurts them beyond belief. Please pray for the poor souls today.

"I will do it. Be made clean."

When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said,
"Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean."

He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
"I will do it. Be made clean."

His leprosy was cleansed immediately.

Life in the time of Jesus was hard and while the Jews enjoyed many "modern" benefits and thanks to the religious rules they followed were healthier than the population at large there was still the scourge of leprosy that had to be dealt with.  Five percent of the people contracted the disease.  Ounce you were diagnosed with the malady you did not receive medicines and sympathy, no, you received banishment and shunning.  So, this bacteria was an agent of change in a person's life.  Once infected you left your family and friends and you had to depend on others for help.  The disease is not particularly contagious but can be spread by contact with the skin or a cough but this is exceedingly rare.  It is related to the tuberculosis bacteria which also was endemic during the period.  Leprosy is thought of a skin disease but it is more of a disease of the nerves.  The bacillus attacks the nerves and destroys the patient's ability to feel pain.  One modern leper, Father Damien who served the lepers in Hawaii discovered that he had contracted the disease when by accident he stepped into a pot of boiling water and felt no pain.  The disease does not kill, it just disfigures and desensitizes. 

So, in the time of Jesus, lepers were shunned.  They were to keep away from the population and stay with their own kind. Should a leper see a group of people approaching he was to ring a bell to catch the attention of the people and yell, "Unclean, Unclean!" so that the walkers could make their way around them.  They were shunned too because their affliction was seen to be a punishment from God for sins that they had committed. So in our reading today a couple of things jump out.  First, this leper disobeyed the first rule of being a leper, he approached a crowd of "clean" people. Jesus too broke a rule, he touched the leper, technically making himself unclean until sundown.  But Jesus was known to not always follow the common every-day rules.  The leper, displaying his faith in Jesus says that if Jesus' wills it then the leper could be cured.  Jesus, using the faith of the man, said that He did will it and the leper was cured on the spot. 

Sin is an awful lot like leprosy.  It starts small and can grow until it affects the whole person. It also resembles leprosy in that as it takes hold, we become less sensitive to the consequences of our actions until we develop a full blown infection and we walk away from God.  It may take some time before we realize what we have done to ourselves and how injured we really are.  When we do realize that we are infected, that we are unclean, we can always turn to the Lord and He will cure us of our ills. 

We Catholics are very fortunate indeed.  We have a sacrament where we can be absolutely and positively certain that our confessed sins have been forgiven by the Lord and His Church.  It is a shame that so many fail to take advantage of this Sacrament that the Protestants neither have nor do they understand.  In the Sacrament of Confession or Reconciliation, as it is also called, we experience first hand the mercy and love of Jesus as He, through his minister, welcomes us home.  When the priest extends his hand and utters the words of absolution no magic takes place, only healing and forgiveness.  Take a moment and ask yourself why you are so reluctant to go to confession?   If the last time you went was twenty years ago, so what!  The Gospel does not say how long the Prodigal Son was away from home, it only states that he came home and his father threw him a welcome home party.  Jesus already knows your sins, whatever you confess will not be a surprise to Him.  What confession does is it allows you to honestly look at yourself and to get the help that you need to live a happier life here on earth and to become closer to the Lord so that you can live with Him forever in Heaven.  

Lent - Dodging The Stone Throwers

Monday's readings were about justice and judgment.  We have as our Old Testament story a tale that could have been ripped from today's Six O'clock News report.  Susanna was a beautiful girl. Two dirty old men, politicians who held the power of life and death over the people of Israel, fell madly in lust with her.  They waited until all of her servants had left the garden and the entered and closed the door so no one could see what was going on.  They then made her an offer that she could not refuse. They told her that she had to make horizontal hokey pokey with them or else they would accuse her of adultery, which of course, carried the death penalty.  She had been brought up to be a follower of the Law of Moses and she told them that she would rather die than to offend the Lord. Sure enough, they accused her of adultery and the crowd descended on her and was dragging her away to stone her.  Daniel yelled for them to stop and he said it was not right to execute a person without proof.  He proceeded to grill the two politicians, separately and got to the truth of the matter. The two old lecherous politicians got what the Law of Moses prescribed, they received the penalty they attempted to railroad Susanna into and were led away for execution.  

Our Gospel story is of the woman caught in adultery.  This woman was caught in the arms of her lover and righteous indignation infected the crowd.  I always thought it took two to play the game, so I wonder where the offending man was hiding.  Anyway, this all too human woman was being dragged out to meet the fate spelled out for those that committed this offense.  Those that were out to get Jesus saw a way to trap Him into saying something that they could use against Him.  They dragged the woman before Jesus and asked Him what should they do?  They pointed out that the Law of Moses specifies death to be the award for this offense.  

Now, Jesus was in a pickle here. If he said that she should be killed, He would have a hand in her death and all the talk about love, mercy, and forgiveness would sound like so much prattle. On the other hand, if He said to forgive her, well, then He is running counter to the Law of Moses and therefore would be proving Himself to be a charlatan and a fake. Jesus did not rush to judgment.  He bent down and started writing in the dust.  The suspense started to build.  His enemies thought that they had Him now!  He looked up from what he was doing and told them that the one that was without sin should cast the first stone.  He bent back down and continued scribbling in the dirt.  One by one, starting with the elders of the temple, they turned and walked away.    Soon, it was just Jesus and the woman, alone. He stood her up and asked her where her accusers went?  She told them they were all gone. Then Jesus smiled at the woman and told her to leave and to commit this sin no more.  He had given her the forgiveness of God.

What great parables these two stories are. In both we see the power of the law and the law being tempered by God's mercy. Susanna was saved because she put not offending God at the top of her list of things to do while the woman caught in adultery was saved from her sins by the direct action of the mercy of God.  Jesus did not gloss over her sin, rather, He made her confront it head on and deal with it but in the end, mercy triumphed over justice.

We live today in a time of mercy. Our Lord has announced through Sister Faustina that mercy is available to those that want it.  The gentle hand of God calls us to His side.  He wants us to tell Him what we need the most in our life. For me, I need His friendship and I need His forgiveness.  I am not the twenty-something kid that ran roughshod over his laws.  I grew a large crop of wild oats. As a Catholic, I have an opportunity to receive this forgiveness in the sacrament of confession. In this sacrament, we do not gloss over the symptoms of our illness.  We get straight to the point and through the priest acting in persona Christi, we receive the forgiveness of God and of His Church. 

If you haven't been to confession recently, think about going before we celebrate the joyous feast of Easter. If you go to confession often, make this one special. Pretend that you haven't been to confession in a while and spend some time making a full examination of your conscience.  Bring it all to Jesus.  Lay the burden down, it is too heavy for you to carry. Remember, today is the day of mercy. I do not mean to scare you but when Jesus comes, he will bring justice with Him.  

Better mercy today than justice tomorrow. 

Hate - Why it is No Good For You

This is a true story. My mother was a simple soul. She did have a habit of analyzing people a bit too much and spent a lot of time looking for happiness to ambush her from the outside. I don't think that she ever learned  that happiness radiates from the inside of a person, that it is a seed that needs careful nurturing and by taking care of it a life takes on a glow that nothing from the outside of it will have permanent effect. She was love by myself and my three younger siblings and as we grew she taught us many lessons in life. For example, through the dark days of fourth grade where it seemed I was always in trouble with the teacher, she told me to no matter what, hold my head high and be proud of who I was. I just want to give you an idea of the beauty that was inside of the soul of my mother Violet.  

She worked as an assistant in a doctor's office and part of her compensation package was medical care. One day she showed a growth that was on her shoulder to the doctor she worked with. The doctor took a quick look and prescribed an anointment. My mother carefully followed the doctors instructions and after about six months there was no improvement. She went to visit the doctor whom she worked for previously who was in retirement and he took one look at the growth and diagnosed it as cancer. She went to another doctor who removed the growth and believed he had gotten it all. But several months later at a check up it was discovered that the cancer had metastasized to her lungs and that her condition was terminal. 

The chemo would prolong her life and she was referred to a well known surgeon in the Chicago area and he said she possibly could get more time if she would allow him to operate. Mom scheduled the operation. It was scheduled for early afternoon and it was with shock that when we arrived at the hospital we found Mom on a gurney being taken to surgery! We thought we would have had some precious time to talk with her and comfort her but a cancelled surgery meant that they could take her early.  We did get to make her feel loved as the attendant pushed her into the elevator and we began the waiting game. The surgeon eventually came into the waiting room a smile on his face saying that everything had gone good and he removed as much of the growth as he could and he estimated from what he could see that she might have a year, maybe a little more, to live.  We went into see her and she was on a respirator, but alert and able to communicate by writing on a board that the nurses provided her with.  I lived a fair distance from the hospital so the second day post-op I took the day off from visiting and went to work. The next day something had changed. Mom was no longer able to respond. If we put the pen into her hand she would try to write but the pen would slip from her hand. As the day went on she became less and less responsive until at 7:11 P.M. she passed away.

The next few days we did the needful and arranged a funeral mass at St. Joseph and St. Anne Church and laid our mother to rest.  At the wake I was introduced to her employer, the doctor that cared so little that she allowed what could have been a fixable issue to become a terminal one.  I looked at her and thought that, "This bitch killed my mother."  My heart filled with hate but I softly thanked the woman for coming to the wake. 

After all of the excitement of the wake, funeral, and the funeral luncheon there was nothing but time left. Time to mourn, time to remember the sharing of our lives with our mother. For me there was also time to hate. Now I have to say I would not in any way, shape, or manner physically hurt anyone. But mentally I killed that vile woman doctor many times. I slipped into depression but I did not recognize it for what it was. My symptoms included lethargy, lack of interest in things around me. I would read the same books over and over again and for six months I never once reconciled my checking account. 

I was working in a travel agency that was about fifteen miles from my home. I took a route through a beautiful tony suburb called Lake Forest. For months I hardly noticed the beauty of the trees. At one point I passed a Catholic Church. It was my habit to make the sign of the cross as I passed the church for brick and mortar could not separate me from the Love Incarnate in the form of Bread that was in the tabernacle. Then one day as I passed that Church and once again followed what in my mind had become an empty ritual, it came to me that as a Christian man,I could not hate, it was foreign to me. In that moment of what I believe was Christ sent inspiration I forgave that doctor, I granted her a full and complete pardon. At that moment a great weight was lifted off of my shoulders. My soul began to feel joyful again. Surely I still missed my mother, but I knew that she was with God. The other benefit I could claim from this encounter was that from that moment on I could not hate anyone else. I had forgiven my mother's killer, what could you do to me that would be worse that killing her?  

There have been disappointments in life, where friends have failed me in major ways but I could not hold anger or resentment to them. I just had to forgive! 

So the lesson I learned, taught to me by the hand of God through His Son is that hate for any reason is self defeating. It closed the universe around you. You develop myopia of the soul and risk wasting vast amounts of time seeking revenge.  This is all at great cost to your body and your soul. 

Is there anyone in your life that you need to forgive?  I don't mean you have to eat lunch with them and invite them to join you on vacation! No, I mean just the simple act of granting them mercy and absolving them from the real debt that they owe you. You don't have to tell them if you don't want to. If they are a close relative, you may approach them in time and begin to reconstruct your relationship but that is not necessary to forgive the hurt that was done to you. I can give you an absolute guaranty that if you do this in your heart you will awaken parts of your soul that go dormant when you carry hate in your heart.  Forgive and forget? I don't think that it is possible to forget an evil that is done to you. It is part of our survival skill set. But forgiving that person who hurt you the most will set you free to live and love in the paradise that God has given us. 

Remember well the prayer we say daily, the Lord's Prayer, the prayer given to us by Jesus Himself. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us..." Do you think he was kidding?  God is ready to forgive us every day we sin against Him. He will forgive us in the same measure that we have forgiven others. 

Thank you Pope Francis for declaring this the year of mercy. May we learn to be merciful to each other. 
    

Angels

Do you remember the TV series "Touched By An Angel?"  I was a big fan of that series.  If you never had the chance to watch it the show depicted four angels doing their work on earth at the behest of the Father.  It was a great show and it dealt with a lot of different human issues. The show included the angel of death. Angels are real.  We know this because they are mentioned in the Bible.  Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, was visited by an angel and it was then that she accepted the mission that God had planned for her.  She became the mother of Jesus, a person worthy of the greatest respect.  We also have an angel appearing to Jesus during His agony in the garden where he prayed the all too human prayer asking for the approaching suffering to be taken away. The angel was there, says Jim Bishop in his wonderful book "The Day Christ Died" to offer comfort and to confirm to Jesus that he had to undergo the coming trials. Angels are mentioned in the Book of Revelation. They are the constant servants of God. The a Seraphim are the closest to God, they guard the throne of God. They burn with love for God. 

Angels are superior to us in every way yet there are two classes of angels. The good angels and the evil angels. At one time there was only one class of angels and all served God.  The brightest among these was Lucifer. He was so puffed up with his greatness that he fermented a rebellion in heaven.  He fought against the angels who were loyal to God and lost. The leader that threw Lucifer down to hell was the Archangel Michael, the strongest warrior in heaven. With Lucifer went all of the rebellious angels who form the cadre of devils and they will remain in hell forever.  They proudly proclaim that it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. They spend their time tempting us to sin.  They want nothing more than the ruin of our soul so we can join them in eternal darkness, grief, and punishment. 

God has made provision for each of us in the form of a personal angel called our guardian angel. Our guardian angel is there and tries to guide us in the path of right but he is not allowed to interfere with our God given free will. Mother Angelica relates her encounter with her guardian angel when she was young.  A truck was heading right for her. She was unable to get out of the way. She closed her eyes and when she opened them she was out of harms way on the side of the road, safe.  She did not walk herself, she gave credit to her guardian angel. 

The website I clipped the above from included a long prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.  We Catholics are more familiar with with the shorter version: 

Angels and especially guardian angels are just another way that God shows His care and his love for us.  

Christmas Wish

Tony stirred restlessly in his bed. He glanced to the right and looked out of the window in his room.  The snow was still coming down, this was surely going to be a white Christmas. His brothers all had sent letters to Santa, although they knew that Santa was the man known as Dad.  Tony did not submit a list this year.  He longed for peace, he longed for quiet, he longed for rest. He wanted to go home for Christmas. None of these things could be delivered by Santa or even that most powerful man in his life, Dad.  

He stared out the window and found joy in the white snowflakes that were hitting his window. Tomorrow was Christmas day.  He remembered last year. He had joined the other kids in presenting a Christmas Play, he proudly played Joseph. He smiled as he remembered how he had spent hours mastering the dialogue.  How he recited it for Mom and Dad over and over again until he had it perfect.  He was nervous that night but Dad came over and put his hand on his shoulder and told him that he knew he could pull this off. And he did! Ms. McMahn, his teacher, told him that he was the best Joseph she had ever had in her Christmas play. The crowd applauded all of the players but when he was introduced the audience got to their feet and gave him a standing ovation. There was no way he could bow since he was confined to a wheel chair but he bowed his head in humble acceptance of the crowds acclimation of his performance.  A tear formed in the corner of his eye as he remembered that most happy of his life. He wiped the tear away and once again turned his attention to the window.

The snow was hitting the window and the lights from the street were changing the water drops into a colorful display of red, green, orange, and white.  He closed his eyes and with thought of the beautiful display of colors on the window he fell into a deep, deep sleep,  Not long after he closed his eyes he saw a beautiful vision, a land filled with light and colors. He slowly looked around and he knew the people that were standing in front of him even though he had never seen them before. They were all smiling. Young people, old people, boys and girls, all had a look of joy and peace on their face. He began walking forward, yes walking, the wheel chair was left behind.  As he got closer he saw everyone was smiling at him and then a great noise thundered as all of the people applauded for him.  A cheer rang out.  He began running toward the people and a very gentle looking man stepped in front of the crowd and Tony did the only thing he could think of, he leaped into the man's arms.  The man held him in his strong but gentle arms and whispered to him, "My name is Jesus, welcome home."  Tony was home for Christmas.

I felt compelled to write this short story, call it an inspiration but I believe someone out there needs to read this story which is designed to bring comfort.  God bless all of you this day.  Please remember to pray for all those who are going home to heaven this day. Pray that they feel the warm embrace of the Lord and that they are not afraid.  And for those who are losing a beloved mother, father or son, or daughter, remember we are made for heaven and those that we love will greet us there someday.