You Gotta Be Kidding !

1 THES 5:16-24

Brothers and sisters:                                             
                 
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.
In all circumstances give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophetic utterances.
Test everything; retain what is good.
Refrain from every kind of evil.
May the God of peace make you perfectly holy
and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body,
be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who calls you is faithful,
and he will also accomplish it.


I always thought of Paul as a level-headed, clear thinking, man of God.  He usually has a lot of wise things to tell us that are for our own good.  But here, he tells us to do two things that I think are kind of difficult to do.  

REJOICE ALWAYS.
Paul tells us to rejoice always.  How can he expect a person to do that when life comes at you from every direction at once sometimes?  For me, I go back to 2008.  In the space of a couple of months, I lost my father to COPD or as I call it RJ Reynolds Disease. Then my car decided to commit suicide and drop its transmission and the very next day, I was laid off from my job. I can tell you with great certainty that I was not in the mood to rejoice. There was rent to be paid, car payments to make, Uncle MasterCard and Visa wanted their money so, no, I did not say after losing my job, "Thank you, Lord Jesus, for putting me in this position!."  But if I was spiritually more mature  I would have found it in me to remember that all things will work together for my good. As it turned out, the rent got paid, as did the car payment and I found a new job in only a couple of months during a huge recession.  

Corrie Ten-Boom, a Dutch lady living in Amsterdam during World War II was sent to the notorious Ravensbruk concentration camp for hiding Jews from the Nazis.  She and her sister, who died in the camp, would hold prayer meetings in the barracks. If they were caught they would be punished, almost certainly they would have been executed.  But not one SS man ever came into the barracks.  So Corie and her sister thanked God for this but they did not know why.  They found out it was because the barrack was infested with fleas.  The SS men did not want to become a host for the fleas.  Corrie told this to her sister and she immediately thanked God for the fleas!  

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.
Alright, is this even possible? Imagine this scenario. You are an air traffic controller and it is the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and traffic is very heavy, in fact, it is a record-breaking day!  Do you, in obedience to this call from scripture, close your eyes every so often and pray?  With fifty planes all converging at the airport all at once, each of them going almost as fast as bullet, if you close your eyes and prayed, chances are that a couple of those planes would attempt to occupy the same space and would fall from the sky, easing your burden, to be sure, but somewhat detrimental to the well-being of the people riding on those planes. So, I do not think that I would want an air traffic controller to pray without ceasing.  Or would I? It is possible to pray without ceasing and still get your work done.  You can start your day by offering all of your work to God through the recitation of the Morning Offering.  Here is an example.

O Jesus,through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,I offer You my prayers, works,joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart,in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,in thanksgiving for your favors,in reparation for my sins,for the intentions of all my relatives and friends,and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen.

If you say this prayer in the morning you make the work you do, the thoughts you think, everything that comes your way a prayer so in effect you are praying without ceasing just by being you and doing what it is you do so well.  

An aside here, if you want to know more about Corrie Ten Boom, there are many articles on the internet about her.  I recommend this website.  (click here)

The Poor Souls in Purgatory Rejoice in the Lord Always and Pray Unceasingly but they need your help to shorten their time in Purgatory - please pray for the poor souls today. 

REMEMBER WHERE THEY ARE, YOU MAY SOMEDAY BE

Don't Fall Asleep At The Wheel

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy  

from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."

The human mind needs sleep.  Your brain will tell you when it has had enough.  You will lose your edge, you may daydream a bit and you just will not be alert.  

I had a job once working third shift, midnight to nine in the morning. Working third shift is not for sissies, I can tell you that.  During the day you are trying to sleep while the world works. Where I lived the noises of everyday life included gardeners with lawn mowers and leaf blowers doing their work almost every day of the week. This coupled with the sun which does not change its schedule for you does make sleeping a challenge.  If you were to have seen me during those nine months that I endured the torture, you would have seen a man who needed some real sleep.  Once. after my shift, I picked up my wife and we went to our favorite restaurant.  On the way there we encountered a stop light.  I stopped the car.  My brain which was in driving mode said, "Oh good, we've stopped."  I promptly fell asleep and my foot slipped off of the brake and we began to creep through the intersection.  I felt the motion and immediately awoke from my three-second slumber and re-applied the brake.  I was now awake, but only slightly alert.  We got to the restaurant safely and I had scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and toast and four cups of coffee, black, to fortify myself to drive me and my wife back home. 

When we take on too much activity and do not get the rest we need we get drowsy.  It's nature's way of saying that something is wrong. Today Jesus tells us to not allow the cares of the world make us drowsy because we must stay alert and be ready the return of the Lord.   If we allow ourselves to fall into the traps that the world sets for us and we get all wrapped up in attaining temporal things, we will lose our focus on the kingdom of heaven and we will become drowsy when it comes to our salvation and will not ready for Jesus to return. 

This must be an important concept because Jesus returns to it several times in the Gospel accounts.  So, for this first week of advent let our watchwords be "Be sober and alert Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

Please remember to pray for your dear departed friends and relatives who may be at this very moment in Purgatory.  You can help them by prayer and sacrifice for them.  It takes about fifteen minutes to pray the rosary for them and you are going to Mass and communion anyway, can't you offer these things for their good?

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.

Jesus and the Lottery

"Amen, amen, I say to you,

whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,

and will do greater ones than these,

because I am going to the Father. 

And whatever you ask in my name, I will do,

so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 

If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it."

Dear Lord, I want a winning lottery ticket, in Jesus name, I pray, Amen.  Well, it's off to the Shell station on the corner to buy my guaranteed "in Jesus Name" winning lottery ticket!  Man, am I going to have fun with all those greenbacks!  Or, have I set myself up for failure?   

Now, there is no reason why Jesus cannot grant me a winning lottery ticket. He knows me.  He knows how I think and what I would do with all of that money. If it is His will, it will happen.  But, it is foolish to pray for something so temporary as little green pieces of paper. The Lord knows what will help us achieve our goal, and that is heaven. 

Prayer is a privilege that we have by virtue of being created by God.  Christian prayer is a privilege that comes to us when we are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus.  We have a twenty-four hour a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year hotline to God, a phone that will never go unanswered.  How sad it is that we do not take more advantage of this wonderful thing. 

It is through prayer that we will get to know Jesus and to cultivate a relationship with Him.  At any moment we can ASK, SEEK, & KNOCK.  We can always be assured that we will get what we ask for. It may not be a winning lottery ticket.  We have to remember that when we pray we are asking God, "Do you love me?"  His answer, no matter what it is, no matter what form it takes is always, "Yes, I love you, and you are precious in my sight.  I love you more than you can imagine. I want you to be with me forever in Paradise."  He will give us what we need when we need it for that is what a loving Father does for His children. 

  

Reconciliation With God and Man -

I went to confession this last Wednesday. 
My spirit always feels so much better and I feel so much more alive once experience this great gift of God's love for us. This sacrament seems to have fallen out of favor for some of my fellow Catholics and I feel sorry for them because they don't know what they are missing.  There are all sorts of reasons people do not go.  Let's talk about some of them and see how they stack up.

"I go straight to Jesus for forgiveness, I don't have to tell a priest my sins. Jesus forgives me." 

On the surface this sounds real good and is very convincing but it is not what Jesus has in mind for his followers. How do we know this? First of all Jesus gave the power to the Apostles to forgive sin. He said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me...and later "As the Father has sent me even so I send you, And when he said this he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any they are retained. (John 20: 21-23) We also read in Matthew, "Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matt 18:18) 

That we are to confess verbally is clearly implied because how were the Apostles to know which sins they were going to forgive or not forgive unless they were told about them? 

What advantages are there in confessing aloud to a priest? The following has been harvested from an article on Catholic Answers. Click the link to read the whole article (LINK) 

1. First he seeks forgiveness the way Christ intended. 
2. By confessing to a priest, the Catholic learns a lesson in humility, which is avoided when one confesses through private prayer.
3. The Catholic receives sacramental graces that the non-Catholic does not get - through the sacrament of penance sins are forgiven and the graces are obtained. 
4.  The Catholic is assured his sins are forgiven and he does not have to rely on a subjective feeling.
5.  The Catholic can receive sound advice in avoiding sin in the future.

This assurance that I have been forgiven by God AND his Church which encompasses all believers, both those in full communion with the Church, my fellow Catholics and those brothers and sisters that are either not in communion with the Church but are brothers and sisters because of our common brother in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our savior. 

Some Catholics have not been to confession in years. Some not for 5, 10, 20 or even 30 years or longer. Being away from this great sacrament for so long causes a person to be greatly afraid as to what will happen to them if they tell a priest they have been away for so long. They envision hearing a gasp of horror from the priest and imagine hearing a long demeaning lecture.  

NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!!  

Don't you remember what scripture says that there is more rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents than over 99 that did not have to repent?  Be honest with the priest, tell him how long you have been away, don't remember what to say? Father will help you. He will make it as easy for you as possible. The first step is yours. You have to go into that confession room, you have to take the first step.  After that it gets easy. The Holy Spirit brought you to this place, God already knows all of your sins, all you have to do is to face up to them and to confess them, be sorry for them, and try your best not to commit them again.  Don't be afraid, the Grace of God awaits you in confession. Take advantage of it. 

God bless you today and as we prepare to enter into Holy Week, remember God loves you more than you can imagine. He loves you just as you are and wants you to take advantage of the sacrament of confession and become closer and closer and closer to Him.  Peace!