Don't Mess With Gabriel !

Do not be afraid, Zechariah,
because your prayer has been heard. 
Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
and you shall name him John. 
And you will have joy and gladness,
and many will rejoice at his birth,
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. 
He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. 
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous,                to prepare a people fit for the Lord."  Then Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I know this?  For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years."  And the angel said to him in reply, "I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, which will be fulfilled at their proper time." Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was gesturing to them but remained mute. Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home. 

Zechariah was of the priestly family and as such he was entitled, once in his lifetime, to enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem and to polish the huge bunch of grapes cast in gold that adorned the holiest place in the ancient world.  It was a task that would have filled him with awe and reverence and great joy.  The Holy of Holies was where God dwelled and he could be no closer to God than there.  As it happened his work was interrupted by Gabriel who was sent by God to announce to the elder priest that he and his older wife were now to have a child who would be the Elijah, the precursor for the Messiah that everyone was waiting for.  Instead of just saying, "Amen and okey-dokey" he questioned Gabriel, telling him, "Gabe, I am an old man and my wife is past childbearing years..."  Gabriel did not take kindly to his questioning so Zechariah was struck mute until after the child was born.  The angel left, Zechariah finished his work and came out of the Holy of Holies.  The people waiting for him were astonished at how long he was in there.   I guess the rules were, "In and Out." and to be as quick as you could.  They asked him, "Hey Zech, what gives, why did you take so long?"  But of course, he could not answer.  While his fellow priests did not know what happened, they knew it was something unusual, to say the least.  Zechariah, his work finished, went home and found that his wife was indeed now expecting a child.  He must have been astounded at the turn of events in his life but he was still unable to speak.  Don't mess with Gabriel! 

We humans often forget that God is not bound by the barriers of time and space.  He lives in all times and places, past, present, and future all at the same time. For God, those things we would consider impossible remain very possible for God.  As daughters and sons of the God of the universe, we should remember this in our daily life.  We can pray for a miracle if we need one and if this miracle will serve to help us make it to heaven, then it will be granted.  On the other hand, sometimes the miracle is that we receive the grace to accept the will of God as it has been shown to us.  One way or another you will always receive when you ask with a humble heart, but you have to be ready to accept what is given.  Open your heart to the wisdom of God and He will overfill it with the grace to be a faithful son or daughter, worthy of and destined to be a saint in heaven.  That is why we have this time on earth and why our Father will always help in the way that best serves his desire for us which is Heaven.  

As we clean and decorate our houses to receive the Christ Child, we should remember the poor souls in Purgatory.  We can play a big part in their early release.  Say this prayer, the prayer of St. Gertrude the Great for the holy souls.  Jesus promised her that every time this prayer is devoutly recited that one-thousand souls would be released from Purgatory.  Say this prayer today and rescue and make one-thousand eternal friends! 

“Eternal Father,
I offer You the most precious blood   
of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen

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

Elijah and John - Prophets of Israel

In those days,                                                                                
like a fire there appeared the prophet, Elijah
whose words were like a flaming furnace.
Their staff of bread he shattered,
in his zeal he reduced them to straits;
By the Lord's word he shut up the heavens
and three times brought down fire.
How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!
Whose glory is equal to yours?
You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,
in a chariot with fiery horses.
You were destined, it is written, in time to come
to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD,
To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,
and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.
Blessed is he who shall have seen you and who falls asleep in your friendship.(Sirach 4:8- 1-4, 9-11)

As they were coming down from the mountain,
the disciples asked Jesus,
"Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"
He said in reply, "Elijah will indeed come and restore all things;
but I tell you that Elijah has already come,
and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. 
So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands."
Then the disciples understood
that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
(Matthew 17: 9A, 10-13)

The readings today speak of two of the greatest prophets of all time. Elijah and St. John the Baptist.  Elijah lived during the twelfth century B.C. during the reigns of King Ahab, Queen Jezebel, and King Ahaziah of Israel.  He has had his hands full because the Israelites were undergoing one of their periodic movements away from Yahweh and His Laws and turning to worship idols and false gods. He called the people back to God.  He warned them that they were not going to be happy if they failed to return to God. And as he predicted a drought afflicted the land.  For three years not a drop of rain fell. There was, as he predicted, misery throughout the land.  During this time Elijah was fed by ravens!  Jezebel, who was not an Israelite, did not follow the Hebrew religion of her husband Ahab but rather moaned and groaned and nagged until Abab built a temple to her god, Baal.  Elijah decided to have it out with Jezebel and her false god once and for all.  He challenged the priests of Baal to a contest between Baal and Yahweh.  They would build two altars and the god who was real would reveal himself by consuming an offering put there for him.  It kind of was like the Olympic Games of the gods.  The holocaust was prepared for both contestants and the games began. The priests of Baal started chanting and dancing to no avail.  Elijah was a rooting section for them and encouraged them by telling them to chant louder because perhaps Baal was sleeping.  They were less than appreciative of this help and they started cutting themselves to show their devotion to Baal, still, nothing happened to the sacrifice on the altar dedicated to Baal.  After a while, exhausted, they gave up.  Now it was Elijah's turn.  The sacrifice was placed on the altar amongst straw.  Elijah called for the sacrifice to be drenched in water and it was.  The straw was really, really wet.  There would be no way that the sacrifice would be burned up with all of that wet straw on the altar.  The priests of Baal were very confident that Elijah would fail.  Elijah raised his eyes to heaven, uttered a brief prayer and boom, the sacrifice was burned up into nothing in a brief second.  The priests of Baal were astounded and the king ordered them to be taken away and executed for it was proven that they worshipped a false god.  

Sometime after this, his work amongst the people of Israel being done, Elijah was taken away in a fiery chariot and he left his mantle for Elisha who took over the job of being the Prophet of Yahweh. 

We are all familiar with the story of John the Baptist. He was the cousin of Jesus but it was quite probable that they did not know each other and only met one another when Jesus was baptized at the Jordan.  John was a man who brooked no nonsense. When King Herod indulged in adultery, John called him on it and let it be known what a jerk the king and his wife were for violating God's law.  Herod held a grudging respect for John and was loathe to do anything to him and turned a deaf ear to his preaching and condemnation.  But Herodias who actually was the wife of Herod's half-brother was ticked off to no end.  To keep peace in the house, Herod had John arrested and placed in jail.  This did not keep peace in the house at all.  Now John could be heard day and night condemning the king and his concubine.  At a party, the daughter of Herodias did a dance for the king that left him with his tongue hanging out and he rashly promised her a reward of up to half of his kingdom.  I guess he could not hold his liquor very well.  The daughter went to her mother and asked her advice as to what she should ask for, a trunk filled with gold perhaps?  Her own palace?  No, her mother said, none of these things.  She told her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter.  She went back to the king and delivered her demands.  He tried to talk her out of it but she insisted.  Since this had been done in front of all of his friends, he would appear to be weak if he did not fulfill his promise to the young slut.  Painfully, he dispatched a guard and John was beheaded and the head was brought to the daughter who brought it to her mother.  (Yuck!) 

These two men were both prophets of God.  They each displayed courage and fortitude and preached the truth of God caring not whom it might offend. They both took on the mighty and powerful in each of their times and in doing so prepared the way for the Messiah to come.  In this season of Advent, we can do one of two things with the time.  We can wait silently or we can become prophets in our own neighborhood.  We can make sure that the reason for the season is made known and that it is the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, who came into the world to save us from our sins.  The lights, the presents, the parties are all well and good but we need to make sure that we do not lose sight of why this feast if called Christmas which could be translated as Christ's mass.  Bring Christ to someone today and every day between now and Christmas.  Belay the happy holiday greetings and give out a hearty Merry Christmas.  Each time you say this it is like you are delivering a little sermon.  Jesus is coming and He is coming for me and for you.  Merry Christmas!  

I wonder if the poor souls in Purgatory celebrate Christmas?  I am sure that their love for Christ manifests itself of this day in a major way.  Please remember to pray for them.  They WILL remember those who pray for them and they WILL help you on the day you need it most.  Remember too:  As they are now, perhaps someday you shall be. 

Could Anything Be More Clear?

Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer,                                  

the Holy One of Israel:
I, the LORD, your God,
teach you what is for your good,
and lead you on the way you should go.
If you would hearken to my commandments,
your prosperity would be like a river,
and your vindication like the waves of the sea;
Your descendants would be like the sand,
and those born of your stock like its grains,
Their name never cut off
or blotted out from my presence.
(Isiah 48:17-19) 

I do not know how much clearer God could have made it for the Israelites in the days of Isiah. The Lord says, "I will teach you what you need to know and if you listen, things will be great"  They had the commandments, they had prophets, they had their history of showing what God could do and yet they strayed from the path and disaster followed.  What more could God do or say to these stiff-necked people? 

The words of Isiah echo down to us through history.  What more could God do for us than he already has?  We have the commandments, we have had prophets and our history of seeing first hand what God can do and yet we strayed from the path that God showed us, even after He sent His only Son to die for our sins.  What more could God do to this stiff-necked people?

Why do we turn away so often and run from the arms of our loving God?  I do not understand why we do it.  The United States was founded by men who knew their place in the cosmos. Most of the founding fathers honored and worshipped God.  Our motto is, "In God We Trust" but we have legislated Him out of our public life. Our former president, Obama, did what he could to chip away at our religious rights and made it a rule of law that we had to violate our consciences and provide abortion and birth control as a matter of inalienable right in spite of religious convictions to the contrary. 

In this season of Advent, as we close in on the feast of God coming to earth, let us pray for one another.  Let us pray for our country that the United States returns to the realization that God has indeed blessed America.  Let us remember that it is His blessing to give or withhold.  Pray that God continues to bless us and that His grace returns us to His family.

Poor Souls - Pray for them today. 

A Great Promise

I am the LORD, your God, who grasp your right hand; It is I who say to you, 

"Fear not, I will help you."

How can we fail when we have a friend such as this.  The God of the universe loves us so much that He watches and will grasp us with His right hand and will keep us from harm.  He tells us in this reading from Isiah that we are to fear not for He will help us. 

Look around the world today.  If there ever was a time when we needed the strong right hand of God to grasp us and pull us out of the pit it is today. Mind you, the world is still a very beautiful place.  There are abundance and plenty all around us. The sun rises and sets as it always has, the tides of the ocean are regulated by the moon. Plants take in the sunlight and grow and are nurtured by God's mighty hand and the animals of the forest find their food provided for them.  Yet, God in his love has done so much more for those of Adam's race.  Time and time again he has come to the aid of His children and all of us while at first grateful, later we fall away from His counsel, forget His laws, and we wander off on our own way again.  Does God turn His back as we would to one who offended us greatly? No, with infinite patience, care, and love He extends His hand in friendship ready to accept any and all that want to return to Him. 

In this season of Advent, I ask you to be cognizant of the state of your soul. Are you wandering down a path that will lead to your spiritual ruin?  Do not give the devil a victory by thinking you have not sinned.  This lie is the evil one's sharpest tool and one that is used to separate man from God. When was the last time you approached the Lord in the sacrament of reconciliation?  A year ago? Five years? A quarter of a century ago?  It does not matter how long it has been, make plans to receive the mercy and love of our God in the confessional.  He knows your sins already, you will not be telling Him anything He doesn't know.  But to heal you have to tell Him what you have done and apply for His forgiveness and mercy.  He has never rejected anyone who has come to Him in tears and sorrow, even if it took years and years to come to the realization that sin was present in life.

Forgiveness and healing are but steps away.  Show your love and faith in God by admitting your wrongs and resolving to do right.  Then the coming Christmas holy day will mean more to you than it did when you were a child because you will know the love and mercy of the God of the universe and He will grasp you with His strong right hand and never let you go again.  

Today would be a great day to say the rosary for the Poor Souls in Purgatory, it is the memorial of St. John of the Cross. Please remember the poor souls, they cannot pray themselves out of purgatory, they need your help.  Remember, my friend, as they are, perhaps someday you shall be. 

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."

And Mary said:

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior."

The visitation of Mary as  Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the events that make Mexicans so proud to be Mexicans.  Juan Diego symbolizes every Mexican that has ever lived.  Our Lady came to Juan and the people of Mexico as a woman with the skin tones of the local people. She chose Juan not because he was rich and powerful, no, he was neither of those things.  He was meek and poor.  She sent him on a mission to build a church in her honor, oddly enough, at a place where Aztec pagan worship had been held years before.  He went to the bishop and told him what had occurred.  The bishop, being rich, powerful, and proud, was having none of it and sent Juan Diego away.  When he returned again the bishop said that he would need proof that the Mother of Jesus had lowered herself to speak to a common peasant.  Juan went away and when he say Our Lady again she provided him with roses - it was December and roses didn't grow in winter.   He wrapped the roses up in his cloak and hurried off to give this proof to the bishop.  The bishop received him, probably just out of curiosity, and was astonished at the sight of fresh roses being given to him in the month of December!  He then looked in the cloak and there was the image of Our Lady imprinted in it.  Long story short, the bishop believed and the church was built.  Our Lady has served as a beacon for generations of Mexicans to come home to the Church and to Jesus.

Here are some little tidbits of information that you might find interesting.  (*)

• Analysis of the pigments that make up the image revealed that no animal or vegetable products make up the colors.
• There are no detectable brush strokes.
• The image has not faded over the years but remains as vibrant as the day it was first revealed. 
• Modern inspection of the image reveals the image of Juan Diego in the Virgin's eyes - an example of microprinting in an age where it did not exist. 
• An attempt to destroy the image 
• In 1921 an act of terrorism, 19 sticks of dynamite which destroyed things all around the cloak, including breaking windows in the church, left the tilma of Juan Diego and its precious image of Mary unhurt at all. 

Once again we see the economics of heaven at work.  Mary appeared not to the proud and powerful but to the meek and powerless. Through the Virgin of Guadalupe, God marked out the Americas as lands that were special to Him using the Mother of Jesus.  In all appearances of Mary on this earth, she comes to those who can do her the least amount of good and out of these lowly ones God is glorified and His message is sent to millions of people. 

It is said that Mary consoles the Poor Souls in Purgatory and she is their champion.  Please remember to pray for the Poor Souls today and every day. 

Economics of Heaven 101

Do not ignore this one fact, beloved,                                                     
that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years
and a thousand years like one day.
The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard "delay,"
but he is patient with you,
not wishing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,
and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar
and the elements will be dissolved by fire,
and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.



Since everything is to be dissolved in this way,
what sort of persons ought you to be,
conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion,
waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames
and the elements melted by fire.
But according to his promise
we await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you await these things,
be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.

There have been a lot of wise men and women in the Church that have taken 2 Peter's message to heart and lived a life where the economics of heaven is more important to them than the economics of earth. These fortunate people have a different view of the universe than most of us have. 

Let's take St. Francis of Assisi as an example.  He understood that the things of this world were temporary. He understood that he needed a certain amount of food and water and shelter in order to live and he spent as little of his life as possible in seeking this absolutely small amount.  Even the little bit that he allowed himself would be given away to someone who was in greater need of it.  On the other hand, Francis would not take a king's ransom in exchange for his relationship with Jesus.  He valued that more than anything that this world had to offer him.  St. Francis became St. Francis because he understood the value of things both temporal and eternal. 

In this letter, we are being reminded that what we see as delay on God's part, is not delay, but His patience with us.  He wants all of us to be with Him in heaven.  God wants all of us to understand a little better every day the economics of His Kingdom.  If everything that we have is going to end up as ashes, then why covet everything material so greatly?  This does not mean we have to eschew all of the things on this earth.  We are entitled to keep ourselves clothed, fed, warm, and dry but we are also called to do what we can to help others achieve their own basic comfort level as well. Is it okay for me to have an abundance while you have nothing?  Sometimes it is, especially if you have been given the chance to upgrade your circumstances through work and you have decided it was beneath you.  But, on those occasions where you are not at fault, you have every right to expect some assistance from those that have more. 

This can be a complicated subject but I think that I can break it down into one simple concept.  Share what you can with those that need it the most.  If you do this then your economics will not be found wanting when the Lord returns for us.  

 The souls in Purgatory need your help today. Please, pray for them.  Not everyone who dies goes directly to heaven, one or two of us might need some time to release the attachments to sin that we did not release fully on earth.  Death does not qualify you for heaven, holiness does.  Is it possible that as they are you might someday be?