Some Assembly Required

Jesus said to his disciples:

"To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,

pray for those who mistreat you.

To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful. "Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."

I really pity those of us that seem to think that all they have to do to attain heaven is to believe in the Lord Jesus and accept Him as your lord and savior and once you do that, you are absolutely assured, one hundred and ten percent that you will go to heaven and nothing that you can do can prevent it.  Now, that is a convenient and comforting way to think.  It goes well with the American Dream, everyone can succeed.  But, it does not take into account the things that Jesus tells us that we have to do that are listed in the today's reading. If it were that easy to get to heaven, would it be worth it?  We want to be happy forever but how can we do that unless we attain the attributes of the landlord?  Think, please, what God puts up with from us.  He takes all sorts of abuse, insults, we go against His will and through it all He is forever ready to take us back, to make us once again adopted children in His household.  If someone, a good lifelong friend came up to you and told you to procreate yourself, then he spat on you, kicked a dent into the door of your car and stole food off of your table, slapped your wife and kicked your dog what would be your reaction?  The fight would be on because no one was going to treat you like that! Now, think of the last time you committed a sin.  Let's say you used God's name in vain.  Insults traded by two humans will result in a fight.  When you insult God, and you repent, He takes you back without a fight, He loves you that much! 

What we have in our reading today are instructions on how children of God are expected to act. They are the instructions on how to build a Christian man or woman. It would do us no harm to become familiar with the way we are to act. It is not that hard to understand. We are to be loving, generous and forgiving as our Father in heaven is to us. This is not a suggestion, it is how we are expected to represent the Christian life to others.  Accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior is a fine, holy, first step.  But that is all that it is the first step.  Without the actions to back up our beliefs, we are no better than any other group and perhaps even worse than some because through the wisdom of God we know better. 

Pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory

Was Paul Against Marriage?

Brothers and sisters:

In regard to virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord,

bbutI give my opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. So this is what I think best because of the present distress: that it is a good thing for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation. Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife. If you marry, however, you do not sin, nor does an unmarried woman sin if she marries; but such people will experience affliction in their earthly life, and I would like to spare you that. I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping,  those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away.

I had my choice today between Corinthians and the Beatitudes.  I chose 1 Cor 7:25-31 because in order for this blog to be useful, it has to be relatively brief and there is no way I can be brief and reflect on the Beatitudes.  But, my task was made no easier because we have to get into the minds of the people of the time to understand more fully what Paul is telling them and how it can be of use to ourselves some two thousand years later. 

As it turns out, Paul is not counseling against marriage here, he is saying that you can marry if you want to, that there is no sin in that but you have to be ready to accept the afflictions that married life brings, with all of the cares and considerations that married people have to have.  He tells us that the world as we know it will soon pass away, that life is short and we should work for the kingdom as those not encumbered by the desires and needs of this life. 

Please remember our brothers and sisters in Purgatory.  Think not only of the mother, father, sisters, and brothers.  Think of them plus the untold millions of Protestant souls caught by Purgatory's net and they have no one to pray for them to shorten their time.  

Work, Work, Work!

After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon.
Simon's mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever,
and they interceded with him about her.
He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.
She got up immediately and waited on them.

At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases
brought them to him.
He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
And demons also came out from many, shouting, "You are the Son of God."
But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak
because they knew that he was the Christ.

At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.
The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him,
they tried to prevent him from leaving them.
But he said to them, "To the other towns also
I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God,
because for this purpose I have been sent."
And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

I've always liked this passage of Luke's Gospel because we are shown that being the Messiah was not a nine to five job. There were cures to be done, demons to be razed, and almost no time to even eat.  When Jesus went to a deserted place for a little bit of prayer time they hunted Him down and when He made to leave, they tried to stop Him.  He told them that other towns had to hear of the Gospel.  Then there was the walk to the next synagogue in the next town and He did it all over again, once again, not a minute to Himself.  But then He came to serve and not be served but the human in Him, we must remember He was every bit as human as you or I got tired and need rest.  He put rest off as long as He could and served the people He came to save. 

In our ministries, it may seem sometimes that one day of labor is running into another and another and still yet another and we put off rest as long as we can because we realize that we are here to serve and not be served.  But even Jesus took some time and prayed to His Father and He spent time with His mother and the relatives. For He was there for them just as He was there for the strangers in beautiful downtown Nazareth.   Do not become so busy in your ministry that you forget your family, as a matter of fact, if you are a mother or father, your children and their growth in the Lord is your very first ministry.  Do not leave the kids behind show them the love you have for them and then show them how to share that love with others. 

Our poor souls in Purgatory need your help.  Please pray for them today. 

They KNEW Him !

He went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue, there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,  and he cried out in a loud voice, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!" Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"

Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. They were all amazed and said to one another, "What is there about his word? For with authority and power he and commands  the unclean spirits, and they come out." And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.

They knew exactly who Jesus was and they shouted His name and His mission out for all to hear.  Jesus silenced the demon and cast him out of the poor unfortunate.   Look where this took place. It took place in the synagogue, a holy place where God was worshipped and the Law was taught and reverenced.  You would think that the synagogue, a space dedicated to God, would be a place where a demon would not want to go. 

It appears that demons sometimes enter holy places.  They may not be comfortable there but they do enter.  They may even proclaim that Jesus is Lord, for it is written that every knee shall bend and every tongue will proclaim this, but in this case, God silenced the demon and then cast it out.  

Today our Church is reeling from revelations of unholy actions that have taken place over the years and the cover-up of the actions by higher placed clergy.  Jesus will empower those of His choosing to cleanse the Church of those that have used their power for unholy reasons.  They will be cast out of the Bride of Christ to watch from the outside and not one of them shall escape detection.  

We have to be ready for more revelations of evil being done inside the closed doors of our Church.  There are bound to be more with more people guilty of sins of the flesh against those that they should have protected and more men being found lacking because out of some sense of misplaced loyalty they moved the criminal from parish to parish and became the hand that allowed more violation to occur. 

These misguided men knew Jesus, they knew who He is, they knew of His Power and Glory and they proclaimed Him to the world.  They all will be forgiven if they repent of their misdeeds but they are no longer fit to teach and preach the Word of God, they have given up that right because of the harm they have caused to the innocents that were in their care and must either step out of the way or be cast out.  No matter what, the Catholic Church, the Bride of Christ, the only Church that has the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ inside her doors will survive and prosper.  Pray for peace in the Chruch, in the world and pray that those who have caused this evil take their place outside of the altar rail and living the balance of their lives in prayer and penance. 

Please remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory in your prayers today.

The Power of Weakness

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Power is a word that equates with strength. For example, in electricity, if a little boy comes at you while dragging his feet through the carpet upon grounding himself by touch you, you will receive an electric shock of about 12,000 volts but at a tiny fraction of an amp.  The amp can be likened to the pressure of the current.  The same little boy coming at you charged to 12,000 volts but somehow now at 2 amps and once again he grounds himself by touching you, well you will be toast.  

Paul is telling the people that he relied not on his own talents of persuasion, a tiny shock at milliamp, but rather relied on the Spirit of God in the simple words themselves to register in the minds and souls of his listeners. 

It is good for us to remember that God does not depend on us having huge pools of talent to draw from.  No, He takes the weakest among us and uses the weakness to demonstrate His strength! 

So, never be afraid of sharing the Word of God. What you say, your simple words will be charged with the power of the Spirit. Your voice will ring out with the Truth that God wants the world to hear and yes, He may use even you, as weak as you are, with a stumbling tongue and a weak mind, to display His greatness.  Be ready at any time to share the Gospel with another.  Listen for the promptings of God and His Spirit. 

Please remember the poor souls in purgatory in your prayers today. 

Hear and Do, Here and Now.

Dearest brothers and sisters: All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change. He willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

We can spend a lot of time immersed in the Bible, we can study and become fluent in the language of love that we find there. We can become apologists that can debate a Bible Thumper into tears and into a corner but if we do not take the knowledge that we have about salvation and put it into practice, well, it becomes just so much noise and the universe has all of the noise that it needs. 

If we have to push a brother or sister in need out of the way in order to get into the church to pray, then what good is our entrance into the holy place going to do us and will God be listening to us or will He be listening to those that in need that we trampled  over in our haste to prove our love? 

God listens to the prayers of widows and orphans and that is good news for us. Sooner or later we all will be a widow, widower, or orphan. Those that we love will be called home and once we lose both our mother and our father to death, well then, we are orphans.  Once our spouse proves their mortality, well, we are then widows or widowers.  If this is the case then hopefully we will receive help in our need from those not inflicted as yet.  When we care for the widow or orphan, we can do so in anticipation of ourselves becoming needy at some point in time.   

Learning of Jesus and accepting Him as your life partner is an important step on the way to salvation.  The first step on the road to heaven is to accept the Lord Jesus as your personal savior.  Our Protestant brothers and sisters have got that part right.  What they do is they mark that day as the moment of time when salvation and heaven is no longer a gift but a right that cannot be revoked by any action that they take in life.  Be saved on Monday, murder on Tuesday, and if you die on Wednesday go directly to heaven.  Does that make any sense at all?   I am not picking on the Protestants.  The vast majority are good, Godly, faith-filled people who are doers of the word and examples to us faith-filled Catholics of what we are called to do by virtue of our Baptism into the family of God. 

Become learned in the Scripture because ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.  But what you learn in your studies, do not place on the shelve like a trophy where it will gather dust, don't just love the Word of God, live it through your actions and be not just a hearer but be a doer as well. 

Remember to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory. 

Talents and The Mercy of God

Jesus told his disciples this parable: 

"A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one– to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master's money.

After a long time, the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.' Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, 'Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.' 

Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, 'Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.'His master said to him in reply, 'You wicked, lazy servant!

So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'"

A talent was not what we would call a small amount of money. It was a huge amount, more than the vast majority would be able to earn in two lifetimes. So, when the master decides to go on a journey he makes the further decision that he will entrust to his servants some of his treasure so that while he is gone it won't just be sitting there gathering dust. Each of them was bestowed based on the master's perception of the talent that he believed that the servant possessed. He goes on his extended trip and when he returns he settles accounts with his servants. He congratulates the first two because they doubled his money but the third, who was not very bright in public relations first blames the master for being a harsh man that would punish people who would lose or despoil his property. Fearing for his health, this servant just put the treasure in a safe place and returned it to the master once he returned.. The master got his stuff back and nothing more. The master was upset and after giving the treasure to the first servant he threw the third servant out in the cold where he assumed a life of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

There is more to this story than meets the eye. The master is, of course, God who is rich in mercy and He bestows it to His Children. We are to go out into the world and extend mercy to others. If we do this, we please the Master who will have even more mercy on us. If we, as the wicked servant accept the mercy of God and do not share and give it away, then the mercy God has bestowed on us will be taken away and we will be cut off, thrown out into the cold where we will weep and gnash our teeth. What? No teeth you say, worry not, teeth will be provided!

What we receive from God cannot be kept for our own us alone, it has to be given away so that it will bear fruit. When we do this more will be given to us and we will please the Lord by sharing with even more of His Children.

Please remember the poor souls in Purgatory. Every Saturday I will be listing the names of some people who have recently died. Please pray for them. I do not claim any knowledge as to if they are in Purgatory or not. If they are there, the prayers will benefit them. If not, your prayers will benefit another poor soul. Thank you!