Every Tear Will Be Wiped Away

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,

about those who have fallen asleep,

so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose,

so too will God, through Jesus,

bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 

Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord,

I have been present at both the deaths of my mother and my father.  They died eighteen years apart, my mother in nineteen-ninety and my father in two-thousand eight.  My mother died young, at age sixty-four and my father at eighty-seven years of age.  Both slipped from this world to the next without much trauma, they went peacefully.  In both cases, I cried but when my mother died I went into what I now know was depression.  My sorrow at the passing of my father was just as great as when my mother passed but I was older and was able to deal with it better.  Death will happen in all families.  Just as sure as there is a God that loves us, there is the certainty of death. 

I do not want to bust up your Sunday and bring you down to consider the ultimate facts of life and death.  I want to encourage you to remember that the death of one we loved is not an ending but rather it is a new beginning.  We are assured that we will meet those that we have loved in the afterlife and we will be together again. More than that, at the end of time, we will not be disembodied spirits but we will have our bodies back and they will no longer be subject to decay and disease. They will be resurrected bodies that will be recognizable as our own but endowed with miraculous powers.

Then there is where we will be. We cannot imagine what heaven will be like. It will be a place where love reigns and there will be no tears of sorrow ever again.  Sickness will be something that no longer exists.  The aches and pains we suffer today will forever be gone.  The light will forever be bright in heaven because it's source will be from the holiness of God.  The rich people of the planet earth live in great splendor here where rust and moth take their toll.  For us, there will be the mansion built by Jesus Himself for us and it will be grander and more beautiful than any dwelling place ever constructed on earth because it will be built just for us! 

Today, all around us, are people who are closer to death than we are.  Some are in hospital or hospice counting the days, hours, or minutes until their destiny is wrought.  Or they have received word from their doctor that there is nothing more to be done and that they should plan for the end.  There are those that are afraid and are holding on to what they know with grim determination and grasping at torturous medical procedures in the vain hope of prolonging their life.  There are those also who are but moments or even seconds away from their encounter with eternity and with God.  We have to pray for all of these people.  We have to pray that they are given the help they need to accept God's invitation to experience eternity to not hold foolishly to the things of time but to embrace the things of eternity.  Each of them is beloved by God and no matter what kind of life they have lived, they will all have a final chance to claim their birthright as a son or daughter of the Great King in that final moment.  For those who have lived their lives in a worthy manner who have loved God above all, the choice will be simple, sweet, joyful, and immediate. For those who are still attached to the world, who carry with them the burden of sin, forgiveness will there for the asking, but many will choose to remain mute before the great judge because their guilt, their sinfulness, their rejection of the graces that were sent them will be self-evident and they will move away from the light of Christ towards the everlasting darkness.  Others, who are aware that they are not yet ready to stand in heaven will choose to purify themselves in Purgatory.  There they will have the joy of knowing for certain that in the future they will experience the joy of heaven when they are cleansed of the effects of sin and from attachments to worldly things.  That joy will never be taken away from them.

So today, my friends, make it a point to pray for all of those among us who are at a point in their life where they approach a crossroads. Pray that all of them experience a peaceful and joyful death and that those among them that need to accept the final chance that God will give them.  It will be a tough choice to turn away from a life filled with hate for the Holy but it can be done.  And for our friends and relatives in Purgatory, pray for them too.  Remember, as they are, you might someday be. 

The Importance of Loyalty

No servant can serve two masters.  He will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Economics is not my field of expertise.  I do not pretend to know much about the stock market, the board of trade, or even how much gold there is in Fort Knox. Some say that money is just the way we keep score in the game of life. Perhaps this is true, but if it is then money is more than just a scorecard, it is something to be grasped at no matter what the personal cost.  It is in effect our master. 

As the people of God, we cannot allow money to be the master over us.  While it is necessary to use money in the world to attain what is necessary to sustain our lives and the lives of those that depend on us, it should not be the be-all and end-all of all of our work. Our loyalty should not be to money but should be to God.  

Okay, so we personally won't serve money as our god.  We see that we must serve God before man.  But look at the churches, especially the Catholic Church.  It is not exactly ready to send her curia to stand in line at the soup kitchen.  She seems to have a ton of money and between what our parish shares with the diocese and what the diocese shares with Rome there seems to be a lot of money floating around, more than many of the other denominations put together have on deposit.  Then they come at us once a year to donate to Peter's Pence to help the pope in his charitable works.  It seems that there is an awful lot of cash floating around.  And, how about the Vatican Bank?  It has a reputation for helping out people in need of dry cleaning services for their cash.   Where is the curia's loyalty?  So they serve their God or is their god money? 

The truth be told, the Vatican usually operates at a deficit.  For example in 2015 the revenue received was 315 million Euros against expenditures of 329 million Euros.  Remember, that the Church very often is the first organization there when a disaster strikes.  She feeds the hungry and uses the funds entrusted to her in Godly projects that help people.  In Francis, we have a pope that will give up the pomp and circumstance of his office so that those that need help are not deprived.  Francis just announced that duty-free cigarettes will no longer be sold in the stores in Vatican City, depriving the Vatican of about ten-million dollars of revenue each year.  The reason?  Francis says that the Church should not profit from a product that is bad for peoples health so, on January 1, 2018, you will not be able to buy smokes in Vatican City.  This small act shows where the loyalty of Francis lies. He values people over money. 

For us, we should not be mastered by money, we should be the master of it.  Sharing our time, talent and treasure will help us keep our loyalties straight.  We owe to God much more than money can buy.  No matter what, we will always be at least one penny short when it comes to the ticket price of heaven and that extra penny is worth more than all of the money that has ever been minted because the only source of it is the love that God has for each of us.  So, yes, money is important.  Earn it and use it wisely taking care to pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God that which is owed to God. 

Can you do me a favor?  Will you take a moment out of your busy day to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory?  While they are filled with joy, they suffer greatly and depend on your prayers.   "As they are, perhaps one day you shall be."  

Where Have All The Pagans Gone?

Thus I aspire to proclaim the Gospel                                            

not where Christ has already been named,
so that I do not build on another's foundation,
but as it is written:

Those who have never been told of him shall see,
and those who have never heard of him shall understand.

At one time in this world, there were large tracts of land where "Jesus" was just another name and he might be the miller down the block or the candle maker in the marketplace in the town square.  Today, except for very remote villages in the rainforest and islands so remote that seagulls are just discovering them, there is almost nowhere on earth where the name of Jesus is not known.  Throughout the vast reaches of lands near and far, everyone has heard of Jesus and while they may not know what is special about Him, they will know that he is loved and respected by millions of followers. 

So, does that mean that the job of bringing Jesus to a heathen world filled with people worshiping pagan gods and living lives of futility only to end up in eighteen square feet of earth when it is all over for them has been done?  Well, the very fact that I had the guts to write such a complex sentence as is the last one would at least hint at my view that the answer is, "no." 

The whole world is mission territory.  To know of Jesus is one thing but to know Jesus is another. Our job as the ambassadors of Christ is to make known that Jesus came to earth to save us from sin.  We must bring the joyous news to all we meet that the life experience is not limited to what we see, hear, feel, and touch in our journey from cradle to grave, but rather our life here is meant to be a foretaste of the life that is to come.  The futility of pagan life is over, all are called to become one in Christ and secure for themselves the life that will never end, where tears will be those of joy, where each is loved and valued not for they own or the power they had wielded while on earth, but who they are in God's eyes.

That is my thought for the day.  We have to make sure people know that they are loved by God so deeply that He never made another person just like them.  We have to tell them that God looks at the soul and knows what is in our hearts.  So many people out there think of religion as just being a system of rules and regulations.  If that was all that Christianity was then it would be no different than a club.  It is so much more than a club, it is a gateway to peace, joy, and eternal happiness with God.  For heaven's sake is there any way you can keep silent about any of this?

The month of November is when we remember those that have gone before us marked with the sign of faith.  Please pray for the poor souls in purgatory today.  

Sharing Our Gifts

Brothers and sisters:
We, though many, are one Body in Christ
and individually parts of one another.
Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,     

let us exercise them:
if prophecy, in proportion to the faith;
if ministry, in ministering;
if one is a teacher, in teaching;
if one exhorts, in exhortation;
if one contributes, in generosity;
if one is over others, with diligence;
if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Let love be sincere;
hate what is evil,
hold on to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection;
anticipate one another in showing honor.
Do not grow slack in zeal,
be fervent in spirit,
serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope,
endure in affliction,
persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the holy ones,
exercise hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you,
bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice,
weep with those who weep.
Have the same regard for one another;
do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.

When I read the daily readings available at the USCCB site each day, I will take a few sentences of one of the readings and write my thoughts in it. Several days a week I will share my thoughts here on blogger hoping that my words might be of some use to someone. I am a fairly competent wordsmith and it is a talent that God gave me and I must share it with others.  Today the reading from Romans stands on its own with very little comment needed from me.  The author has laid out in easy to understand terms what we should be doing if we are to live a good Christian life.  We are to use the gifts that God has given us to better the lives of those around us.  We are to love good, hate evil and we are to love one another with a love that is mutual, we are to honor the other as they honor us.  In good times and bad, we are to put on love as our cloak and we are to endure in affliction and persevere in prayer.  Our love must extend to friends and enemies alike and we should share the joy and the sorrow of those around us, laughing when they laugh and weeping when they weep.  And of course, as for us, it should matter not what a person has in their wallet, or what car they drive, or what office they occupy for they all are brothers and sisters to us, the rich and the poor alike.  

What a great way to live a happy fruitful life. 

Today you can make a difference in someone's eternity!   Not everyone that dies goes directly to heaven.  Some of us, when we die, are still attached to things of this world or we have not paid the temporal punishment for the sins we have committed.  If this is the case we choose Purgatory when we die to prepare ourselves for heaven.  The poor souls cannot pray themselves out of purgatory, they need help from us.  Our prayers and sacrifices for them help them and bring ever closer the day they will be lifted up to the bliss of heaven. 

How can you help?  Offer a prayer for the poor souls, an Our Father, Hail Mary and a Glory Be for their sake means so much for them as do your voluntary sacrifices.  Today, please take a moment and devoutly recite this prayer.  1,000 souls in purgatory will be released every time you do.  

Eternal Father, I offer Thee 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, those in my own home and within my family. Amen

Party Plans

On a Sabbath, Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

I do not know what version of the movie it is, maybe you do, but Old Scrooge is speaking to the people collecting for charity and he askes if the workhouse is still in operation and they say that it is but they wish it was not so. He says a line that resonates with the meaning of our Gospel reading today. Scrooge says, "I want value for my charity."  When we give a party or a dinner, it is nice to contemplate a return invitation the next time our friend decides to throw a party or a dinner.  It is one of those things that we come to expect, almost as repayment. 

What Jesus is telling us is to take care of the needy, the poor, the sick and the suffering and we will receive our repayment, our reward in heaven. What we are being told is to open our eyes to the world around us. Look for ways to help those that need it most. Get out of your comfort zone and away from your familiar world and help those that need it. We will share our time, talent, and treasure with those that are in the same social status as we are.  We may even spend lavishly to impress people with our generosity.  Jesus says to us that it is good to be generous with the gifts He has bestowed on us but we should use these gifts to help others when we can and our return invitation, our repayment will come at the end of time when the Father shows us what the word lavish really means. 

Call no one on earth your father....Sorry Dad

Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.

There is so much in this Sunday's readings that I am almost sad that I am choosing the passage about calling no man father as the subject for today.  Click here to read the passage.  This passage of the Bible is used by anti-Catholics bigots as Biblical proof positive that the Catholic Church goes against Holy Scripture when we call our ministers "Father."  At first sight, you almost have to say that it appears to be black-letter law that Jesus has pronounced here.  So, should we Catholics pack our hymnals and search for a good Bible-thumping fundamentalist church in which to spend our time in on Sunday mornings?  I think not.   Doing so would cheat us out of the intimacy that receiving the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the Holy Eucharist and that is something that even the best Bible-thumping preacher cannot provide to us, nor would he or she say that the Eucharist was important as it was just a mere memorial of Jesus, just as one might raise a toast in the local tavern for a patron that has passed away. 

The husband of my mother is my father, he always was, he always will be.  Calling my dad "father" means that this person, to me, is worthy of great respect and is different than all of the other men on earth in that God Himself chose this man to be the one that would participate in creating me and who would raise me and entrust me to the care of God.  So calling my father anything other than father just does not work for me. Did Jesus really mean for me to call my father, "Hey you?"  Of course not. 

If we are to take what Jesus said as black-letter law then we have other problems that our fundamentalist friends fail to see.  We are not to call anyone rabbi either.  Well, they do not see that as a problem.  Very few Church of What's Happening Now have rabbis but they do have teachers.  Teachers are rabbis.  Some of their preachers have gone to school for many years and have achieved great degrees, some as high as doctors of divinity.  Well, they have a problem here too.   Since the title of doctor simply means teacher as well.  And is it legal to call a minister "pastor?"  Using the same reasoning that is used to condemn Catholics the answer is no.  A pastor is a shepherd and in Scripture, Jesus clearly says "I am the good shepherd....there shall be one flock and one shepherd."

What Jesus was doing was telling us not to aspire to titles of honor.  In his time the Pharisees were known for assuming titles that they did not deserve. One hundred and forty-four times in the New Testament the word father is applied to someone who is not Jesus or God.  It is most often applied by one of the apostles to themselves when they call someone their spiritual child. Were the apostles wrong in doing this?  Was error written into the Holy Scripture deliberately by the Holy Spirit?  I think not. 

Catholics, it is okay to call your priest father.  He is to be your spiritual father and your pastor, leading you towards Jesus and helping you perfect yourself little by little.  IT is through the hands of your priest that you are both forgiven for your sins and you receive the Holy Eucharist from those hands.  It is okay, proper, and very Biblical. Don't be bullied by a thumper point out to them the facts and who knows, you might have a seed that one day will sprout and bloom as a Catholic. 

Being Proud of Our Humility?

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

The Gospel reading for today comes  Luke Chapter 14 verses 1 to 7 and verse 11  ( Click here to read  ).  In the time of Jesus, there was a definite protocol that was followed at weddings.  In many houses, especially in those of the monied class, the feast was held in a room with two levels.  The higher level was reserved for the guests of honor, the wedding party, the rabbi, people of higher civil rank and the like.  It was the place to be seen at the wedding.  The lower section was for those of lesser importance, the riff-raff, and more common people. The Pharisee and the Sadducee always aspired to the upper level because they saw themselves as men that were worthy of respect.  So, if you were a Pharisee or a Sadducee you always felt compelled to be at the top of the feast rather at the bottom.  What Jesus was saying is that what would happen if you sat down at the upper level and began to enjoy yourself when someone more important than you arrived.  The host would see that the choice spots were all taken and then he would see you sitting there where the host felt that you did not belong.  He would approach and tell you to give up your space to the man that had just arrived. If you looked insulted of if you did not look like you were going to go, he would probably tell a servant to "assist you" to a different place. Then, you would stand up and with a red face join the great unwashed on the lower level.  On the other hand, if you started on the lower level the host might see you and realize that you were certainly an honored guest and he would immediately ask you to join him in the VIP lounge.  As you walked to your new space others would look at you in awe. and yes, maybe they would be just a little bit jealous.  

Jesus is telling us to be humble.  This is something that we in the twenty-first century do not understand.  We are taught from early age to be assertive and to take our rightful place in the world.  This is good advice except we should always consider others as better than ourselves. We have as an example Jesus, Himself.  He did not descend to earth with trumpeting angels announcing His arrival to all.  Quite the contrary.  We are told that angels announced His birth to shepherds abiding in the field.  Being a shepherd was not considered to be a cool occupation.  This is because your work kept you in the field, read away from the temple, and you were more or less considered a bad Hebrew, even chronically ritually unclean.  Yet these poor shepherds were the first in Israel to hear the Good News and they came to the stable and found the Child not in a cradle of gold but in a common manger, a place where cattle ate and did the other things that cattle do after eating.  They found the Messiah in humble surroundings. 

Jesus is the poster boy for humility.  He washed the feet of his followers, a dirty job usually given to the lowliest servant in a household.  For us, he assumed the most humble role of all, becoming the Bread of Life, which is Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the guise of bread and wine to nourish both body and soul.  God can give no greater example of humility than that. 

So, practice humility in all you do.  Sometimes giving up your "rightful place" will be a good thing to do and you may be surprised when after doing so you are asked to come up to the higher level.