Did you Ever Pet A Frog?

The disciples approached Jesus and said,                                                      
“Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?”
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever becomes humble like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.
What is your opinion?
If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills
and go in search of the stray?
And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. 
In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones is lost.”


Just think how hard it was for Jesus living in a land where He was always being put under the microscope by men who professed to love God but had no need to know God because they had the law.  For these stone hearted men, the law was God. Their religion was fixed on externals.  If the outside of the jar was clean, well, that's all that mattered to them, it appeared to be clean and appearances were everything.

How refreshing it must have been for Him to be surrounded by kids who knew no guile, who looked at the gentle Jesus as a friend. Their souls were an open book. They were as needy as the adults that were rearing them but they also had open hearts and a spirit of innocence that would accept what they were told.  They knew that if you touched the rear of a frog that it would jump.  For them, this was real knowledge and they accepted it without question. When Jesus spoke to them, they listened and they absorbed what they could from Him and they stored this knowledge along with everything that you needed to know about jumping frogs. They would apply the principles when they remembered them in simple ways.  Maybe they might not push another child away from a toy or perhaps they would remember what Jesus said and say, "I'm sorry" when they did something to offend and of course they would make the frog jump and they would run off giggling and laughing.  

How very different the children were from their stern and law-abiding parents. Some would stumble over a beggar, cursing them out, on their way to the temple.  Others would debate the law endlessly and shake their heads at those who were not as observant as they were. It was a heavy atmosphere that these overly observant men lived in and it did not glorify God as they did not know who God was except through the Law. 

Jesus tells us to respond to the promptings of God as a child does. Yes, do what we can to obey the principles that He teaches us but, do so with joy and look for ways to help your neighbor, not judge him. And by all means, make the frog jump when he gives you the chance and look on in wonder and awe at how far he went with just one step!

Remember the poor souls today.  They need your prayers. 

Fishing and Tax Collecting

As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee,
Jesus said to them,
"The Son of Man is to be handed over to men,
and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day."

And they were overwhelmed with grief.

When they came to Capernaum,
the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said,
"Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?"
"Yes," he said. 
When he came into the house before he had time to speak,
Jesus asked him, "What is your opinion, Simon?
From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax?
From their subjects or from foreigners?"
When he said, "From foreigners," Jesus said to him,
"Then the subjects are exempt.
But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook,
and take the first fish that comes up. 
Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax.
Give that to them for me and for you."

I am not sure what to make of this story.  Michael the Lesser is not a completely trained apologist so some things do stump him.  This is one such reading.  We start off with the very stark proclamation that Jesus is to be handed over, killed and will rise on the third day and the apostles were overwhelmed with grief and then we get this rather odd story of a temple tax.  

The tax goes way back into history and the fact was that almost no one paid it at the time of Jesus.  But when asked if Jesus paid the temple tax, Peter, who knew better, answered "yes."  In effect, Jesus was committed to paying the temple tax because of the word of one of his apostles and so he paid it with found money, from the mouth of a fish. 

Now what this story means to us today, I will leave for you to mull over as I will be doing.   If you have any ideas, let me know by leaving a comment. 

Remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory.  They are desperate for your help, don't let them down. 

Bread of Life - A Must Have

The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said,
"I am the bread that came down from heaven, "
and they said,
"Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? 
Do we not know his father and mother? 
Then how can he say,
'I have come down from heaven'?" 
Jesus answered and said to them,
"Stop murmuring among yourselves. 
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,
and I will raise him on the last day. 
It is written in the prophets:
They shall all be taught by God.
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. 
Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father. 
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life. 
I am the bread of life. 
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die. 
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

Ahh, John Chapter Six, the Bread of Life Discourse, which is Good News for Catholics and what appears to be a stumbling block for Protestants the world over!  

Yes, today Michael the Lesser is a right-wing Catholic Christian.  If you are looking to hear ecumenical platitudes today you've come to the wrong place.  This is the one subject that I cannot be afraid to anger my separated brothers and sisters of the Protestant tradition.   Please understand that I have to become very right-wing here not because I want to put down Protestants or make them feel bad, not at all.  I want to reflect strongly on the truth of the Eucharist because it is THE most important gift that Jesus left us and it is the key to attaining Eternal Life! 

Protestants pride themselves on being believers in the full Gospel and their Tradition states that the Bible is the sole source for all Christian belief and that the faith stands or falls based on the words found in this collection of books.  Through the whole Holy Book, they will take the words at face value except where Jesus is obviously using a simile to make a point, for example, He is obviously not a shepherd because we are not really sheep.  This is a reasonable, rational, and correct exegesis of such passages and no Catholic scholar would find fault with these interpretations.  However, once we arrive at John Chapter Six some sort of mystical myopathy descends upon Protestants.  Words that cannot be interpreted any other way than as they were written are interpreted as if they are hyperbole.  Jesus very clearly states and restates that you cannot get receive eternal life unless you eat His Body and drink His Blood. The words that are used in Greek are the words used for gnawing or tearing of flesh as a person does when eating. Further, Jesus did not back away from what He said when some of His followers were going to leave Him.  He restated what He said and the Gospel says that the people were sickened at the thought.  They would not have been sickened if they had understood Him to mean what He said figuratively.  When they left He did not call them back saying "Come back, I was only kidding."  No, He let them go. 

When the "reformers" were making up their minds as to what their church would be like they decided that if the Catholic Church is doing it, they would not.  So, out went statues, out went many different prayer methods, out went the crucifix in favor of the cross and out went the Eucharist as a sacrament and in it came as a "memorial" of the last supper that could be taken or left as the pew dweller desired as it was nothing special.  How sad that untold millions of people have gone from cradle to grave without the graces that are brought by Jesus when He enters our very body and we become One, we are one with Christ and we are one with all of the others that have received the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus.  Protestants are aghast that we worship bread.  They think of it as supreme folly to place host inside of a monstrance and to adore and pray to it.  If it were bread, they would be right, but it is not bread, it is the Resurrected Jesus as He is today in heaven and He is there to listen to us as we pray and adore Him. 

Yes, Michael the Lesser is a Right-Wing Eucharistic stormtrooper.  The Eucharist as consecrated by the priest at mass is Jesus and we can get no closer to Him this side of heaven and this Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity is reserved only for Catholics in good standing with the Church.  It is not to be given out lightly to anyone outside of the Church.  I say this not because I am an elitist but because I am concerned that people not prepared to receive Jesus in the Eucharist may receive Him unworthily and that is not good for their souls.   

God loves all of His children Catholic or Protestant because we call God the Father of us all.  But, Protestants cannot receive the Eucharist because they are like the brother that took his inheritance and went off to a far-off land to spend it and live life as he wanted to.  He no longer was a part of his father's house because he was so far away.  The father spent hours, days, months, and years watching for that son to come home again because he still loved the boy and wanted the very best for him but until the son made the move to return to the father, the father was helpless to do anything for him because he was so far away.

The day will come, and maybe it is just around the corner when we will all be one body in Christ again.  Today we are many flocks with many different shepherds.  This is not what Jesus wanted but until that day, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the Eucharist will have to remain with and be for members of the Catholic Church. 

LET ME SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER!

A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said,
"Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely;
often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.
I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him."
Jesus said in reply,
"O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you? 
Bring the boy here to me."
Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him,
and from that hour the boy was cured.
Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,
"Why could we not drive it out?"
He said to them, "Because of your little faith.
Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
'Move from here to there,' and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you."

I've worked in customer service positions my whole life. Today I still am in customer service and I have learned a few things along the way and apply those lessons to my daily interaction with the company's customers.  For example, after greeting and allowing the customer to get a sentence or two out and you have a general idea of what they are calling about, gently take charge of the conversation and through your attitude make it known to the customer that you are interested in their issue and happy to be speaking to them about it.  Then use all of the tools and authority that your company gives you and try to work out a mutually beneficial solution to the problem the customer is calling in about.  This works out about ninety-nine percent of the time. Once in a while, however, you are going to happen upon the customer you cannot please.  Either because you do not have the authority to give them what they want or they just have an attitude that you are much to low in the food chain to be of any help to their important selves.  They will then play the manager card.  Now, once they ask to speak to the manager, I do not waste any more of their time. I have a fairly good idea that they will not get much more satisfaction from her because the company I work for gives me a lot of freedom to satisfy the customer and once I get to the bottom of the list of things that I can do, well, there is not much more that can be done. So, I transfer the customer to the boss and update the boss on what has been done so far and with one button push of the AMF button the problem is out of my life. (AMF = Adios my friend.)  Now, later on, the boss may coach me about the call by bringing up something that I forgot to do, or something that I could have done better so as not to cause the ball of wax to go against gravity roll uphill and to arrive in her nest. 

This is exactly what happened to the apostles.  I could just see them, one after another trying this prayer and that prayer, maybe a little cleansing by dunking in the river and nothing helps rid the kid of the demon.  The father brings the boy to Jesus, effectively playing the manager card.  Jesus makes short work of the demon and later on, he coaches the apostles on what they were lacking, faith.  Maybe the apostles at this point thought that what Jesus was doing was some sort of magic and they mimicked His words and actions attempting to bring the same results that he did.  Well, their words and actions had nothing to back them up.  They were missing the faith that Jesus had that backed up His words and actions.  Jesus said that faith could move mountains and that would mean that lack of faith could move nothing. The apostles learned this lesson well and began to realize that they were not dealing with a practitioner of the magical arts but with a Man of God, a Man blessed by God and a Man that was God. 

The Realms of Purgatory

It has pleased God to show the gloomy abodes of Purgatory to some privileged souls. He has done this, so that the sad mysteries of Purgatory may be revealed for the benefit of the living.
One such mystic soul was St. Frances, foundress of the Oblates, who died in Rome in 1440. God showed her many things concerning the state of souls in the next life. She saw hell and its horrible torments. She also saw the interior of Purgatory, with its mysterious order and hierarchy of suffering. In obedience to her superiors, St. Frances related everything that God showed to her.
One on occasion, the servant of God was made to endure an unspeakable horror. She had to witness the vision of Hell. But when she came out of that abyss, her heavenly guide led her into the regions of Purgatory. It greatly contrasted to Hell. In Purgatory, there was neither horror nor disorder; no despair nor eternal darkness. Divine hope diffused its light in all the poor souls. Frances was told that this place of purification was also called sojourn of hope. She saw souls which suffered cruelly, but angels visited and assisted them in their sufferings.
St. Frances tells us that Purgatory is divided into three distinct parts, like three large provinces of that kingdom of suffering. They are positioned on top of each other, so to speak. The souls in these provinces are buried to different depths, depending on the state of their soul - which determines how much longer they must atone for their sins.
The lowest region is filled with a fierce fire. But this fire is not dark like the flames of Hell; it is a vast burning sea, shooting forth immense flames. Souls beyond count are plunged into its depths. These are the souls guilty of mortal sin, which have been duly confessed, but not sufficiently expiated during life. St. Frances learned that a single forgiven mortal sin requires a suffering of seven years in Purgatory. This is, of course, not a definite measure, since mortal sins vary in enormity, but it is clearly an average penalty. Although the souls are enveloped in the same flames, their sufferings are not the same; they differ according to the number and nature of their former sins.
In this lower Purgatory, the saint beheld both sinners and persons consecrated to God. The sinners were those who, after a life of sin, had had the happiness of being sincerely converted; the persons consecrated to God were those who had not lived according to the sanctity of their state.
At that same moment, she saw descend the soul of a priest whom she knew, but whose name she does not reveal. She remarked that he had his face covered with a veil which concealed a stain. Although he had led an edifying life, this priest had not always observed strict temperance and had sought too eagerly the pleasures and satisfaction of food.
The saint was then conducted into the intermediate Purgatory, destined for souls which had deserved less rigorous chastisement. It had three distinct compartments; one resembled an immense dungeon of ice, the cold of which was indescribably intense; the second, on the contrary, was like a huge cauldron of boiling oil and pitch; the third had the appearance of a pond of liquid metal resembling molten gold or silver.
The upper Purgatory, which the saint does not describe, is the temporary abode of souls which suffer little, except the pain of separation from Heaven, and anxiously await the happy moment of their deliverance.

You Just Have to Die

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Amen, amen, I say to you,

unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honor whoever serves me."

The "Amen, Amen, I say to you." is a tipoff that what follows is very important. And we do not have words like, "love one another" or "feed the hungry."  We have instructions that a grain of wheat has to die in order to produce more wheat.  We are told that if we grasp our lives with a white-knuckled ferocity that we will lose it but if we die to self and live for the Kingdom of God we will persevere and heaven will be our reward.  What we have to do is to follow Jesus Christ, the Son of God on His journey.  We must serve Him and follow Him wherever He goes, even to the Cross.  Our reward? We will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.  

Why I Am So Passionate About The 

Poor Souls in Purgatory

I know I am passionate about the poor souls in purgatory.  It's just that there is no way I am going to leave this world without stopping there before heaven.  My sins are many and unfortunately, by the time I am called home, I will have no one to pray for me.  You see, the old saying "out of sight, out of mind"  really applies to the dead.  Life is just structured that way, we need to tend to the living while we are here and can spare scant time for those that have gone before us.  I have no family to pray for me when I am gone so I will be among the poorest of the poor souls.  Please pray for them today, there are so many who have no one to pray for them.   It is a charity that does not go unnoticed.  Those in Purgatory will remember your help for all eternity and your act of charity, using precious time to pray for those in Purgatory and it pleases the Lord as well.  So please take some time out of your busy day and remember the Poor Souls.

Does God Use Smart Locks ?

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi   and he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

We modern Catholics lose some of the symbolism that Jesus is using in today's reading.  First of all, we live in a democracy and we vote on things with the majority being considered the way to go.  This is not so in the time of Jesus. In His time, there was an emperor who held complete power, supposedly under the advisement of the Senate.  Well. senators that disagreed with the emperor were easily replaced by the emperor so the Senate was a rubber stamp for whatever made the emperor happy.  In little Israel, it too was a kingdom under the emperor in Rome who was represented by the Procurator and/or Governor and the kingdom was divided amongst three brothers of whom Herod the Tetrarch was the one with whom Jesus was familiar with.  Each of these despots had ministers that did their bidding.  The chief minister, the second in command was the prime minister. An emperor or king might have dozens of ministers in charge of this or that but they all reported to one minister, the prime minister.  Ordinary ministers could make decisions.  The prime minister had the authority to override the other ministers.  A door that a minister locked could not be opened by anyone except the king or his representative, the prime minister. 

This is how the Kingdom of God is organized. There are many ministers in the kingdom doing God's work and there is one prime minister, the Pope who receives his authority from Jesus Himself as we read in today's reading.  It could not be any plainer.  Peter is appointed the prime minister of the Kingdom of God and given the keys to the kingdom.  He is given the authority to bind and loosen by Jesus himself.  The prime minister was to act in the name of his master the king and rule in the same manner,  following the same principles as the ruler.  The job of prime minister was a job that had to be filled.  If the prime minister died or as we see in Isaiah 22 15:24, he displeases the king and is fired, a new prime minister is immediately appointed by the king.  The mantle of office is removed and given to the new Prime Minister and the keys come into his control.  

This is why we have a pope in Rome.  He is the prime minister of God's kingdom on earth.  He traces his lineage in an unbroken line back to Peter on that day when Christ said that "You are Peter, that is rock and upon this rock, I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."  These are mighty words and they remind us of one important concept, the Church belongs to Jesus, it is a kingdom, we do not get to vote.  We get to trust in the ultimate goodness of the King of Kings and the honorable servitude of his Prime Minister, the Pope.  

But the Pope is but a man, how can we be sure what he teaches is correct?  We are given assurance from the King, that is Jesus, that the Prime Minister, the Pope, will be guarded against ever teaching heresy.  It is the King's word in the Gospel of Matthre that we can trust and that is blessed assurance that all will be well with God's Kingdom on earth. 

PRAY FOR THE POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY

You may not be a minister, and yet in God's kingdom, you have the power to open and shut when it comes to our brothers and sisters in Purgatory.  They cannot help themselves as the time for cleaning the effects of sin on the soul is when life is coursing through our bodies, not after death. They depend on the charity of those on Earth to help them after death.  Help lessen the time a soul you might or might not know has to remain in Purgatory.  Pray for them today, an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be takes but a moment of your time and it means so much to them!  Say the Rosary for them daily if you can. Dedicate your Mass to them and offer the graces that you receive from your act of devotion for them. Remember my friend, as they are today, someday (maybe soon) you too may be.  

Faith and Works

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
"Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon."
But he did not say a word in answer to her.
His disciples came and asked him,
"Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."
He said in reply,
"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
But the woman came and did him homage, saying, "Lord, help me."
He said in reply,
"It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs."
She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters."
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
"O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish."
And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Faith is what we need to have before we can claim any allegiance to Jesus.  Without faith, we can do nothing because we do not know Jesus.  So, the first step, as the Protestants well know, is to believe in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.  But we cannot stop there. Faith will take you so far.  But to really enjoy all of the benefits of being a Christian, we have to take what we know or rather who we know, and bring Him to the whole world.  We do this by preaching, teaching, and by selfless works of mercy.  You cannot separate faith and works, they are the two parts of the one whole.  Jesus looks for us to be generous so that He can be generous to us.  Jesus looks for us to extend mercy so that we can be shown His mercy.  Jesus looks for us to love others so that He is sure that we acting out His charge to us that we read in the Gospels. 

Please remember our brothers and sisters in Purgatory, especially those souls abandoned by their loved ones because they do not believe in Purgatory.