Bread and Oil - Leftovers or First Fruits - your Choice

First reading                                                                                                               1 Kings 17:19-16

'Jar of meal shall not be spent, the jug of oil shall not be emptied'

Elijah the Prophet went off to Sidon. And when he reached the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks; addressing her he said, ‘Please bring me a little water in a vessel for me to drink.’ She was setting off to bring it when he called after her. ‘Please’ he said ‘bring me a scrap of bread in your hand.’ ‘As the Lord your God lives,’ she replied ‘I have no baked bread, but only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug; I am just gathering a stick or two to go and prepare this for myself and my son to eat, and then we shall die.’ But Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, go and do as you have said; but first make a little scone of it for me and bring it to me, and then make some for yourself and for your son. For thus the Lord speaks, the God of Israel:

“Jar of meal shall not be spent,

jug of oil shall not be emptied,

before the day when the Lord sends

rain on the face of the earth.”’

The woman went and did as Elijah told her and they ate the food, she, himself and her son. The jar of meal was not spent nor the jug of oil emptied, just as the Lord had foretold through Elijah.

First, a bit of background to help you put what is going on in our reading into context.  At the time Elijah met this widow there was a drought which resulted in a famine throughout the land.  Elijah had told the people that there would be no dew or rain in the land unless he said so.  This was because the people of Israel and Judah had turned away from God.  The Jews had separated into two groups.  The first group lived in the south, they were called Israel and the group who resided in the north were living in the land of Judah.  Now, both of the kingdoms were in trouble with God because they had wandered off on their own path but those in Judah took it to the extreme because they had descended into paganism, worshiping idols.  So, the widow and her son were not the top-shelf people, they were pagans. Imagine if a man came to your house during a drought and famine and demanded that you give him some water and some bread.  It appears that she had enough water because she immediately started out to get some for the prophet, but then the prophet demanded some bread.  This caused her to stop and tell Elijah that she had only enough oil and flour left to make a small cake for her and her son.  Notice she said, "As the Lord YOUR God lives...?"  It was not her god, it was his God. He told her that she should first make something for him and then for herself and her son because she would not run out of flour or oil.  She placed her faith in what the prophet of God said and she ate for a year, that is until the drought and famine were over because of the faith she placed in the promise of God that the prophet had revealed. 

She did not give to the prophet from her large surplus of flour and oil.  For all she knew Elijah was a flim-flam man who was out to steal her last bit of food.  But, he wasn't and she was rewarded for giving all she had.  Her story is much like the story of the widow's contribution from today's Gospel reading.  The widow gave to the temple not from her surplus funds, leftover after she met all of her needs, she gave her all, everything that she had. 

Think about what you give to God and I do not mean just money.  Do you give to God from your surplus after all of your needs are taken care of or do you give from your first-fruits?  If we give to God from our first fruits, his response will be greater than what we gave to Him.  Donate money, of course, but also donate your time for God's kingdom.  Give Him your best and He will take care of the rest.   

Two Master to Serve - Can it Be Done?

Gospel	Luke 16:9-15

Use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity. The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own?

  ‘No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.’

  The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and laughed at him. He said to them, ‘You are the very ones who pass yourselves off as virtuous in people’s sight, but God knows your hearts. For what is thought highly of by men is loathsome in the sight of God.’

I normally do not make political comments on my blog, but today's Gospel reading and what is going on in our country seems to prove one of the points that Jesus is making here, namely, that we cannot serve two masters.  Thus enters our dearly beloved president, a man of genteel manners and obviously having the highest moral values as befitting a President of the United States of America. Early in his beneficent rule, he appointed a man to be attorney general of the United States.   When this appointee did the right thing and recused himself from a case in which he was a stakeholder, the Donald get mad at him and eventually fired him.  The president then put in the first man's place another who had spouted loud and long using words that indicated that he agreed with the president.  (This is something you have to do if you want to work for the Donald.)  Now, the new man finds himself in the same predicament that the previous AG was in.  But for him, there is no problem.  He says he can supervise the investigation where he is a stakeholder impartially.   We shall see.  

Now, political niceties aside, the first man is an example of a person torn between two poles.  He could not entertain the choice of giving the appearance of impropriety and so he did what was right while the second man chose the other path.  Neither one of them, as you can plainly see, were able to satisfy both masters and the former chose right and the latter chose to ignore what was right and to step into the muddy swamp of Trumpist Politics.     

We face the same choices every day of our lives.  If we were brought up well and if we want to do the right thing the path to take will be quite obvious.  We will love God and do what is right in God's eyes as He gives us light to see it.  I do not know what will happen in the political realm but I do know what will happen when we choose to follow the right master in life, we will be happy in life and attain heaven where we will be happy forever.  

Please Pray For The Poor Souls in Purgatory

Righteous Anger

Gospel	John 2:13-22 Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up

Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle, and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.’ Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.  

This is not the Jesus we are used to reading about in the Bible.  Jesus is normally thought of as meek and mild.  Today we see Him explode in anger.

To be honest, the vendors set up on the temple grounds served a useful purpose.  Work at the temple would grind to a halt without them because of this.  First, the temple was in the business of blood sacrifice and while you could bring your own animal, it would be carefully inspected for any blemishes.  If any imperfections were found, you are your animal could be turned away.  Sacrificing an imperfect animal to God was not permitted and the animals sold on the temple grounds were all guaranteed to be free of any taint or imperfection, perfect specimens to be used in sacrifices to God.

  Then, of course, there were the money-changers. People had to pay the temple tax but there was a problem.  The coins issued by the Romans were unclean, they had the picture of the emperor on one side and a false-god on the other.  These coins could not be brought into the temple.  So, to guard against any chance of the treasury being defiled, it was required that the temple tax was to be paid for in temple shekels. So, for the convenience of the patrons, there were on duty money changers to change filthy roman and Greek coins into temple shekels.  There was a small charge for the conversion of course.  The high priest and his family controlled who could and could not ply their trade on the temple grounds and collected a fee from those so blessed!.

So when Jesus entered the temple on that fateful day he heard the tinkle of coins being changed, saw and smelled the animals, and He knew that this was an outrage to His Father.  He overturned the money changer's tables and drove the animals away.  This act probably was the tipping point that earned Him the everlasting anger of the high priest.  It was this act that forced Caiphas to act for Jesus was taking bread from his house and money from his coffers. 

Jesus did not care what the high priest thought.  His Father was being dishonored by those that were running the temple and this was His challenge to them.  He threw down the gauntlet and they picked it up.  They began to plot against Him.  

Did we see Jesus sin in this story?  He was angry and he acted on His anger. Jesus did not sin.  The insult to His Father was too great for Him to ignore.  Also, there was the fact that the people were being overcharged for the animals and paying large fees to change their money. He could not ignore injustice. 

We too might see injustice.  Do we see prejudice against another person being committed?  Is there someone who is taking advantage of another person?  Are the weak and powerless being trampled underfoot?  Then we to are permitted to have righteous anger and we should use this anger to redress the wrongs we have seen.  We have to be ready to pay the price for the action we take just as Jesus did.  We cannot sit idly by and watch injustice in our world.  We have to harness our anger and do something about it.

Please remember to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory. 

Because Sister Marie Told Me So...

Gospel	Luke 15:1-10

There will be rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:

  ‘What man among you with a hundred sheep, losing one, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the missing one till he found it? And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbors? “Rejoice with me,” he would say “I have found my sheep that was lost.” In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.

  ‘Or again, what woman with ten drachmas would not, if she lost one, light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found it? And then, when she had found it, call together her friends and neighbors? “Rejoice with me,” she would say “I have found the drachma I lost.” In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.’

The picture selected for today's reflection is the closest one that I could find to the one I remember from KG where a young Sister of the Blessed Virgin Mary at St. Bridget's Church parish school first told me about the love that Jesus had for me and how if I got lost He would come and search for me until He found me.  Being lost is something that six or seven-year-olds fears a lot.  So when Sister said that He would come to find me and I could never be lost, well, that was good enough for me. 

Then again, I was a pretty happy kid back then. But any reassurance that I would be safe and connected was important then and I think it is important now.  

I am not going to go as far as the Protestant fallacy of "once saved, always saved" but I will remind everyone, including myself, that Jesus is not satisfied to leave us on our own desperately trying to find our way back to Him.  His efforts will be mammoth and unending until He finally wins us or we finally reject Him at the time of our death and He honors our wish to go our own way.  It is almost impossible for a soul to end up in hell but they do end up there and the population of the netherworld increases daily just because they choose to go there own way.  Some people believe in hell but say that no one is there because God is not so mean as to send anyone there.  Well, I can agree that God is not mean, for God is love and cannot do anything evil.  It is God's love for us that provides a place such as hell.  He does not want to force us to love Him and will respect our choice to choose to be without Him forever.  Talk about the right to choose!  

Open your soul to Jesus and allow Him to find you and let Him be your guide.  While there is hope, while you draw breath, He will spare no effort to claim you as His own.  Look at the picture (no not the picture of me) and imagine yourself as the lamb being carried on the shoulders of Jesus, safe in the hands of the Master.  What a beautiful thought! 

Please remember the poor souls in Purgatory. 

There is No Handle On Your Cross

Gospel	Luke 14:25-33

Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple

Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

  ‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, “Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish.” Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who advanced against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.’

In all of the movies and illustrations that show Jesus on his final journey to Calvary, a distance of about two thousand feet, or a little over a third of a mile, we are shown a man carrying a cross down the road. In the Stations of the Cross, fourteen incidents on that last journey are described.  We and all of the modern artists that depict the trek to death imagine Jesus carrying a whole cross.  This is almost certainly not true because the typical Roman cross weighed about three hundred pounds.  This would be a burden that would defeat most men.  Instead, the procedure was for the criminal to carry only the cross beam which was a much more manageable one hundred pounds in weight. A man, in reasonable condition, could be expected to shoulder this burden and carry it to the place of execution.  One other thing I would like to mention is that crucifixion was meant to teach the population a lesson so those that were destined to undergo this torture were very seldom scourged like Jesus was.  Scourging was called "The Little Death" and was carefully crafted to stop just short of the death of the recipient which is why there was an officer watching the criminal very carefully.  He was to carry out the sentence and the sentence was to be scourged not to be killed.  So, Jesus on His journey started out with a disadvantage.  He had been skillfully scourged by the Romans and normally that would have been the end of it.  As a side note, many victims of scourging later died due to infection but that followed days later after the culprit had been set "free" by the mercy of the emperor. The fact that Jesus had been scourged would mean he most likely was in or going into shock as the journey began.  Some scholars say that between the scourging and the first fall where they believe Jesus suffered internal injuries that His time on the cross would be less than men crucified in the full flower of health. 

Jesus did what He could to carry His burden but thirteen times the process was interrupted by human frailty.  And he had help according to three of the Gospels to get to the place where the vengeance of the emperor could be satiated.  

The crosses we receive in life do not come with a carrying handle. Like Jesus, we have to shoulder our burden and carry it the best that we can.  He will help when it is needed and if we ask. Our cross can take many forms.  It may be that we fall into the same sin over and over and have to constantly request forgiveness from for it and in the process learn humility.  It might be illness or pain or watching a loved one during a long and exhausting illness that leads to death.  Or it could be the diagnosis of our own doctor that predicts a descent into suffering for a time or perhaps a disease where the outcome is terminal.  Our cross is there and we all will have one or more to shoulder in our lifetimes.  The courage and good example that we set will help others bear their crosses as well.  And where we see someone in need, we, like Simone of Cyrene should be willing to help others with their burden. 

Young warrior, your cross is there, it will be a burden for you and it cannot be refused.  The only options you have are to accept your burden and bear it willingly or to attempt to refuse it making it that much harder to carry.  Don't look for a carrying handle.  We all have to feel the rough wood against our shoulder to understand more fully what Jesus went through for us and what it means to be a human being.  

If you have two minutes and thirty-seven seconds, give a listen to this brief talk about carrying your cross. 

Remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory today in your prayers. 

Will You Come?

Gospel	Luke 14:15-24

'Not one of those who were invited shall have a taste of my banquet'

One of those gathered around the table said to Jesus, ‘Happy the man who will be at the feast in the kingdom of God!’ But he said to him, ‘There was a man who gave a great banquet, and he invited a large number of people. When the time for the banquet came, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come along: everything is ready now.” But all alike started to make excuses. The first said, “I have bought a piece of land and must go and see it. Please accept my apologies.” Another said, “I have bought five yokes of oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please accept my apologies.” Yet another said, “I have just got married and so am unable to come.”

  ‘The servant returned and reported this to his master. Then the householder, in a rage, said to his servant, “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.” “Sir,” said the servant “your orders have been carried out and there is still room.” Then the master said to his servant, “Go to the open roads and the hedgerows and force people to come in to make sure my house is full; because I tell you, not one of those who were invited shall have a taste of my banquet.”’

Yes, it is a party and yes, you are invited.  Will you accept the invitation or are there other things in life that are more important to you?

Every one of us, every man, woman, and child have to decide if they will accept the invitation of God to come to His party.  For the answer will be a resounding, "yes" but for others, some things will get in the way of their acceptance and that is a pity.  Some of us make the worship of God on the Sabbath a priority and we would not miss it for the world (pun intended.)  Others have other priorities.  These priorities range from sleeping in all the way to simply not believing in God or His kingdom. 

For those of us who accept the invitation, we will be happy as the party kicks off while those who refuse the invite will be given what they want and that will be a forever where God is hidden from them and they will have no chance at all to join the party. 

So, make up your mind and choose what it is you want for your afterlife.  God is waiting for an answer, don't make Him wait too long. 

If you have a moment give a listen to this song from YouTube.  It is a whimsical view of heaven, I think you will like it. 

Unity - The Only Road Leads to Rome

Be united in your love     Philippians 2:1-4

If our life in Christ means anything to you if love can persuade at all, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy, then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing which would make me completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead.

Let me begin by stating up-front that I am not trying to be the Catholic Gestapo, forcing people against their will to return to the Catholic Faith.  I respect our Protestant brothers and sisters and I know that many of them are much further along the spiritual trail than I am.  I know that they love the Lord Jesus and have given over their lives to Him and that they practice that commitment every day.  The mainline Protestants set good examples as to what a Christian should be in many respects.  The one charism that they cannot demonstrate, however, is that of unity.  In the sixteenth century, an unbalanced monk went off in a new direction and created a church built in his own likeness and trashing things that made the faith united.  From that day, the Church would never be the same.  For, if you could split once because you disagreed with some principle that your local preacher was committed to, well then you could split again so that your view, in your church, took precedence and your world was once again in synch with what you thought and taught.  The man in the third pew, however, has many problems with your interpretation and knows for a fact that he is right and you are wrong.  Since you won't come around to his way of thinking, he splits and creates for himself a church in his own image.  We could carry this on for quite a while if we wanted to, at least thirty-thousand times which is how many denominations of Christianity there are.

We pray for Christian unity but it is unlikely to come until Jesus does return and sets everything straight. There is only one direction that a return to Christian Unity can take and that is for the Protestants to come back home to Rome and accept the authority of the Church that Jesus founded and which bears the four charisms of the true church and that is that the Catholic Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.  It is the Apostolic charism that most Protestants have trouble with.  First, they believe that the Bible is the sole source for all Christian doctrine. At first blush, this seems like a wonderful way to make sure that what you believe is what Christ intended.  But it falls apart rather quickly when you realize that it is the freedom to interpret that has caused the Church to splinter into so many groups.  If every man can interpret the Bible himself, well then every man is his own authority.   Personal interpretation of the Bible leads to division because one person's interpretation is just as good as another's interpretation because they only have to answer to themselves.  

The Church depends on Scripture, all Catholic teaching can be found in the Bible.  If you look to the right, there is a paper you can view that shows where the teachings can be found.  Now, the Church also has teachings that are not written in the Bible.  These are the what we call the Sacred Traditions.  Please note these are not traditions like having turkey on Thanksgiving or a tree at Christmas time or having a family reunion on the second week of August.  Those are all human traditions.  Sacred Tradition, on the other hand, is the passing of our beliefs from one generation to the next.  It is rather ironic that one of the Sacred Traditions is the Holy Bible.   From the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 

"In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church, the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority." Indeed, "the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time. This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. Through Tradition, "the Church, in her doctrine, life, and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes." "The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer." -- Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 77-78

So, how does all this affect Christian Unity?  Well, the Catholic Church occupies the high ground.  It is she that bears the imprint of her founder, Jesus Christ.  While some would say that we could become one again if we just engaged in some give and take, in compromise.  Well, there is the rub.  The Catholic Church has maintained her doctrine unchanged and her interpretations of the Biblical truth is the same today as it was in the sixteenth century.  Protestants, on the other hand, have changed and changed and changed again and again so that with the exception of Christ, there are differences that the Protestant man or woman would not want to give up in the name of unity.  Even if one denomination gave up one of their differences, there are thousands of others that would tell the Church to go peddle fish. 

What would you have the Church give up in the name of Christian unity?  Should we strip our churches of the Crucifix in favor of the Cross?  Should we tone down our belief in what the Holy Eucharist is, namely, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ and make it nothing more than a simple memorial using saltines and grape juice?  Should we give up the Pope and institute a committee approach to church government where every man has a vote?  Should we soften our stance on abortion or homosexuality?  No, I do not see any of these things happening and these are the sorts of things that other denominations believe and allow and the Church could never compromise her teachings in the name of Christian unity.

So, it is unlikely that we will see a mass return to Rome by many of the Protestant denominations because in order for that to happen, the notion of private interpretation would have to go and they would have to submit to the authority of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and that would be impossible for them to do.  

The one hope we do have in this impossible situation is that what is impossible for man is possible for God.  So, Catholics and Protestants alike should pray for unity and God may one day move His hand.