Why?…..”Because as he is, so are we in this world”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading St John telling us love is something that needs to be “completed” or “made perfect”…What does this mean?…..”No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.”…Authentic and pure love gives completely…Easy to say VERY hard to do…This is what I believe St John is referring to in the passage read to us at Mass….In order for love to be made perfect, the “gift of self” must be total….This implies something and St John tells us what that implication is….”In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world.”…..We say similar words when we pray the Our Father, the only prayer Jesus gave to the world…..”Thy Kingdom come they will be done on earth as it is in heaven”……The process of sanctification is just that - A process!…And we are to live that process while we are on the earth…As St John tells us very clearly…..”Because as he is, so are we in this world”……How can one live on this earth as we would in heaven?…..That should tell us all something….That we are not to “follow the crowd”…That Catholics are to “stand out”…To be a light to the nations….It also means we will suffer…To not belong to the world implies we will not take part in the “fruits of the world” to the degree that one who lives a worldly lifestyle would normally do…There lies as we say in New Jersey “the rub”…..Many Catholics want to “be of the world” - And still enjoy the “fruits of heaven”…It does not work that way….As St John tells us…..”Because as he is, so are we in this world”…….Jesus Christ gave us the example to follow…He made a total and complete gift of self…..This is the goal…This should be the aim of every Catholic, who claims they too hope to one day go to heaven…….Is this your goal?…Is this your aim?…To die to your self completely…..To allow God to “perfect” you…Or better said - Sanctify you while you walk this earth….This is the message of St John today…And if we are serious - We need to not only take this message seriously - But put it into practice.

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.”

As Catholics, if we “follow the blue print”, which is laid out for us by the Church…Whether we are a priest, married or live a single life…We are all called to perfect love of God and neighbor…..And if we are paying attention to the circumstances of life presented to us by the hand of God - If we pray and are attentive to the Holy Spirit…We will be lead to emptying our life out for others…..Our world today rejects this concept of love…..And because of this - Our world today suffers…..As St Francis tells us…”It is in giving that we receive”…..To love authentically, we must give ourself away…We do that in our chosen vocation…Again - Whether we are a priest, married or live a single life….Is this what we aspire to do as Catholics?……The more we empty ourself, the more the Holy Spirit will fill us......St Paul put it best…..”I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.”…..We can not give what we do not have and in order to give Christ away to the world, we first must give ourself away, so God can fill us with his very self.

“This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit.”

Once again St John tells us at Mass very plainly what authentic love really is all about…But does our world see it that way?……Catholics living in the manner that St John speaks of today will “turn heads”……Radical self giving touches the hearts of everyone, even those who claim there is no God….There is something about such a witness that makes a person reflect upon their own life…Its in that reflection that God can be found, no matter who you are….…This is why Catholics must do the majority of “their talking” with their actions…..We are not going to argue anyone into believing what St John tells us today about love……However, if we live out what St John tells us, the world will take note……And many hearts and minds will turn to God…..Why?…..”Because as he is, so are we in this world”……JMJ

Loves gives - It does not know how to take

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the First reading what St John as to say about love…Love is a word that gets throw around a lot today….But do we know what it really is in our modern world?…….Let’s see how St John defines it…..”Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins”…….Love is sacrificial - It gives all - It never takes…St John tells us that God the Father gave his only son to the world, knowing the world would slaughter him…He did this to save us from our very self…This is love!….What person do you know would do this? - Give up his only son to an ungrateful world…..But that is what God did - He proved his love for us by his sacrificial offering of his son…..And Jesus in turn gave us a tangible example of that sacrifice in real time on the Cross…Remember - Jesus was tempted in the desert by the devil - He could have rejected the Father’s plan - But as we know, he did not…He “drank” from “the cup”, which was given to him…How about us?…The reason why there are so many problems in the world, particularly among families is - We do not view love properly…Love is sacrificial - There is no other way to view it…And when “love” becomes selfish, its destroys itself…This is what we see in many secular marriages…..There is a lack of understanding what love truly is….This is why the Church teaches married couples to be open to life………. Children - In some cases many children in a marriage - Teach a married couple what it means to “die to their self” and in doing so, we sanctify our lives…The secular world rejects this - Why? - Because they do not know what love truly is - They will claim they do - But do they? - If they did - Tell me why so many modern marriages end in divorce……St John tells us flat out……God loves us - And he proved it - How? - Through his sacrifice…How about us? - How do we prove that we love each other and love God?….Words are easy to say - Love is an action - Its not simply a word spoken.

“The Lord has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives.”

How do we learn to love sacrificially?……A great question……Human beings by our very nature are selfish…..We must learn how to love and that process takes the majority of our life time…..The more we give of ourself, the more room we make for God to enter our life…This process, in my humble opinion can not be self-manufactured…You can not “will” this to happen without God’s grace….This is the mistake of many today…They try to do this on their own - And sadly fail......This is why God established a Church…This is why God gave us the Sacraments….This is why a Priest must pray and live a Sacramental life….This is why married couples must live Sacramentally….And this is how a single person living outside of marriage or the priesthood can live a chaste life……..Because without the assistance of God’s grace - Selfishness creeps in - And selfishness destroys love…..Our world today does not know what love is - I feel I can say that because our world today adamantly rejects sacrificial living……To love means to live sacrificially…..And until the secular world “figures that out”…..Don’t expect our problems to go away…But how will the world around us “figure this out”?….People need to witness sacrificial love lived out in real time…..Catholics of every stripe must be that witness…Single people living for others…Married couples living for each other and their many children….And the clergy deeply sacrificing for the people who they were called to serve…This witness “opens eyes” - If Catholics are not willing to love in this manner - How can we expect the world too?……Catholics must lead the way - We were give the example to follow - ”God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him”….Now its our turn - “Death to self” allows the Holy Spirit to animate our life…And that is how we animate the world around us.

“When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things”

St John today at Mass defines what love is…..Do we agree with his definition?…..Love is much more then a feeling - The “feeling” part is just the beginning - We must make a firm decision to love - In many ways authentic love is an act of the will….This is why the world’s definition of love does not last - Secular love is solely grounded in the “feeling” of love…But what happens when “times get tough”?….This is why we need God’s grace…This is why we need God’s Church…This is why we MUST live Sacramental lives - In order to love sacrificially………We will never be able to accomplish this kind of love on our own - But remember - With God all things are possible - The saints show us the way - The way to authentic love of God and of neighbor…..St John tells us…”Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God”…..And we only really know God when we look outside ourself…….Loves gives - It does not know how to take…..JMJ

There is no middle ground

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading St John draws a line in the sand - The world on one side and God on the other……………..”You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They belong to the world; accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world, and the world listens to them”…..We cannot have it both ways!….As Catholics we are called to be in the world but not of the world…That means we are to live differently - The question is - Do we?…..How can we be salt and light to the world around us if we live exactly like our pagan neighbors….Our life’s witness should stand out very clearly…….St John goes on today in the first reading….He ends the passage with this statement…”We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit”…….There is an implication here about how the Church contains the Truth and those who do not listen to the Church have been deceived…..Many Christians today, even Catholics sadly, try to separate the Truth from the Church itself…Separating Jesus from his Church…Separating Catholics from the Pope and the Bishops - This is impossible!…..Jesus is the head and the Church is the body….The “head” cannot be separated from the “body” - Its impossible to do so….Catholics must learn to be obedient…We also must learn as St John tells us to discern the difference between the whisper of God’s voice and the clamor of the world………... “Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist who, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world”………..Its very easy to get “caught up” in the world…This is why we must cling to Christ and his Church…..In doing so, we will both “see” and “hear” our Lord and know the Truth, which remains forever and stands firm.

“Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom and cured every disease among the people”

“I am Catholic” - ”BUT”……But what? - There are no “buts”!……The beautiful thing about being Catholic is - Its all written down…All we have to do is read it….The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) is a very readable document….Everything the Church professes is contained within it….That means this document should be used as our guide…The Church is not ours to manipulate…The Catholic Church belongs to Christ and we are simply members….And here is the deal…If we adhere to “the vine” as Jesus tells us to…We will bear “fruit that lasts”…For those reading this reflection and have doubts about what I just wrote…All you have to do is look at the lives of the saints….The saints show us the way…They did things God’s way - Not their way…They remained firmly to “the vine”…And as a result, they made a tremendous impact on the world around them - We can surely do the same - Right?!?…It all comes down to our will and God’s grace…We MUST bend our will until it breaks and we also must open up our hearts to God’s grace…There is the key - Plain and simple…..No person, no matter how gifted has a “better plan” then God’s plan…Jesus laid out that plan for us - He did it by creating a Church…Its time to “follow the blue print” and in doing so, we will shake the foundations of the world!

“Ask of me and I will give you the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.”

St John today at Mass is very clear - The question is - Are we?…..The world or God - We must choose and no choice is a choice……Far too many people “sit on the fence” when it comes to the world and the Church…They allow comfort, the crowd, politics and the desire to belong to influence their Catholic faith - In doing so we “water down” our life’s witness…..No one will ever be convinced to be Catholics by the witness of “Lukewarm Catholicism” - Be assured of that…Jesus was a radical man and so were all the saints…That should tell us something - We too must live our faith radically in the world….We CANNOT be like everyone else….We have to make a decision - Its the world or God……………..There is no middle ground….JMJ

Keep searching and if you do - You will find what you are looking for

Today the Universal Church commemorates the Epiphany of the Lord…….We all know the story…The Three Magi (Kings) traveled a great distance, following a star to find the Christ Child and pay him homage….”When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod,  behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,  “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage”……..What was it about the star that made these prominent men travel such a distance?….As a general rule, no person wants to live in the dark, human beings need light to see...I think everyone would agree with that statement….The same goes for the “light” of God….Without God, mankind can not “see” properly…He is in the dark, in more ways then one…..The light of God “warms” mankind’s soul…And as a result, whether we realize it or not, human beings “search” for God….Sadly, many times search in the wrong place but none the less, there is an innate need to find God, its written in our DNA and as a result, we are in a constant state of searching until we find him……This drama I just described played out with the three Magi…They were prominent men in the world but they knew “something was missing” in their life…So they went on a long journey to find that “something”…..And when they found it, they knew!…How about us?….Is your heart at rest?…If it is not, all I can say is - Keep Searching…..“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, [then] I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me”…….The great St Augustine tells us…”The heart does not rest until it rests in thee”…..How true - Keep Searching - Those who “search” with an objective and open heart ALWAYS find!

“We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage”

America is currently living in a Post Christian Society…..This is not an opinion…We have legalized radical abortion, same-sex marriage, no fault divorce, usury…Just to name a few of the mortal sins, which have become completely mainstreamed…Our people do not even blink at these acts anymore…..With that being said….When a society rejects God, there are consequences and we are seeing these consequences play out in real time in America, Europe, Canada, and Australia…..As a result, a “darkness” has fallen upon West Civilization….Families are fractured and falling apart, mental illness is pervasive, so is depression, suicide rates are up - I could go on…Why?….Let’s circle back to St Augustine….”The human heart does not rest until it rests in thee”…….Our society has turned its back to God and because of that our society suffers….What does all this have to do with the Feast of the Epiphany, which the Universal Church celebrates today?….Like the Magi, who followed a star, we Catholics have to be that “star” for the world…As our world gets darker and darker, people will see the “light” coming from Catholic families…It will be unmistakeable!….And when those who live in darkness see this “light”, they will “figure out for themself” (no need for lectures and arguments) that this “light” is what they were always searching for….This is how the “darkness” we see will go away….Evil, in time ALWAYS undoes itself - It collapses under its own weight…So be patient - And keep shining!…Allow the light of Christ to fill your life….Remember, for that to happen, we first must empty our self of “self” to make room for that “light”…But when we do, this “light” can not be mistaken by the dark world!…The secular world all around us will be drawn to it - Drawn to you!!!! - And it’s then your job to point to the source of that light, which is Jesus Christ! 

“Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow, for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you.”

Today the Universal Church celebrates the Feast of the Epiphany….Three wealthy men traveled a great distance to find “something” their hearts burned for…..Why would these men, who had everything the world could offer (They were kings) still feel in need of “this light” they saw in the sky?….And when they found a poor child under that light, they paid the child homage…..Interesting - Right?……Why would men like that do that?…..Maybe because their hearts were at rest when they saw the Jesus….Maybe because they found peace in Jesus’ presence…Now lets fast forward to today…Do you somehow think we will not find the same peace in Jesus’ presence as the Three Magi did? - A peace we all long for!….Maybe the “wise men” were truly “wise” after all?….Maybe they can teach the world something today?………In many ways, human beings have not changed in the 2000 years since Christ was born and died?……..How can I say something like that, you may be wondering? - Because - ”The human heart does not rest until it rests in thee”……..So keep searching and if you do - You will find what you are looking for…………….JMJ

Don’t miss the opportunity!

Today at Holy Mass we here in the first readings from St John……..”Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure”……..Each and every one of us is a work in progress….Do we view our life through the lens of the sanctification process? - Because that is what life is all about - A process for us to be sanctified…..Do we realize that nothing impure enters the gates of heaven?…This is why St John, the beloved disciple tells us very clearly….”Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure”….Are we doing the “heavy lifting” now while we are still on earth?…..Mankind must cooperate with God in order to be saved……God gives us the grace, if we allow him to…..This process of sanctification can not be accomplished on our own…Our fallen nature will not allow it - This is why we must utilize the tools given to us…..Daily Prayer, weekly fasting & frequent reception of the Sacraments (Eucharist & Confession)…This is how we slowing become who we were born to be…Again as St John tells us…..”What we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him”…….This is the one and only purpose to life - To strive to become holy - To allow God to make us that way through our cooperation……Nothing else matters - Nothing else will be remembered - Nothing else will be left standing….Nothing but the holy people of God - Make sure we become one! 

“The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. To those who accepted him he gave power to become the children of God.”

The closer we grow to God the more we as Catholics will be receptive to the Holy Spirit…We will view life as a “teaching mechanism”….Moving, shifting, changing and accepting all things that happen, both good and bad, as if they come from the hand of God himself - Because they do  - All for the purposes of sanctification…..Our minds and hearts need to be transformed to this process………The Church mandates that every Catholic goes to a Sacramental Confession once a year…This is stated very clearly in the Catechism of the Catholic Church…However, the saints strongly encourage us to participate in frequent confession (Once a month) - Who are those saints?…….Pope John Paul II; Padre Pio & Fulton Sheen….Why would we go to confession once a month, even if we have not committed any mortal sins?…With each confession not only are we forgiven of all our venial sins, but we received Sacramental Grace to overcome those sins we confessed and in time we will stop committing them…This is how we grow in virtue and this is how we cooperate with God in the process of our sanctification…..Remember what St John told us today?…..”Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure”……Going to a Sacramental Confession and receiving the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace is vital………Are we doing this?……We can not self-manufacture a holy life….Only by and through God’s grace can we become pure - As St John rightful tells us….Americans for the most part have a distorted view of our purpose here on earth and of heaven….While we are still living, we chase after things that in many case do not matter and when our life is over, we believe that we all go into heaven no matter what - On our own terms…This my friends is a lie “sold” to us from the devil himself….We MUST cooperate with God in order to become the people we were ALL meant to be.

“You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin”

Today at Mass we hear the words of St John who give us our “marching orders” as Catholics - To make it a priority to aspire to become pure - Dare I say holy!….The closer we get to God - The more God can use us…..Everyone wants to make an impact - Just scroll through any social media platform….But are we focusing on the areas that can make the biggest impact? - One that will last?…..Our time on this earth is so short - Let us focus on Building the Kingdom of God…..We do that by prioritizing our own sanctification process…..God is not concerned with all your diplomas, the money you have in the bank or the house you live in…He is concerned about the salvation of your soul and its our job to allow God to transform us - Transformation does not happen magically…We have to take part in the process - Are we doing this?…Is this our priority?…..Our life goes by in a flash - Before we know it - Our youth is gone and we are old….Allow God to make you who you were born to be - A saint - Don’t miss the opportunity!

“As for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, so that you do not need anyone to teach you.”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading from St John…..John’s writings are not straight forward……He is a mystic….One cannot read John’s Gospel like the other Gospels because John was not like the other three Gospel writers…He was the closest disciple to Jesus Christ and something else to keep in mind…John lived with the Mother of God for years after the death of Christ…That time living with Our Lady had to have left a deep impact on him…That is why he is different and that is why we must pay extra attention to what he has to say…..…….”Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made us: eternal life. I write you these things about those who would deceive you. As for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, so that you do not need anyone to teach you. But his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not false; just as it taught you, remain in him”……….When one is living in the state of grace, one receives the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord)…..As I read this passage of John, the line that jumped out at me the most was this…..”so that you do not need anyone to teach you”…….This is a direct reference to two of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are wisdom and knowledge….The secular world defines wisdom and knowledge very differently…One can have a very high aptitude and incredible analytical intelligence and still lack authentic wisdom and knowledge - The kind that St John eludes to here in his Gospel…….The Holy Spirit enlightens the mind….A secular person reading this “thinks” such a statement is crazy…..But Sacramental grace is real and so is the Holy Spirit…This is why John says…”you do not need anyone to teach you”…..The problem is…Are we living in the state of grace?…..There is only one way to do this…..Go to Confession frequently, which opens up our soul to receive grace - So that grace floods our soul when we received the Blessed Sacrament at Mass…..As Catholics - Are we doing this?…….Do you realize that someone could go to Mass everyday of his life - If that person does not got to Confession, the grace of the Sacrament WILL NOT penetrate their soul - Do you understand this?….St John tells us today……”His anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not false; just as it taught you, remain in him”…….The last part of this sentence is so very important - Did you catch it?……..”Remain in him”

“He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord”

For those who have studied advanced mathematics, one knows that there comes a point when studying just does not cut it…You either have a mind for math or you don’t…..I have taken three semesters of advanced mathematics in college and there came a point when my mind simply could not grasp the topics any more….Understanding math and having an analytical mind is a gift - And like all gifts, it can’t be self manufactured no matter how hard you try….Such a person who has this kind of mind sees a math problem three dimensionally as opposed to the person who does not have the gift - they see the math problem two dimensionally…Why do I bring this up?….The kind of knowledge St John is referencing here in his Gospel is “three dimensional” - It is a gift of the Holy Spirit…And this gift is only received by living a Sacramental life….This is why there are many brilliant theologians who get it all wrong…...They get it wrong because they are “thinking” two dimensionally……As Catholics we have to understand this….True knowledge - True wisdom - What we “see” - What we “hear”….....All this comes from the Holy Spirit….It has nothing to do with raw analytical intelligence……And anyone can posses this gift - But only if we live Sacramentally.

“I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”

St John today at Mass tells us all something that can easily be missed…Or maybe even dismissed by those who believe themselves to be sophisticated by modern standards…..The knowledge John talks about does not come from books….And its this knowledge that not only saves our soul but guides our decisions and also determines what we see and don’t see in the world around us…..For example……Freemasonry, which is an ancient organization committed against the Catholic Church….They uses the symbol of the eye in a triangle…This is a direct reference to what St John tells us today - But a mockery of it - Seeing in and through the Holy Spirit…Freemasons claim that they are the ones “that see”….This is how the devil operates - He attempts to mock God ever so slightly and twists the truth in such a way that people get fooled……..But God will not be mocked and nor can God be fooled…….And if we do as St John says today….We too will not be fooled….”As for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, so that you do not need anyone to teach you”……………JMJ

Trust the plan - We don’t have to “see” where we are going - We just have to keep going!

Today the Universal Church commemorates the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God……We are told in the Gospel today that at the birth of Jesus, Mary…..”kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart…..While Mary was born pure…She did not understand everything…But Mary trusted……And make no mistake about it….The life of the Holy family was not easy…..They were refugees in Egypt and once they settled in Nazareth - They lived what we would call a “blue collar” existence - I am sure money was “tight” but they had each other - The entire time, Mary trusted and took life as it came to her…..She did not have to understand everything - She simply trusted…..Today begins a New Year…No one knows what this year will bring to us…But like Our Mother Mary, we must trust….That God in his infinite wisdom and providence will continue to fulfill his plan of salvation for the world - His way not our way…..This morning I was scrolling through the news….Our world is in so much chaos….I thought to myself…When is Christ going to return?…..Only God knows - But in the mean time - I must trust in God’s plan…Come “hell or high water”…..Nothing that happens is out of the control of God….And all things work towards a great good, even when we can not see it…….In the Book of Isaiah we read that…”I will lead the blind on a way they do not know by paths they do not know I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These are my promises: I made them, I will not forsake them”…Whenever I think all is lost, that the world is hopeless, I always think of this line from Isaiah, the great prophet of the Old Testament…Nothing broken cannot be fixed by God….And frankly only God can fix it….Again, it comes down to trust….As Mary our mother trusted, so must we….God has a plan and we are simply just a small part of that plan…That means we cannot “fix” the mess we see around us…But it does mean we have something to do - We don’t “get off the hook so easy” as we say in New Jersey…We each have something to do - Something that God will use for the great good…That means YOU & ME!….But the “heavy lifting” belongs to God…And like Our Lady in today’s Gospel written by St Luke…She simply did her part……and “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart”……Our Lady was not the solution - And she knew it……She gave birth to the solution…..and committed her life to it……..How about us?…Let’s simply do our best and do our part.

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son”

When one reads history, patterns emerge….We see how God works in and through the actions of mankind but as events take place, we can not see as God sees, especially in real time….When the will of mankind refuses to bend - God permits events to “help us out” - To bend our will….Why? - Because God loves us ands while we at times may be “uncomfortable” or thing don’t go as we would like or planned - God is working on us…Shaping us…Transforming us…..That is how we become a Holy People…..As students of history, we may look at what is happening to Western Civilization right now…How it is being literally dismantled by its ruling class….Under the guise of “climate change”, which has become a false religion to some and to others, its simply a tool to grab power….In the process our cities are falling apart……..the middle class is disappearing…..all of this is being done intentionally and is happening right before our eyes….How can God work out his plan through all this?…….Just as the Jewish people of the Old Testament suffered, it was through that suffering, that miraculously their eyes were opened once again to God…Maybe - Just Maybe…..Because we are a “stiff-necked people”….God in his infinite mercy is allowing all we see to happen - Which in turn will “open the eyes of the blind” once again and turn hearts back to God…..Speaking personally, that is what I think is happening…But as it’s happening, I often think to myself…”But why do “I” have to suffer God?”….”I get it”…..But do I “get it”?…….In my hubris, I forget that I too am a work in progress…God is shaping me and my family as well….And he uses many “tools” to do it…..Being “comfortable” is not always part of the equation sadly - Why? - Because we are a “stiff necked people”…This is how we must think and in doing so, we can have peace even amongst chaos….That everything we see around us is working towards a great good…That heaven is our true home….That God allows everything we see to happen to “open the eyes of the blind” - For their own good…Why?….Because heaven is forever but so is hell…..And God does not want anyone in hell….But when his people don’t listen to him and we create our own hell here on earth…God has to step in…..Let us trust him as our heavenly Mother trusted him.

“As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.”

Today in the Gospel of St Luke read to us at Mass…We hear that Our Lady did not understand everything, she simply trusted in the one that did…And so must we - That is my “take away” from the Gospel today…..We don’t have to “see” everything In front of us…We simply have to take one step at a time - As may father would say to me often - “Straight ahead”…..Years ago, I would help a friend of mine who was blind go to our Saturday Bible Study at our church……Jim taught me a lot…He would place his hand upon my shoulder and walk behind me…He never knew where we were going - He simply trusted me - That I would get him to his seat….Many times as I was guiding Jim to his seat - I thought to myself - This is how I must be…I don’t realize just “how blind” I am……..I MUST simply trust in God - Who is the only one we “sees” and simply place my hand on His shoulder and allow Him to guide me to where I need to go…Jim would do this with such peace of mind…I always marveled at his courage and trust…..Being that today is the first day of the year…Maybe a good prayer for today could be….”God - Help me to trust you…Thy will be done! - You know the way - I do not”….That prayer sounds crazy in a way…but if we say it from the heart….A huge weight will be lifted…..And like my old friend Jim - “We will find our seat” despite being blind….Trust the plan - We don’t have to “see” where we are going - We just have to keep going!………….JMJ