Because the process of “giving yourself away” is just that, a process….. And its the only process that leads to heaven…Don’t be fooled nor be deceived

Today at Holy Mass we hear from St Paul in the first reading…..”But, even if I am poured out as a libation upon the sacrificial service of your faith”…..Paul gave everything he had to serve the Lord…And so must we!…..The goal of a Catholic must be to give yourself away…This is the exact opposite message of the world, which takes…Jesus asks us to give…..And I am not taking about money…I am talking about your very self…....This is the path to heaven…Don’t let anyone fool you or tell you anything different…..Jesus was God and he willing laid down his life for the world…Most of us do this for our familles and it is a struggle…....God knows this…So he helps us….As we grow older the “things” of this world grow tiresome and stale…....The only “thing” that can and will give us true and deep fulfillment is the will of God……..That “desire” to do God’s will is within each of us, written on our very hearts….But to “unpack it” is a process…The sooner we do that the more at peace we will be

“One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek: To dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD and contemplate his temple.”

There is famous book that parents read to their children called the Giving Tree…My Dad read it to me and I still have the very book he read to me on my book shelf…The book tells a story about a tree and a little boy…The tree loved the boy and gave him everything he had until there was nothing left…A rational person could read this book and say why would anyone do such a thing?…To give their life for someone else?…Because that is what love is all about, that is why……..The word “love” is thrown around a lot these days but do we really know what it means?….Love is far from a feeling…It is a choice made each and everyday….Does a mother like to get up and nurse her child in the middle of the night when she is dead tired?…NO - But she does it!…….Does a father tolerate difficult people at work because he likes too?…..No - But he does it!…....Why?…Because they love their children that is why!…Love gives until there is nothing left…Just like the story of the Giving Tree…..Our world does not tell “that story” and sadly far too many people have “bought-in” to the “story” that our current world is telling us….”Get yours” at “all costs”!…This mindset leaves one miserable in the end, in the here and now!…For love to be real it must cost us…..This is the love that Jesus demonstrated to the world on the cross and in order to live “that kind of love”….We need divine assistance…Why?…Because that kind of love cuts to the root of who we are - It can cost us to give up “what we like” - And what “we want”…..However, to truly “find ourself” we must “lose ourself”…True love demands this…This is the path to heaven…The only path to heaven!

“I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD”

Today in the Gospel from Mass Jesus echoes this message….”Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple”…..There is no such thing as a Christian who does “carry their cross”…And the cross Jesus is telling us about is the “cost” of what it means to truly love……..True love costs us deeply and when we fully invest ourself in “that kind of love” we not only find out who we are and who we were born to be…But we find Jesus in the process…..The sooner we discover this reality, which I just described the better…Because the process of “giving yourself away” is just that, a process and its the only process that leads to heaven…Don’t be fooled nor be deceived