”I will go before you and level the mountains; Bronze doors I will shatter, iron bars I will snap……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”

Today at Holy Mass we hear again in the the first reading from the book of Genesis…..Adam and Eve had to “face the music”…They screwed up and the Paradise that God created for them was lost…But God’s love and mercy was not lost…While they had to “pay a price” for what they did…And what was that price?……..”To the woman he said: "I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall be your master. " To the man he said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, "Cursed be the ground because of you! In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, as you eat of the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return." …….Some many read this and think God is very harsh - Let us never forget - Mercy is always tempered with Justice…..We should never take the mercy, which God makes available to us for granted….And when we experience the justice of God due to our sins, God uses that time to form us…Nothing is wasted!….We can lose sight of that reality as it is happening in real time…..The driving purpose of every human life is to be purified and return to the original state in which we were created……This is why when a child is born, he / she is baptized and their original sin, the sin of Adam and Eve is washed away….However, then the journey begins!…And as we all know…Life has many ups and downs…We learn as we go.......All the while the “seeds of our baptism” are germinating…..Grace builds upon grace….And more times then not…Its the “wrong turns” in life that “wake us up” to the “narrow way” that lead to life eternal

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!”

Many times when a person “strays” from God and then repents…I have noticed that a period of time often takes place where God sanctifies that person….Almost like a “dessert experience”…Speaking personally, this happened to me and I have seen it in people who are close to me….From the age of twenty-two to Forty-two before I met my wife…....I was alone….In that time God formed me - And that time was not without its sufferings…I have also seen this happen with two of my children’s Godfathers……Looking back at those twenty long years, like Adam and Eve, “a price had to be payed”…My life was far from God as a young man…I was not formed in my Catholic faith because I never listened to those who tried to help me…..But also like Adam and Eve, God did not give up on me…I used the time!…..And when the “time was right - and I was "ready”…At the age of forty-two, God brought me my wife…Life is about being sanctified - To look at it in any other way, through any other “lens” is to “miss the big picture”…Allow me to make an analogy to help illustrate my point……If you ever have seen at a sword, you will notice how sharp it is and how the iron shines bright…What you do not see is iron, the material the sword is made of is taken deep from within the earth….And when raw iron is mined from the ground, it has to be formed - All the impurities must be taken from it…This requires the raw iron to be placed into a furnace and softened…Then the blacksmith uses a hammer shaping the boiling hot iron on an anvil to mold and shape it…When the iron is formed into the shape of a sword, it then has to be polished by using steel wool….That is how a a sword is made…And that is what happens to all of us!…..When we stray - And all of us have and all of us do….It takes one Sacramental Confession to return to a state of grace - Just one!…This is God’s mercy - Given free of charge….However, then comes God’s justice….Rome was not built in a day and as a result, the “sanctification process" begins…New habits need to be formed, old habits need to be broken, virtues need to be practiced, etc…And all this takes time and the process is not “pretty”….Like the story of Adam and Eve…They “messed up” and after God “called them out”…They “came clean” with God…But that was not the end of the story…God needed to form them so they would not go down the wrong road again and stay on the "narrow road" that leads to life!…And that was not an easy time for them nor is it easy for us….The important thing to remember is, when we are in the “purifying fires of God”….God is closer to us then ever before - Nothing is wasted - Not even our sins and the effects of our sins….All of human life boils down to our sanctification - Returning to the state in which we began

“You turn man back to dust, saying, "Return, O children of men. "For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night”

Today at Holy Mass God tells Adam and Eve that while you “screwed up” and I am glad you told me what you did - There are consequences to face….This sadly applies to us as well…However, there is a purpose for those times when we “feel the consequences” of bad decisions……Adam and Eve were given a second chance and so are we…..However, we are all still "a work in progress"…God is the "potter and we are the clay"..….And sometimes “clay” does not want to be molded and when that happens, it needs to be “heated in the furnace”, to soften it, making it easy once again to mold….During these times in our life…Do not lose faith - God is a master craftsman and we are all the work of his hands…..”I will go before you and level the mountains; Bronze doors I will shatter, iron bars I will snap……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”