”If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart”….The “sign posts” are everywhere - All we have to do is “follow the sign”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Mark about how King Herod kills John the Baptist…..Herod was a bad man, his heart was far from God yet scripture tells us….”When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him”…This should tell us something…The Truth is written on every human heart, even the hardest of hearts can hear it….This reality should be a "sign" of hope for us….John the Baptist was the precursor of Jesus Christ, he prepared the way for him…When it came to King Herod, John was a “sign” and what does a sign do?…It informs us…It warns us of something…It tries to get our attention…That is what John the Baptist was for King Herod…His life was a "sign"…”Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand”….How does this apply to us?….God is constantly showing us “signs” in our life…Because the Truth is written on every heart, many times we see these “signs” in our daily life - However, it is for us to respond to them - God will not do that for us......As long as there is breath inside the body of a person, there is hope….But time does run out…King Herod “liked to listen” to John the Baptist…But listening to the word of God is not enough…We must respond

“Your presence, O LORD, I seek. Hide not your face from me; do not in anger repel your servant. You are my helper: cast me not off”

Over the course of our life God presents to us many “sign posts”…These are moments where God tries to get our attention….To spark a change…The Godfather of one of my children was a person who not only identified one of those “sign posts” of life but responded to it…Michael led a wild life…His life was filled with drug and alcohol abuse from his youth until is adulthood…Until in his twenties he got into a horrible car crash…Michael was in a hospital bed for two straight months…During that time he had time to think and because of that time, he requested to be Baptized as a Catholic…Interestingly enough..His parents were not practicing Catholics…His mother in fact was not even Catholic….So Michael got out of the hospital and got Baptized…But sadly, that did not change his party lifestyle…..Michael got married and had a son…His son was born with physical disabilities and lived for only seven years and eventually died…This put Michael over the edge…His marriage fell apart and he knew he was in trouble…Another “sign post”…So what did Michael do?…He went to a see a priest and that led him to make a Sacramental Confession and there Michael began to rebuild his life…That is where I met Michael…On a Catholic walking pilgrimage and we become fast friends…We traveled to India together to serve the poor with Mother Teresa’s sisters many times…And in time, Michael rebuilt is life….How did that happen?…Even when Michael was living a crazy life…God cared for him - The Truth was still in Michael’s heart - Even though he did not to listen to it…So what did God do?…He presented Michael with “sign posts”….And thanks be to God, Michael responded….God does the same thing to all of us…He did it to King Herod in the Gospel today at Mass in the form of John the Baptist…He did this for my buddy Michael…And he does this for us….Again, its for us to respond…God will not respond for us...To this day Michael is one of my dearest friends and is a great Godfather to one of my children…God can “move mountains” in a person's life…Pay attention to the “sign posts”….They point us in the direction we need to go

“Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fear; Though war be waged upon me, even then will I trust”

Today at Mass we hear in the Gospel about how Herod liked to hear what John the Baptist had to say…But sadly Herod did not respond to John’s message….Let that example be a “sign post” to all of us…God is constantly reaching “a hand” to us…Its for us to take his hand….How do we respond?…..Let’s get our answer from John the Baptist himself…..”Repent - Believe the Gospel - The Kingdom of God is at hand”…..One Sacramental Confession can start that journey…Don’t let anxiety or fear stop you….”If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart”….The “sign posts” are everywhere - All we have to do is “follow the sign”