“So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice”………And so it is to this very day…..What are we looking for?

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St Mark…Great crowds were coming to Jesus…These people were physically ill and were looking for a cure…And Jesus cared for them…..In reading this passage this morning I thought to myself…How things changed quickly! - In short order these same people were screaming “Crucify him” when Jesus entered Jerusalem……Upon reflecting on this historic reality, I thought to my self…What is it do we “want” from Christ?…Is it a short term fix?…Jesus came to give us life…He came to show us a different way to live…..He came to forgive our sins……..Is the world today interested in that?…Or - Does the world still want a “short term fix”……The parable about the seeds tell us everything we need to know about how we are to follow the Lord and lead a Catholic life…..Jesus was willing to suffer and die for the Truth…He spoke the Truth in good times and in bad……He was obedient until death….This is the faith we must aspire to cultivate

“This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. Those on the path are the ones who have heard, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts that they may not believe and be saved. Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe only for a time and fall away in time of trial. As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and they fail to produce mature fruit. But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.”

I guess the questions for us to consideration today are: What are we looking for? - and - Do we want to be healed?…Jesus asked these questions of people during his ministry…..First - Do we want to be healed?…..All of us have attachments to sin and to “break these chains” requires grace and effort on our part….Secondly - What are we looking for?….At the root of this question one has to consider the goals of our life…Are we building a Kingdom here on earth or are we simply pilgrims “passing through”….The goal of our life should be heaven and in order to reach our goal we must participate in our own sanctification…This again requires God’s grace and our effort…….St Thomas More is the patron saint of lawyers, statesmen and politicians…..Thomas was a rich and powerful man…Thomas was also a faithful Catholic…..When King Henry VIII of England wanted to divorce his wife and marry another woman, he mandated that all his people publicly acknowledge what he was doing was lawful……Thomas More refused and Thomas had a lot to lose…And as a result of his public stance, all of Thomas More’s wealth and land was taken from him and his family….And in the end Thomas was murdered by the state…..His final words before he was killed were….”I die the king's faithful servant, but God's first”…..To acquire a faith like that one must be grounded in Sacramental grace, daily prayer and fasting…To be able to “let go” of wealth and power for the sake of the Kingdom of God requires supernatural grace, which believe it or not is available to all of us in the Sacraments of the Catholic Church……Again, it comes down to the questions: What are we looking for? - and - Do you want to be healed?….Catholics for centuries have renounced the world for the sake of the Kingdom of God….And so must we - This is our witness…We are to walk among the people of the world but not be “of the world”….This is our purpose and in doing so we follow the example of the Carpenter from Nazareth

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

The Gospel today from Mass made me think as well as question the depth of my own faith…….What am I looking for?….We all must answer this question for ourselves…Jesus was a man of compassion and he cured those who were physically sick…But a medical doctor can do that….The Catholic Church helps the poor all over the world to this day…But the Catholic Church is not an NGO staffed with social workers, that is not the fundamental purpose of the Church….Jesus came to preach the Truth and to forgive sins…The Catholic Church today does the same…..Come hell or high water - In season and out of season…….When Jesus addressed Pontius Pilate before he was sentenced to death, this was the exchange between the two: “So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice”………And so it is to this very day…..What are we looking for?