One small spark is all it takes to start a raging fire!…."Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible”…Keep it simple and focus on First Principals

Today at Holy Mass the Universal Church honors one of my favorite saints…Remember - Only saints change the world…This saint lived in the 17th century…Let me first stop here…How many people from the 17th century are remembered today for what they did?….Not too many right?…Before we get into the life of this saint…That reality should make you think….Everything and everyone is forgotten - But not the saints…Why?…Because only saints change the world!…But I digress…This saints name is Isidore…He was a simple day laborer…..He went to Mass every day before work…He worked hard…So did his wife…And in their spare time…Isidore and his wife helped the poor…And shortly after he died miracles were attributed to his intercession…So much so that this simple day labor’s life was brought to the attention of the King of Spain…And 500 years later…I am bringing his life to your attention…..I will ask it again…..How many people from the 17th century are remembered for what they did?…Isidore focused on what I call “First Principles”…..Pray the Rosary every day…….Receive the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace (daily if possible)…And give a Sacramental Confession to a priest at least once a month…So simple…So easy…And look at how those things effected Isidore…We are talking about him 500 years after his death….Our Catholic faith should not be made complicated…Our religion was founded by a carpenter, who also like Isidore was a day laborer….Stick to the basics!…Focus on First Principles!….And like St Isidore, God will transform you and 500 years from now…Maybe someone will be writing about your life - Why not? - All things are possible with God….So keep it simple!…..St Francis of Assisi put it best…."Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible”…Be the change you want to see in the world…..One small spark is all it takes to start a raging fire!

“Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet”

The Missionaries of Charity run a soup kitchen in Newark New Jersey….Where the sisters live and serve, the neighborhood is impoverished and from their backyard there are some apartments that face the back of the soup kitchen…From one of the second floor windows lived a very poor man named Jose…Jose lived alone…He would “keep an eye” on the property for Mother Teresa’s sisters…Over the decades, Jose got more and more involved with what the Missionaries of Charity do in Newark….And as time went on, Jose was completely transformed as a person…His life was an extension of the Mass…Nothing fancy…Pray & Serve…Every time I find myself in Newark working with Mother Teresa’s sisters I marvel at Jose….He truly is a man of God….This is how grace works if we cooperate with it…Its not “rocket science”…And far too many people make our Catholic faith out to be something that it is not…Jesus was simple…And so must we strive to imitate our Lord….My friend Jose is a simple person but I will tell you this right now…Jose gets it!…He lives a Sacramental life…He prays daily…And the fruit of his prayer is service….So simple…Jose is a “modern day” St Isidore…..A man who cooperated with God…And as a result was transformed and because he was transformed, he transforms the world around him….The moral of my little story today is…Stick to First Principals…God will do the rest….The “fruit” of your life will flow naturally from the foundation you build off of those First Principles I just wrote about…Its really not “rocket science”…So don’t make it out to be

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me"

Today the Universal Church commemorates the life of a simple man - St Isidore from Spain….The saints are people like you and me….And their life’s example point to Christ…Our world today prioritizes “things” and “achievements” that in the end will be forgotten as fast as they were made popular and celebrated…If we are honest and objective students of history…We will discover that the only things that last…The only things and people that continually bear fruit are the saints - The lives of the saints are remembered…Why can’t that be you?….What God did through them stands to this day, hundreds of years after they are long gone….Again, this should teach us all something if we are paying attention….”The grass withers, the flower wilts, but the word of our God stands forever”…..If we only realized our full potential…One small spark is all it takes to start a raging fire!…."Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible”…Keep it simple and focus on First Principals