We must learn to “leave our own paths” and see with “other eyes” and love with “another heart”…..Its in that “place” that we encounter Christ…We must be willing to be uncomfortable before we are ever to be comfortable

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St John something I reflected on before…Something that is one of the most important aspects of what it means to be Catholic…It is also something that is rejected by so many because we ALL have so many “GREAT IDEAS????”….....We see this rejection in various self created “camps” within the Catholic Church today….Those who call themselves “progressive” Catholics…And those who call themselves “traditional” Catholics…These “camps” are self manufactured……What is lacking and why these camps exist is due to a lack of grace……We must open our ears to the words of Jesus today in the Gospel…..”He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming”…The Church does not belong to us….We are simply members of the Church…The Church belongs to Christ…We must aspire to have the faith of a child…To be obedient…There is that “dirty” word again…Obedient……We are NOT to self-manufacture a “church” according to our personal likes and dislikes….I read something from the Servant of God Luis Martinez (1956) who was the first Primate of Mexico this morning…He can give us some insight into what it means to have the faith of a child……

”There are times in which we see the most patent truths with the utmost clearness…At other times we do not have clarity….There are times I come to the foot of the tabernacle. I feel nothing….Absolutely nothing impresses me that Jesus is present; nether my heart nor my soul feels anything near the tabernacle. Nevertheless I say: “Here you are Jesus. I adore you.” And these words seem empty to me, and I feel nothing: but in the depth of my heart I believe, I love, I adore. That is to live in the obscurity of faith……Not to know where we are going is painful; but that is precisely the effect of LEAVING OUR OWN PATHS and entering into the ways of God. To arrive at TRANSFORMATION we must see with OTHER EYES and love with ANOTHER HEART”

There are no “camps” with the Catholic Church - There are just “camps” self created within us…We must reject this mindset…And strive to have the faith of child - Remembering always that Jesus is the vine and we are the humble branches…Without being connected to the vine…WE CAN DO NOTHING!….Sadly, we are not convinced of that…But we must learn to believe it and more importantly to LIVE it….Like a child, we must accept and learn!

“I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always”

As adults we all know that hindsight has perfect vision….Many times unpleasant events happen in life and as we are going through those tough times, we can not see past the “doom and gloom”…But looking back, if we are honest…Some of the toughest chapters of our life served to be the most important…They taught us something…They formed us….I did not get married until I was 43 years old….I always wanted to get married and be a father….But God did not send me my wife until I was in my early forties….From the time I was out of college at the age of twenty-two until the time I was married, I was alone….This was very difficult at times….Why did God allow that?…..Looking back - Now I know….God formed me in my Catholic faith during that time….He prepared me to be a husband and father of five children during that time….He taught me how to pray…How to fast….How to deny myself….How to serve others……How to share.....But over the course of those twenty years…It was not always easy to be alone….I did not understand why God did that to me and all my friends were married - But now I know why!….I bring this up because there are teachings of the Catholic Church that people may not fully understand or frankly want nothing to do with….But as we read above from the words of Luis Martinez, who wrote…..”Not to know where we are going is painful; but that is precisely the effect of LEAVING OUR OWN PATHS and entering into the ways of God. To arrive at TRANSFORMATION we must see with OTHER EYES and love with ANOTHER HEART”……God is the master builder and he is forming each of us - We must learn to trust him and cooperate with him - To have the faith of a child takes time - We must fail more times then not, trying to do it “our way” until we finally arrive at the place where we trust God implicitly…..We must learn to “put down” many things in order to embrace what God has for us…And what God has is infinitely better then what we “think” we need or want….Do you believe that?…..If not, this is what we must work on - And God will help you!….”To arrive at TRANSFORMATION we must see with OTHER EYES and love with ANOTHER HEART”

"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth”

Today at Holy Mass St John tells us something that is fundamental to being an authentic follower of Christ….That our Catholic faith is not to be manipulated but simply to be “passed on”….The Church is our mother…Let me stop right there - Do you believe that?….If not, we must pray and fast - If we do that, God will give us the needed grace…..There is a hymn that says it best:…..”Thou true Vine, that heals the nations….Tree of life, thy branches we…They who leave thee fade and wither, none bear fruit except in thee. Cleanse us, make us sane and simple, till we merge our lives in thine, gain ourselves in thee, the Vintage, give ourselves though thee the Vine”……We must learn to “leave our own paths” and see with “other eyes” and love with “another heart”…..Its in that “place” that we encounter Christ…We must be willing to be uncomfortable before we are ever to be comfortable