”Grace Perfects Nature”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading from the book of Genesis the story about of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau & Jacob…Esau was the oldest son and Isaac his dad was very old…He was going to bless him, which I would assume would imply he was to receive the family inheritance….Rebekah his wife saw this and tricked her husband into thinking her youngest son Jacob was Esau, so he would receive his father’s blessing instead…Why bring up all this Old Testament family drama?….Do we try to “trick” God?…..Do we rationalize the Truth away because it is hard?….Before we can “Keep it Real” (as the saying goes) - We have to be transparent with our self first….Before we can project Christ to the world, we must be honest with our self…This is very easy to say, but can be hard to do…Why? - Because if we are honest with ourself, we are confronted with the reality that we must change….To be a Catholic means we are transformed each and everyday…The “walk” of a Catholic is not something that is ever done…We are “converted” each and every day…This “conversion” takes place as the result of grace…There is an understanding in Catholic teaching…”Grace perfects nature”…Remember those three words I just wrote - They are SO important…They are so important I am going to write them again - ”Grace perfects nature”…We must be honest with ourself…We all have flaws and our flaws and imperfections do not just “magically” go away…Just like we do not “magically” float into heaven because we are a “good guy”….We must confront our flaws and weaknesses and allow God’s grace to perfect them…This is why Jesus walked the earth and gave us a Church…And this is why we have the Sacraments, which are our “tools” to perfect our nature…..As we saw today in the first reading at Mass from the Old Testament….Rebekah attempts to trick her husband…..Do we try to “trick” God?

“My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me”

There is an old saying…”If you can’t lie to your self, who can you lie too?”…..Are we transparent?….Before we can be transparent with others, we have to be transparent with ourself…..This can be scary…Because it prompts us to face “things” we many not want to face…This is why our world today lives in “noise”…So much of what we see around us today is nothing but “noise”…Its simply a distraction from the reality of facing our very self….This is why we must take time to sit before Jesus in silence in the Blessed Sacrament each week…In the silence there is “no where to hid” and Christ will speak to our heart in a “language” only YOU will understand……Chastity both outside of marriage and within marriage is something our world struggles with….How do YOU address it?….I can remember in my twenties I was in confession and an old Italian priest who was trying to get me to understand what perfect chastity meant in the single life…And I was literally arguing with him…Clearly he was right but I wanted no part of what he was saying…This is how the human mind works, no matter how smart we “think” we are…….This is why we are ALL in need of GRACE…Why?…I am going to write it a third time…..........”Grace perfects nature”…..The human family is so convinced that it does not need to change…Its so convinced that going to heaven is a “given”…..A Catholic must NEVER be satisfied with their flaws and imperfections…This does not mean you “beat yourself up”…But it does mean we strive each and every day to be better…Start small and use the tools Jesus gave to us…..Daily Prayer, Weekly Fasting, The Rosary, Monthly Confession with a Priest, Reception of the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace, Time spent before Jesus in silence in front of the Blessed Sacrament…This is how we remedy our flaws and “confront our self”…….And this is how God transforms us in time….Never be satisfied with yourself…Strive each and every day to be better….If we do this…God will take our small efforts and magnify them

“All that the LORD wills he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all the deeps”

Today we are reminded in the first readings from Mass about how people try to “trick” God….Are we honest with God?…Before we can be honest with God we must first be honest with ourself….Those who struggle with alcohol utilize what is called a 12-step program….The first step is admitting you have a problem…The second step is that you are powerless to that problem and need the help of a “higher power” to address your problem…Many people probably do not know that a Catholic Priest created Alcoholics Anonymous and the 12-step program it utilizes…As everyday Catholics we too should in a sense utilize the same model…First we must admit we are sinners…Second we must admit we need God’s grace too address our sin….And here is the good news…God WILL help us - If we give him permission!…Jesus gave us ALL everything we need to “perfect our nature”….But that process for it to work is completely up to us….....We do not “magically” become virtuous….....Within each and every human being exists the divine - The very life of God…….Its our job to “uncover” our divine nature and magnify it……”Grace Perfects Nature”………………….JMJ