There are no secrets! - Just obstacles to grace - So remove them!

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading how Moses lead the Jewish people out of Egypt where they were slaves and while they were in the desert, they began to complain…“Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!”….How quick we are to forget…..How easy it is to lose hope……This is why we NEED to live a Sacramental life…..This is why we must develop a daily prayer life….This is why we must fast weekly….Why?…..”Because the flesh is willing but the spirit is weak”….Does not matter who you are - That is reality!……….Complementing the first reading, we hear in the Gospel Jesus telling us a similar story…How people give up…….“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear”…..Why did some of the "seeds" bear fruit and others did not?….Because the people who bear fruit rely on GRACE….This is what MOST people in the world do not think about, never mind desire and rely upon…Everything we do as Catholics is the result of grace!…But in order to obtain grace, we must make ourselves available to it…..Without grace we become just like the Israelites in the desert - Complaining - Or worse - We give up……Jesus established a Church not to “collect money” on Sundays - He established a Church so we can receive the “Bread of Life”…So we can reconcile our sins to God…..The man who grounds his life in these practices and trusts in sanctify grace will as the Gospel tells us today….”Produce fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold………Whoever has ears ought to hear”

“The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower; all who come to him will live for ever”

At the height of her fame, Mother Teresa was asked by a reporter, “What is your secret?”…Her answer - “I pray”…..Its really that simple…..If we avail ourself to the grace of the Sacraments….Pray daily and fast weekly…We too will - ”Produce fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold”…This should not be a secret to anyone….So what are the obstacles for us to live such a life?…..In a word - PRIDE….As we say in New Jersey - “We need to get over it!”……One of the great things about working in Manhattan is, there are so many Churches, which makes going to daily Mass and monthly confession very accessible…For a while I would go to confession at St Patricks before the noon Mass and you would not believe how long the confession line was!….Seeing this always gave me hope for the world….Just think how many people would find peace if only they went to a Sacramental Confession!?!…….This is how the “flood gates of grace” are open….This is how the grace of the Blessed Sacrament penetrates our soul…..And for Catholics who have not been to a Sacramental Confession since they were seven years old…This is why they say…”I am bored at Mass”….”I don’t get anything out of the Mass”……In order to “get something out of the Mass” - We need to prepare our soul to receive Jesus - We do that by removing all the barriers between us and God and that ONLY happens through a Sacramental Confession…Some are reading this right now and saying….”WHATEVER”…..To that person I say…..Who are the people you know who are “producing fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold”? - And who is not? - Who are the “complainers” and who are the doers?……EVERYTHING comes down to GRACE and you can not give what you do not have….As Jesus ended the Gospel today - I will end my little "rant" as well with the same words - ”Whoever has ears ought to hear”

“Man ate the bread of angels, food he sent them in abundance. He stirred up the east wind in the heavens, and by his power brought on the south wind”

Today in the first reading, as well as in the Gospel from Mass we hear about people “losing steam” on their journey back to God….What was the “missing link”?…In a word - GRACE….Far too many people in this world do not believe that grace is real, never mind rely upon it to live as God called us too…I am telling you a secret - So pay attention - And “file this one away!”…..YOU can access the same amount of grace as all the saints did - Everything we need is at our fingertips and it is FREE!…..With that being said, without grace, you will “lose steam” and what happened to the Israelites in the desert will happen to you….You will give up…......Or.......You will grow lukewarm and we all know what Jesus said about those who are "lukewarm"....Don’t let that happen!…..If you think right now I am “making all this up”………This is how the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines grace….”Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God's call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God's interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification.”…..The Catechism goes on…..”Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church”……If you were to ask me…..“What is your secret? - I would say - “There is no secret - I pray”…..Everything is reliant upon grace - And you can have it too - There are no secrets! - Just obstacles to grace - So remove them!