What do you think John the Baptist would say today if he was alive…..My guess is probably the same thing - “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of Luke a message that most of us probably do not take seriously….One because its a scary thought if these words are taken seriously….Secondly, as Americans we have been raised to believe the exact opposite when it comes to money and material success….”Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way”…..Everyone wants to live lives of comfort but in our quest for comfort, do we forget why we were created? - To love and serve God and to be with him for all eternity - Do we take that reality for granted?…….While most of us live in a family setting and will not literally live out what Jesus asked his original twelve friends to do as missionaries - The question for us to ponder today is - Do we strive to live lives of comfort?…Do we “put down” the cross and trade it in for comfort? - In an attempt to appease a world that could literally care less about you?……Do we care so much about “what people think” and put aside “the cross”?……The reality of the matter at hand is this - We can not have it both ways and sadly most people think we can…..Catholics were not called to live “comfortable lives”…We were ALL called to something greater - Do we “trade that something in” for comfort?….As followers of Christ, if we are “doing it right”…....Our lives should make absolutely no sense to the secular world…..Why is that?….Because heaven is our true home and life here on earth should serve as a reflection of heaven…....To the secular mind - That will never make sense….There is one way and one way only into heaven - And that is by and through the Cross……“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”…......To think otherwise is a delusion…..There is no such thing as the “Prosperity Gospel”….Jesus was very clear about that…So take up your cross and follow me

“Let the peace of Christ control your hearts; let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”

If Catholics were to read the Social Compendium of the Catholic Church as well as Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum, I think many people would probably be put off….....”Once the demands of necessity and propriety have been met, the rest that one owns belongs to the poor”…....Did I just write that? - BOOM!……This statement basically implies that if we are blessed with material gifts, we are to meet the needs of our family with them first and then use those gifts to serve mankind…..I can hear it now - Your a communist - NO - I am a Catholic - Are you a Catholic too?……Sadly, most gifted and wealthy Catholics do not see the world this way…..Years ago when I was working as an auditor I was doing a job in Beverly Hills California…....For those reading this blog and do not know, Beverly Hills is a very wealthy community…It was Sunday and I went to the local parish in Beverly Hills for Mass…When it came time to receive the Blessed Sacrament…The priest in this parish had a very interesting practice…He made the people in the back of the Church come up to receive the Eucharist first before the people in the front…In doing this, I believe the priest was trying to teach his people something…That they were blessed with material gifts and that those gifts were given to them so they can be used to serve others….Now for the Truth BOMB….That is how we will be judged by God…Did we all hear that clearly - I hope so!…Those who have been given much, much will be expected…Write that one down and put it in your pocket!…..A Catholic is to live simply, take care of the needs of his / her family first, educate their children and if he / she is materially blessed, they are to use their resources to help and serve the world…Let me repeat this again - That is how we will ALL be judged - That is on the “final exam”!……This is not my “opinion” either…Do we think in these terms?…..More importantly - Do we live like this?….For most Americans because of the way we were raised, this is a VERY hard concept to grasp therefore it is rejected outright….But that should not stop us from doing our very best to embracing it….What are the things that get in the way?…..Are we too attached to comfort?…..Do we see Christ in others who are in need?….Are we building “our castle” here on earth as opposed to living as a pilgrim destined for heaven?…..If this reflection makes you uncomfortable - Pray about what I just wrote - Because again this is not my “opinion”…..And to “back up” what I just wrote - Let’s let Jesus “weigh in”…………..”It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God”…......Then Jesus doubles down - As he often does - Are we listening?…..”No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon”……..We as children of God were not created to be “comfortable” we were created for greatness!…You can not have it both ways and pretending to is simply a self-delusion

“Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.”

Today we hear in the Gospel from Mass how Jesus sends forth his twelve friends into the world…He does not promise them a “bed of roses” either….He tells them to literally “take nothing” with them….What should that tell us?….God will provide what we NEED in this life….And in turn we NEED to then discern what we NEED from what we WANT….Heaven is our true home - Do we live like it is?…I will repeat again what I stated above…The life of a Catholic should make absolutely no sense to the mind of the secular world….We are called to live in the world but not be of the world….”In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: “A voice of one crying out in the desert ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”....…As we all know, John the Baptist was to prepare the world for the birth of Christ….....What do you think John the Baptist would say today if he was alive…..My guess is probably the same thing - “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”