For me, its all or nothing

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading from a Letter to the Thessalonians, St Paul attempts to inform his friends about how to properly guide others in their Catholic faith….”You recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the Gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory. And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.”……….On Thursdays Catholics pray the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary…Meditating on how Christ proclaimed the Kingdom of God to others….St Paul took note and followed this very model…..The Gospel can ONLY be transmitted first by developing our interior life - Then by how we live and witness the Gospel to the world - And only then by our words….Catholics in the Church today should take note as St Paul did and told us today at Mass…..This is how Jesus did it and this is what St Paul was tell his friends in Thessalonia to do as well……When we follow this model, our work will bear fruit…The lives of the saints prove this to be true time and time again…..Authenticity sells!….People can tell a fake from a mile away…However, even those with the hardest hearts can perceive the Holy Spirit at work when they witness with their two eyes the model laid out for us today….Before Catholics can transform the world, we must be transformed ourself first…..And trust me…When the world encounters such an individual, they are left dumbstruck - Speechless!….This is the only way we will impact society my friends as Catholics…So let’s get to work

“Whoever keeps the word of Christ, the love of God is truly perfected in him”

I have been Catholic my entire life…I have seen the faith lived out well and I have also seen it lived in a lukewarm manner….In my fifty-five years of living, I have never seen it lived out better then Mother Teresa’s sisters - The Missionaries of Charity…Now there are many good religious orders and many solid priests and bishops out there - Don’t get me wrong……I can only speak for myself and my personal experience…The Missionaries of Charity have it “dialed in” and because of that they are very effective in transmitting the faith…So let’s look at what they do…..First off, the order is deeply grounded in prayer and the Blessed Sacrament as the source and center of their life…Hours are spent each day in prayer…..This is where all their strengthen comes from and this is how the Holy Spirit works through them…So let’s take note!……Secondly, they live a life of deep sacrifice…They live in poverty…They wash their own cloths by hand (even in New York City), they take bucket showers, they only go back home to their families once every ten years (You heard that right)….They fast……Why is this important? - God meets us in sacrifice and when we live sacrificial lives, we leave room for the Holy Spirit to enter into our soul…This is also why these nuns are very effective….Third, their life is deeply Sacramental……Mass everyday, Regular Confessions and Spiritual direction from solid priests….Fourth, the order tolerates no nonsense…You are either “all in” or you are out - And I am all about that model….I am not interested in worldly clergy (Priests, Brothers, Bishops or Nuns)…..Why list this all out?….I received an MBA many years ago and in Business School we were made to read case studies to break down how successful businesses achieved their success…The same should go for us Catholics when we look at the saints and religious people who were effective at what they did and do…They are the “case studies” for Catholics…They “got it right”…And this is why I just noted a brief list of just some of what the Missionaries of Charity do…..Why?…....Because they are effective!…And if we want to be effective too, we need to take note and do the same within our own state of life as Lay Catholics to the degree its possible - And its more possible then you think!….That is the formula for transmitting the Gospel - First develop our interior life through daily prayer, fasting and the Sacraments - Then give witness of the Catholic faith with our life by living sacrificially - And then use our words to transmit Gospel Truth - In that order!...…For those who have ears - Let them hear…I am giving you the “answers to the exam” here…This is how we “make dean’s list”…And this is how we set the world on fire in the process!

“Whoever keeps the word of Christ, the love of God is truly perfected in him”

Today St Paul tells us in the first reading from Mass how we are to transmit the Gospel….As I always tell my children - There are no short cuts!….The example of a holy person is like a lightening bolt crashing down to the earth…I know this because I have seen it with my own two eyes….Our world today thinks that such a person is somehow “not real”…Or even worse….That a holy life is out of reach…Nothing could be further for the truth!….However, if we want to live such a life, there are certain things we must do and there are no short cuts!….And the saints show us the way…..If we are honest with ourself and were to read the lives of the saints, you will find that there are many similarities in the way they lived their lives across the centuries…...While each saint is different, they all follow the same basic “blue print”….And like all good students of history, we too can follow that model of success…..And if we choose to get serious and make that happen - God will do amazing things through us…Why?…Because God is real and the tangible evidence of just how real God is can be seen in the witness of the saints……..For me, its all or nothing……..JMJ