“It is what it is” and the only thing that needs to change is us - But don’t worry, Jesus is in the “change” business - He gives us everything we need to make that change

Today at Holy Mass in the in the Gospel of St Matthew, Jesus asks his friends a very important question…In fact he asks us the same question today…..”Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”…….How we answer that question determines a lot!…..Do we “create” a Jesus that is palatable for us? - Someone after our own desires and ideas? - Or - Do we accept Jesus as he really is?……Its very easy to fall into the trap of “creating” our own Jesus…..This is something we have to be VERY careful about - So how do we avoid this trap?……Jesus gives us the answer today in the Gospel…..”Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”….Jesus created a Church…He did not write a book…Did you know that the Bible did not come on the scene until 400 years after Jesus’s death?…And guess who put the Bible together? - The Catholic Church!……It is through the Church and through the Pope that the Christian community have both unity and authority…..To deny this is to deny Christ himself…Now some do not know better - And God will judge them, not me - But more times than not, what you will find is, all people who seek the Truth both with an open heart and an open mind, putting aside all predetermined biases - Always end up in the same place - The Catholic Church………..Why did Jesus create a Church?….The answer - Because we ALL need Sacramental grace….The road to heaven is NOT smooth - Therefore we need grace to make it there - To not get distracted - To be healed when we fall - To be forgiven when we sin……People - This is reality!…..And the only person who suffers when reality is denied is the person that denies it!…..Our world today suffers because we refuse to face reality

“Oh, that today you would hear his voice: “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, Where your fathers tested me; they tested me though they had seen my works”

The single best way to address critics is to demonstrate success…..Our world points to the faults of Catholics who fall prey to sin…..Forgetting that from the very beginning one of the first twelve disciples was a betrayer…….Sin is sadly apart of the human condition, all the more reason why we need the Catholic Church….But what society refuses to do is, to look at the “remaining eleven” disciples and admit to themselves all the good they did…The same goes for today…There will always be a few great sinners among the Catholic flock, but the overwhelming majority of priests and bishops are clearly not Judas Iscariot…So why does society fix its eyes on the "one Judas"?…Is it because maybe they do not want to “bend their knee” fully to God?…Is it because they do not want to change?…..Once again, this is something we all must be honest about - Why? - Because we ALL need Sacramental grace!…Our human nature is flawed…A person who does not take advantage of Sacramental grace is at a great disadvantage in life…So why not utilize what Jesus himself gave us? - Its frankly the smart thing to do…From my prospective - Its the only way to live!……If someone reads this reflection and disagrees with what I just wrote..I invite that person to do two things….The first, read the early Church fathers and if you do that, you will find that from the very beginning, you will discover that what they did mirrors the practices of the Catholic Church to this very day 2000 years later - The early Church was Catholic!…..Second, read the lives of the saints…If you do, you will find many men and women who before embracing Sacramental grace were not exactly what we would consider today holy people…And how after they embraced Sacramental living in a radical way, their lives changed for the better…..Once again, reality does not change because society does not want to accept it or chooses not to look at it because it challenges preconceived ideas or lifestyles that frankly are not working in real time!……As Scripture tells us…You tell a tree by the fruit it bears…If you look to healthy Catholics…And not focus on the few “bad apples”…You will CLEARLY find a Church that is thriving…A people who are thriving - Why is that?…Because of Sacramental grace - We ALL need this grace….Don’t sell yourself short!

“You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it”

Today at Mass Jesus tells us very clearly that he established a Church and that Church is built upon Peter, who we all know was the first Pope….There are some that say, “I only believe what is in the Bible” - Well, today its very clear…..So are we “creating” our own Jesus?….Someone who “fits in nicely” to how we currently live?……St Peter today in the gospel even did that…..And this is how Jesus addressed him….”From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do”….St Paul warns his friend Timothy about this problem believe it or not 2000 years ago too….”For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry”……So the question remains to this very day - “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”…..How we subjectively answer that question does not change reality - Maybe it’s time to re-think our answer?……..The great English 20th century author GK Chesterton put it best: “For the modern world will accept no dogmas upon any authority; but it will accept any dogmas on no authority. Say that a thing is so, according to the Pope or the Bible, and it will be dismissed as a superstition without examination. But preface your remark merely with "they say" or "don't you know that?" or try (and fail) to remember the name of some professor mentioned in some newspaper; and the keen rationalism of the modern mind will accept every word you say”……As we say in New Jersey - “It is what it is”…Jesus was not some hippie and Jesus did not write a book, He established a Church - The door is open, come on in - But once again - “It is what it is” and the only thing that needs to change is us - But don’t worry, Jesus is in the “change” business - He gives us everything we need to make that change………………..JMJ