“We all make mistakes - Learn from your mistakes”……When words do not get through…All we have left is to pray and fast….And sometimes that is the best thing we can do

Today at Holy Mass we get some insight in the Gospel of St Matthew about just how much God loves humanity…..”If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost”….As parents, we get a small taste of what it means to truly love - As God loves…..The love a mother and a father has for their children is something very real and very special…..Yet - God loves us even more than that…..Once a person has a child, their enter world view changes….I can only speak for myself…When I see people suffer, I think to myself…”That is someone’s child” - No matter who you are - At one time, everyone was three years old and innocent - Even the worst of people…..And today God tells us what he is willing to do, to bring a lost child back home to him…..Do we view the world in this manner?….Do we look at the suffering of others and turn away thinking - Too bad for them - Good for me?…….Jesus broke down the law into two laws…Love God above all things and love your neighbor as your self…The driving reason why we are unable to love our neighbor is because we do not love God the way we should…One CANNOT love their neighbor properly if one does not love God……This is the missing link in our world today…If we viewed others as a father looks at a son….Thinking - “That is someone's child”…Maybe our world would be a better place?…Maybe we would have peace?….This will only happen if we learn to love God and place him above ALL things….And before we can even do that - We must understand that we are loved by God - So many today in our world do not think that is the case - And because of that - They do not treat their neighbor as they should.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart”

Today Jesus tells his friends about going after the one who went astray…..How can we best do that?…..I have learned over the course of time that facts, logic, and arguments will NEVER accomplish this goal…Ultimately, people all make choices and lets be honest - Some life choices are bad - How do we know? - Because of the outcomes they produce….And sadly, no arguments, no amount of straight up common sense communicated can “change the mind of others”…..People double down and triple down on behaviors that consistently produce bad results…So what can we do?…..Pray and Fast…….A friend of mine who is a radio host in Catholic media today me a story about how when he went to college, he abandoned his Catholic faith…This greatly disturbed his father….So what did his Dad do?…..Every night at 3:00am (the hour of mercy)….His father would get up from his sleep and pray for his son on his knees…..This went on for some time…..And guess what happened?…..His son returned to his Catholic faith and today has a huge Catholic social media following…..Another such story…….One of the guests who has been on our radio show for a period of his life lived a homosexual lifestyle in San Francisco after he graduated from college…..His father prayed the Rosary for his son night and day…..After a period of time… This man had a massive heart attack in his thirties and in the emergency room of the hospital, he told us when we interviewed him on our show, he had a vision of hell….I am not making this up!…..And because of that vision - He radically changed his lifestyle……The power of prayer and fasting can not be measured….When the world “digs in” to bad choices, Catholics must turn to prayer and fasting…..No one is going to “argue” anyone into the doors of the Church…Sometimes even good example will not do it either….That is when we must pray and fast….This is how we can bring the lost back home

“Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me”

Today at Mass we hear just how much God loves us…There is nothing God will not do to bring all his children back home…..But ultimately, we have to make a choice…..Life has many chapters to it, as all adults know full well…….Many events happen over the course of life that make us reflect - Both good and bad…The birth of a child, sickness, the death of loved ones, etc…All these events are meant for us to “step outside” of our world and think about things from another prospective…..God tries to “get our attention” through life’s many events…But even after all that - We make the final call - To reject the hand offered to us by God or to grasp it……We are given a short amount of time to live on this earth to “figure it all out” - If we are lucky MAYBE 80 years…….As a father of five, one of the things I tell my children over and over again - “We all make mistakes - Learn from your mistakes”……We can say that until we are blue in the face…But the decision to do that is ours alone…..In my 55 years of life….I have encountered all types of people….Those who have had successful lives and I am not just talking about monetary success, I am talking about people who thrived in all aspects in their life - All these people have certain traits in common - One of those traits is what I tell my children constantly! - “We all make mistakes - Learn from your mistakes”……When words do not get through…All we have left is to pray and fast….And sometimes that is the best thing we can do