We are told that God is the potter and we are the clay….Is the God we worship self created?…..We need to let God be God - He “gets it” - He also “gets you”

Today at Holy Mass we are told in the Gospel of St Luke about how Jesus was invited to a dinner at the home of one of the scholars of the law….Luke tells us….”And the people there were observing him carefully”…When I read this line, I thought to myself…Where these people interested in what Jesus had to say or where they just looking for a reason to “cut him down”?…….Where they open to the Truth or were they so “dug in” to their own ideologies that they needed to justify themselves by finding fault in a man who had no faults……If you think as I do that was the case…Do we do the same thing?…..Are we looking for faults in Bishops, Priests and Lay Catholics to justify not going to Church?….To not practice our faith?……The Catholic Church like everything else is full of both saints and sinners….There is no such thing as a “perfect parish” or a perfect Catholic…I will say this….While each of us are flawed, the Church itself and what it teaches is flawless…..And because the Church is the very thing that gives us Sacramental grace…With each passing year, we too grow closer and closer to Christ……A very wise priest once told me…..People who oppose the Catholic Church have “many issues” they claim keep with from going to Mass…But here is the interesting part…This holy priest then said…All the “issues” communicated are not the reason why fall away Catholics do not attend Mass…Under all those “issues” usually is one big issue…And its personal…..An unresolved hurt or sin that needs to be attended too………No one can help us if we are unwilling to help ourself…..The Catholic Church is not a museum for saints…Its an hospital for sinners….And Sacramental grace is the “divine medicine” for the world…..Jesus tells us point blank……“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink”…….We are healed through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and we are “fed” by the Blessed Sacrament….This is why Jesus founded a Church…….Reality does not change because we do not want to accept it.

“God gives a home to the forsaken; he leads forth prisoners to prosperity”

The human mind can convince itself of many things…Think about some of the most horrible crimes ever committed by man…Many of those atrocities committed where not only legal and established by written laws but human being “convinced themselves” that what they were doing was right…..Catholic teaching tells us and frankly you do not have to look far to see what the Church states is true….That sin “dulls the intellect”…..Don’t believe me?….Listen to the news........When we live a Sacramental life we “see” the world with the help of grace…This informs our decisions and leads to better outcomes in life……..Years ago a friend of mine who left the Catholic Church and attended a non-denomination Church invited me to a Bible Study….I accept his invitation not to leave the Catholic Church but to educate many people who have “issues with the Catholic Church”….What I found is, people have many misconceptions about what the Catholic Church actually teaches…And I was going to address this at this Bible Study…..I will share with you one of my experiences there…There was this man named Bill who believed as many Protestants believe that we are “Once saved - Always Saved”…I told Bill that is not what was taught by Jesus himself nor is that written in the Bible…Remember - Protestants believe “Everything written in the Bible” - Right?…So I said to Bill, next week I will come to this Bible Study with verses from the very Bible "in your hand" that refute this notion of “Once saved - Always Saved”…So that is what I did…I came back the next week with a single sheet of page and written on it, front to back, were verses from the Bible that refute this false notion of “Once saved - Always Saved”…And when I put the sheet of paper in front of Bill…He pushed it aside and would not read it…I told him, “Bill - What is on this page comes from the very Bible that is in your hand”…And he still would not read it…..Why tell this story…..Are we honest with ourself?…..Is our “issue” not with the Catholic Church but with something much deeper within ourself?….Today in the Gospel from Mass Jesus is invited to the home of a scholar of the law and St Luke tells us…”And the people there were observing him “carefully”…Maybe instead of “watching” Jesus, looking for inconsistencies and faults, the people would be better served to listen to him with an open and objective heart…..What do you think?

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

Today we are told in St Luke Gospel about how some of the leading members of society, who heard about the wisdom and miracles of Christ wanted to “see for themselves” what he had to say over dinner….Instead of listening with an open heart…They were critical of him, wanting to find fault in what he said to justify their lifestyle……We as Catholic must always be aware of this temptation…..Its very easy to do the same thing…..A “teachable spirit” allows God to form and mold us into who we were born to be…And that process is not always easy…But it is necessary…..We are told that God is the potter and we are the clay….Is the God we worship self created?…..We need to let God be God - He “gets it” - He also “gets you”….JMJ