If we pray, we too will stay

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading St Paul write a letter to his friends….In this letter he encourages them but also warns them…..”You once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds; God has now reconciled you in the fleshly Body of Christ through his death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him, provided that you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven”…….There is a lot to dissect here…First - How are we reconciled to Christ, who is perfect? - Through the Church, which provides the Sacraments for us to utilize….This is disputed but this is reality…..Second, Paul warns his friends…That we must persevere in the faith that does not change or shift…How do we persevere?….Daily Prayer - Weekly Fasting which sharpens our prayer - And living a Sacramental life……The narrow road to heaven is underestimated….If we think we can walk this road without the aide of heavenly grace, we are sadly mistaken…..Lastly, Paul also tells his friends that the faith does not change…….Man is to adapt his life to God….Not the the other way around…..Our world today hears what “its itchy ears” wants to hear when it comes to the Catholic faith…..Moral relativism is a virus which has devastated the Modern world……Even within the “halls of the Church itself” - There are some men who twist doctrine to suit personal agendas….St Paul warns us about this today…….Salvation is not found on our terms…If we want to walk the narrow road, we need to help ourself…Jesus who was fully man is aware of the weaknesses of men…..That is why he formed a Church…..And if we want to persevere, we need to “work at it” daily……What is more important than entering into eternal life?……Do we take our salvation for granted?…..Athletes train each and every day to achieve excellence…..Striving to sanctify our soul is no different….And walking the “narrow road” is not easy.

“Behold, God is my helper; the Lord sustains my life. Freely will I offer you sacrifice; I will praise your name, O LORD, for its goodness”

If you were to Google just about any Catholic religious order, you will find on their webs-site a break down of how they spend their day…If you were to look at that, you will notice just how much time they pray each day……..Why?…Because in order to live a holy life, we MUST stay connect to God……This is why the Church in her wisdom asks Catholics to go to Mass each Sunday and to receive the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace……And by the way…That is doing the bare minimum to accomplish what St Paul tells us today in the first reading - To embrace the fullness of Truth in word and deed and to persevere to the end……….Before I was married I would spend the majority of Advent in Kolkata serving the poor with Mother Teresa’s sisters…The day began with prayer and it ended with prayer….Mass was at 6;00am……All the volunteers for the most attended…..After Mass we ate breakfast and took public buses to the various clinics to serve the poor of the city…The day ended back at the convent in the chapel with a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament starting at 6:00pm…….As many people know, I am the co-host of a Catholic radio show. We recently had a guest on the show who is the Senior Editor of a very well known Catholic magazine in America…He said something I will never forget regarding all the Catholic social media voices presently hosting podcasts and radio shows…..”If a person does not pray at least one hour a day - They really have nothing to say” - This man is absolutely right!……..But let’s look to what Mother Teresa had to say about the importance of daily prayer……“When the sisters are exhausted, up to their eyes in work, and all seems to go awry, they spend and hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. This practice has never failed to bear fruit; they experience peace and strength”……..Catholic saints are nothing more then examples that point to Jesus…..Here we have Mother Teresa, a saint “giving us the answers to the test” - Are we paying attention?…….How does a father be a good father?….How does a mother be a good mother?…How do we live sacrificially for our family and the world around us?….How do we live out our Catholic faith day to day?….Mother Teresa is telling us!….We need to “stay connected” to God’s grace…….What I just wrote is the “missing link” and the answer to so many of the world’s problems….Mankind underestimates just how flawed we ALL are!…….Jesus came to the earth to save us from our very selves……I can hear it now…..”That is what you think”….”I got it all together”…..”I don’t need God’s grace”……The devil loves to hear statements like that……Don’t believe me?….Let’s “fact check” what I just wrote……“We cannot separate our lives from the Eucharist; the moment we do, something breaks. People ask, ‘Where do the sisters get the joy and energy to do what they are doing?’ The Eucharist involves more than just receiving; it also involves satisfying the hunger of Christ"……Mother Teresa wrote that and if we are honest, I think we can all agree she was rather “successful” at living out her Catholic faith in real time…..Are we interested in being successful too?

“I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me”

St Paul tells us today at Mass that if we are to embrace the fullness of the faith, which does not change, we need to preserve…And in order to preserve, we need to pray and live a Sacramental life…….The saints tell us this point blank!……The Eucharist is “food for the journey”….Just as our physical bodies can not live without food and water…Our soul requires Sacramental grace to keep it healthy and to give us the stamina to “walk the narrow road”…..Mankind for all the achievements it has accomplished over the course of the last 2000 years has to this present day denies this reality, which I just wrote about in this reflection - And sadly the consequences of that denial are ever present before our very eyes…….If we want to “win the race” - We need to “train”…..If we want to persevere until the end - We need to pray……In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus spent the night in prayer - The apostles slept…We all know how that story ended…Jesus prayed - And Jesus stayed when the Roman soldiers came…..Remember what happened to the apostles?….They ran away……Are we paying attention? - If we pray, we too will stay……..JMJ