Jesus was not “playing around” - And neither should we - That is - If we are serious

Today at Holy Mass in the Gospel of St Luke Jesus tells a story about sacrifice…..Love is about sacrifice….We have lost the meaning of the word today - Sacrifice…..However, when sacrificial love is witnessed…Heads turn and hearts change…This is the love of Jesus Christ - This is what it means to be Catholic….To give all - EVERYTHING - Now that I made you uncomfortable - Buckle up! - I am just getting started……..The example of a single Mom taking care of a handicapped child in a garden apartment……Working class parents giving their children a world class education at a deep personal cost………A family having many children and bearing the sacrifices that go along with it…….Fostering children, who come from violent or drug addicted backgrounds……This is the kind of witness that cannot be ignored…These choices scream of Jesus Christ - No words necessary……….”When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, "I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood”……….If we are serious about who we say we are…We have to live it!…And to live it means we love sacrificially……Whether a single person, a married couple, a priest or bishop - No matter…..This is how the faith spreads and grows - The only way…..A sacrificial life transcends culture, languages, and economic class - It speaks a universal language…..This was the message from the Cross and this is the message Catholics must communicate with our very lives….This is how we impact the world - Not by “fancy words”….But by sacrificial love…Love that costs us

“Stay awake!………For you do not know when the Son of Man will come”

India is a country with many layers to it…Some of the richest people in the world live in India, also some of the poorest people human eyes have ever seem….One year when I was in Kolkata, Mother Teresa’s sisters asked some of the men who were volunteering if we could help take some severely handicapped children to the Science Museum in the city…This museum in Kolkata was for the the upper classes - There was no way the poor could afford it or would even go - It simply was “not for them”…So when about 50 of us showed up carrying handicapped children from the slums of the city….”All eyes” were on us…..I can remember the look on the faces of the people on the line of the museum to this very day…..”Stunned” is a word that comes to mind…..Men from Europe, America, Canada, Australia, a bunch of Catholic nuns and all carrying handicapped poor children…Over the years of working with Mother Teresa’s sisters, I have seen that look again and again in San Francisco, Haiti and in New York…..STUNNED……People staring wide eyed at what the sisters do….Working against all odds with next to nothing - Walking the halls of dangerous housing projects, living in the slums of the third world, going where no one goes and doing what no one does!…..This is a witness that can not be ignored by even the hardest of hearts in our world today…..Either such a person who does this is totally crazy or they know something that most of us do not know……The question we as Catholics have to ask ourselves is this - Are we serious about our faith?…..Because if we are - We too will do what is hard!…We too will make deep sacrifices…..Why is that? - Because we take Jesus at his word….Is heaven our true home? - If we say YES to that question - Prove it!….And we prove it, as we say in New Jersey, by “putting our money where our mouth is”…..I state all this because this is how we teach the world about who Jesus Christ real is - By living sacrifically - This is also how we teach the world about what love really is all about……The rest of it, is just “fancy words”…..Actions speak - So speak with your life

“Stay awake!………For you do not know when the Son of Man will come”

Today we are told a story in the Gospel at Mass about a woman who gave her all - She gave her very self - Why?…..Well, it’s simple - She understood who God really is…She understood what love looks like and is all about….And she had the courage and faith to live her belief out loud - With her life - No words necessary….The bottom line is this - If we say we are Catholic and our life is not lived out sacrificially…No one will believe us!….Let that sink in deep - Whether you are single, married, a priest or a bishop……We can say all the “right things” and say them perfectly for that matter - Still not a soul will believe us in the secular world!…….This is the driving problem in America…Most of us have really never seen what the Catholic faith looks like…..We live in such a “comfortable world”…I too came from this same “comfortable world” - I am a by-product of it as well - So I “get it”….But when the Catholic faith is lived radically - And when “that kind of Church” is witnessed - A Church which embraces sacrificial love - A love that costs!…..This is the witness that changes hearts and turns heads - Why? - Because it screams of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial love from the cross for sinners…. Again - Are we “serious” about what we say we believe as Catholics? - Living sacrificially is not for the faint of heart….But let’s be honest - Jesus was not “playing around” - And neither should we - That is - If we are serious……..JMJ

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