Today the Universal Church at Holy Mass commemorates the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist…In the first reading from the Book of Isaiah, we are told something that applies to EVERY Baptized Catholic…..”I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth”……..If we only realized our potential - No matter what natural gifts we have been given - God can magnify our impact on the world, if we only surrender our life to his Divine Providence…..Our Lady said it best….”He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly”…..We are not convinced! - That God can do more with your life than you can - So instead, we hold onto to and chase after “dust and straw” in this world, which only fades away in time….The reality of the matter is - The more we empty ourself, the more God will fill us with his Holy Spirit - This is how the world is set ablaze….Being that the Church today commemorates the birth of John the Baptist - Let’s echo the words of John…”I must decrease and he must increase”…..John understood - Do we?….What holds us back?…..The “calculus” of God is very different from that of the secular world…..When we live a sacrificial life, no matter if we are a priest, married or single….When we “give our life away” in service to others…..Commit to a daily prayer life and fast….When we live Sacramentally…..In time and if we are consistent, God’s Holy Spirit will animate us….There is great power in living in this manner and this is how Catholics impact the world……But this “kind of witness” cannot be self manufactured, no matter how “smart we are” or what natural gifts we possess - This is the “mistake of many” - Relying on our self instead of abandoning “self” and rely solely on God….When the unbelieving secular world encounters such a person, they are stunned!…Such a person stops traffic!….And this is what John the Baptist did…And this is what we can do as well….Why do we “sell” our life short?….Our “greatness” is found in God - Claim what is yours!
“You, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way”
The English writer and philosopher G.K. Chesterton once noted - “The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children” - This is so true!….A Catholic family that is open to life, does not use contraception and has many children stops traffic when they enter a room…I have experienced this with my family and have seen this with other families like my own….My wife is Haitian-American and I am Italian-American…We have five inter-racial children all under the age of twelve years old….When we walk into Mass on Sunday as a family - Every eye in the Church is upon us…Our family, because my wife and I chose to live according to the teachings of the Church, is a witness - No words necessary!…We are a witness not because we are special - But because God is special!…..The same goes for a priest, who preaches and teaches the fullness of a Truth boldly and clearly - When such a man speaks, the room goes quiet - Also, when such a priest lives a life a voluntary poverty, sharing his material wealth with the poor, living simply and humbly in his rectory….”That kind of priest” shakes the foundations of the world!!!!….Being Catholics is really very simple - Its so simple most “miss it”….We get “caught up” with the “ways of the world” - We conform ourselves to a pagan culture - And in doing so our impact as Catholics is diminished…..Everything we have to do as a Catholic is written down!!!! - Just read the catechism and pay attention to the readings at Mass….God’s grace is real - So is the power of the Holy Spirit!…All we have to do is “harness this power”…And we do that by following the words of John the Baptist….”I must decrease and He must increase”…..That is the “secret” to greatness!
“My brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those others among you who are God-fearing, to us this word of salvation has been sent”
Today the Universal Church calls our attention to the birth of John the Baptist…John was a force of nature!…But what made John the way he was?….John lived a life of prayer and fasting in the desert - I am not a biblical scholar but I would bet that John lived in the desert for many years before God called him forth to preach of his coming…..God does the same with us - We are “formed” over time - So be patient!…….A modern day example of how God prepares a person for a great work was Mother Teresa…..For twenty years Mother Teresa was a school teacher in India before God called her to form a new religious order…And once she founded the Missionaries of Charity, for seventeen years she labored night and day at a home she established for people the sisters picked up off the streets of Kolkata…I have served in that home and the work is hard!!!!…Mother Teresa did that for seventeen years!!!! - And no one knew it….Until one given day a journalist from Life Magazine, Malcolm Muggeridge, an English atheist came to Kolkata to do a story about her and her work…This is how the world found out about this woman - God used an atheist to bring her life’s witness to the world….And interestingly enough, because of the witness of Mother Teresa, the hardened atheist Malcolm Muggeridge became Catholic…God works in myserteous ways but make no mistake - God is at work!….Allow him to work on YOU…..If we surrender our life to God in a radical way - If we live for others sacrificially - If we pray and fast - If we live Sacramentally…We too will set the world on fire!!!!!!….Remember the “secret” of John the Baptist - ”I must decrease and He must increase”……..Now you know the “secret formula” - Time to live it out……………JMJ
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