We all know how that turned out for Adam and Eve…What makes us “think” we are any different?

Today at Holy Mass in the Gospel of St John Jesus addresses his own people who have rejected him…These are the same people who “say” they believe in God….But somehow they do to “see” God who was standing right in front of their face…..”You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life”……Humanity has a way of accepting things on its own terms…This pervasive way we look at "things" is directly opposed to Christ’s message…..This why ten people can read something and have ten different interpretations…We see things through our own personal lens and experience…..There is danger in that because in viewing life in that manner, objective truth is lost…And when objective truth is disregarded, God is disregard because God is Truth…..Jesus today in the Gospel brings up to his people how “for a while” they liked what John the Baptist had to say…But as time wore on, John the Baptist was eliminated by the state because he challenged what they held up to be most important - Their Power!….This is why the First Commandment is to love God above all things….Idols do not come to us in the form of a “golden calf” like in the Old Testament….Idols take on all forms of “things” that are given pride and place over God…..Ultimately, the idols we hold up over the one true God enslave us…Yet humanity somehow believes the lie that God in his infinite goodness is the one who enslaves us - Who “holds us back” from the “good life”……Once again - The whisper of the ancient serpent can be heard in the garden….”God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God”……."Did God really say”…….”You certainly will not die”…..We all know how that turned out for Adam and Eve…What makes us “think” we are any different?

“They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great deeds in Egypt, Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea.”

As Catholics we are to accept the Truth in season and out of season….As we all know, the world is fickle, we however are called to be consistent and steadfast in our Catholic faith…But are we?….When we view our social media feeds each day we see how Catholics mix their politics with their religion….Catholic politicians who “claim” they are "devout Catholics" yet support abortion…..Catholics politicians who are “conservative” politically and support the death penalty……Catholic politicians who are indifferent to same sex marriage…..All of these real life actions witness to what the readings today at Mass address…We create idols - And place those idols over God - And in the process we rationalize our behavior in the name of “this or that”….Humanity can do this almost subconsciously…This is why Jesus tells his people today in the Gospel…”For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”…But the people were blind to their behavior yet they professed with their mouth a belief in the one true God….So the question to consider today is - What do we hold up over God?….Have we created numerous “golden calves”, which we value more than God himself?…A good way to evaluate this objectively is to take a good look at your check book…What do you spend your money on?….This will tell you very clearly who and what is most important in your life…..In doing this I am not asking you to give all your money away…What I am asking you to do is honestly evaluate what you spend your money on….In doing so you will get a very clear picture of what is most important in our life…This is where the “rubber meets the road”!…..Jesus calls the people out today in the Gospel….”I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?”….Is Jesus also calling us out as well?

“Our fathers made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image; They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock.”

Lent is a time to evaluate the “things” that have a hold on our life….If we are honest with ourself, there are many “things” that enslave us…..Humanity has the wrong idea about the message of Christ and what true freedom is all about….The Gospel message is all about freedom, yet humanity “thinks” the words of Christ and his Church are about enslavement…..It’s the exact opposite!….When we place “things” or behaviors above God, they rule our life and in turn we become slaves to those things……Jesus came to free us from sin and in turn free us from slavery….Still don’t believe me?…..Would you agree that taking on massive amounts of debt is a form a slavery?…Would you agree with that statement?….Why do we do it?…Is it to “create” an image of ourself, pretending to be something we are not?…Sounds a little like a “golden calf” to me……Is it possible we are listening to the whisper of the ancient serpent, who comes to us in his many disguises?….We all know how that turned out for Adam and Eve…What makes us “think” we are any different?

"Make straight the way for the Lord”…..What is in “the way”?….Identify “the what” and remove it…Then you will “hear” and then you will “see”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St John….St John was special and I always pay particular attention to what he writes…St John was not like the other disciples…He was a mystic, which means he saw things that others did not see…How?….His heart was pure!…This should be our one and only goal - To purify our hearts…”Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see”…….Today St John tells us how Jesus begins to prepare his friends for his death….And what is to come following his death….”Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life"…Just a quick aside…Whenever Jesus in Scripture begins a statement with “Amen, amen” - Pay attention - He is about to “drop a bomb” on you!……”Whoever hears my word” - Interesting? - Do we “hear” the words of Christ - I mean really hear them?……Because if we did, we would act upon them - We would live differently - Right?…….Like St John, who “saw” what others did not see…We too must “hear” what others do not hear….This is evident by the way Catholics are called to live - Are we like “everyone else”?…It all comes down to our heart - Is our heart pure?….So I guess the question is - How can we purify our heart in a world that “pulls us” in a direction away from God?…Only through Sacramental grace can we purify our heart - You can not “study” your way to a pure heart…..This is how we “hear” and this is how we “see”….Can the blind lead the blind?….This is what we “see” today…The blind are leading the blind!

“Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”

Edith Stein was a German intellectual….She grow up in a Jewish home and at a young age she gave up her belief in God….She put all her faith in her studies….Two events changed that…One night she had nothing to do and she picked up a book on the life of St Teresa of Avila….She read the entire book in one sitting…After she was finished all she could say is…”This is the Truth”…How can a person with Edith’s background come to such a conclusion?…The second event - Edith one day walked into a Catholic Church and watched a poor uneducated woman pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament - The sight of this person impacted her deeply….Shortly there after, Edith made the decision to become a Catholic….Not only a Catholic…But Edith become a Carmelite nun…And ultimately she gave up her life for her people during the Nazi occupation of Europe…..The world knows her today as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross….And this what she said about finding God…About “seeing” and “hearing” him….."Anyone who seeks truth seeks God, whether or not he realizes it. - My longing for truth was a single prayer.”…This is how a former Jewish girl turned atheist became Catholic…Edith was a seeker of Truth…Are you?….Anyone who seeks the Truth with a pure heart will always end up in the same place…..It’s not about “my truth” - Whatever that means!….This "idea" spoken today - “My truth” - Gets in the way of us finding God…”My way” is a stumbling block……”Truth Seekers” find God…Why?…Because God is Truth - Not “my truth" - But the Truth!...What gets in your way in your search for Truth? - Only you can answer that…But know this…Diplomas on the wall will not give you the needed insight to “see” and “hear” what is most essential in this life….…Jesus today tells us the following in the Gospel at Mass…."I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me”…..Is “our will” an obstacle?….Maybe its time to “bend our will” and my bet is - If you do - You will “hear” and you will “see”…..If God can work in a ex-Jewish intellectual turned atheist like Edith Stein - He can work in us…Why is this important?……What we “see” and “hear” is how we live…And how we live is how we die.

“Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Today in the Gospel from Mass, Jesus instructs us by telling us how his friends will “hear” what needs to be heard in order to find the road to eternal life…What gets in our way of us “hearing” what is needed to be heard?…..An open heart that seeks the Truth will always find it….All roads lead to Rome!……The great John the Baptist put it this way…."Make straight the way for the Lord.”…..What is in the way?….Identify “the what” and remove it…Then you will “hear” and then you will “see”

Trust the process - He is preparing us for the “final exam”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of John how Jesus cures a sick beggar who lived on the street for 38 years…..Do you imagine living on the street for 38 years!…..”One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.”…….For all those years, this man probably prayed to God for help - And no help came - For 38 long years!…..Finally, a humble carpenter, the God-Man from Nazareth is the answer to his prayers……Sometimes God does not answer our prayers the way we “think” he will or should…Sometimes we almost feel like we are “groping in darkness” in our attempt to reach out to God - Do you know the feeling?….When those moments come - And they do - And they will - Do we lose trust?…Are we confident that God has a plan?…That God’s plan is better than our plan?……Our view of life and what we “think” we need somethings conflicts with God….God is concerned with your salvation and everything that happens to us, in one form or another, can be used if we allow it to sanctify ourself…Is this the lens you view your life through?…..To be sanctified?…Because this is God’s desire for all of us…If we are fortunate enough to arrive in heaven, all of our hardships and trials of this life will be forgotten in a split second…In the meantime, God can use our hardships and struggles to transform us….I bet the sick man in St John’s Gospel, who was sick for 38 years learned a “thing or two” during that time period before Jesus came and healed him….The same goes for us…Trust the process….We were not born to be “comfortable”…We were born to be transformed…To be sanctified…And that sanctification process is just that - A process…And trials and struggles are apart of it….Trust the process!

“God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress. Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.”

One of the great things about having life long friends and getting older is, you see how people evolve…I have many of the same friends I have had since my childhood…I can remember how they were then and when I compare how they are now - I marvel at who they have become as grown men…..This kind of transformation does not happen over night…”Life happens”…And life molds us…Life is the greatest of all teachers and God’s hand works through our life….All of which is part of “his plan”….To mold us into who we were born to be….American Christians, including many Catholic have a misconception about heaven…..Those who stand before God must be made pure…..American Christians “think”, we die and “bingo”, we enter into heaven…That clearly is God’s call and maybe for some that will be the case….But for most of us, we still will have "a way” to go…Purgatory is a place where God in his mercy makes us “presentable” for eternity for those who die in the state of grace but are still “rough around the edges”….This is why we should “do the heavy lifting” now….Years ago I went to Confession with Fr Andrew Apostoli…Fr Andrew was a world famous priest…In the confession, Fr Andrew explained to me that we must focus on our sanctification now, so we do not have to go to purgatory…This confession and what Fr Andrew said to me I remember to this day…Our life here on earth is so short, even if we live 100 years…Use the time!….Cooperate with God - If we do, we will be transformed and when the time comes for our “exit interview”…God will say these words to us….”Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.”….The sick man in St John’s Gospel waited 38 years before Jesus answered his prayers and cured him…Thirty-eight years when compared to eternity is like drop of water in the ocean…..God has a plan to sanctify us….Trust the plan

“The LORD of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. Come! behold the deeds of the LORD, the astounding things he has wrought on earth.”

Today in the Gospel from Mass Jesus heals a sick man…..We can all question why this man was allowed to be sick for 38 years….Only God knows the answer to that…However, I know this - God wastes nothing!…Everything that happens in our life is meant to be used for our sanctification….We can either get bitter or better!…..We were not created to be comfortable - Heaven is our true home….And getting to our “final destination” is a process…..God knows what he is doing….Do we view our life as being "clay in the hands of the master potter"?...God’s ways are not always our ways but know this - God knows you better then you know yourself and God is at work! - Trust the process - He is preparing us for the “final exam”

We are an Easter people - Look to the East and never lose sight of what is to come…And make no mistake…One day Christ will come again

Today at Holy Mass we are remind in the first readings that something better is to come…How we can forget that reality…Our world is plagued with confusion and strife….Its so easy to get "caught up" in what we see around us and throw up our hands……The Prophet Isaiah at Mass reminds us to look forward…”I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; For I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight; I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people. No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there, or the sound of crying”……We are currently in the middle of our Lent journey….Easter is close but we have a way to go…..So it is with our journey back to God…..No one knows when Jesus will return again…But we must never lose sight of the fact that he will indeed return…..In the midst of the chaos of our days…Do we forget that Jesus will one day return?……Until then, it’s for us to persevere….We must never forget the words of Jesus as he ascended into heaven….“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”….The best is yet to come!

“Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the LORD will be with you.”

A friend of mine who is a priest once told me…When we stand before God, he will ask us…”Where are your children”…..This statement is kind of strange coming from a celibate priest who did not have a wife or kids…But Fr George was trying to teaching me something deeper…As Catholics we are all called to bear witness to the life of Christ and his Gospel by our very lives…A life committed to this pursuit will produce “spiritual children”….What do I mean by that?….The example of a holy life points to God and when we study the lives of the saints…We see their lives served as a light to others…Their example “sparked” others to follow their example…This is why many saints founded religious orders - People were drawn to the saints because they saw Christ in them and in turn they too embraced the gospel…This is what my friend Fr George was trying to teach me when he said…God will ask us….”Where are your children?”…..Striving to get to heaven is not just about you…Its about bringing as many people with you as possible….And let’s not forget, the world is "not having it"!….We live in a fallen world and there are many “bumps” along the road to heaven…This is why we must remember the words of the Prophet Isaiah read to us as Mass….”I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind”…One day all the “craziness” we see around us will end….But until then, we must not lose focus…There is work to be done!

“For his anger lasts but a moment; a lifetime, his good will. At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing.”

How easy it is to forget…To get lost in “the fog”…To see only the darkness of the world around us…Jesus never lost sight of what he was called to do…Nor must we….There is work to be done and if we do not do it, who will?….As Catholics we have been given the fullness of the faith…We have everything we need to “get the job done”….The question is - Are we utilizing what was given to us?….Are we focused and do we prioritize the needs at hand?…..As my friend Fr George would tell me…..When you stand before God, one of the things he will ask you is…..”Where are your children?”…..If we allow God to transform us into who we were created to be, not only will we arrive in our heavenly home but we will bring a multiple of people with us…..In the mean time - Focus on the task at hand….The fruit of our life will naturally flow from our interior life, rooted in Sacramental grace, daily prayer and weekly fasting….Never get ‘blogged down” by the darkness around us - It will one day “pass away”…..We are an Easter people - Look to the East and never lose sight of what is to come…And make no mistake…One day Christ will come again

God did not leave us orphans…However, God helps those who help themself…So I echo the words of St Paul…”I implore you”…..Be reconciled to God

Today at Holy Mass in the second reading we hear from St Paul, who is encouraging his friends with these words…”We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”….Jesus walked this earth to reconcile the world to God the Father….He established a structure in his three short years of ministry and created a Church….It is through this Church, which is composed of imperfect people that this process of reconciliation is carried out and will continue forward until the second coming of Christ….Notice the words of St Paul….”We implore you!”……The only thing that stands in the way of you and I reconciling with God is our pride….And the devil knows this…The devil is not only real but cunning and the father of lies…We must learn to identify the voice of the devil and “step past it”….One Sacramental Confession has the power to not only reconcile us to the Father but begin the healing process from the wounds resulted from decades of sin…Just one Sacramental Confession!….As St Paul told his friends today…I tell you……”We implore you!”

“Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him.”

Fr Don Haggerty is a priest who serves at St Patrick’s Cathedral….I know Fr Don from the Missionaries of Charity in New York City…I knew his Mom and we go back many years, needless to say he knows me well….For a time on my lunch hour I would go to confession at St Patrick's Cathedral and Fr Don would hear my confession regularly…Now Fr Don knows me as a “good Catholic” who spent his free time serving the poor…But that is simply what people “see”…I am a sinner in need of God’s mercy, like everyone else!…To be very honest - By going to confession with the same priest, who is your friend for many years and really knows you is humbling - And that is a good thing!…..Fr Don knows me, warts and all…This is a good thing because it “brings me down to earth” and we all need this in life….Humility is the foundational virtue for all the virtues….Without the virtue of humility, we are incapable of knowing God and doing his will….The devil knows this…And because the devil is brilliant and knows how to attack us effectively, he uses our pride to “get in the way” of us growing in virtue and holiness…This is why we must learn to “hear the voice of God” and “see past” the tricks of the devil…..Some Christians and even many Catholics do not feel like going to a Sacramental Confession is necessary….I tell you now as a friend….It is necessary!…This is why God gave us a Church - Jesus created the Church - He did not write a book - The Bible came 400 years after the Church was established and the Catholic Church put the Bible together.....…Bottle Line - We are all in need of God’s mercy…And once again to borrow the words of St Paul….”I implore you”…..Be reconciled to God

“And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation”

Today St Paul reminds us all of our need to always be reconciled to God….There is great power, which comes from being in the state of grace…..God’s mercy towards us is infinite but we have to ask for it, its not an “automatic”….Do not get fooled in self-rationalizations and false concepts of mercy…”God understands”….”It does not matter” - “I am a “good guy”…..”I do not have to tell a priest my sins - I tell them to God”….These are the things we tell ourself….And these are the lies the devil “plays on”, keeping us away from peace and grace….Let nothing or no one hold you back from the freedom which God only offers!…Most especially, do not allow the devil to “play you”…..No one is perfect, Jesus understand this - However, this is why he created a Church…This is why he gave us the Sacraments…And the Sacraments are the “medicine for the world”….God did not leave us orphans…However, God helps those who help themself…So I echo the words of St Paul…”I implore you”…..Be reconciled to God

Because deep down everyone wants to be “good”…Give people a chance.....Sometimes “those people” will surprise you

Today at Holy Mass in the Gospel of St Luke Jesus addresses our self righteousness…We all have it and don’t think for a second you do not…”Look at those people!”……How many times do phrases like that come of our mouth….Jesus had something to say about that…We should all listen - Maybe better put - I should listen…….”Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income. ’But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”……….Jesus tells it like it is…We are all flawed…While Objective Truth defines right and wrong…Its our job to worry about our self - And not point out the flaws of others…That does not mean we turn our head to the ills that plague both man and society…But it does mean that we show mercy to others, we try to understand where they are “coming from”, and even if they make a bad choice, we can keep the “lines of communication open” and do our best to give a good example…..I think what Jesus is telling us today in the Gospel is….We are all flawed - You want to impress God - Love God above all things and love your neighbor as your self…That does not mean you condone the sins of your neighbor…But it does mean you do not condemn your neighbor - That is not your job!…We need to worry about our own sanctification first and foremost - That is a “full time job”….And when we do that, our example will speak to the world in ways our words can not…This is how we “change our neighbor”…Not by our words or our condemnation…But by our example

“Be bountiful, O LORD, to Zion in your kindness by rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem; Then shall you be pleased with due sacrifices, burnt offerings and holocausts.”

People sometimes surprise you…We see that in the pages of the New Testament…From St Paul to Mary Magdalene to St Matthew to Zacchaeus the tax collector….The religious leaders of Jesus time were convinced of their righteousness only to shut the door to God himself when he was standing right in front of their face…But the people I just noted above, who were public sinners somehow were open to the Gospel message and once they were “given a chance”, they radically embraced the message of Christ and shook the foundations of the world…People can surprise you when you give them a chance sometimes…This is why we should never “write people off” - Think about it this way - Did Jesus “write you off”?……Give me twelve public sinners who repent of their past life and commit to God any day of the week! - Men and women like that are dangerous because they speak from experience, they have “been around the block” and they know that the devil is real - How do they know? - Because people like that met the devil - And never want to meet him again!……When I would go to India I would meet all kinds of people…On two of my trips to Kolkata there was this Italian woman who lived in Bali and had tattoos all over her body….She was my friend…Karina was a beautiful soul and she was “searching for God” maybe even in ways she did not understand herself…I remember one year when I first arrived to Kolkata with a group of Americans that came over with me…Many of them were devout Catholics, I saw Karina in this local eatery that many of the volunteers socialized at and she came over to sit with us…When the people traveling with me saw her, I could tell they were “put off”…Karina had tattoos up and down her legs and arms…..What these “devout Catholics” did not see is…Karina’s heart - She was a beautiful soul - How quick we are to judge others by their appearance….As I write this another incident like what I just described came to mind…This past year on Mother Teresa’s Feast Day in early September I took my youngest daughter Maria to New York City to a Mass…At the Mass there were many of my friends and the Missionaries of Charity were there in full force…Siting not far from me was this young woman, she was dress very respectfully, with a long conservative dress on, however you could see she had tattoos all over her neck, her arms and legs…The way she was now dressed, indicated to me a radical change took place in her life…That she was once “another person” and now she is “someone else”…How can people change like that?…Only when you give someone a chance do you “invite the possibility” that they can be transformed by God’s love and grace….This begins with a hand of friendship…Sometimes that is all it takes….We all want to be “good”…And when we give people a chance and expose others to God…. First and foremost by our own witness, that’s when hearts change - Lives change and are transformed!….This is what Jesus did…And some times its “those people” who make for the greatest of people!

“For you are not pleased with sacrifices; should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.”

Jesus today in the Gospel asks us to not be so quick to judge people…To take a good look at your own heart first….If we focus our efforts on sanctifying ourselves…Our witness will serve as a powerful remedy to our broken and fallen world….Words and criticism do not “fix people”…A good example fueled by Sacramental grace and daily prayer however “moves mountains”…Never write people off…Give people a chance…And most importantly, give a good example…This is what authentic Christian accompaniment is all about…In Catholic circles these days the word “accompaniment” gets thrown around a lot…..Authentic “accompaniment” is simply friendship minus the judgement…Its not condoning bad behavior - Its using the "vehicle" of friendship to give a "witness" to "saints and sinners" alike in our immediate circles of engagement….Its not about compromise……Authentic “accompaniment” opens doors as opposed to closing them and it allows God to do the “heavy lifting”….Because deep down everyone wants to be “good”…Give people a chance..... Sometimes “those people” will surprise you

Before we do the extraordinary…We must first do the ordinary…This is how God works…And this is how we must work as well

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Hosea the Lord calls to his people pleading with them to return to him…..”I will heal their defection, says the LORD, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them.”….Above all, God is our Father and a Father’s love for his children is not subject to whims…We are flesh of his flesh….God’s love for us sees past our sins and faults…It sees what and who we were born to be….And only and until we know of this love will we subject ourselves to God’s transforming grace……Being Catholic is not about “ticking boxes”…Its not like studying from a book…Its a lived experience….It transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary….We too easily forget that God works in the ordinary….This morning I read a refection from a French Servant of God (Elisabeth Lesser)…This is what she said….”We must fulfill our responsibilities daily, without worrying about what fruit God will draw out of them. For us: work, sacrifice, the offering of ourselves. For God: the immediate or remote effect that the least of our thoughts and actions will have on others. Nothing is lost”…….This is how we are to live….And it is through the “ordinary” that we cooperate with God….Who is a Father above all things…Constantly calling to his children to return to him…However, before we are satisfied with performing the “ordinary”. We first must encounter the Father’s love for us….No book, sermon, or self-motivation will bring satisfaction to a hidden life…A humble life that does the “ordinary”…..And does it well

"If only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways, I would feed them with the best of wheat, and with honey from the rock I would fill them."

When I was a kid I remember my father talking about how if you were good at baseball, the professional scouts will find you - No matter where you are from - They will find you…Well, God works the same way….When we look at the lives of the saints…Many of them lived very ordinary and hidden lives…Somehow God found them and so did the Church, who in turn canonized them and magnified their work in a way that almost seems impossible……But remember, nothing is impossible for God…..In the first reading from Mass, the Prophet Hosea talks about how God will heal his people….How does God do that today? - Well, people believe what they see….Not necessarily what they read or hear…..And a Catholic who embraces humble acts of self sacrificial service to others - This approach to life speaks - No - It screams of God to the world…..When the foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor (St Jeanne Jugan) was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI, the pope said you will be hard pressed to find a more humble saint. St Jeanne, was a poor French lay woman who worked menial jobs her enter life…One day she saw an old blind woman on the streets…St Jeanne took her into her own home and placed this poor stranger in her bed and cared for this woman….This began a work that spread all over the world….St Jeanne founded the Little Sisters of the Poor who care for the elderly who are destitute….How could such a simple uneducated person start something that spreads all over the world from some remote town in France?…Tell that to Harvard Business School…But this is how God works…God sees what we do not see and he magnifies our “ordinary” tasks….Far too many in the Church are “caught up” with trying to do the “extraordinary”…..If we focus on the ordinary…God will turn the “ordinary” into the “extraordinary”…Again, this is how God works…Like my father would always say…If your good at baseball, the professional scouts will find you….So it is with God….Once again, God who is a loving father is always calling to his children….We assist God in this call when we do the ordinary and do it well

"Unseen, I answered you in thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Hear, my people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, will you not hear me?"

Far too many see God as this ogre, who points out all our flaws and tells us what to do….I can’t speak for you, but that is not the God I know….God is a father, who continuously calls to us…Who works through the ordinary…..”Again they shall dwell in his shade and raise grain; They shall blossom like the vine, and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon”…If we as Catholics what to participant in God's eternal work of salvation - And many do! - We need to focus on our daily tasks at hand…And do them well…..When we are rooted in Sacramental grace and daily prayer…God will magnify our work…But this work begins in the “ordinary”…....The power of a “hidden life” can transform generations…..Do you doubt what I say?……St Joseph did not have one recorded word in the entire book of the Bible…Our Lady was always in the shadow of her son…And look at how God multiplied their “ordinary lives”….Before we do the extraordinary…We must first do the ordinary…This is how God works…And this is how we must work as well