“When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things”

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading we hear from St Paul…The reading should be familiar to all of us and is used at many Wedding Masses…..”If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing”……How easy it is for us to become “impressed” with our own accomplishments….To value our achievements over people…….To want to be and in many cases be “right” but at the same time be very wrong because our heart is not centered upon God’s love……As Catholics if love of God and love of neighbor is not the foundation of our words and actions…Then everything we do amounts to nothing!…Its not enough to be right….Its not enough to speak the Truth…Jesus spoke the Truth and Jesus did what was right…Because he loved people…If we do not love people….It does not matter that we are “right”….Because then being “right” turns into being “wrong”!

“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”

Now that I am a father, I look back at the many times I disobeyed my parents and how my parents not only forgave me, did not “brood over injury” and through it all loved me unconditionally……Life is marathon not a sprint….And we are all a work in progress….As a father of five I must view my children as a “work in progress”….I must see the finished product in the here and now and form them by word and example…In the process we make mistakes…In the process the kids make mistakes…We forgive each other…We keep trying…Keep improving…And in the end, God willing…We “arrive” at the ” finished product”….This is how God views each of us…Think about how God has had to “endure” our bad behavior…Think about how many times God has forgiven us when we ask him too in the Sacrament Confession…..Yet we are so quick to “write other people off”…If God was to think like that each of us would be finished!…Again, as a father I must know that my children will make mistakes…That I will make mistakes…But we must not give up…Love is a choice…It “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”…And with the help of God’s grace love grows……Without love we lose our humanity….God is not interested in us “ticking off boxes”…..It’s not enough to be “right” because if you do not have love in your heart, you are wrong even if you are right!…..Love for it to be real is in for the long haul and in that journey, God forms us…..We must view others, especially those close to us with the same mindset…..”Rome was not built in a day”…But be assured of one thing…God is the “master builder”…He can turn sinners into saints…This he has done many times throughout the centuries…And he can and will do it again…He can do this to you…If you let him!

“Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away”

The more I reflect on this reading by St Paul from Mass today, I think about why he wrote this…St Paul was an impressive man….He did amazing things in his life and yet he understood that everything he did and accomplished means nothing if he does not love God and people…Paul was able to “step back” and see things clearly as God sees them…Can we?…..Do we simply want to be “right”…Because you can be “right” and still be “wrong” if you do not have love in your heart.

“When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things”

”Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts"...She will guide us….One "Hail Mary" at a time

Today at Holy Mass we hear from St Luke’s Gospel….Jesus performs a miracle and the people respond…."A great prophet has arisen in our midst and God has visited his people”….Jesus was much more than just a “prophet” but the people were looking for “signs”…They were looking to be liberated from Roman occupation and because of their “temporal wants”…They missed the bigger picture…Christ did not come to act as some “magician”…Nor did he come as a political liberator…Jesus came to free us from the bonds of sin………"God has visited his people” the people shouted….Did they really believe that?…..Or were they looking for a “magician”?…..If their words were spoken from their heart, they would have changed their life…But we all know that was not the case…..And when Christ came into Jerusalem on a humble mule on the first Palm Sunday…The people were disappointed…They were looking for “something else” and quickly turned on him….So the question today is…What are we looking for?…Who is Jesus to you?..... Is he just a “magician”?

As many of you know I have five young children…One of the phrases I repeat in my home over and over again to my kids when they fight is this…”Treat people like you want to be treated”…This is known as “the golden rule”…Jesus tells us there really are only two commandments…Love God above all things and love your neighbor as your self…Easy right?….Hmmmmm…..What if loving God causes you to suffer?….What if loving your neighbor requires you to have less?…..Easy right?…..People want what they want and they see what they want to see….We create all kinds of idols that replace God and the devil knows us better than we know our self…..Before we even realize it, we can “create” “a god” after our own making and if our neighbor “gets in the way” of that "god" we do everything we can to destroy them…..Jesus came for everyone and because of that we must love everyone but before we do that….Our eyes must be opened…And all our “idols”, which replace the one true God must be destroyed…Easy right?…..Hmmmmmm…….Without God’s grace this can not and will not happen…Only by means of daily prayer, the Sacraments and fasting can this happen….We can not “muscle” our way to this mindset…Only by God’s grace can we truly “see” and once we “see”…Then we can act....We must act!

St Paul tells us in the first reading today that we are all part of the Body of Christ and that we all have something to do….”As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body”……That means I can do what you can’t and you can do what I can’t…But that is ok…Because each of us have something important to do!….St Paul tells us to….........”Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts”…...What do we strive for?….Are our goals orientated towards growing closer to God or are our goals focused on the fruits of this world, which all pass and turn to dust?

Back to our gospel today from St Luke…Is Jesus just a “candy machine” where we put in “our coin” and look to “get something” from the “machine”?…In order to live by the “golden rule”, which I repeat to my children almost daily when they fight with each other…We need to be able to look past our self and put God first but before we do that we have to destroy all the “things” that we put in the way of God…..Easy right?….Hmmmmm…..Without daily prayer, fasting and the Sacraments that will never happen!

Our Lady is said to be “Full of Grace”…Only she "did it perfectly" being she was born of the flesh of a man and a woman…Some call Our Lady, "mankind's only boast".....And because of this we need her…She will guide us….One Hail Mary at a time…..

”Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts"...She will guide us….One "Hail Mary" at a time

”Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience”…”When Jesus heard this he was amazed”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St Luke…Luke tells us a story about an outsider, a Roman who had tremendous faith in Christ…So much so his words are not only remembered to this day but recited in every Mass…."Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof”….This man recognized the divinity of Jesus…To him Jesus was not just a “miracle worker”…He was not just “some guy” who spoke well…He was God!….So here is the question for today…Do you have the same mindset?…Do we acknowledge that Jesus is God and we are not?….Because if we do…That means we have to listen to what he says - Everything he says!…That means Jesus “makes the rules” and we do not…That means we live differently….Jesus was not just “some guy”…He was God…He rose from the died…And if we say we believe this…Then we need to show it by the way we live…Just like this Roman did today in the gospel

“When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."

One of my children’s godparents gave my kids this series of DVDs that teach the faith. The DVD’s are cartoons and the main character is a Franciscan brother and one of the things he communicates is very appropriate for this refection…..”Just because you wear a cross around your neck…Does not make you a Christian”…..”Just like if you enter a garage…That does not make you a car!”……We were grafted into the life of Christ by our Baptist but if we do not excerise the gift given to us by how we live our life…Do we really live up to who we say we are as Christians?….Now, that does not mean we have to be perfect, no one is perfect…However, do we live in a “different” manner from the rest of the world?…Do we have a different set of priorities?……Now here is the kicker! - Get ready for it!...…How do we spend our money?….Did I just say that? - -YES I DID!……Because how we spend our money shows who we really are…Let’s just say it…..And not beat around the bush……Now I am not saying “give all your money away”…But how do we priorities our money and what do we spend it on?…Our checkbook tells us everything we need to know about what is important to us in many ways…..Many people do not wear a “cross around their neck”…Like the Roman Centurion today in the gospel yet their life demonstrates their faith……No words necessary!

“Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings or sin offerings you sought not; then said I, "Behold I come”

Back to our Gospel today from Mass…..The Roman Centurion tells Jesus he is a man “subject to authority”…What does that mean?…That means he has a “boss” and he fully understands that he has to listen to what “his boss” says…When he says this to Jesus, Jesus understands where he is coming from…Because Jesus “has a boss”…His boss is his Father in heaven and Jesus always listens to him……I got news for you…Whether we acknowledge it or not…Or whether we realize it or not…We ALL have a boss too….God is the boss and God has the last word…Its time to face the facts and face reality…When we understand that God is a loving father and does not “lay down the rules” to punish us but to help us thrive not only here on earth but get us home to heaven, the game is won!….That was the mindset of the Roman Centurion and that must be our mindset too…..And wearing a cross around our neck does not demonstrate that idea to the world…Nor does simply “going to church” on Sunday when we just do it to “tick a box”…..Our life should speak for itself…And so will your checkbook….It tells the world everything it needs to know and it should tell you the same if you at it carefully

”Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience”…”When Jesus heard this he was amazed”

A light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it….Only by means of the cross does that light shine bright

Today at holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Mark Jesus reminding St Peter about what it means to suffer…That “the cross” is a requirement for salvation…That there is no getting around it…..Its not within man’s power to eliminate the evil that exists in the world….Only by uniting ourselves with the one who conquered death itself do we overcome this evil that continues to plague mankind….And in order to unite ourselves with the God-man, we must embrace “the cross”…."Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it."

The first disciples of Christ left everything to follow him, no small feat, however as we read the gospel we come to see just how much they did not understand….Jesus fully embraced the cross…..And as we all know…All but one of the first twelve disciples when “push came to shove” ran away when Jesus was lifted upon the cross….Are we any different?……We love the “idea” of Jesus…We love the “idea” of going to heaven…But do we really know what those concepts are all about?……..It is through the cross…Its is through suffering, which is apart of every life to varying degrees that we come to understand and mature not only as adults but as Catholics….It is our Christian duty to help eliminate suffering in this world but when we “think” we can eradicate it all together or somehow avoid it ourselves…Its at that point we hear the words of St Peter when he too tried to do the exact same thing, which Jesus addressed in no uncertain terms….”Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

God’s ways are not our ways…And God works in mysterious ways

When we accept that we are not in control, God is…That we are only a small part of a much larger plan…..We find peace….We can not eliminate evil, no matter how hard we try, however Jesus will have the last word……On a small hill 2000 years ago, three men were crucified…One was God…One man was “good”…And one man was “bad”…….This scene played out on that “hill” was a microcosm of the same “scene” playing out to this very day…..One man turned to God and one man did not…The man who turned to God did not have the answers and was deeply flawed…..And God saved him…The other man too did not have the answers and was flawed as well…But this man did not turn to God…..And death had the last word for him……So it is with us today...Which man are you?

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.”

Getting back to the gospel today from Mass…Jesus asks St Peter and the first disciples a serious question…."But who do you say that I am?”…..Peter answers that question without fully understanding what the answer meant…..St Peter was in “denial”…He did not want to accept “the cross” and the suffering that goes with it…..Are we any different?…..However, we all know the end of the story…Peter did in fact accept the cross and was crucified himself…But that took time…He needed to be formed by the Holy Spirit…And so do we…God’s ways are not our ways but make no mistake…God is at work!….We need to cooperate with him…Allow him to mold us into who we were born to be…That means we must suffer…That means we must embrace the cross…And in that process we are transformed and in that transformation we will transform the world around us

A light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it….Only by means of the cross does that light shine bright

“Do not forget the works of the Lord”…..For love to be real it must sacrifice…It must cost us!

Today at Holy Mass we hear from St Paul…Paul is writing a letter to his friends…He tells them that Jesus came to serve....How he humbled himself…Was obedient to his Father…And because of this God greatly exalted him…..Now for the question and for some reflection…Do you think that example was meant only for Jesus?…..That somehow we are not asked to do the same?…….While we cannot do what Jesus did to the degree he did it because he was without sin - That is reality…...However, the example he gave was meant for us to see - For us to emulate - And for us to strive for!…This is the path to heaven….It goes by way of the cross…It entails deep sacrifice...There is no other way!

“Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave”

Saint Charbel, was a Maronite monk and priest from Lebanon….I recently saw a movie about his life…Charbel lived a very simple life….He really did not do “anything extraordinary”….Except for the fact that he was holy and grew extraordinarily close to God…There were two scenes in the movie that struck me deeply…The first was when Charbel was in the confessional and a woman came to him for her confession. She wasted her life away on many bad choices….Instead of scolding her, after her confession, he absolved her of her sins and instead of giving her a penance…He told her…”I will do penance for you”…..And he did just that…The second scene that stuck me was when Charbel was old he was working in the fields with the monks and he was struggling to carry a large basket of grain…Another monk attempted to help him and Charbel gently moved the monks helping hand away and continued to struggle with the heavy load….This is the example of a saint…This is the example that Jesus gave…And this is the example we must give to the world if we expect to be an instrument of change…People believe what they see...Our example must be fueled by grace or it won't ever happen

Why did Jesus do what he did?…Why did Saint Charbel do what he did for his people?…The answer is simple…They loved deeply….And for love to be real it must sacrifice…It must cost us!

St John in today’s gospel at Mass put it best….”For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him”…Jesus did not come to earth and walk among us to “wag his finger" at us…He already knew just how flawed and sinful mankind was and is…He came to show us a better way…He came to give us an example…He came to give us a Church, which provides the means of salvation through the Sacraments….This is why Jesus came…He came because of a deep love and concern he had for us….And when we know just how much we are loved by God…We too will strive to love in return by means of sacrifice….Because love without sacrifice really is not love at all

“Do not forget the works of the Lord”…..For love to be real it must sacrifice…It must cost us!

“I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from St Paul in the first reading…He is writing to his friends the Corinthians once again…Paul compares being a practicing Catholic to an athlete…Many of us know who have participated in sports that in order to be good at a sport, one must train…The same goes for being a practicing Catholic…..First point right off the bat…Notice the word “practice”?…This word implies a few things….One, we are not perfect, so we need to practice….And two, all athletes before a game must practice…And so must we as Catholics…We have to put in the time…..Daily Rosary, Weekly Fasting, Monthly Sacramental Confession, Receive the Blessed Sacrament Weekly at Mass (At the minimum - If you can - Go to Mass everyday), Sit before the Lord in Eucharistic Adoration Weekly, Read Scripture Daily, Read Holy and Religious Books…Why do we have to do those things? Because we are not the source of grace…God is and therefore we must “prepare the vessel” of our soul to receive the “wine” of God’s grace…..Just like an athlete…A practicing Catholic must “put in the time”…....He must practice!.....As the saying goes in athletic circles…”No pain no gain”…..So it is with being a Catholic…There is no Easter Sunday without Good Friday!

“Every athlete exercises discipline in every way…..They do it to win a perishable crown….I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified”

If we pay close attention at Holy Mass to the words of the priest we will hear this phrase spoken…”O Lord, from whom all good things come: grant to us your humble servants”……In order to receive these “good things”…We must make ourselves available to them…We can not give what we do not possess!…..Far too many Christians put the “cart before the horse”…..They try to “give” what frankly they do have…….Before we can properly serve others we first must develop our interior life through prayer and the Sacraments…Without those “tools”…We will not "bear fruit that will last"

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit”

Mother Teresa was asked by the press once while she was alive…What is your secret?…Her answer….”I pray”…And stepping back and thinking about her answer....It is really that simple!………People today, especially mainstream Americans in corporate jobs throw around this phrase a lot…”Thoughts and Prayers”….They say this with little understanding about what true prayer really is……They say this without understanding just how transformative a mature Catholic prayer life really can be……How a deep prayer life can impact a person, a family, a community and the world…Mother Teresa understood that very clearly…That is why her life deeply impacted the world - She made a difference!…It was not necessary what she did or who she was…It was the fact that what Mother Teresa did was fueled by her interior life, which came from Prayer, Fasting and the Sacraments…This is what we as “practicing” Catholics must do in order to make an impact…No matter how “gifted” we may be…All of us are limited…However, God is unlimited - Never forget that!…And just like St Paul tells us today at Mass….He compares Catholics to athletes…And we all know that any athlete who does not “practice” does not “win the game”

“I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified”

“For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Luke something we all forget…Let me re-phrase that…I forget…..”For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same”…I read something yesterday that jumped out at me…You can not change people…You can only love them........Now don’t get me wrong….There is objective Truth, which means there is right and wrong…However, we can not argue anyone into doing the right thing…We have to love people as they are without comprising Truth or ourselves…With that said, we are to love them even if they are on the wrong side of Truth…And it is that kind of love, which we show them in time, that will create an opening for the Holy Spirit to work in their heart…..Love is what changes people…Not arguments…Not facts….Only love lived out through sacrifice…This was and is the way of Jesus Christ…Therefore this must be our way as well

Jesus never comprised but Jesus eat with sinners…Even his first 12 apostles did not “get it”…Yet Jesus did not give up on them…He remained their friends showing them the way by his example and using words to back-up his example…And in time they got it….This is how it works…..People need to “figure things out” on their own and sadly many people who live lives opposed to the Natural Law and the teachings of Christ only “dig in” when instructed in the Truth…Now, that does not mean we “keep our mouth shut”…However, actions speak much louder then words…We have to both live and speak in such a way that people will naturally question for themselves their own world view and behavior…This is the job of Catholics…We are to be in the world but not of the world…Knowing we too are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy

St Paul tells us in the first reading from Mass today something interesting….”Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up. If anyone supposes he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if one loves God, one is known by him”…..A good reminder indeed!…None of us know everything and none of us know the mind of God…God works in mysterious ways…We are to trust that we all are “missing something” and also trust that God is at work….Also, St Paul reminds us as did St Luke in the Gospel today that love is the answer…If we love God we must love others…Not just the people who think like us or “do the right thing”….We must love everyone…This is hard and this requires grace…But if we want to be an instrument of change in the world…Words, facts, logical and even common sense will not do it…Only Love will

We are reminded to be merciful today just as our Father is merciful……To forgive and we will be forgiven…..To give and gifts will be given to us…..This requires sacrifice on our part…This even requires us to suffer for the sake of God and the Truth…This was the road that Jesus walked….And this must be the road we walk as well…..Knowing we too are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy

“For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you”