God is found outside of many of our preconceived ideas of who he is….. And in order to see him….We must first work on purifying our hearts

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the gospel of St John…..A question is raised about who Jesus is and where he is from….."Can anything good come from Nazareth?”…….Jesus was God and he was staring the world right in the face 2000 years ago…And the world did not see him….However…In our gospel story today a guy named Nathanael does recognize who Jesus is…How does he do that?….Jesus explains to us how….”There is no duplicity in him”……Why is it that the Truth is seen by some and not by others?……When our hearts are darkened through a conscious choice to turn from God……We become blind…We do not see and hear the Truth…Even when it stares us right in the face…"Can anything good come from Nazareth?”…Jesus was right in front of him…Yet people could not see him….The same scenario is playing out today in the here and now…..”Blessed are the pure of heart…For they will SEE God”

People constantly “size people up”…They have preconceived ideas in their head as to who God is and what he looks like….We have been conditioned by our family, our upbringing, our education, and our culture…..Interestingly enough and more times than not, God is found outside of all those preconceived ideas….And in order to see him….We must first work on purifying our hearts

As many know I am involved in a monthly rosary rally and a number of people have attended regularly for many years…I want to share with you what I have observed about two of these men who attend the rally regularly, of which I am blessed to call friends. One is an ordained Deacon and one is handicapped. Whenever we all get together each month we usually meet in the parking lot of the Church and as the noon hour approaches, we walk to where we will pray the public rosary. I always notice that my one handicapped friend who needs the assistance of a chair he wheels always lags behind…But without fail…My friend the Deacon is always beside him.....The Deacon does not blow a whistle and draw attention to what he is doing to help this man out however he is always there beside him and quietly he helps him….Many times (me included)…We all walk far ahead of them…Forgetting that our one friend is struggling….But the Deacon does not forget…What is it that the Deacon saw that we missed?….The answer to the question should be obvious but helping the handicapped man was not obvious to the crowd (me included in that crowd)….Jesus tells us very clearly and he gives us the answer to my question...…"What you do to the least…You do to ME!"…Seems to me we all missed an opportunity…Jesus was walking among us…And we missed him…Well, the Deacon did not miss him….Because his “eyes” were open

”Blessed are the pure of heart…For they will SEE God”

Jesus was a poor man, the son of a carpenter and came from a town where a bunch of “nobodies” came from….Yet in plain sight God walked among the people of Nazareth…In the here and now…Jesus walks among us too…He is not usually found in the first pew of the church…But in the back broken and alone…..He is found in the wounded and in the weak…..Do we “see” him? Or do we walk far ahead and tend to what we “think” our own personally contrived image of who and what God is......When in actuality we miss out on what is staring us right in the face……."Can anything good come from Nazareth?”……God came from Nazareth……And God was a “nobody”……Are we willing to slow down so we can stop and “see” him? If we do choose to “slow down”….”I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man"

God is found outside of many of our preconceived ideas of who he is….. And in order to see him….We must first work on purifying our hearts