”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”

”You can’t have your cake and eat it too”…..We cannot have it both ways….So place your bet!

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel from St Luke about what I call the “blue print” to get to heaven…The Beatitudes…When you read the Beatitudes you hardly get a “warm and fuzzy” feeling…At least I do not…They tell it like it is…They tells us that there is a great disparity between heaven and earth…Between the ways of God and the ways of man…And frankly they also tell us that if we are to be on the side of God…Things “down here” are not going to be too easy….”Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man”……American Christians like to “sugar coat” discipleship…That includes many Catholics…The long and short of it is this…The cross is real!…..And Jesus did not have an easy time of it…Let me let you in on a little secret…If we truly follow Jesus….We will not have an easy time of it either…..But wait there is more…We know the end of the story…..”Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.”

We all like to “have our cake and eat it too”…..It does not work that way!

The late and great CS Lewis put it best……..”We must not invest in the transient things of this world, the very worst of investments, but in the everlasting things of heaven. If we fight the long defeat with the things of heaven in mind, we will attain the final victory. It is this final victory that represents, for each of us, the final defeat of the prince of this world”……..In the gospel today, Jesus in the Beatitudes is once again not “selling anything” to us…He tells us flat out that if we follow him…We will have troubles…But he also tells us flat out….”Take heart, for I have conquered the world”…….If we as Catholics are looking for a “bed of roses” here on earth, we are deluding ourself…The world was not interested in the message of Christ when he walked the earth and the world sure as the day is long is not interested in the message of Christ now…Sure, the world likes the idea of what I call “Hippie Jesus”…But the minute Jesus starts to talk about “the cross”….Far too many run for the hills

“Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man”

I always find it interesting when I come across a person who has been given all the gifts the world has to offer: wealth, power, good looks, education, status…And when such a person in a sense......”Trade those gifts in” for the Kingdom of God.....When we read the lives of the saints…Many of them did just that…But what about in the here and now?…..What comes to mind is my dear friend Richard Williams who recently passed away…Rich was a Wharton graduate (University of Pennsylvania)…He was also a two time All-American Goalie…He had all the gifts the world had to offer, yet he gave his life to Christ radically…Rich became a teacher in a poor city and lived very modestly and humbly…At his funeral I over heard a man who knew Rich for many years…When it was told that Rich had an Ivy League degree and was an All-American athlete…This man said…”I never knew that”…Rich was a man of the Beatitudes…….He found the “pearl of great price” and “traded in” what he could have achieved in this world for the riches in heaven…..He understood that “the cross” is very real but so is heaven…..”Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.”

Getting back to St Luke and his gospel from Mass today….Luke paints a clear picture for us and tells it like it is….We all need to make a choice and in a way…We all make a “bet”….We put “our money down” on the words of Christ…Or…We put “our money down” on the “ways of the world”…We can not have it both ways…….”I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly”…….Jesus is not “selling us” anything, however he gives us eternal life, if we choose it…If we are willing to pick up our cross and follow him…That road is not always easy…Don’t believe me?….Just read what Jesus says in the Beatitudes, which is the “blue print” to get to heaven…..”I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world”…You either believe this or you don’t but if we choose to believe this….Then “Blessed are you”…But make no mistake about it…”You can’t have your cake and eat it too”…..We cannot have it both ways….So place your bet!

”Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give”….So please no more powerpoint presentations…Keep it simple

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St Luke..In the text Jesus chose his 12 apostles….A very big decision to make…Before he makes his choice he spends the night in prayer away from the crowd that was following him…When we have a big choice to make, do we pray before we act?…….Silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament…….Time spent alone listening to what God “speaks” to us in the silence of our heart is not only a healthy practice but a good and reliable guide, which helps us make better decisions

“In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you”

Catholics love their “programs”….Parishes all over the America “roll out” new initiatives constantly to “reach out” to their people…While these initiatives are well intentioned, if you ask me many times they are over thought…If you ask me…There is one “program” that needs to be rolled out and that “program” works every time…That program is Jesus himself in the Blessed Sacrament!……Stop with the powerpoint presentations and put Jesus on the altar for the people to sit in silent adoration in front of Our Lord……Let me explain why this “trumps” all our well thought out plans…Because Jesus knows the hearts of us all…No person can read hearts - But God can!…We do not know what really troubles people…What deep wounds they have…Or for that matter how to address those wounds…But Jesus does!…This is why we need to simply put Jesus on the altar…Allow people to sit before him in silence…Jesus will do all the work!…So stop with the power-point presentations and get out of the way!….Even for people who do not believe in God….Even when people do not believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist…What people will realize when they sit before the Blessed Sacrament is….There is great peace found there!…And EVERYONE is looking for peace!…..That peace is tangible and can be felt viscerally!…..The attraction to this practice will start from there…And from there it will grow…And from there faith will grow…And from there people will be healed…All from simply sitting in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in silence…No powerpoint presentations…No parish initiatives......Let Jesus do the work and get out of their way!

The key to the Catholic faith in my view is simplicity…Getting back to basics….. Not over complicating what is beautiful…People - Especially “real smart people” have a way of over complicating things and in doing so…They “screw everything up”!!!…Keep it simple……Pray the Rosary every day…Go to a Sacramental Confession once a month…Receive the Blessed Sacrament on Sunday….Sit before Jesus in silent adoration weekly…These are simple things to do….Not complex at all…They are FREE and do not take much time…And if we do them……They will change your life and the life of the world around you....…Because God is real….God loves you….So stop with the powerpoint presentations and get out of the way…Let Jesus do the heavy lifting!

“Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself”

Getting back to the Gospel today from St Luke…After Jesus picks his first 12 apostles…..He gets to work…Helping people..Healing people…Serving people…That is our job too…But we can not give what we do not have….First we have to be “filled” with the grace of God, which means we have to “make room” for God in our hearts and in our soul….And once we do that…We give away what we receive at no cost…”Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give”….So please no more powerpoint presentations…Keep it simple

What about following Jesus threatens your “status”?……..“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”…Don’t think so? - Ask St Peter - "Cock a Doodle Doo”!

Today at Holy Mass in the Gospel according to St Luke the teachers of the law try to trick Jesus again….”The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him”……These men did not care about the good of the people…They cared about their own position…Why were they so concerned about Jesus?….Where they interested in learning from him?……No, Jesus threatened their status….What about following Jesus threatens your “status”?…..Jesus was not about “half measures”…Are we all in?…Jesus was all in!

There are many “things” that we value…..What people think of us?……Our status…Our reputation……Would you give it all up for Christ?…Not some of it - But all of it……This is exactly what Jesus’s 12 friends did…They left everything to follow him……Today as Catholic's the same invitation is put before us…..We either take up our cross and follow the God-man or we do not…..When we lay down our life before the Lord, God will always honor our sacrifice….Its in the “space of sacrifice” where we meet the Lord face to face

There is no such thing as “cheap grace”

Think for a moment when Jesus was tempted in the desert by the devil….He was offered the entire world…What if you were offered the entire world and everything in it…Would you take it?……In our case we are not even offered a fraction of the world…Yet we are so quick to “trade that fraction in” for temporary pleasure….The cold hard reality is if we rely on our own strengthen and gifts…We will NEVER do what Christ asks of us…This is the mistake of far too many….They trust in themselves far too much......The teachers of the law in Jesus time were presented with a tremendous opportunity…And they “traded it in” for temporary status…..We too are presented with the same opportunity….How will we respond?…And if we do choose to respond to Christ's invitation we will soon realize just how weak we are….Because of that…We need to cling to daily prayer, weekly fasting and the Sacraments…I repeat this “formula” often because without it, we will not carry our cross

“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”

Jesus today when confronted by the teachers of the law “traded in his status” to help a poor man with a withered hand on the Sabbath….St Luke tells us that the scribes and the Pharisees when they saw what Jesus did…..”Became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus”……Its so easy to “point a finger” at the scribes and the Pharisees and tell our self we would not have done the same thing…St Peter took that position when he claimed he would never deny Christ…We all know how that turned out for St Peter when his hour of testing came…."Cock a Doodle Doo”……If we rely of our own strengthen and gifts, we won’t “cross the finish line”…..Because the cross stands before us always…The cross is real…And the cross is the only “ticket” to eternal life

What about following Jesus threatens your “status”?……..“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”…Don’t think so? - Ask St Peter - "Cock a Doodle Doo”!

“The burning sands will become pools and the thirsty ground springs of water”….Count on it!

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the gospel of St Mark….A line in this passage encouraged me….”He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak”….Even when we think God is silent and can not be found….At those moments we should be assured that God is at work….Our world today seems to have fallen into a fog of confusion…..Human effort, no matter how effectively executed seems useless to penetrate this “haze” which has enveloped western civilization…..Today St Mark assures us that only God can “make the deaf hear”…He will work in and amongst the “haze” and in time and in his way…..Clear all the obstacles before us

“I will go before you and level the mountains; Bronze doors I will shatter, iron bars I will snap”

God’s ways are not our ways and God’s ways are mysterious…Many times God works through people the world least expects….As the words of Scripture tell us…”I have chosen you out of the world….To go and bear fruit…Fruit that will last”…..As I was writing this reflection I was thinking of a conversation I recently heard from the famous podcaster Russell Brand……Russell Brand was a Hollywood star making tons of money…However his success overwhelmed him…He got caught up in drug use and a promiscuous lifestyle that nearly destroyed him….After the birth of his son, who needed heart surgery and after fighting his own demons…He walked away from Hollywood….He was recently baptized and in my view is seeking the Truth and is a person of good will…..Recently a famous guest was taking a cab to Russell Brand’s home in England to be on his show and the cab driver said to this person that he was so happy that he was going to be on Brand’s podcast…That this humble man from Bangladesh driving a cab…A man who is powerless felt that Russell Brand was the voice for him and so many like him…..I bring this up because God plucked Russell Brand out of Hollywood…He was a drug addict and living a self absorbed life…Only for God to pluck him out of that life and use his fame to be a voice for the voiceless…How did such a thing happen?

”I have chosen you…You did not choose me…Go and bear fruit that will last”

There is a famous painting by an Italian painter by the name of Caravaggio…The painting I am referring to is entitled “The Calling of St Matthew”….St Matthew was a public sinner, a tax collector who was considered a traitor to his own people…In the painting St Matthew is at a table counting money seated with a bunch of thieves…In walks Christ and simply points to St Matthew…Matthew at the table points at himself with a gesture that the painter Caravaggio brilliantly communicates through his art…”Who - me?!?…..You are calling me?!?’’….God does not make mistakes…He knows the hearts of men and he calls many times the most unlikely people to do his work here on earth……As we all know…St Matthew left that table of thieves at the invitation of Christ and went on to do great things for the Kingdom of God…..Jesus calls to this day the same type of people….Only God can turn sinners into saints and many times it’s the “greatest” sinners who make the most incredible saints!

“Nations shall behold your vindication and all kings your glory; You shall be called by a new name bestowed by the mouth of the LORD”

In the first reading from Mass today the Prophet Isaiah assures us….”Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing”….Don’t for a minute get lost in the “fog” of the world….There is no obstacle that cannot be cleared by the Lord and when the darkness seems invisible and there is no “Light” in sight…That is exactly when the Lord is the closest to us…He was rise up saints…He will do the impossible!…That is how it ALWAYS works……Because our God is all about doing the “impossible”…He rose from the dead…Never forget that….He rose from the dead!

“The burning sands will become pools and the thirsty ground springs of water”….Count on it!

We can do “everything right” and still get everything wrong!….”If I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St Luke…Jesus once again addresses the teachers of the law who lack love in their hearts……These men are very critical of Jesus because he was unorthodox in his approach to the law……St Paul reminds us how we are to live out our Baptism calling….”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”…….The smallest thing done with love is infinitely better in the eyes of God then the greatest thing accomplished without love….The teachers of the law in Jesus time got “caught up” in focusing on “doing everything right” and forgot why they were doing what they committed to do in the first place…To love God above all things and love their neighbor as their self!…..God is not impressed with “what we do”…He wants only one thing from us…He wants our sins, which he takes upon himself……This is why in everything we do…Whether it is big or small…There must be love at the core of our actions……Small things done with great amounts of love win the day every time!

In America we are raised to be achievers!…There is nothing wrong with that on its surface but when we dig deeper into what we are geared to achieve at almost all costs, we may pause for a moment to reflect……The goal of every life should be heaven and to the surprise of many who read this reflection…As a good priest once told me…”Joe - We do not just float into heaven!”…Is the goal of your life heaven?…If it is, what are you doing about it?……Today in the gospel the teachers of the law get it wrong!…..They focus so much on fulfilling every aspect of the law that they turned the law itself into their God…Have we turned anything in our life into a "God"?….The devil is tricky and he knows us better then we know our self…….The moment you think you can “out-smart” the devil is the minute he “gets you”…..This is why we must cling to the Lord and the Sacraments

Who confers distinction upon you? What do you possess that you have not received?

At the core of everything that Jesus did was his love for his Father in heaven….Distinctions did not mater…..Awards did not matter…Titles did not matter….Jesus’s focus was clear…And so must our focus be clear…..Love must be the foundation of everything we do…Or what we do turns to dust!…….Its so very easy to “lose sight of the trees while walking in the forest”…..This is why we must pray daily, fast weekly and live a Sacramental life.

Why do you do what you do for the Lord?…Ask yourself that often….The world is interested as St Paul puts it in…”Resounding gongs or a clashing cymbal”…But God could care less about such things!

”There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the LORD was not in the fire”…The Lord is found in a “whisper”….God is found in doing the small things and doing them with love and if we do anything no matter “how great” in the eyes of the world…If the outcome lacks love…We have accomplished nothing!

We can do “everything right” and still get everything wrong!….”If I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing”

Know the Truth…Live the Truth…Speak the Truth…And be willing to suffer for the Truth….Leave the rest to the mercy of God!

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading from St Paul…Paul writes again to his friends in Corinth…..He is addressing the subject of judging and being judged by God…Something I think is often misunderstood…First and foremost…There is right and wrong…Good and Bad…The Truth according to “the age” we live in is subjective to our whims and likes…This is frankly a trick and a lie of the devil…God is Truth and Jesus also said very clearly…I am the Way…The Truth…And the Life…..With that said…One can honestly in an objective way assess Truth….However…..When it comes to the life of human beings…There are many reasons why people do not embrace God and his Truth…Hurts they endured as children….Pride……Bad examples from parents…Bad examples from clergy and other Catholics….These unresolved wounds can “blur” the Truth in the heart of a person…Now…One can soberly assess Truth as a person looking from the outside in - But as we all know, that is easy when we have not endured what that person has endured…….Because of that fact, no one has a right to judge the soul of a person - God is the judge and God is perfectly just…..Objective mortal sin is what it is…However, God will judge the hearts of all men and women…..And God will judge our hearts with perfect equity and justice…In the mean time as Catholics we must do the following…Know the Truth…Live the Truth…Speak the Truth…And be willing to suffer for the Truth….Leave the rest to the mercy of God!

There are many reasons why people have an “issue” with the Catholic Church…A good priest told me that when someone vocalizes their personal “litany of issues” with the Catholic Church…Under it all…There is one BIG ISSUE they are not vocalizing…And its that unresolved issue that needs to get addressed before they “come back home” to the Church of their Baptism…..Only that person knows what that “issue” is…Most times its personal…Its painful…..And clearly its unresolved…What must be remembered is…..We are not the “divine physician” - Jesus is…..Our job is to be consistent…To give a good example day in and day out…Speak the Truth with love but also speak it clearly…..And frankly be a friend to all…The “good” and the “bad” alike…In time and if we are consistent in the manner in which we live our life…..Our example will effect those around us and the Holy Spirit will slowing speak to the hearts of those who have “drifted” from the Church of their birth whom we encounter…..Once again, we can not “fix” people…Jesus is the “divine physician” ……What we can do however is witness to a life lived and fueled by daily prayer, fasting and the Sacraments…God will be the judge of souls….And God is merciful…..I sure hope God is merciful to me!

“Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts”

Jesus in the Gospel today from Mass said….”The days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them”……While Jesus does not physically walk among us today…He is fully present in the Blessed Sacrament…What a GIFT it is to SEE this reality….And for those Catholics who do understand the great mystery of the True Presence of Christ contained in the Eucharist, a GREAT responsibility to live a life centered around this reality is laid before us….God will judge us (That means me!) much more severely because he has given us so much!

Because those who have been given much…Much will be expected!

As Catholics we have been given EVERYTHING and if we use what is given to us…We surely will set the world on fire!….However, we can not “fix people”…Only Jesus is the “divine physician”…..Its our job to be consistent….To live our life each and every day - Year after year fueled by Sacramental Grace….Such a life’s witness does more good for others then we can ever imagine…..Let the Holy Spirit take care of the rest……Know the Truth…Live the Truth…Speak the Truth…And be willing to suffer for the Truth….Leave the rest to the mercy of God!

"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”…….."Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men”….”If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of Luke…This story I will admit is one of my favorite stories…In it Peter, the fisherman tells Jesus that he worked all night and did not catch any fish…Jesus his friend and a carpenter tells Peter to cast his nets out again close to the shore and he will catch fish….Peter, the fisherman should have told Jesus the carpenter…”Look guy, you know about banging nails…I’m the fisherman…We are not going to catch any fish this close to the shore”…….But that is not what Peter did - This is one of the reasons why I love him as a character in the Scripture stories…This was his response….” Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.”…This action defies all logic!….Peter puts his trust COMPLETELY in Christ, forgetting “everything he knows” and has faith in the one he KNOWS to be God…….This is what we need to do…We need to learn to trust like a child, with reckless abandon!…”Because you said so Lord, I will do it”!….This is how we move mountains because the one that moves them is God himself and least we forget……..Never put God is a “box”!

Many of the teachings from Jesus contained in the Scripture, when you think about them, coming from a person living and working in the world make ABSOLUTELY no sense…..However, when we put these teachings into practice relying solely upon the grace of God…Not only do they “make sense”…But they “bear fruit that will last”….All we have to do is read about the lives of the saints…This should be all the material evidence we need to see that the “blue print” laid out for us works!

Today is the Feast Day of Mother Teresa…This woman many times in her life made decisions that in the eyes of the world “made no sense”….In 1982 a war was waging in Lebanon and in the middle of the fighting was a home for 100 orphans and children with disabilities…..The children had been abandoned by the staff which cared for them……When Mother Teresa heard this she went to Lebanon herself and in the middle of the fighting rescued these children…….Why would anyone in their right mind do this!…..But this is what she did and this is the kind of love God has for us…As parents if these were your children would you not go into a war zone to save your kids? - Of course you would!…This is what Jesus did and does for us!…His love for us is beyond all logic and understanding!

Getting back to our gospel today from St Luke…Peter after seeing what Jesus did said the following…."Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”…When we are confronted in life by the unthinkable and selfless love of another, such a witness can expose to our very eyes just how we all fall short…Jesus in this story did not “rub it in Peter’s face”…Saying something like.........…”Look, I am so much better than you”…Just the opposite…Jesus encourages Peter….”Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men”…..This is our God, the God of mercy and forgiveness…He “rolls up his sleeves” and stand beside us in the “heat of the day” and the “thick of the fight”……Even when we fall short

"If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise"

St Paul tells us…”Let no one deceive himself..For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God”……..We need to learn to trust God more then we trust our very selves….When we do that…We too will “bear fruit that will last”….When we rely on God’s grace more then we trust our own talents, knowledge and gifts…Then we too will come to understand that true strengthen is found in our weakness and when we “adhere to the vine” there is nothing God can not accomplish in and through us….Do not put God is a box! - A big mistake made by many throughout history…”I will lead the blind on a way they do not know; by paths they do not know I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These are my promises: I made them, I will not forsake them”

"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”…….."Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men”….”If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool”

”Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth”……The Catholic Church is full of saints and sinners alike…If you search out the saints…You will find them

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading we hear from St Paul…He is writing a letter to his friends again in Corinth..In this letter he is addressing how people view religious leaders and their role in spreading the gospel message…..St Paul warns people not to get “caught up” in placing any priest on a pedestal…But to view that priest merely as an instrument…As we all know…Just like in every profession in life…There are good priests and there are bad ones…..But ultimately that reality should not distract us…..The priest is merely an instrument…As St Paul rightly says….”Whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely men? What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers”

Never let the actions of a priest, neither good or bad distract you from the purpose of true worship…..The Catholic Church is full of saints and sinner alike…If you search out the saints…You will find them…Find them!

From the very beginning of the founding of the Catholic Church one of the original twelve disciples “dropped the ball”….And to this day that is still the case…There are some members of the clergy today, who lets just be charitable…”Could be doing a better job”…However, far too many people focus all their attention on “Judas” and disregard the remaining “eleven good disciples”….In some Catholics social media circles many people focus all their attention on every error they see the clergy commit, both big and small…Now please don’t get me wrong…In many cases, the errors pointed out are valid, some can be egregious too and some can be trivial depending on who views them…...However, obsessing on all the wrongs of wayward priests and bishops can distract us from the goal of true worship…To grow closer to Jesus Christ through the Sacraments…..Ultimately we can not change people and when we witness the sins committed by the clergy within the Catholic Church to be honest, it’s heart breaking!…However, I have a hard enough time keeping myself in line!!!!…What has given me great amounts of peace when I personally witness wayward clergy is every Wednesday for the last few years…My wife and I fast for the Church aggressively…I channel all my aggravation and frustration towards my fast for the purpose of purifying the Church…And do you know what?…This practice has brought me great amounts of peace…I am also sure Jesus uses my fast to help purify the Church…So it is a “Win - Win”

St Paul goes on in the first reading from Mass today…….”For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building”…..Each and every Baptized Catholic is part of the Body of Christ…….We each have a task to do and Jesus himself has given us the “tools” through the one Church he founded to get that task done!…Never let the actions of a “bad apple” distract you or rob you of the joy in being a practicing Catholic…..Do not lose sight of the goal and do not focus all your attention upon “Judas”……Jesus himself tells us in the gospel today….“To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent”…In this statement Jesus is addressing each and every Baptized Catholic - That means YOU!….The devil will do his very best to distract us from the task at hand…..The universal call to holiness is not just for the clergy…That means each and everyone one of us are called by God to live and strive to live a holy life, which by the way is possible if we cooperate with God and utilize the “tools” he gave us through the Catholic Church….We each must make a choice and no choice is a choice!

“The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint”

I have said this before and I will say it again..Only saints change the world….All the “things” we see around us…All the “great accomplishments” will all soon be forgotten…However the actions of the saints and the saints themselves live on……Its the greatest goal in life to have…To become a saint….Its the greatest impact a person can have not only in his / her immediate social circle but as a person gets closer and closer to God…Their circle of influence grows and grows!….Do not let the actions of wayward clergy or the example of “bad Catholics” distract you!….If you look close enough, there are enough good examples out there in the Catholic Clergy and fellow Catholics in the pews to nurture our faith…However, if you are looking for “perfect people” - You will never find them…If you are looking for a “perfect parish” to attend - You will never find it….Don’t allow the good to be the enemy of the perfect…..And remember the wise words of St Paul……”Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth”……The Catholic Church is full of saints and sinners alike…If you search out the saints…You will find them

“They were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority”……"What is there about his word?”

In the Gospel today at Holy Mass from St Luke the people whom Jesus was addressing state something interesting...They said Jesus speaks with authority...."He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority"........The word authority is not spoken about enough these days in my view. The reason being, I believe, the word authority is very misunderstood…”We”…As in you and me...Have no authority but sadly far too many people think they possess it…What I mean by that is…Our lives are limited and ultimately we can not add one minute to our existence…God is in control and we have no control…This is a hard pill to swallow but it is reality no matter who we are

Jesus is God….And when he spoke….People noticed something different about him…The question for us today is…Do we recognize the authority of Christ?….Do we acknowledge the authority he gave to his Church?…..If we do, we surely are a wise people…But if we do not…We simply are denying reality……Living under the pretense that we are “in control” is a formula for disaster

“Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages and your dominion endures through all generations.”

When the saints speak, you can hear a pin drop!….Even the powerful of the world stop everything and listen….This is how it was when Mother Teresa spoke….Her life’s example was so powerful that even the most powerful leaders in the world sat at her feet when she spoke…How can that be, when many of these people vehemently disagreed with her on so many subjects?….Because when Mother Teresa spoke, she spoke with the authority given to her by the Holy Spirit

Even the demons are subject to the authority of Christ

Today at Mass in the Gospel we see something interesting happen….St Luke tells us about a man who was filled with an unclean spirit and approached Jesus to free him of it…..Immediately, the demon that possessed the man recognized the authority of Christ….............”What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”…Even the devil, who by the way is very real acknowledges the dominion of Jesus…..And in the gospel today when Jesus addressed this possessed man…The demon came out of him….”Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!”…As a result, the demon threw the man down to the ground and came out of him without doing him any harm….The people who saw this were amazed and stated the following……"What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out”

St Luke today gives us an example of what real authority looks like…But we too can witness the authority of God in real time…Jesus gave his authority to all ordained Catholic Priests and they can forgive sins in his name…..”Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained”…….When we go to a Sacramental Confession and when we confess our sins, there is a deep sense of relief…This is not a “psychological sense of relief” as many secular people try to explain away the power of a Sacramental Confession with a Catholic Priest….We enter a Confession one way and come out of it another way - Washed Clean!….A true burden is lifted and only through the authority bestowed upon a Catholic Priest can this miracle take place…And yes…It is a miracle!

Truth authority rest with God alone…..When we live under God’s authority, we are free…This is a paradox but it is true…..The interesting thing about God’s authority is…Even if we deny it….We still live under it….Because God is the author of life…We are not…Jesus gave authority to his 12 friends and they formed a Church….”And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”……To live under this authority makes us free and to deny this authority is like denying the very reality of the existence of the sun in the sky….You can choose not to look at the sun in the sky but that does not make it go away…The sun is still there and the warmth of its rays shine down upon the just and the unjust alike

“They were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority”……"What is there about his word?”

”Who do you say that I am?”….St Peter replied: “You are the Messiah”…But who do YOU say that Jesus is?……Before you answer…."Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return"

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St Luke…In it Jesus is in his home town and he makes some bold statements…..”The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord”……In a nutshell what Jesus just said was…”I’m the guy” you have been waiting for!…I am the Messiah!…And the people who heard this question him…..”They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”….God himself stood in their midst and they missed him…..Do we miss him?…….Do we judge people and things by worldly expectations as the people in this Gospel today did?…If we do…We too will “miss out” on what stares us right in the face…Jesus Christ is fully present in the Blessed Sacrament…He has not left us, in fact he may be more present now then he was when he walked the earth 2000 years ago…Do we see him?

Let’s dig into this passage from St Luke today from Mass a bit more…At first the people who heard Jesus were very impressed…But then Jesus “drops a bomb” on them…He challenges them!….And how quickly did the people turn on him…..”They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong”…….What kind of messiah were they looking for?……This is the question we need to ask our self…….If we “do not like” what God has to say…...Then we are in fact making our self out to be God, whether we realize it or not….We “make the rules” - "I live my life on my terms"!…..How many times have we heard that?

"Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return"

People do a lot of talking…I always say, before you listen to someone, watch what they do!…..We each make choices and its our choices that determine who we are, not necessarily our words…..For thirteen years I was a bank auditor and I traveled all over America and South America. I can remember going to a dinner with a colleague of mine in Washington DC. This young man went to the University of Virginia and invited some of his friends who he graduated college with to meet us for dinner. I can very clearly remember siting across from one of his friends who flat out said…......”All I have to do is sell my soul for a few years and I am set”……I was a bit older then her and as she said this I just thought to myself….”What a mistake”…But how many people think like that?……How many people rationalize behavior, which is beneficial in the short term but in the end leaves us empty and alone?…….But we all make choices - We were given free will by God….....However, our choices define who we are and they also have very real consequences both in the here and now as well as in eternity.

"I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live"

Back to Jesus in the gospel today from Mass….Jesus was the son of a carpenter and he was telling the people of his day something that was extremely important……That their eternal salvation depended upon him….And they were not having it!…Have things changed much in 2000 years?…..Our eternal salvation is dependent upon that same “carpenter” and the Church he founded…..And the world still is not having it!……”All I have to do is sell my soul for a few years and I am set”…..What a colossal mistake!……”They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong”

In the beginning of his ministry Jesus asked his 12 friends a very important question…”Who do you say that I am?”….St Peter replied: “You are the Messiah”…But who do YOU say that Jesus is?……Before you answer…."Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return"