Today at Holy Mass we hear in the gospel of St Luke Jesus telling his 12 friends that he will be brutally murdered….Jesus tells them this in the context of trying to explain that his death is at the core of who he is…The Suffering Servant…The first apostles struggled with his idea and frankly did not understand it…The question today is…Do we understand it?…..To be Catholic is to know the Truth….Speak the Truth…Live the Truth…Now here is the “rub”….And to suffer for the Truth…The last part of that statement we want no part of!…..But to suffer for the Truth is exactly what Jesus did…By suffering for the Truth he turned defeat into victory…He defeated death itself!…And if we are to follow in his footsteps as all Catholics are called to do…We too must suffer for the Truth and in doing so we to will be victorious
“He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised”
There is nothing more powerful on this earth then the witness of sacrificial love…This is what love truly is all about…The witness of sacrificial love changes souls and moves hearts….To be rooted in the Truth and be willing to sacrifice for it at all costs is a witness that opens eyes…For love to be real, it must cost us!….I watch my wife each and everyday how she sacrifices for me and my family…She works her job from home…She does the shopping…She gets the kids ready for school…She does homework…She does the dishes and cooks meals….She cleans up…..And she rarely complains……The witness of wife is a powerful one….We all can tell our children many things but children like adults believe what they see…..Our world needs witnesses to the life and words of Christ…And that will not happen unless we are rooted in Sacramental grace, commit to daily prayer and weekly fasting - I repeat this “formula” often in these reflections….Why you may ask?…Because humanity, particularly Americans are far too reliant upon their own gifts, strengthen and self….We too easily forget that we all have a fallen nature…Are prone to sin…..Do sin….And even the most faithful and the strongest among us have limits…..In order to be the witnesses that will change the world…We need to develop a deep and profound interior life grounded in unmerited grace…From that interior life everything will flow…From the “small things” to the big things we do each and every day
“Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me”
Jesus in the gospel today asks his 12 friends something I think is rather odd….”Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”…These 12 men lived with Jesus, you would think they knew him…Jesus clearly saw that they were “missing it”…And guess what?…So do we!….We do not have all the answers and God who is the “potter” is molding us…The question becomes logically…Are you the “clay”?…Do you allow God to “mold” you by your everyday life?…Do you have a teachable spirit?…..Because like the first apostles….We do not have it all “figured out”…We are a “work in progress”…However as the great St Padre Pio rightfully stated….”If we are not going forward in our spiritual life, we are going backward”…..Having a teachable spirit is vital…And here is another thing…If you find yourself “seeing” something that others do not see…Just as Jesus was patient with his 12 friends…So must we be patient…St Paul tells us that very directly in scripture….”Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated…..It does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth……It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”…..The minute you “think” you have it all “figured out” God will show you just how weak and needy you are when it comes to doing and living the life Jesus called us to as baptized Catholics…..People don’t like to hear that…But it’s true…We all have a way to go!….And path is forward not backward…So keep stepping forward!
“The Son of Man came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many”
Getting back to our gospel from Mass today….Jesus continued to probe the hearts and minds of his 12 closest friends…He knew they did not fully understand…But he did not give up on them….We too most not give up on ourself or on others….And we also must not “think” we somehow have it all “figured out”…..We must be patient with those around us as Jesus is patient with us….Remember again the words of St Paul….”Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated….It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”…This is why as followers of Christ and as Catholics its not enough to know the Truth…Speak the Truth…Live the Truth…This is not enough!!!…We must also be willing to suffer for the Truth…..“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised”….Our world needs to witness sacrificial love…”Love is not Love” if it does not cost us
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