Today at Holy Mass in the second reading St James lays it out there….”Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls”…..We can not save our selves…What else is St James telling us?…”The word” planted within us is not our word…Therefore we have no authority to manipulate it….Again…We can not save our selves….St James goes on in this passage….”Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves”…..Its not enough to just “say” we believe in God and his teachings…We have to live by them and the actions of our life tell the story…As St James says…If we only give lip service to the teachings of Christ and simply “tick off boxes” as Catholics…We are deluding our self
How can we be doers of the word?…Actions speak loudly
Before we can act, we have to hear what is said…..St Paul tells us in Scripture that men “hear what their itchy ears want to hear”…This is so true….People don’t listen and when they do most times they only hear what they want to hear…Because if we heard clearly what Christ said, which by the way is challenging, we would be quick to change. People like the image of what I call the “Hippie Jesus”…Excepting Christ on “their terms”…That is not who Jesus was…He came to change us!…We are to conform to him - And that is a process but we must cooperate and bend our will!……And in order for that change to take place in us…We must first hear clearly what Jesus said…Then and only then can we act on the words spoken to us through the one Church Christ founded….Remember what we just read from St James at Mass?
If we do not first hear…Then act…..We are only deluding ourselves…..And trust me….We are not deluding God
Why was Mother Teresa’s religious order so successful?…To put it simply…..They practiced what they preached….So did Jesus by the way…If you want to “spread” the Gospel message to others….Posting memes on social media is not going to do it!…People believe what they see…And when people see the gospel lived out in plain sight and in real time…It stops traffic!…Getting back to Mother Teresa’s nuns……How are they doers of the word?…….Their life is fueled by prayer and sacrifice…First they “empty themselves out”…Then they get “filled up” by God’s grace…And then they go out into the streets and “give that grace away”….....That is the “winning formula”!....…We can not give what we do not possess…But once we receive grace......It must be given away!…This is how the gospel is lived out…This is what the world responds too…Not empty words or social media posts…This is the “lighting bolt”, which is the Gospel message of Christ that pierces hearts…This is how we change the world.
One time when I was in Kolkata I helped the sisters take some poor handicapped children to the Space and Science Museum in the city. On the line to get into the museum like in any city around the world there were families taking their kids. Many of those families, no different than in New York City were educated and families of means. I always remember the expression on their faces as we carried and assisted many of these severely handicapped and desperately poor children into the museum. The look on the faces of these people was like a “lighting bolt”stuck their hearts…All of them had the same expression - Staring with eyes wide open…….There are no words on earth nor the most eloquent of preachers that can produce that kind of effect when one sees the Gospel of Christ lived out in a radical way…..This is how hearts change….People must see Christ in us…In a radical way!
“Preach always sometimes use words”
Getting back to St James and his reading from today’s Mass…..Being a Catholic is not about “ticking boxes”…..It’s not about going through the motions…Its about emptying one self…Filling oneself with grace through daily prayer, fasting and the Sacraments…And then giving that grace away…Rinse - Repeat!…Rinse - Repeat!…Rinse - Repeat!…Jesus is not looking for “Believers”…Jesus is looking for Followers!…Jesus said very clearly…..”Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”……The original twelve disciples did not drop everything and leave their homes for mere words…Its what they saw lived out that made the difference…Its what they saw that pierced their heart…People believe what they see…..To reiterate the words of St James….”Be doers of the word and not hearers”……”Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world”
Show me a sermon…Don’t simply tell me one
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