Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading a passage from the Book of Proverbs….”Every word of God is tested”…What does that mean?….It means God has been around for a VERY long time…So has the Catholic Church…Many kingdoms, empires, powerful men have all come and gone…Yet God and the Catholic Church are still standing…Many powerful governments have attempted to topple the Church…The Roman Empire, Nazi Germany, Stalin’s USSR…To name three…All failed!…The Catholic Church outlasted them all….What should that tell you?…..I will let you answer that for yourself but in the mean time, lets listen to the very words of Jesus on the subject…..”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”
“Remove from me the way of falsehood, and favor me with your law.”
In our first reading from Mass today…The Book of Proverbs goes on…..”Add nothing to his words, lest he reprove you, and you will be exposed as a deceiver”…There is a saying in Northern New Jersey where I live that people say all the time…”It is what it is”…..There are far too many people in the Christian world that take authority upon themselves and twist the words of God and the teachings of the Catholic Church…..”We hear what our itchy ears want to hear”…Jesus is God and he did not establish a Church to conform to the “times”…Why? - Because God is timeless!….As we just heard in the Book of Proverbs today…..”Every word of God is tested”…..”Add nothing to his words”…..That should tell you very clearly we are to conform to God…Not the other way around…Now as we all know that is not easily but the good news is Jesus through his Church gave us the “tools” to do it…The Sacraments, daily prayer and weekly fasting…Far too many people…Including many Catholics take for granted the power of these “tools”…Partly because they are not aware of the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist..Once you know Jesus is fully present…Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament…Everything changes!….And in turn…You change!…So the question is…How can we become aware of Jesus’s True Presence in the Blessed Sacrament?…The answer is found easier then you may think…Sit before the Consecrated Host in Eucharistic Adoration in silence and ask God to show you that Jesus is really there!…Guess what?…God loves you - And he will show you!…Make Eucharistic Adoration a weekly practice - Take the time - Make the time!
“The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces”
In the Gospel from Mass today St Luke tells us….Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick”…Let’s point out a few aspects of this sentence…..Jesus gave his first apostles “Power and Authority”…That power and authority still rests in Catholic Priests today…It does not rest in me or you!….We can deny this all we want, that does not change the fact that only a Catholic Priest can consecrate mere bread and turn it into Christ’s very Presence…You don’t believe that?…Sit before a Consecrated Host in silence for 15 minutes and tell me what you feel both in your heart and in the room….Only a Catholic Priest can forgive sins….You don’t believe that?….When you do something that you know to be very bad…Go to confession with a Catholic Priest and tell me how you feel when the Priest absolves you of your sins…..That “feeling” is not some psychological fantasy…Its REAL!!!….That means the power and authority that Christ gave to his Church from the beginning still exists!……Why would you not avail yourself to this gift? Because it is a gift - Its free and it was given to us by Christ to both sanctify us and strengthen us as we journey towards heaven
“Your word, O LORD, endures forever; it is firm as the heavens”
Jesus walked the earth over 2000 years ago…He founded also a Church - He did not write a book and by the way, the Catholic Church compiled the books of the Bible 400 years after the death of Christ - Did you know that?….Many people in that time have come and gone in the 2000 years since Jesus ascended to into Heaven…..Many people have “written off” both Jesus and the Catholic Church right up until this very day…Some have even tried to destroy what cannot be destroyed……However, history is very clear - They all failed…Why is that?…Because as the Book of Proverbs tells us today….”Every word of God is tested”…Not only that but Jesus himself tells us something about the one Church he founded….”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”….With all that said…Mankind continues to deny what is written on our very hearts - Some even call it the Natural Law….We “hear what our itchy ears want to hear”…What about you?…..The Kingdom of God is at hand…Maybe its time we reach out for “that hand”?
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