“So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading we hear from St Paul…He tells us something we should always keep in mind no matter who we are…..”Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy”…….When we are Baptized the life of God is placed within us….A small seed that needs to be nurtured…But if it is nurtured, that seed will grow into a massive tree….Each of us is a “vessel”, which can be filled with “good things” or “bad things”, its entirely up to us…..Each of us was made by God to love him, to serve him and to be with him for all eternity…Again, completely up to us…Its all about how you “fill the vessel”…We each have the capacity to be holy…..Not because I say so…Because God says so and he created us to be that way

“There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High. God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed; God will help it at the break of dawn.”

I read something this morning from Fr Walter Ciszek SJ, who was an American Jesuit priest convicted of being a “Vatican spy” in World War II. He spent twenty-three years in Soviet prisons. Fr Ciszek was reflecting on the Mystical Body of Christ, which we all are apart of…..This is what he said…”The Church is full of human failings because it is comprised of human beings; it has its share of scandals and bad leaders, of selfishness, and skin-deep spirituality, of fallible and imperfect men who do not always practice what they preach. Nevertheless, it remains the institution Christ founded to preserve and guard the faith, the Mystical Body wherein even the weak can be made strong”……How true that claim is!…..The one sentence that really jumped out at me was the last part of the last sentence………..…”even the weak can be made strong”…….So true!….This is why Jesus addressed this directly in Scripture….”‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”……..We are all given the chance to change….To turn our hearts to the Lord……But time is limited…….If we only knew our full potential!….What God could accomplish through us if we let him……We only have to look at the lives of the saints….Normal everyday men and women who radically abandoned their lives to the will of God…..These men and women show us what is possible…But only if we “turn our gaze” and redirect our priorities…This does not magically happen…It must be a conscience daily choice….Fortified by daily prayer, fasting and the Sacraments……….Never forget….....”The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”

“The LORD of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. Come! behold the deeds of the LORD, the astounding things he has wrought on earth”

St John in today’s gospel from Mass tells us that no matter what happens…No matter what the world throws at the “Mystical Body of Christ” it can not be destroyed….."Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up”……Empires, powerful men and women, and institutions throughout history, to this very day have not learned this fundamental lesson…....The “Mystical Body of Christ” can not be destroyed!….We are apart of that Body - That means YOU!………And no matter what can or will happen to us…If we remain in the state of grace…God will raise us up to himself…..So have no fear! - When a person fully embraces this reality - Such a person CAN and WILL be used by God and he or she will “set the world on fire”

”And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”