God sees you in ways the world does not….God knows what you are capable of….All we have to do is surrender….And then watch and see what happens

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the gospel of St John…..I want to bring to your attention the words Jesus said to St Peter the very moment he sees him…..”Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas,” which is translated Peter”…How did Jesus know this about Peter?…….At the time Peter was just a simple fisherman, but Jesus saw something else…Today the Universal Church honors Elizabeth Ann Seton….Like St Peter she too had “another life” before Christ called her…Elizabeth Ann Seton was a wife and mother…But after her husband died, she used the wealth she had to found a school in Baltimore…This led her to becoming a nun, start an religious order and the schools she opened were the beginning of the parochial school system in America….Again, another example of God knowing Elizabeth better than she knew her self…..Within each of us are deep caverns of potential…Jesus sees these aspects of our self in ways we do not…In essence, God knows you better than you know your self…He sees what you are capable of doing….…..This is how God works…The world “sizes you up” based on your credentials - Your wealth, Your education, Your connections, Your family, etc….Jesus “sizes a person up” based upon their willingness to be molded and shaped in the image and likeness of God…So in the final analysis, its not so much what gifts you have or our resume, its more about how much are you willing to abandon your will to God and be used……I will tell you this….God can do so much more with your life than you can….Don’t believe me?…..Look what he did with a simple house wife and widow (Elizabeth Ann Seton), who founded the parochial school system in America….Look what he did with a simple fisherman (St Peter), how this fisherman became the first Pope……God sees us in ways the world does not…God sees what we are capable of doing…If only we give God a chance….Then step back and be amazed at what happens next!

They said to him, “Rabbi”, “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.”

When you look at the first 12 apostles of Christ, one can say to themselves, how can this bunch of ragtag guys accomplish what they did?….In essence these men shook the foundations of the world and they were just “regular guys”….How did they do it?….The answer - They were willing to abandon their will radically and turn it over the God……Using an analogy, which these men took to heart - “God - You are the potter, I am the clay - Mold me as you will”…….And in turn, Jesus did just that, he turned these simple men into earth-shakers, who are remembered to this very day….What about you?….Do you think Jesus can use you in the same way?……..We have to dare to attempt to do the ridiculous in order to allow God to use us to accomplish the miraculous……..I was always attracted to traveling….....For 15 years I traveled extensively for work and in my spare time I backpacked to many cities all around the world…On one of those backpacking trips in Cambodia, I met for the first time Mother Teresa nuns…It was a Sunday and I found the one Catholic Church in the city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia…The Church was basically the second floor of a warehouse, no pews and an altar…Everyone sat on the floor and I was one of three western people at the Mass (the other two were from France)…..As the Mass was just about to begin, in walks Mother Teresa’s nuns…And they sat right next to me for some reason.....After the Mass we struck up a conversation…..While in Cambodia, I saw poverty like I never saw in my life…More so then what I saw in South America….And I wanted to do something about it…..So I gave the sisters a small monetary donation and they gave me their mailing address…From there we began to exchange letters and they encouraged me to go to Kolkata India, which I did….During my time in India, many things happened…But the reason why I believe God sent me there was to link up my hometown parish, led by the late and great Fr Stanley Kostrzomb with the poor of India….Fr Stanley took interest in my trips to Mother Teresa’s sisters in India and offered to sponsor a parish there, becoming a sister parish to St Michael’s in Lyndhurst New Jersey…..When I spoke to the sisters in India about Fr Stanley’s offer, they introduced me to a very poor priest who ran a parish on the outskirts of Kolkata…Fr Stanley and this priest exchanged emails and over the course of time Fr Stanley sent over around $40,000 dollars (which is an enormous amount of money in India), which was collected in a poor box in the back of St Michael’s Church in Lyndhurst…Frankly, it could have been even more money, that was just the number I heard at one point in time…This is the reason why I believe God sent me to India…To link Fr Stanley up with this priest….In the end and after all the generosity shown by Fr Stanley to this parish…They re-named the church in India after St Michael the Archangel in Lyndhurst NJ….That is a true story and many people many not know about it…..This is how God works…He uses simple people….All we have to do is say YES…..And be willing to do the impossible, so God can do the miraculous….There are no coincidences with God!….All we have to do is say YES

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets: in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son.”

Today in the Gospel at Mass, Jesus with just one look saw in Peter what no one saw….The fisherman became the first Pope…..So here is the question….What does Jesus see when he looks at you?…..My guess is, He sees GREATNESS!…..Be willing to do the impossible…….Like the first 12 regular men that Jesus chose….It was not their resume that impressed Jesus, it was their willingness to “go into the deep”…..We need to “get out of the boat” of our comfortable lives….In that “space” of surrender - That “space" of the “unknown” - That “space” of having no control….God will meet us there….And when he does, he will say to us with a shy smile on his face….”Now we can begin”……God sees you in ways the world does not….God knows what you are capable of….All we have to do is surrender….And then watch and see what happens

But as we all know, all good things take time…And we are all a “work in progress”…..So lets put our “shoulder to the plow” and get it done!

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first readings from St John…He says something that is rather interesting…..”Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure”….This statement implies that there is a process that needs to be embraced…That we do not become the people we were born to be without this process…The process is purification….When you listen to American Christians, even many baptized Catholics…There is a deep misunderstanding of how we get to heaven and what the beatific vision actually is…..Our number one goal in life should be to get to heaven…And as a very good priest once told me….”Joe, you do not just float into heaven”…..We either purify ourselves here on earth by conforming our will to the will of God or if we die in the state of grace and if we did not “work out” our many attachments to sin, then we are purified in Purgatory…This is and has been a perennial Catholic teaching (backed up by Sacred Scripture for all you Protestants out there) - So don’t shoot the messenger!…….Either way, nothing that is impure stands before God…..Protestants believe, that no matter what, once you confess, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior” - Your in the “Big House” - Nothing else matters….That understanding of salvation is not even biblical and that is their contention - That “everything must be in the Bible” (ie sola scriptura)…Then you have Catholics, who never stepped foot into Mass, lived their life completely on their own terms…And then when they die, everyone immediately says…”So and So is in heaven”…..Once again…St John tells us at Mass today something completely different…….”Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure”……If we have the hope that we will go to heaven…We therefore must strive to make ourselves pure…..How do we do that?…Its a process

“See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God……..Yet so we are”

As many of us know, life has many chapters…….As people grow older, people change…Life has a way of humbling people…I have seen this first hand…..Guys I knew in my youth have changed as they have grown older, their “edges” got less “sharp”…..And that is a good thing…Jesus established a Church…He did not write a book…The Bible was put together by a Catholic (for all those who are Protestant reading this) 400 years after Jesus was crucified…..And in the Church Jesus established, he gave us all the “tools” we need to purify ourselves….Prayer, the Mass, the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacrament of Reconciliation to name a few…..There was a time that American Catholics would go to Confession with a Priest often….No more sadly…A HUGE error…Why?…Well, the obvious reason is we ALL are sinners and are in desperate need of God’s mercy…But what is often not considered is….If we want to grow in virtue and overcome the sins we continuously commit due to our human weakness, we need God’s grace…And every time you confess your sins, God gives you grace to overcome that sin…And in time you will get “better and better” and that sin will disappear or be committed with less frequency….This is the means of purification St John is referring to in the first reading today at Mass………Fasting also aides us in this process, by teaching us self discipline, which is another means of purifying ourselves…..Becoming the people we were called to be does not happen overnight…Its a process……..In my early twenties I committed myself to become a practicing Catholic….And I knew if I wanted to be a practicing Catholic and was not married, I had to live a chaste life until I got married………In order to “arrive” at that "place", required God’s grace……One year during Lent, I embarked on the process vigorously to live a chaste life and during that period I went on a retreat…..During the retreat I went to confession and the priest addressed my sins of impurity, which I confessed...... The priest during that confession told me I needed to “put away childish things” ….St Paul used those same words in Scripture…Anyway, on that retreat, that same priest who I went to confession with was distributing Holy Communion and I was on his line to receive…Once I stood in front of him, he recognized me and when he put the Consecrated Host into my hand, he pressed his finger into my palm, as a reminder of what we talked about during my confession…..As a result of that retreat, my confession and conversation with that priest - Along with a rigorous lenten fast…I was given the grace of chastity…And lived a chaste life from my late twenties until my wedding day to my wife at the age of 43……That is no lie!…People reading this may not believe me…But I am telling you the truth!…Grace is real and purifying ourselves is a process…It requires our will to bend utilizing all the “tools” given to us by the one Church Jesus founded…Look - At the end of the day, we are ALL sinners…And overcoming those sins should be a priority……..Why? - Because as St John said today at Mass……”Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure”……And here is some good news…The closer we get to God, by means of our purification, the more good we can do here on earth…..Why?…Because only saints change the world…And a holy life is within reach of every human person - That means YOU!…However, sanctification is a process…So lets put our “shoulder to the plow” and get it done!

“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed”

Far too many people do not prioritize the process of striving to live a holy life…Why?….That is for each of us to address personally…But if I was to guess…I would say, we take for granted God’s mercy…If we want to get into the “Big House Upstairs” - And I know we ALL do, we need to make ourselves the people God called us to be - “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”.……When you go on an interview for a job, you wear your “best suit”…Well, when we die, we go on the biggest interview of our life…We stand before God…And when we do, we want to be ready….Look, God loves us and God is full of mercy - All we have to do is our best and if we commit to doing our best with the help of God’s grace, utilizing the “tools” given to us through the one Church Jesus founded…We will get much farther then we ever thought possible!…Then when we stand before God and have our “exit interview” we will hear these words…..”Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.”…..But as we all know, all good things take time…And we are all a “work in progress”…..So lets put our “shoulder to the plow” and get it done!

“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’ ”…Be that “voice of one”…And let come what may

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel from St John….In the text the religious leaders approach John the Baptist in the desert…The word had spread that John was there…And John the Baptist did not play!…..The conversation went as follows….”Who are you?”……..John said - “I am not the Christ.” So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?”…. He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’”……….John the Baptist was not having it! - He called it as it is…He prepared the way for Jesus - And so must we….Our Church and our society desperately needs clear voices…..Not telling people the Truth is not being merciful nor can you say that you love someone if you do not tell them the truth…Does a father not tell his children the the truth?……How will they know the truth if a father does not tell his children?….We have a society that does not want to hear it…They do not want to hear it because they do not want to change…And our politicians and many of our religious leaders “tip-toe” around the truth…Why?…They do not want to offend…They do not want to rock the boat….Not John the Baptist - He told it like it is!……“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’ ”

“In times, past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets: in these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son”

I have been a catechist in the Catholic Church for years…I have taught the faith in many different capacities…For a number of years I taught RCIA, which is the program that teaches people who want to enter the Church and be baptized…When I taught this program I taught it directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church…For those who do not know what the Catechism of the Catholic Church is…It is the book of all the teachings of the Church published in 1992 by Pope John Paul II…Well, that is how I taught it - As it is written…And I was asked to leave the program at this one parish…Why?…Because some of the other instructors did not like what I had to say - Specifically around receiving the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace, which means if you are in the state of mortal sin, you must go to a Sacramental Confession before you receive the Eucharist…Not my teaching, its a perennial teaching of the Church….However, the other instructors did not want to hear it…Also, they had an issue with the Church’s teaching on contraception…The Church teaches we are to be open to life…They did not like me teaching that either…Again, don’t shoot the messenger - Not my teaching, its the Church’s teaching…..There is a lot “amiss” here and I can talk all day about it…But what is really missing is what Jesus said…”I am the vine and you are the branches, if you remain in me, you will bear fruit and without me you can do nothing”….Some people within the Catholic Church (clergy and laity alike) and outside of it as well ignore that statement - And frankly the outcomes tell us everything we need to know…This is why certain parishes have no one in the pews…Parishes that “adhere to the vine” are packed….People are attracted to the Truth…Not “my truth” - THE TRUTH…Look at the religious orders of monks, priests and nuns that are thriving in America today - What do they all have in common? - They adhere to the teachings of the Church - All of them - These religious orders do not invent ways to be “pastoral” (Whatever that means)…They simply adhere to the Truth as it is….This is what John the Baptist did…..“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’ ”….And this is what our world needs today….We need courageous men and women who speak and live the Truth….How can our people know what to do, if they are not taught the Truth?…..Before “the truth can set us free”, we need to know what it is….And if you don’t like what you hear…Don’t shoot the messenger!…..A Catholics job is to know the Truth - Speak the Truth - Live the Truth - And suffer for the Truth…..Don’t be surprised when Churches are empty when we as Catholics (clergy and laity alike) “water down” Church teaching to make people “feel comfortable”…Jesus told it like it is - He was perfectly clear!…Its about time we start doing the same…And when that happens, the Churches ironically enough get packed…Why?…Because deep within us, we all want to hear the Truth, we are “hard-wired” for it.

“And now, children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be put to shame by him at his coming”

Our world needs men like John the Baptist….This is what Jesus himself said about John the Baptist…”I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John”…And this is what John the Baptist said about Jesus….“I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie”…..John went on to say….”I must decrease and He must increase”….John gets it!…….We must "remain on the vine"!…The Truth does not belong to us nor is the Truth ours to manipulate…Jesus said very clearly, I am the Truth - And when “we remain on the vine” we will bear much fruit both in our Church and in our nation…..It’s really that simple…….“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’ ”…Be that “voice of one”…And let come what may

By praying the Rosary each day what is unknown will become known and we will grow ever closer to the Son of God

Today the Universal Church honors Mary….Its the first day of the year and what better way to kick the year off then to look to Our Lady the Mother of God to show us her son….Some in the Christian world have an issue with this approach….They say, “We go directly to Jesus”….Sadly, the collective “we” (myself in front of that line) are sinners and can not “go directly to Jesus” in the manner we would like too…This is why Our Holy Mother intercedes for us…..We go to Mary and she brings us to her son…This is the most direct path…Why? Because Mary is pure and we are not…Also, the Mother knows the Son better than anyone can or will…So as we usher in this new year, let us take the hand of Mary…..She is our Holy Mother…Mary will lead us to her son.....….”When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons”…….The world today embarks on the New Year with anticipation…..No one knows what the year will bring…If we proceed forward with our hand in the hand of Mary…Connected to her through the Rosary…What is unknown will become known and we will grow ever closer to the Son of God

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son”

If you read about the lives of the saints, there are some common themes that can be found across all their lives…..One of those themes is, all the saints had a devotion to Our Lady…..And the closer we grow to God, the more God can use us in our day to day lives…..This is why praying the Rosary is such an important part of Catholic life…It does not take a long time and when the Rosary is prayed in a family setting, the fruits of this practice can not be overstated…..Everyone likes to hear stories about miracles…Well, if you like miracle stories there are many attributed to the Rosary…Here is just one of them, which I think you may find interesting:

“At 3: 00 am on January 15, 1978 Ted Bundy entered the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University and murdered two girls before heading off to search for more victims. When he entered a third girl’s room with a bat for a weapon, he saw a rosary clutched in her hand, dropped the bat and fled. Later the girl told authorities that before she left for college she had promised her grandmother that she would pray the rosary every night for protection, even if she fell asleep in the process. This is what she had done that night, and she was still holding the rosary when the murderer entered her room. Bundy later confessed to over thirty murders. Father Joseph M. Esper says in his book With Mary to Jesus, "Ironically, when Ted Bundy was on death row, awaiting execution for his crimes, he asked Monsignor Kerr to serve as a spiritual counselor, and the priest took the opportunity to ask about that terrible night. Bundy explained that when he entered the girl's room, he had fully intended on murdering her; some mysterious power was preventing him." Father Esper adds, "And not only does it (the rosary) aid our own spiritual growth ‐‐ it also undermines the kingdom of Satan. The famous Vatican exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth testified, 'One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism, "Every Hail Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would be my end."

“As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts”

The world famous Padre Pio used to say, “The Rosary is the Weapon”…..If we pray the Rosary everyday not only will we gain deep insights into the life of Christ but a special bond will be formed between ourself and the Mother of God….When you think about it, if we do some very simple things…Go to a Sacramental Confession each month, Receive the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace on Sunday and Pray the Rosary daily…Our lives will RADICALLY change….Each year at this time, people make all kinds of New Year’s resolutions…..The three things I just noted are not only free but very achievable…..However, maybe at this time you are “not up” to going to Confession with a Catholic Priest or going to Mass…Then I would suggest, start praying the Rosary…Start with one decade each day…If you do not know how to do it, look on the internet - Its easy……..That will take only five minutes of your time each day…This practice will build upon itself as Our Lady will slowly take you by the hand and bring you to her Son….One Hail Mary at a time…..If you accomplish just that this year - Trust me, you will have accomplished something extraordinary, which in turn will lead to great things!

“So may your way be known upon earth; among all nations, your salvation”

Today brings us to a new year as we all know….What will make this year something special?…..As we too know - Life will throw all kinds of circumstances upon us this year, both good and bad - That is for certain, however if we are “armed” with “the weapon” of God - The Holy Rosary…We will be prepared to deal with whatever comes our way…..Our Lady is honored today by the Universal Church and like a good mother Mary never stops teaching us the ways to grow ever closer to her son…..If we take her hand, beginning today, starting with one Hail Mary at a time…..This year will truly be a good one……..No one knows what 2025 will bring…But I know one thing for sure…..By praying the Rosary each day what is unknown will become known and we will grow ever closer to the Son of God