Give people who are different from you a chance, many times when you do, they surprise you…..Inside us all, there is a common bond…We are more alike then most people realize…..“Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Mark when Jesus is confronted by the leaders of his day….He “grieved at their hardness of heart”….Jesus seemed almost frustrated by how power blinded these men in the face of something that was clearly good - The healing of a man’s hand…..God was staring the Pharisees right in the face and they missed it…..How about us?…Do we allow our biases and various “identities” to blind us to the Truth?…..Before you answer give it some thought…..Do we give credit where credit is due, even if that person or group does not belong to our religion, political affiliation, or family?…….Its very easy to get lost in societies various “identities”, whether they are political, socio-economic or ethnic….The Truth is the Truth no matter who says it……Jesus Christ said he is the way, the truth and the life…He did not say he was the custom - However any person, no matter who they are, if they speak the Truth or better yet, live the Truth should be supported by Catholics……”Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.” Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward”

"Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and cured every disease among the people."

We hear this a lot these days - What is your political identity?…For Catholics, we should identify as one thing and one thing only - Followers of Jesus Christ - Period Full Stop - Our "job" is to live the Gospel….That is how I view myself and the world around me - Through a Catholic lens…..Do we view the world through our Catholic Faith? - What clouds that view?…..And when I mean the world, I am addressing specifically, your marriage, the rising of your children, how you spend your time, how you spend you money?……All these things should be viewed through the lens of our Catholic faith…..And when we see someone who is not Catholic but does something that comports with our belief system, do we acknowledge them? - Do we give credit where credit is due?…Or do we shut them down simply because they are “different” then us?……As Catholics, we possess the fullness of the Truth…The teachings of the Catholic Church are time tested and perfect….But sadly many times non-Catholics can out do us by the way they live….When they do, do learn from their example?…….Where I live in New Jersey there is a town near me where Orthodox Jewish families live….Clearly Catholics and Jews have a different belief system however, there are also many things we can agree upon…One of those things is having strong families…One Saturday my wife and I were driving through this Orthodox Jewish neighborhood and the people were all walking to the Temple…We saw three generations of families walking together…It was such an edifying sight to behold!…..And if I were completely honest, I would have to say that for the most part, I do not see the same thing from parish life here in America from Catholics…..I greatly admire the family structure of our Orthodox Jewish brothers and sisters…How their communities are tightly woven, how they support one another and maintain their culture in a world that radically opposes them…So here is the question - Can you as a Catholic acknowledge something that is good when it comes from a group of people that does not belong to your group?….Do we get lost in our “identity” and can not see passed it, even when what we see is good?……This is what Jesus was addressing today in the Gospel - He healed a man on the Sabbath and the Pharisees would not acknowledge the good he did…Do we do the same thing?………There is a great danger in living our life like this……Our eyes need to be open to others and so must our hearts

“Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand…..”He stretched it out and his hand was restored.”

Today at Mass we heard Jesus get frustrated at the Pharisees…Their hearts were hard and their eyes were closed…Jesus did not “belong” to their group so immediate the Pharisees shut him out…What about us?……Do we have a tribal mentality? - Before you answer, think long and hard……Our world needs to look passed this way of living and thinking…….As Catholics we may not see eye to eye with everyone but when an individual or a group does something good and expresses a view that comports with the Truth, we need to acknowledge it…Getting lost in “group think” is dangerous….Far too many people today live in “echo chambers”…They only hear one voice and that voice “locks out others” no matter what they say, even if they say something that is good….When society does this and our society currently does do this, there is a great danger to de-humanize people and the groups they belong too…Do we talk to our neighbors who are not like us, even those neighbors who do not vote like we do, who go to a different church or no church at all for that matter?…..If we don’t we should talk to them.....…Give people who are different from you a chance, many times when you do, they surprise you…..Inside us all, there is a common bond…We are more alike then most people realize…..“Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand”