Its not as complicated as we make it……”He must increase; I must decrease”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Holy Gospel of St John….In the entire bible many important words are written…However, there are some messages that really stand out…..One of those messages ends the gospel reading today at Mass….”He must increase; I must decrease”……..This one sentence provides a key to a holy life…John the Baptist said these words and as many know, God sent John to prepare the world for Christ….Jesus himself said this about John…..”Among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist”…..Therefore, we as Catholics should pay particular attention to the words of John the Baptist…So why is this one sentence I noted so important?…..”He must increase; I must decrease”….Because only God can give us the Holy Spirit….We can not self manufacture it - No matter who you are - No matter how smart - No matter how educated - No matter how gifted….And in order to receive the Holy Spirit, we must make room for it in our hearts…What does that mean?…..There are many “things” that “get in the way” of the Holy Spirit in our life….And the more we “empty” ourselves of those “things” the more God can fill us with himself…John the Baptist “figured it out”…..There is a two fold process in growing in holiness…The first part is detaching ourselves from “things” and many of those “things” are not material in nature (some are)…We create all sorts of “idols” that fill our lives and keep us from God…We need to strive to shed these “things” from our life…Fasting helps us to accomplish this task, so does assisting the poor with our time and resources….. The second step in this process of allowing God to fill us….How do we do that?…Daily prayer, Spiritual reading, Monthly Sacramental Confession, Daily reception of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic Adoration…..A jug of water must first be emptied in order for pure milk to be poured into it…..Not even God can fill a jug with milk that has water in it to the brim…But when we “pour out the water”, the milk will flow into the jug……This is analogous to the Spiritual life……We can not give what we do not have….Before we can receive the Holy Spirit as it was intended to be given to us, there needs to be room within our soul for it…..”He must increase; I must decrease”

“Children, be on your guard against idols”

As many Catholics know St Therese of Liseux was recently proclaimed a Doctor of the Church…She is only one of four women who have this title and as of 2024, the Catholic Church has named only 37 individuals as Doctors of the Church - Based upon that, one can imply what St Therese of Liseux wrote about was and is very significant…Therese wrote only one book, which was autobiographical called The Story of a Soul. The book is a spiritual classic that has been translated into many languages and is read by millions of people worldwide…I have read this book and to be very honest with you, I did not get much out of it, I found it to be to child-like…And that is the point of the book and the root cause of my problem!…Remember what Jesus said…..”I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”……St Therese nailed it…And I don’t get it! - That is why she is a saint and I am not…She became like a child spiritually and wrote about her “little way”, finding Jesus in every day aspects of life, being completely open, accepting everything with perfect trust, like a child…..How did she do that?….Well, she did what John the Baptist said……”I must decrease”….And in turn, St Therese of Liseux was filled with the Holy Spirit to "the brim"…The saints show us the way - Remember that!….I told this story before but its worth repeating…..Years ago I was at a retreat for all the Lay Associates for the Missionary of Charity in the Bronx….A very holy young priest was giving the retreat….And many of the Lay Associates there were very holy people in their own right…However, the sisters invited this one man from the neighborhood where they live to the retreat…He was a grown man but clearly a little slow mentally….I watched this man very closely because he was so happy to have been invited…At one of the coffee breaks, I was watching him listen to this one person who believed they had “something very important to say”…..I don’t mean to be sarcastic, but this person was going on a rant (as I do) talking to this rather slow man from the Bronx…..The reason why I thought this to be noteworthy is…The man from the Bronx was drinking in every word..His eyes were so focused, he gave his complete attention to this person and all he kept saying was…”Yes - Yes - Yes” - I kid you not - His exact words - Drinking in deeply every word spoken!…..The sight of that man at that moment was the most important thing I got out of the retreat….To me, nothing was said that was more important then how that “slow man” from the Bronx received the word of God - Like a child!…In order to do that we must be empty, like John the Baptist tells us…We must be “child-like” as St Therese of Liseux taught us…And most importantly, we must do as Jesus instructed us…..”Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven”…..God can not “fill us” with himself if we are “full of ourself”

“No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.”

John the Baptist lays out the game plan for us in the gospel today at Mass…..……Our Catholic faith really is not complicated, we make it so…I have often thought about that…Jesus was a carpenter and his first 12 friends were “regular guys”….And far too many today in the Church over complicate things…St Luke in his gospel tells us…”There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her”….Now what did Mary do? - And what is that one thing?….Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, like a child…We need to strive to be “empty” of all our “great ideas” and shed the idols we hold ever so tightly in our life....…And then.... To allow the Holy Spirit to fill us…..This needs to be our singular focus!….We need to learn to “get out of our own way” and make a clear path for the Lord…..Its not as complicated as we make it……”He must increase; I must decrease”