”I absolve you of your sins - Your sins are forgiven - Go in peace!”……Beautiful words to hear!!!….Time waits for no one!……."If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading from the Book of Sirach….”Delay not your conversion to the LORD, put it not off from day to day”…..One of the most precious commodities in life is time…No matter who you are, you can not alter it……As the saying goes…It is what it is….And each of us only have so much time…..Do we take our salvation for granted?……This is what this reading today proclaimed to us at Mass is all about….It goes on…”Rely not on your wealth; say not: "I have the power." Rely not on your strength in following the desires of your heart. Say not: "Who can prevail against me?" or, "Who will subdue me for my deeds?" for God will surely exact the punishment. Say not: "I have sinned, yet what has befallen me?" for the Most High bides his time. Of forgiveness be not overconfident, adding sin upon sin. Say not: "Great is his mercy; my many sins he will forgive." For mercy and anger alike are with him; upon the wicked alights his wrath”…These are foreboding words…But do we "hear" them?…Do we think they do not apply to us?……..Time is limited and trust me…It does run out……“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”

“Receive the word of God, not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God.”

I am a fifty-four year old man…In the last four years….Four very close friends of mine died….A college roommate…A close childhood friend…A colleague from work and a close buddy from college….All these guys were not even sixty years old…..Three of the four died of cancer and one simply collapsed and died of a heart attack…..We never think it will be us - Until it is!…This begs the question……Are our “spiritual bags” packed?……Are we ready to stand in front of God at a moments notice?….This is what the first reading from Mass today taken from the Book of Sirach is trying to communicate to us…..But how do we prepare for our “exit interview” with God?…Its so simple and its free…And it will take less then 15 minutes….We go to a Priest and participant in a Sacramental Confession……..Please allow me to tell you about one of my friends who died at the age of fifty…I went to college will Kevin, he grew up near me in New Jersey and we would drive back and forth to school together for four years…Kevin was very gifted in many ways and when he graduated from college he hit the ground running!…He started out in Pharmaceutical sales and saw an opportunity to build a business to help salesmen do their job…So Kevin partnered up with an IT programmer…They built an Operational System to help those who sell Pharmaceuticals across the industry and Kevin “hit the streets” to sell it throughout America…In the process Kevin got rich, built a company and sold it for millions….At forty-five years old, he was told he had cancer…Kevin was very rich so he could fly across America to all the best doctors…He went to Houston, Philadelphia, etc….He took “experimental treatment”….All this prolonged his life for five years…I remember his last post on FaceBook on social media…He wrote about how he could not dress himself and his Dad had to help him…Kevin was an offensive-lineman on his high school football team…Needless to say, he was a strong guy…And in the end, he could not dress himself…He was only 49 years old at that time…..Before he died, I asked Kevin to think about taking a flight to Mexico… He was living in a suburb of San Diego and the flight would be very short and Kevin could easily afford to do it….I told him to go to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City…I was hoping Our Lady could “get through” to him…That his time on this earth was short….He did not take my request too seriously….I hope and pray Kevin reached a hand to God before he left this earth…..Why am I telling you all this?…Kevin was a VERY successful guy…He was a very capable person…Physically strong and had a very sharp mind…He had plenty of money….And Kevin died at fifty years old!…..Death comes to us all….And our “achievements” do not stop it….“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”

"Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor?”

Today the first reading from Mass warns us all…..Are we ready to stand before the Lord?……Jesus Christ walked this earth to save us from our sins - Period-Full Stop!….This was his ONLY purpose!….Its for us to recognize our need…What is our need you may ask?….That we are all sinners!….There is only “one boat off the island”…...Do you realize we are one Sacramental Confession away from being “pure as the driven snow”?…..One Sacramental Confession can wipe out 60 years of sins - Just one!……I have taught the Catholic faith now for three decades…One of the things I try to always impart is this…We do not enter heaven on “our terms”….If you take one thing away from this reflection.....Take that away…..We do not enter heaven on “our terms”…Allow me to illustrate……If you invite me over to your house and ask me to “take off my shoes” before I come in your front door….And I refuse…Because you own the house, you have every right to tell me I can not come in….Heaven is God’s house and because of that, God makes the rules - Just like you do in your house…..But here is the good news…God loves us….All we have to do is say these words…..”Bless me Father for I have sinned…Its been xx amount of years since my last confession….And surprisingly enough, once you give your confession to a Catholic Priest…He will say these words to you……”I absolve you of your sins - Your sins are forgiven - Go in peace!”……Beautiful words to hear!!!….Time waits for no one!……."If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”