Many times we must come to “end of ourself” before we can begin….How do I know this with certainty?…. “Because I know where I came from and where I am going”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St John how the confrontations between Jesus and the Pharisees are getting more intense…His passion and death is drawing near……”Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." So the Pharisees said to him, "You testify on your own behalf, so your testimony cannot be verified." Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony can be verified, because I know where I came from and where I am going.”………This is an interesting comment made by Jesus, he is implying that because the Pharisees do not acknowledge him as the Messiah, they lack an understanding of their own identity…Jesus tells them point blank…”I know where I came from and where I am going”…..This crisis in identity plagues mankind to this very day in varying degrees…..When we do not acknowledge God, we lose sight of our true identity…And this “confusion” of who we really are manifests itself in many ways across our society…..While each of us is born very unique, we are all the same at our core….We were created by God to love him, to serve him and to be with him for all eternity…Each and every person, bar-none, shares this common bond…When this reality is ignored or outright rejected - Humanity suffers from an “identity crisis”…A vacuum is created and like all vacuums, the “space” must be filled with “something”…Our world today is filled with people trying to “fill a hole” within themselves that can only be filled with God - Attempting to fill that “hole” with “something” that ultimately never will satisfy and leads to a dead-end….This is why Jesus addresses the Pharisees in the manner that he did…He calls them out…"I know who I am” - Do you?”

"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose; Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul."

I am in my mid-fifties….And like all people at this age there have been many chapters in my life….I have friends who are very religious and I also have friends who are not religious at all…..When I was younger, many of my friends chased after women - A lot of them!….And some of my friends had many girlfriends….They would use women and “throw them aside” for another one and this pattern continued over and over again….A few of my friends never left this practice and those who did have found themselves all alone….What they “thought” would satisfy them never did…They went from woman to woman, only to never be able to “satisfy a thirst” they had within themselves…This is just one example of trying to “fill the God-hole” with something that cannot fill it…I have seen this play out in real time with people I know in my life…Allow me to illustrate another example….Mainstream America has normalized homosexual behavior…..We can call it whatever we want….But the behavior itself is not natural, our bodies say otherwise and there is no scientific evidence that exists that proves “you were born this way”….I invite you to search for it…And you will find it does not exist…Why do I bring this up?…I was watching an interview with a middle-aged man who lived an active lifestyle as a homosexual for decades…This man basically said that no matter how much sex he had, the lifestyle never really satisfied him deep down…And now that he was around sixty years old, his gay-lifestyle lead to a “dead end”…His words not mine……So what is the point I am trying to make here?…I just noted two examples of lifestyles that try to “fill the God hole” within the human person and both lifestyles come up empty….The sooner in life we “figure out” that we were created by God…That God loves us…And that God created us for himself…The better your life will be….This reality applies to everyone!….For people who read this and do not “buy-in” to what I just wrote…Just wait and look around you….Old age is around the corner!….And for those who ignore and deny this reality, which I just stated….The good news is - God does not give up you….However, when you follow a "dead-end” for years and years, you usually end up alone…And God will uses this time in a persons life when they are all alone to “figure things out” before its too late - You hope!….As Jesus clearly told the Pharisees today in the Gospel…"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”……One way or the other our world will “come to grips with this reality” and the sooner we do, the better.

“He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side with your rod and your staff that give me courage.”

Today in the Gospel Jesus confronts the Pharisees head on….We can view this confrontation in many ways…One of the ways we can view it is to apply it personally to ourselves…Do we embrace our true identity as a child of God?….There are no substitutes that can satisfy the human heart…Sure, we can “run away” all we want…Chase after “things” all we want…But in the end we will be confronted with ourself….We will reach a “dead-end”…..I have found in my own experience of chasing after “things” early on in my life that that those "things" were simply substitutes for God, when I came to the end of myself and admitted it, it was then that God looked me square in the face and told me point blank…”Joe - Now we can begin”…..This is reality!…Many times we must come to “end of ourself” before we can begin….How do I know this with certainty?…. “Because I know where I came from and where I am going”

“I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.”…Be faithful in small things…From small things, big things materialize

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah something that is very noteworthy…..”Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.”………Many people will read this and say…”No way - Can’t happen - You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”…Today, the Prophet Isaiah tells us something very different….Why is that? - Because God can do anything!!!!…..If you are a student of history and you study the lives of the saints, you will notice that whenever there is a deep cultural need in a particular place or time - God “raises up” men and women who fight against all odds to meet that need…Whether it was St Francis, St Dominic, St Ignatius of Loyola, or Mother Teresa…God works through the saints to address the needs of our world - He has not left us orphans…This is why Isaiah wrote what he wrote….Just when we think all is lost…”A flower grows through the cracks of the sidewalk”….But who are these “saints”?…We seem to forget that they were really no different than you or me when you come right down to it…They were imperfect people and had flaws just like us…What made them different?…They encountered the living God and they surrendered their will radically to God….A person who does that embodies the very words of Isaiah from Mass today…..”I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.”…….Bishop Robert Barron who is an American Thomistic scholar once said something about the saints I will always remember…..”To become a saint, one must WILL IT”…..The human will is much stronger then the human mind and the human body…If you will something, with all your strength and all your soul….Most especially if you give God permission to work through you, who ever you are - No matter what gifts you have or do not have - God will accomplish through you what the world deems impossible!…This is what the saints understand - If you do not believe me - Just read about them and you too will see the very pattern I am noting now in this reflection…The saints know God to be the God of the impossible!…This is why Moses lead his people straight to the banks of a raging river…He knew God would make a way through the water - And God did!….This is why Mother Teresa and her sisters marched into the middle of war in Lebanon to rescue handicapped children - And nothing happened to them….This is why St Francis traveled to the leader of the Muslim nation in North Africa to confront him and nothing happened to him……It all comes down to our will - As Bishop Baron rightly said…..WILL IT…And it will be done!

“Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, They shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves.”

Looking back at the time I would go to Kolkata, I think to myself - Why did God call me to go there?…In a million years I would have never thought that I would travel to such a far corner of the world…Looking back, the driving reason I think is this……My former pastor at St Michael’s in Lyndhurst New Jersey (Fr Stanley Kostrzomb - May he now rest in peace) took great interest in my trips to India and offered to sponsor a parish there, to become a “Sister Parish” to St Michaels…Keep in mind, St Michael’s Parish was not a wealthy parish, most of the families are blue collar workers….Fr Stanley could have used the money he collected for this Indian parish for St Mike’s needs…But that is not what he did…..So at Fr Stanley’s direction, I linked him up with a poor parish in Kolkata that Mother Teresa’s sisters brought me to on the outskirts of city…This parish was in great need and the people were very poor….Each week their Sunday collection was around $10 US dollars collected from around 500 people….Through this “bridge” between Fr Stanley and this Indian Parish around $40,000US dollars was provided for the needs of the people….In a million years the priest in India who served at the parish Fr Stanley helped would not have imagined that such a large sum of money would be provided - All from a small “poor box” in the back of St Michaels…But God did the impossible…Looking back, this is why I believe God brought me to India …Once again the words of the Prophet Isaiah echo throughout time - And those words ring true once again!….”I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.”….We must be willing to be a “fool” for God…If we allow God to use us…If we do as Bishop Baron said…If we “WILL IT”….We must come to understand that God can do more with your life then you can!……On his death bed, only after roughly twenty years of religious life…St Francis looked up at his brothers and said…”Up until now, we have done nothing - Let us begin again!”…And St Francis's prophetic words rang true - Eight hundred years later, “the seed” that St Francis planted is still bearing fruit through the religious order he founded (The Franciscans)….We must be willing to be such “a seed” - Giving God permission…I stand behind what I am about to say…If we give God permission - If we “WILL IT”….We will shake the foundations of the world - That means YOU!…..God uses the smallest of “seeds” continually to accomplish his will on the earth…God does this “right under the nose” of the world……Just when the world “gives up” on itself…God jumps in and does the impossible….Our time is now! - To allow God to do “the impossible” through us…… “Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.”

“I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ”

The Prophet Isaiah reminds us - God is at work…But God does not act on his own - God works through the hands of his people - You and Me!…….Mother Teresa when asked about her work and the founding of her religious community (The Missionaries of Charity)….This is what she said: “If I had not picked up that first person from the gutters, I never would have picked up the remaining 42,000. We all have to start somewhere.” ……We must be willing to be a “fool” for Christ…..God uses such people, who dare to do the impossible and many times to the amazement of the world - The impossible happens! - “I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.”…Be faithful in small things…From small things, big things materialize

"Never before has anyone spoken like this man”……So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived?…Don’t be deceived!

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St John how the voices calling for Jesus death are getting louder…His passion is approaching and as it does, the crowd is divided…Some are convinced that this man is the Christ and others are not…..”Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, "This is truly the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But others said, "The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David's family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?" So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.”…..Jesus very clearly said that he was the Way…the Truth…and the Life - So why would Jesus’s words and life’s example divide the crowd?….Many today would think and say this is impossible…How can the this be?…..Scripture gives us the answer……“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household”…When the Truth is spoken boldly and clearly, it always divides…..How many times have you heard stories when a priest gives an homily about abortion at a Sunday Mass, some of the laity in the pews write letters to the Bishop complaining….How can this be - But it happens……How many people leave the Catholic Church and go to different Protestant Churches, because they got divorced and then remarried outside the Catholic Church without exploring the annulment of their former marriage (which in many cases was not Sacramental in the first place)….To this day, the Truth divides….At the heart of the matter…What kind of Christ are you looking for?…..Have we created what I like to call “The Hippie Jesus”, who sings kumbaya and lets us “make up the rules” as we go along….Trust me when I tell you, that is not who Jesus is…..The Truth is not ours to change or alter….Nor are the words of Christ or the one Church he founded…That is why the Truth divides and this is why we must make a choice…..When the gospel message is “watered-down” both inside and outside the Catholic Church, the Holy Spirit is not empowered to penetrate the hearts of men…I can only speak for myself - “Tell me like it is” - I am not interested in “lukewarm” Catholicism and I got news for you, nor was Jesus Christ…But don’t take my words for is....This is what Jesus had to say on the matter, ”I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth”……Does that sound like the words of “Hippie Jesus”?…The Truth divides - Choose your side

“Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.”

Catholic saints point to Christ, they give us an example to follow…One of my hero’s of the faith is a bishop who was executed in El Salvador in 1980. His name is St Oscar Romero….I read a book about him entitled the The Violence of Love, which pulled from his many radio addresses and speeches to his nation, which at the time was going through a civl war….Oscar Romero was a lion!…..He spoke boldly and he spoke clearly…And this is why the Oligarchs killed him….This is one of the many things St Oscar Romero said about how the Church should live out its mandate to proclaim the Truth to a broken world….”A church that doesn't provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed -- what gospel is that? Very nice, pious considerations that don't bother anyone, that's the way many would like preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed, so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do not light up the world they live in.”…To live out this mandate is to follow the example of Jesus Christ himself, who as we all know was killed for doing exactly what St Oscar Romero said we must do!….This is the Church I am interested in…This is a “muscular” Church - This is the Church of Jesus Christ, who was the Lion of Judah!…..When the Gospel is “watered down” - The message of Christ is lost…….My office in New York City is near Fordham University and I go to daily Mass on my lunch hour…Recently, I went to Mass and a transgender male, believe it or not was sitting right in front of me…He was a man dressed as a woman, this reality was very clear to everyone….Interestingly enough, when it came time to received the Blessed Sacrament, this man got on the communion line and when he reached the priest, he did not receive the Eucharist, he simply asked for a blessing, which the priest rightly gave to him…..So here is the point I want to drive home to all who are right now reading this reflection…….How did this man (a transgender male) know enough that he could not receive the Blessed Sacrament outside the state of grace and some of the highest levels of Catholic clerics in the Church will tell you otherwise?…Some even preach this practice - I frankly do not know what is worse - Not accepting Church teaching or manipulating that teaching by “side stepping” it…For those who pay attention to Catholic Social Media, a divided as been created in recent years..Who goes to the Latin Mass and who goes to the Novus Ordo Mass…Speaking personally, I ignore these arguments on Social Media entirely because both forms of Mass are permitted by the Church…With that said…I “divide” the Church into two very different camps…And this “dividing line” is what I look for in clerics and where I attend Mass with my family…..Do you believe that in order to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament one must be in the state of grace?…This is an unchangeable teaching of the Church…And clerics who do not believe this or “side-step” this teaching, I stay far away from…Just like in the time of Jesus, the Truth once again divides!

The guards answered, "Never before has anyone spoken like this man." So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived?

St John today at Mass tells us something that remains true to this very day…The Truth divides - It always has and always will…..”Our truth” does not change “THE TRUTH”…..A friend of mine told me a story once…His teenage son had a curfew on the weekends….He had to be home by 11:00pm..So one night his son was late, so the kid devised a plan…He would turn back his watch 15 minutes and tell his Dad that he was “on time” and show him his wrist watch to prove it…So when he arrived home late his father was waiting for him….His dad approached him and ask, “Why are you late?”…The son pointed to his watch and said…”Dad, I am not late look at my watch - I am on time”…..His father looked at his son and replied…..”Look at my wrist watch son, it says you are late and the time on my watch is the only time that matters!”……When Jesus was born, time was divided (BC / AD)…And to this very day the message of Christ divides the world…"Never before has anyone spoken like this man.”……So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived?…Don’t be deceived!

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth”?….Look to the Cross - There you will find the Church…And there you will find Christ…No Cross - No Christ!

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St John that the religious authorities were plotting to kill Jesus…He could no longer walk freely amongst the people….”But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret”….The rejection of Christ is the rejection of Truth itself…This rejection is very much alive today….What would happen if you spoke freely about your Catholic faith in your office…”I believe marriage is between a one man and one woman”…..”I do not believe in contraception, it violates my marriage vows”….What would happen if you make these claims in “polite company”?…..To this very day, Jesus can not “walk among the people”…He is rejected…..Interestingly enough, St John tells us in the Gospel today that some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem questioned Jesus’s divinity because they “knew where he was from”….Jesus did not “measure up” to the image of who God would look like, act like and be like……..Jesus said very clearly before his death - ”But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”….When Jesus returns will we even recognize him?….Better put - Will the world accept him, as he is, not as we want him to be?…….In many ways Jesus walks among us today…Where ever the Truth is spoken - Christ is there….And when the Truth is rejected, Jesus is rejected….The passion of our Lord continues to this very day and the world wants no part of it…..If we recall, very few people remained at the foot of the Cross - Just a small hand-full…It is for us to remain…..To recognize Christ “in the crowd”…To cling to the cross…..To drink of “the bitter cup”……..When we embrace the Truth, we embrace the Cross…No Cross - No Christ!

“He watches over all his bones; not one of them shall be broken. The LORD redeems the lives of his servants; no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.”

The words of the Prophet Isaiah are read every Good Friday…Powerful words….Is this the Christ we accept?….

”Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain, Like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured. We thought of him as stricken, struck down by God and afflicted, But he was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, all following our own way; But the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all. Though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth; Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth. Seized and condemned, he was taken away. Who would have thought any more of his destiny? For he was cut off from the land of the living struck for the sins of his people. He was given a grave among the wicked, a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong, nor was deceit found in his mouth”

Is this the Christ we think about when we imagine him returning again?….The world rejects the Cross and in its rejection we reject the Lord……Years ago a Eucharist procession marched through the streets of New York City…A poor man living in old apartment building was looking outside his window while the rest of New York went about its business, ignoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, fully present in the streets…Somehow this man in the window “saw” something the rest of New York did not….What allowed him to recognize Jesus?……In many ways this man was as “invisible” to the world as was the Blessed Sacrament……What made this man “see”?…….If we do not embrace the Cross, we too will not recognize the Lord…..As Catholics we must not “go along to get along” - Because if we do, we will not see Jesus either…We will not see him in the Blessed Sacrament nor will we accept him on his terms, which are the only terms that matter…..This is why the people of Jerusalem did not recognize Christ….They wanted nothing to do with the Cross….No Cross - No Christ!…..This is why the man in the window of New York City “saw” something the rest of New York seemed to miss

“One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”

Today in the Gospel from Mass, St John tells us how right up until the end of Jesus’s life, people questioned him…They did not want to believe their very eyes nor could they see what was right in front of them….How about us?….Do we accept God on his terms?…..This is the question for today - Something to ponder…..In the present moment, Jesus can be found in the Blessed Sacrament - For those who have eyes to see….How can we come to understand this mystery?…..We must embrace the Cross….In doing so, our eyes will open…..The “road to heaven” goes by way of The Via Dolorosa….There are no short-cuts - When we “sanitize” Christianity, we remove Christ from the Cross….. “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth”?….Look to the Cross - There you will find the Church…And there you will find Christ…..No Cross - No Christ!

We all know how that turned out for Adam and Eve…What makes us “think” we are any different?

Today at Holy Mass in the Gospel of St John Jesus addresses his own people who have rejected him…These are the same people who “say” they believe in God….But somehow they do to “see” God who was standing right in front of their face…..”You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life”……Humanity has a way of accepting things on its own terms…This pervasive way we look at "things" is directly opposed to Christ’s message…..This why ten people can read something and have ten different interpretations…We see things through our own personal lens and experience…..There is danger in that because in viewing life in that manner, objective truth is lost…And when objective truth is disregarded, God is disregard because God is Truth…..Jesus today in the Gospel brings up to his people how “for a while” they liked what John the Baptist had to say…But as time wore on, John the Baptist was eliminated by the state because he challenged what they held up to be most important - Their Power!….This is why the First Commandment is to love God above all things….Idols do not come to us in the form of a “golden calf” like in the Old Testament….Idols take on all forms of “things” that are given pride and place over God…..Ultimately, the idols we hold up over the one true God enslave us…Yet humanity somehow believes the lie that God in his infinite goodness is the one who enslaves us - Who “holds us back” from the “good life”……Once again - The whisper of the ancient serpent can be heard in the garden….”God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God”……."Did God really say”…….”You certainly will not die”…..We all know how that turned out for Adam and Eve…What makes us “think” we are any different?

“They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great deeds in Egypt, Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea.”

As Catholics we are to accept the Truth in season and out of season….As we all know, the world is fickle, we however are called to be consistent and steadfast in our Catholic faith…But are we?….When we view our social media feeds each day we see how Catholics mix their politics with their religion….Catholic politicians who “claim” they are "devout Catholics" yet support abortion…..Catholics politicians who are “conservative” politically and support the death penalty……Catholic politicians who are indifferent to same sex marriage…..All of these real life actions witness to what the readings today at Mass address…We create idols - And place those idols over God - And in the process we rationalize our behavior in the name of “this or that”….Humanity can do this almost subconsciously…This is why Jesus tells his people today in the Gospel…”For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”…But the people were blind to their behavior yet they professed with their mouth a belief in the one true God….So the question to consider today is - What do we hold up over God?….Have we created numerous “golden calves”, which we value more than God himself?…A good way to evaluate this objectively is to take a good look at your check book…What do you spend your money on?….This will tell you very clearly who and what is most important in your life…..In doing this I am not asking you to give all your money away…What I am asking you to do is honestly evaluate what you spend your money on….In doing so you will get a very clear picture of what is most important in our life…This is where the “rubber meets the road”!…..Jesus calls the people out today in the Gospel….”I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?”….Is Jesus also calling us out as well?

“Our fathers made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image; They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock.”

Lent is a time to evaluate the “things” that have a hold on our life….If we are honest with ourself, there are many “things” that enslave us…..Humanity has the wrong idea about the message of Christ and what true freedom is all about….The Gospel message is all about freedom, yet humanity “thinks” the words of Christ and his Church are about enslavement…..It’s the exact opposite!….When we place “things” or behaviors above God, they rule our life and in turn we become slaves to those things……Jesus came to free us from sin and in turn free us from slavery….Still don’t believe me?…..Would you agree that taking on massive amounts of debt is a form a slavery?…Would you agree with that statement?….Why do we do it?…Is it to “create” an image of ourself, pretending to be something we are not?…Sounds a little like a “golden calf” to me……Is it possible we are listening to the whisper of the ancient serpent, who comes to us in his many disguises?….We all know how that turned out for Adam and Eve…What makes us “think” we are any different?

"Make straight the way for the Lord”…..What is in “the way”?….Identify “the what” and remove it…Then you will “hear” and then you will “see”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St John….St John was special and I always pay particular attention to what he writes…St John was not like the other disciples…He was a mystic, which means he saw things that others did not see…How?….His heart was pure!…This should be our one and only goal - To purify our hearts…”Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see”…….Today St John tells us how Jesus begins to prepare his friends for his death….And what is to come following his death….”Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life"…Just a quick aside…Whenever Jesus in Scripture begins a statement with “Amen, amen” - Pay attention - He is about to “drop a bomb” on you!……”Whoever hears my word” - Interesting? - Do we “hear” the words of Christ - I mean really hear them?……Because if we did, we would act upon them - We would live differently - Right?…….Like St John, who “saw” what others did not see…We too must “hear” what others do not hear….This is evident by the way Catholics are called to live - Are we like “everyone else”?…It all comes down to our heart - Is our heart pure?….So I guess the question is - How can we purify our heart in a world that “pulls us” in a direction away from God?…Only through Sacramental grace can we purify our heart - You can not “study” your way to a pure heart…..This is how we “hear” and this is how we “see”….Can the blind lead the blind?….This is what we “see” today…The blind are leading the blind!

“Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”

Edith Stein was a German intellectual….She grow up in a Jewish home and at a young age she gave up her belief in God….She put all her faith in her studies….Two events changed that…One night she had nothing to do and she picked up a book on the life of St Teresa of Avila….She read the entire book in one sitting…After she was finished all she could say is…”This is the Truth”…How can a person with Edith’s background come to such a conclusion?…The second event - Edith one day walked into a Catholic Church and watched a poor uneducated woman pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament - The sight of this person impacted her deeply….Shortly there after, Edith made the decision to become a Catholic….Not only a Catholic…But Edith become a Carmelite nun…And ultimately she gave up her life for her people during the Nazi occupation of Europe…..The world knows her today as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross….And this what she said about finding God…About “seeing” and “hearing” him….."Anyone who seeks truth seeks God, whether or not he realizes it. - My longing for truth was a single prayer.”…This is how a former Jewish girl turned atheist became Catholic…Edith was a seeker of Truth…Are you?….Anyone who seeks the Truth with a pure heart will always end up in the same place…..It’s not about “my truth” - Whatever that means!….This "idea" spoken today - “My truth” - Gets in the way of us finding God…”My way” is a stumbling block……”Truth Seekers” find God…Why?…Because God is Truth - Not “my truth" - But the Truth!...What gets in your way in your search for Truth? - Only you can answer that…But know this…Diplomas on the wall will not give you the needed insight to “see” and “hear” what is most essential in this life….…Jesus today tells us the following in the Gospel at Mass…."I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me”…..Is “our will” an obstacle?….Maybe its time to “bend our will” and my bet is - If you do - You will “hear” and you will “see”…..If God can work in a ex-Jewish intellectual turned atheist like Edith Stein - He can work in us…Why is this important?……What we “see” and “hear” is how we live…And how we live is how we die.

“Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Today in the Gospel from Mass, Jesus instructs us by telling us how his friends will “hear” what needs to be heard in order to find the road to eternal life…What gets in our way of us “hearing” what is needed to be heard?…..An open heart that seeks the Truth will always find it….All roads lead to Rome!……The great John the Baptist put it this way…."Make straight the way for the Lord.”…..What is in the way?….Identify “the what” and remove it…Then you will “hear” and then you will “see”

Trust the process - He is preparing us for the “final exam”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of John how Jesus cures a sick beggar who lived on the street for 38 years…..Do you imagine living on the street for 38 years!…..”One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.”…….For all those years, this man probably prayed to God for help - And no help came - For 38 long years!…..Finally, a humble carpenter, the God-Man from Nazareth is the answer to his prayers……Sometimes God does not answer our prayers the way we “think” he will or should…Sometimes we almost feel like we are “groping in darkness” in our attempt to reach out to God - Do you know the feeling?….When those moments come - And they do - And they will - Do we lose trust?…Are we confident that God has a plan?…That God’s plan is better than our plan?……Our view of life and what we “think” we need somethings conflicts with God….God is concerned with your salvation and everything that happens to us, in one form or another, can be used if we allow it to sanctify ourself…Is this the lens you view your life through?…..To be sanctified?…Because this is God’s desire for all of us…If we are fortunate enough to arrive in heaven, all of our hardships and trials of this life will be forgotten in a split second…In the meantime, God can use our hardships and struggles to transform us….I bet the sick man in St John’s Gospel, who was sick for 38 years learned a “thing or two” during that time period before Jesus came and healed him….The same goes for us…Trust the process….We were not born to be “comfortable”…We were born to be transformed…To be sanctified…And that sanctification process is just that - A process…And trials and struggles are apart of it….Trust the process!

“God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress. Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.”

One of the great things about having life long friends and getting older is, you see how people evolve…I have many of the same friends I have had since my childhood…I can remember how they were then and when I compare how they are now - I marvel at who they have become as grown men…..This kind of transformation does not happen over night…”Life happens”…And life molds us…Life is the greatest of all teachers and God’s hand works through our life….All of which is part of “his plan”….To mold us into who we were born to be….American Christians, including many Catholic have a misconception about heaven…..Those who stand before God must be made pure…..American Christians “think”, we die and “bingo”, we enter into heaven…That clearly is God’s call and maybe for some that will be the case….But for most of us, we still will have "a way” to go…Purgatory is a place where God in his mercy makes us “presentable” for eternity for those who die in the state of grace but are still “rough around the edges”….This is why we should “do the heavy lifting” now….Years ago I went to Confession with Fr Andrew Apostoli…Fr Andrew was a world famous priest…In the confession, Fr Andrew explained to me that we must focus on our sanctification now, so we do not have to go to purgatory…This confession and what Fr Andrew said to me I remember to this day…Our life here on earth is so short, even if we live 100 years…Use the time!….Cooperate with God - If we do, we will be transformed and when the time comes for our “exit interview”…God will say these words to us….”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.”….The sick man in St John’s Gospel waited 38 years before Jesus answered his prayers and cured him…Thirty-eight years when compared to eternity is like drop of water in the ocean…..God has a plan to sanctify us….Trust the plan

“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.”

Today in the Gospel from Mass Jesus heals a sick man…..We can all question why this man was allowed to be sick for 38 years….Only God knows the answer to that…However, I know this - God wastes nothing!…Everything that happens in our life is meant to be used for our sanctification….We can either get bitter or better!…..We were not created to be comfortable - Heaven is our true home….And getting to our “final destination” is a process…..God knows what he is doing….Do we view our life as being "clay in the hands of the master potter"?...God’s ways are not always our ways but know this - God knows you better then you know yourself and God is at work! - Trust the process - He is preparing us for the “final exam”