Because nothing is impossible with God!

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading we hear about the story of Jonah…He was given a daunting task…Go into an evil city (Nineveh) and tell the people of that city to repent…And when Jonah heard what was asked of him…He ran away!…But God did not give up on Jonah - He knew he had the right guy for the job…So God “convinced” Jonah and as a result - Jonah put aside his fear and went about his task - Preaching repentance to Nineveh…Imagine if that was you?!?…Picture this - God asks you to go into the worst prison in the United States - That you are to be found guilty of a crime you did not commit by a corrupt court in America and your task is to preach repentance in the most violent prison in the United States of America and you would be successful doing it….What would you say to God if he told you that?…..Would you think it was possible that the inmates in the worst prison in the United States would be capable of seeing the error of their ways and repent?…Would you run away as Jonah did?…….Now lets think of the task given to Jesus - Jesus was God  - I “get it” - But think of what God the Father asked of him…….Jesus suffered and died violently for sinners….And the majority of the people during Jesus’ time rejected him….Now think about the millions of people that have rejected him over the last two thousand years since his death - YET - Jesus still did what was asked of him!!!……What should we take away from those examples as Catholics today? - What is God asking of you?……Far too often we look to the results of our actions - All the “things” we do for the Church - And think to ourself - Did it work out? - Did it bear fruit? - Was “my time” put to good use?…..Mother Teresa addresses this mind set - “God did not call us to be successful - He called us to be faithful”…..Jesus tells us that if we stay connected to the vine, we will bear fruit - This is absolutely true - However, “the fruit” we bear many not happen in our life time - We may never see it…..So the question(s) is - Are you still interested in working in God’s vineyard? - Are you still interested in attempting the impossible for God?…..As Catholics today, we need to work to build the Kingdom of God and each of us has “something to do” - Do we forget that our God is a God of the impossible?….And like Jonah - Sometimes we are given tasks that seem impossible - When this happens, we must not dwell on the task but on the person who gave us the task - God himself - Our God rose from the dead! - Right!…That should be all the “convincing” we need….That is why in the Gospel of St Luke read to us at Mass today we are told…..”At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here”…That “something” is Jesus Christ - Who rose from the dead…We do not need a sign - Stop looking for one! - We have everything we need - So get to work!
 

“Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart for I am gracious and merciful”

How do the saints do what they do?…..If we read the lives of the saints we will hear stories of men and woman, who had no money, no education, no help from others….and yet they accomplished things that the most elite Business Schools in the world would marvel at…..How did these saints do it?…..For starters, they took Jesus at his word, radically surrendered their will to God, lived Sacramentally, prayed daily, and fasted weekly…While the many saints are different, the “formula” these men and woman followed is basically the same…So here is the question - What is stopping us from following their example?…A Catholic saint is nothing more then an example - They point to Jesus and they teach us how we are to follow Christ in very real and tangible ways…Again the question comes up - Why don’t we follow the “formula” they gave to us?…….Before I was married I would travel to Kolkata India to serve the poor with Mother Teresa’s sisters during Advent …I did that for six years…….During that time I got an inspiration to ask my pastor in New Jersey to sponsor a poor parish in Kolkata and establish a “sister parish” there…And when I asked Fr Stanley (my pastor) this “crazy” inspiration of mine - I was kind of shocked that he agreed…..Over the years and even after I stopped going to India, Fr Stanley and the priest in the poor parish in Kolkata kept in touch…Fr Stanley sent close to fifty thousand dollars to that parish, which was a huge amount of money for an Indian parish - Keep in mind, the parish in Kolkata only collected around ten US dollars each week at Sunday Mass……Due to Fr Stanley’s generosity, the parish in India began to thrive…So much so…They renamed the church after Fr Stanley’s Church in New Jersey - St Michael the Archangel Parish in the Diocese of Kolkata - To this very day - That name has remained…..Why bring this story up?…..If you told me that I was going to be “the bridge” between a Church in New Jersey and a Church in Kolkata India and tens of thousands of dollars would be raised - I would have told you that you were crazy…But that is what happened…God did the impossible once again…..And he used the son of a simple barber from New Jersey to do this - That son of a barber was me!…"God does not call the equipped, He equips the called”…..If God can use me - He surely can use you!

“For you are not pleased with sacrifices; should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn”

Today at Mass St Luke tells us point-blank…..”There is something greater than Jonah here”……He also tells us that - “No sign will be given to this generation”…Why do you think that is the case?…..Because Jesus already told us, as well as gave us everything we need…The questions then become - Do we believe him?…and….Are we using what he gave us?………Mother Angelica founded the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) in America - She was contemplative nun living in Alabama, with no media experience what-so-ever…Yet she founded a media empire that would revival any secular corporate media company anywhere in the world……How did that happen?…How could that happen?……..Mother Angelica put it best - ”Unless you are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous. When you have God, you don’t have to know everything about it; you just do it.”……..Sounds to me Mother Angelica heard what St Luke told us today at Mass - ”There is something greater than Jonah here”……Maybe it’s time we stop saying and thinking what God asks of us as Catholics is “impossible”……….Because nothing is impossible with God!………….JMJ