Choices have consequence - Choose well

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of John that the mob is forming around Jesus!….Jesus has threatened the power base of his society and they are not having it!….And because of the elite of Jesus’ day focused their life choices on power and status, they are unable to “hear” the words of Jesus…God is standing right in front of them and they cannot “see” and “hear” him!…..We see similar events like this play out today….Truth is spoken and when it challenges those who refuse to put down the idols of power and status, they lash-out….We see this in our communities, in our work places and in our politics……..”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. So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why did you not bring him?" The guards answered, "Never before has anyone spoken like this man." So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed." Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,  "Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?" They answered and said to him, "You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee”…………Human beings have not changed too much since the time of Jesus Christ……Mankind would rather live a lie then embrace life giving Truth…..We cannot claim to “believe” in God if we do not embrace the Truth in all it fullness - This is a great disconnect, which plays out in our American society……”I believe in abortion - But I also believe in God”…”I believe in same sex marriage - But I also believe in God”……I believe in euthanasia - But I also believe in God”……To make such statements and to convince yourself that somehow you are on the side of God while you actively work against God is not only a delusion but a recipe for disaster…..Jesus Christ said he was the Truth - Not the custom….And while the Truth will set you free - The Truth also divides…It separates the “sheep from the goats”………“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division”…As it is today and how it was in the days that Christ walked the earth - The Truth divides!….We must make a choice and our life speaks of this choice….Are you a “sheep” or a “goat”? - One will live, the other will die - That is the way it is…Choose well - Choose life!

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

Both inside and outside the walls of the Church, the battle for Truth rages on to this very day!……The Catholic Church is an extension of Jesus Christ and contains the fullness of Truth…In addition, everything the Church claims to be true is written down - So how can there be so much confusion?….Its all written down!!!…..Interestingly enough, when the Truth in all its fullness is proclaimed from the pulpit or for that matter spoken in the public squares of America - Many Catholics and Non-Catholics reject it, sometimes even violently……Why?…Because to embrace the Truth requires sacrifice…And people refuse to sacrifice anything…Jesus was very clear…..“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?”……When I got married to my wife, I was full committed to being open to life…The Catholic Church, as many know, does not permit the use of contraception and part of our wedding vows as Catholics is to be fully open to life….How many Catholic married couples embrace this teaching?…..When I got married, my wife and I were all in!…And as a result my wife gave birth to five children in ten years - We also lost three children as a result of miscarriages in those ten years…Its easy to say with words that we did this as a Catholic married couple but clearly there was a “price to pay”….My wife suffered physically, the financial burden involved in caring for five children…The daily sacrifices of time….The sleepless nights…….To live out what the Church requires of married couples costs!…..So here is the question - Are we willing to “pay the cost”?…….The Truth is so easy to repeat - So easy to read from a book - Its something all together different to live the Truth in real time….But reading about the Truth does not make a person a follower of Christ - To follow Christ we must live the Truth….All our daily choices - In everything we say and do should “scream” to the world around us that we are Catholic….If our life does not communicate that message - Then maybe we need to stop and think - Are we really following Jesus Christ?……Are we willing to “pay the price” of discipleship?

“O LORD, my God, in you I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and rescue me, Lest I become like the lion's prey, to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue me”

Today at Mass we hear in the Gospel that many of the power-brokers of Jesus’ day outright rejected him…..Keep in mind…Many of these men claimed to be “religious” - Yet God stood right before them and they could not “see” or “hear” him….This reality should serve as a warning to us today…..The Catholic Church proclaims the fullness of Truth….And God does not force us to believe in him - God simply proposes the Truth to us - Its up to us to accept the Truth…And if we fully accept the Truth - Our life will look differently from the crowd…Are we willing to “look differently” from the crowd?……Far too many Catholics “go along to get along” in our society…We look like everyone else and live like the pagan culture that is all around us - This needs to end!….Catholics must be willing to “pay the price” of living as a Catholic in the public square - Come “hell or high-water”….If we are not willing to “pick up our cross” - How can we possibly think we will spend eternal life with Christ in heaven?……..”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven”……Choices have consequence - Choose well…….JMJ