”A man who was going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one—to each according to his ability…Which man are you and what will you do with your God given talents?

Today at Holy Mass we hear in St Matthew’s Gospel Jesus instructing his friends…..”Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give”….It is very easy to take for granted everything God has given to us…Our family….. Our health…The country we were born into…….So many people in the world do not have what we have and live in and under very difficult conditions…So the first question to consider is…Do we recognize the gifts, which God has given to us?…..Because if we view them as gifts, we will do what Jesus said today in the gospel….....….”Without cost you are to give”…….And if you do not view what has been given to you as a gift, frankly you will not give……..Some never consider that in a “hot New York minute” everything we have can be taken from us! - You don’t think so?…..One visit to the doctor and poof - The party is over!…One car accident and poof - The party is over!…….Our time here on earth is limited…God gave us gifts, not to be hoarded but to be shared……Because one day, the “party” will end and God will ask us point blank…”What did you do with the gifts I gave you?”….And when that time comes, God will expect a good answer

"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest."

In the Parable of the Talents in St Matthew's gospel a story is told about three people…..”It will be as when a man who was going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one—to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately”…This story is something we should all pay attention too…..All people are not equal, what I mean by that is, some people have been given much more than others…Whether they are physically stronger, born into wealthy families, born with brilliant minds, etc….For example, if a man can throw a baseball 110 miles an hour as a major league pitcher, that is a gift…The average person can not “practice their way” to throwing a baseball 110 miles an hour…With that said, God expects that gifted Major League Baseball player to use that gift to help others who may not be as “gifted”…Sadly that is not the way it works and I am not pointing fingers here at profession well paid athletes….All of mankind easily loses sight of what has been given to them by God and tends to keep for themself the bounty of their gifts…We see this all around us - I see it in myself…..Do you think God is blind to this?……..A friend of mine who is a priest once told me…If everyone in the world shared, no one would be hungry…As we all know again, that does not happen…I will also ask you again…..Do you think God is blind to this?…Do you think that when mankind stands before God this will not be addressed?…Mother Teresa once said…If you can not feed one hundred people - Feed one...If everyone in the world viewed their gifts in this manner, the world would be a better place for sure…….When I was traveling a lot for work years ago I found myself auditing an office in Beverly Hills…I was in California for two weeks and I stayed over the weekend to enjoy the nice weather…On that particular Sunday, I went to Mass in Beverly Hills…As I walked from my hotel to the Church and passed all the beautiful homes I thought to my self - Who lives here? - Beverly Hills is a far cry from New Jersey where I grew up…..That Sunday Mass in Beverly Hills was well attended and when it came time to line up to receive Holy Communion, the priest did something I never saw before…I assume he did this every Sunday…Instead of the people in the first aisle of the Church receiving the Blessed Sacrament first, the line began from the back of the Church…..The priest in establishing this tradition at this wealthy parish was trying to teach his people something…”Those who have been given much, much will be expected” - "God came to serve not to be served"…….Write what I just said down!…….When we die and face the Lord, He is going to ask each of us…..”When I was hungry - Did you feed me?”…”When I was thirsty - Did you give me a drink?”….”When I was naked - Did you cloth me?”…Now again, I can’t do what the people who attended that Mass in Beverly Hills can do…But make no mistake about it - I can do something!…And so can you…..Before that happens, we must see Christ in others…Our hearts of stone must be turned into hearts of flesh…We have to see our time here on earth as something that is temporary….We must view everything we have, each of our talents and material gains as gifts…Once we do that, our hands will open and so will our hearts…Joy will flood into our soul and so will peace….This is how we were intended to live….This is how God made us to be…..No one ever become poor by sharing

“O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem, no more will you weep; He will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you”

Today Jesus in the Gospel reminds his friends that they have been given so much….And that what was given to them in turn must be shared with others…..I have often thought how blessed we are to be Catholic…To receive the grace of the Sacraments….This is the greatest gift given to mankind - Jesus himself - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament…..We learn from Our Lady when at the Annunciation she said YES to God and Christ entered her womb - And once she received that gift, she immediately “went out” to give it away to her cousin Elizabeth who was in need…It was simple gesture…Elizabeth was pregnant and needed help and Mary her cousin went to help her - So simple…….Mary “saw” Elizabeth’s need because her “eyes were open”…….Our eyes too must be opened to the gift, which was given to us…Our very life is a gift!…..And when we recognize our life to be a gift, we too will strive to “give it away”…....This is the path to heaven…..”A man who was going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one—to each according to his ability…Which man are you and what will you do with your God given talents?

We need to give him permission to move the “mountain” which exists between our head and our heart….Jesus asks us today…..“Do you believe that I can do this?”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Matthew Jesus addressing people who ask for the impossible……Jesus is God, which means he can do anything…Do we put God in a box?…Do we think of Jesus purely on human terms?……When Jesus asks this question today (“Do you believe that I can do this?”) the people respond….”Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.”….Scripture tells us that if we have “faith the size of a mustard seed” we can tell a mountain to move and it will move…..Many times that “mountain” can be our own heart…The greatest distance one can travel is from ones head to their heart…But fear not…All we need is faith “the size of a mustard seed”…..If we nurture the faith we have, God can move mountains…We may even find that the “mountain” he moves is us!……Our God is the God of the impossible…He rose from the dead and he has “cracked tougher nuts” then you…..“O you of little faith”

“On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book; And out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see”

Americans value achievement - And that is a good thing..…We want our children to get great educations, become professionals and make a good living….Parents condition their children for this outcome…..While achievements such as education and professional success are important….Are we as parents “planting the seeds of faith” within the hearts of our children?….This is BY FAR the most important thing we can give to our kids….A solid Catholic formation will guide all their big decisions in life…Who they marry?….How they work?…What they do for work?….How they spend their time?…What they spend their time on?…How they spend their money?…I can go on and on…..Passing our Catholic faith on to our children does not happen magically and ultimately a successful life ends with our kids entering the gates of heaven…To the surprise of many…One does not just “float into heaven”….Going to heaven requires a daily decision, which stems from our faith in God…Our faith in God comes from our parents more times then not and if we as parents do not model this faith in the home, we should not expect our children to live as Catholics in the world…..Many years ago on Good Friday my family and I were in our mini-van driving to the 3:00pm prayer service, which takes place every Good Friday…As you know, Good Friday is one of the holiest days of the year…The day Jesus gave his life for the world…If Jesus did not die for us…NO ONE enters heaven…So as a result, Good Friday is a very special day…..Back to the mini-van….On this one Good Friday me and the family were driving to Church for the 3:00pm service and we passed the baseball field in my hometown on the way…It was 2:45pm…Its GOOD FRIDAY…..And a baseball practice was taking place…As we drove by it I thought to myself…How terribly sad…”Our priorities” were on full display and this small example can be seen each and everyday by what we see on television, how our children dress, what they view on their phone……How we spend our time and what we do with our money says everything the world needs to know…It also demonstrates to our children what is important to us, which in turn will form in them what will be important to them when they become adults……Even if we have faith the size of a mustard seed as Scripture tells us, that faith will not magically grow if we do not tend to it

“They shall keep my name holy; they shall reverence the Holy One of Jacob, and be in awe of the God of Israel”

Jesus today in St Matthew’s gospel asks a question…..“Do you believe that I can do this?”……We ask God for “things” all the time…..But in the end we need to realize that God is not a “candy machine” where we put in our “coin” and out pops what we want…..God is our loving father, he made us, knowing that is not where it should end, its where it should begin….Our faith will not grow if we do not nurture it….And our Catholic faith will not be passed down to our children if we do not practice it each day in the home….God can surely “move mountains”…..But before he does, we need to give him permission to move the “mountain” which exists between our head and our heart….Jesus asks us today…..“Do you believe that I can do this?”

“Every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.”…..Still don’t believe me?

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the in the Gospel of St Matthew the “blue print” of how to build a good and fruitful life…..But before we “build” this life…We must be convinced that “God’s way” is better then our way….Most people are not convinced….We “think” we figured it out”…We “think” we are so “smart”…We “think” God’s way is outdated…..The problem is we “think” too much….A holy nun once told me…”Joe - Stop thinking so much - Just pray and do!”……"Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined."

“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call him while he is near.”

The American mindset is fiercely independent…That is a good thing - To a degree…..However, no matter who we are or how gifted we may be…We were created by God and without God as Scripture tells us we can do nothing that will last…..Most people have to figure this out by first trying it their way….And fail….Making mistakes is a part of every human life…However, as I tell my children….”We all make mistakes, the key is to learn from them” - Those who learn from their mistakes lead successful lives and those who double-down on their mistakes do not”……Take that statement to the bank!…..Years ago I met a friend of mine who is the Godfather of one of my children…Michael came from a family, which had no religion at all. His parents were divorced and Michael lived a crazy life as a young man….His story about how he became Catholic and turned his life around is amazing…Michael as a young man partied a lot and one day after drinking too much, he got into a very bad car accident and was in the hospital for two months…During that time in the hospital, he decided to become Catholic and get Baptized…Kind of crazy how the idea came into his head because he had experienced no religion at all from his family or friends, yet this “idea” came to him and he followed through with it - God works in mysterious ways!….Sadly once Michael became Catholic that was not the end of his crazy life…Michael got married and continued to party and his marriage was not Sacramental…He had one child with his then wife and the child was born handicapped….After seven years his son died……….This put Michael “over the edge”…His marriage fell apart and he knew he was in trouble….So a friend of his told him to speak with a priest, which he did…The priest told Michael to go on a Pilgrimage….Which he did…That is where Michael and I met….From there we became fast friends….Michael began to “dig himself out” of his bad habits…He became a daily communicant (went to Mass every day)…Developed a prayer life…….Gave of his time to the poor……Stopped all the partying……..And slowly God began to work in his life…After about seven years of this…Michael met another woman, this time he went about the relationship the right way…His first marriage was not Sacramental so he got an annulment from the Church…He did not “sleep” with his girlfriend before marriage and finally he got married in a small ceremony in the Catholic Church in West New York…Michael now is very happy - A changed man for sure!…He went from a crazy party guy, who almost killed himself in car accident, he endured the death of his son whom he loved with all his heart, a failed marriage…Only to find God, become Catholic, get married within the Church and live a new life built upon the gospel, which we hear from Mass today….."Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock”…Michael’s story is not unlike many of our stories…Michael had to “try it his way”…Only to fail….In his misery he found God…….He discovered that God loved him…..He re-built his life upon the “rock” of his Catholic faith…And the rest of history!

“Open to me the gates of justice; I will enter them and give thanks to the LORD”

St Matthew today lays out the “blue print” to a good life…A life built upon the will of God….Our Catholic faith is time tested…Two thousand years of wisdom, of which we can learn from…..God gives us his Church and his Truth, which protects us from our biggest and most fierce enemy - Our very self!……Still don’t believe me?….You don’t have to look too far to see the mistakes of humanity…How people refuse to learn from mistakes…How they double down and triple down on the same behavior “thinking” somehow the outcome will be “different this time”…..I stand before you today and say this…”God’s ways work!…..How do you know I am not lying to you?…St Matthew again gives us the answer….”Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.”…..Still don’t believe me?

Pay attention, this is on the final exam…..”‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Matthew how Jesus felt compassion for his people, they were hungry so he fed them…Such a basic idea…His response is so natural…They were hungry so he fed them….”Jesus summoned his disciples and said, My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way”……..Everything Jesus does in the Gospel is done for a reason - He is giving us an example and we are meant to do the same - Just as he did…..No one ever became poor by sharing…..And if we each did our part, there would be no one who goes without in this world…Have you ever been “in want” of something?…Have you ever been hungry?…Many times its the poor, who understand what it means to share because they know what it means to be hungry - Because they lived it…..When we were students in high school our teachers would say…”Pay attention, this will be on the final exam”…..Well, Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived…..And this is what he is telling us today - It should be crystal clear - So pay attention………………”When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

“The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see, and they glorified the God of Israel.”

Jesus was a Jew and if you have some knowledge about what it means to be a practicing Jew you will know that they have a lot of laws…Jesus, a good Jew distilled the law into two bullets....…”Love God above all things and love your neighbor as your self”…Why bring this up?…Because before we can love our neighbor correctly, we must first love God…Because if we do, we will see God in our neighbor and if we see God in our neighbor, we will treat are neighbor well….As a father of five, I cannot watch children suffer, whether its on television or with my own eyes…Because when I see a child suffer, I immediately think of my own children….Having my own children changed my prospective…We too need to change our prospective…We need to see God in others…Then and only when will we reach out a hand to help them when they are in need…..Years ago when I was the driver for the Missionaries of Charity in New York there was this family living on the first floor in the Elliott-Chelsea Housing Projects in Lower Manhattan….A single mother lived there with her 8 children…One of the Missionaries of Charity would always ask me to drive over to their apartment to bring them trays of food…When I would go there the window was always open in the family's apartment and I would call up from the sidewalk to Louis, who was one of the eight kids to come down to the street and bring the food up to his family……..Louis was such a nice young boy and he would always come down……I always remember Louis and years later after I was married I was visiting the sisters and asked one of the nuns about Louis…She told me he was in jail, Rikers Island to be exact…This news broke my heart…I had my own children at this point and remembered Louis as such an innocent little boy when I would call up to him…Now he was in jail….Thinking about it makes me want to cry to this day…..Again most especially now because I am a Father of five and have three boys of my own……..Why mention this story?.....God looks at all of us as his children…And God weeps when we hurt or are in need, like any parent would……God appreciates when we assist his children in need, as we would if someone helped one of our own children…..Before I had my own kids, I looked at young Louis differently…He was just some “poor kid”…Someone else's kid…Now that I have my own kids, I see all children differently…My prospective has changed….We too must “change” our prospective in how we “see” others…..In order to “see”, we must take to heart the first two commandments Jesus gave to us…..”Love God above all things and love your neighbor as your self”….We will never “see” our neighbor or feel we need to reach out a hand to help him until we learn to see God in our neighbor….How can we learn to “see” in this manner?…If we can see Jesus, who is fully present in the Blessed Sacrament…Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity…..Then we will see Jesus in our neighbor….Our prospective will change and when our prospective changes, the world around us will change as well.

“Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied”

St Matthew today in the Gospel tells us about Jesus feeding others…..Why did he do it?…Because he cared for his people…Do we care about others?…Do we see Jesus in others?…….Some people think that this mindset is optional….Once again, St Matthew reminds us that helping others is not optional…In fact, in our “exit interview” before God when we die, how we treated our neighbor will be front and center during the conversation…..‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”….Back to what our high school teachers would tell us, ”Pay attention, this is on the final exam”…..”‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food”

God can do so much more with your life then you can do with it…..”Our Lord shall come with power; he will enlighten the eyes of his servants”

Today the Universal Church honors St Francis Xavier, a founding member of the Jesuit Order and missionary to Asia….Francis Xavier met Ignatius Loyola at the University of Paris…..Francis Xavier came from a noble Spanish family as did Ignatius Loyola, he was a great athlete and a scholar…..He had a wonderful life of wealth, power and prestige in front of him…..Instead he chose a different path…..”He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…….He humbled himself becoming obedient to death…….Because of this, God greatly exalted him”……….Francis Xavier encounter the living God and this encountered changed the course of his life….Any person who encounters Truth incarnate is never the same…..And because of this encounter the world was not the same…St Francis Xavier brought the Catholic faith to India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia & Japan….His impact in the Christian world is second only to St Paul as far as the miles he traveled and the souls he converted to Christ……….All because of his encounter with the Carpenter from Nazareth….What makes the son of a noble family give-up everything the world has to offer?…The answer was clear to Francis Xavier - Such a person does not give up such a life for a myth or lie

“A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom”

As Catholics it’s so important to familiarize ourselves with the lives of the saints….The saints were real people who did incredible things….What was their secret?…They had an authentic encounter with Christ…Far too many people view Jesus as just a word…He was just some "guy" who lived 2000 years ago to many…But if you step back and think about how millions upon millions of people have changed their lives because of Jesus Christ - Its simply hard to grasp….Jesus said he was the Truth…And each of us deeply desires to live a life of Truth - But we are afraid…...When someone speaks the Truth, something resonates deep within the human heart

"He shall rescue the poor when he cries out, and the afflicted when he has no one to help him. He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor; the lives of the poor he shall save."

Before we can be filled with God, we must empty ourself…This is what the saints did and do….As a 54 year old man I have seen many people come and go in my life…I always marvel at how I knew a person in one chapter of my life and now that same person changes….Marriage is one of those “encounters” with Truth…Marriage changes a man…He becomes selfless…He lives for his wife and children…Marriage is a Sacrament and God helps a man to make this change…I have seen this many times in my life…A person I knew “changed” once he got married…..Similarly, if we take our Catholic faith seriously and allow the grace of the Sacraments, daily prayer and fasting to take hold of our life, we too will change….St Paul puts it this way….”Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me”…..This kind of “change” is very real and is available to us all…..We see this example in the lives of the saints but also in many Catholic couples who live their marriage Sacramentally…This is the road to heaven…”To die to ourself”…Far too many people have a misconception of what it means to “go to heaven”…..What do you mean Joe?…….The road to heaven is a constant call to die to ourself…..But I believe in Jesus Joe, isn’t that enough?…..Of course we must believe in Jesus, but if we do not try to imitate the life of Christ and live what he taught - Then “Jesus” is simple just “a guy” or a word that gets “thrown around” a lot……The saints show us this lived example in real time…And as a result, God uses them…God can use us too if we let him.

On that day, The root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, The Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious.

St Francis Xavier shook the foundations of the world because he fully embraced the will of God and emptied himself, allowing the Holy Spirit to empower him….If he did not say “Yes” to the Lord, he would have been just another “rich kid” who went to a good college and made money when he got out - No different then today…Instead, Francis Xavier chose a different path and countless lives were changed because of his choice - His YES….This “path” is available to each of us….When you have been blessed with an education and come from a good family, like St Francis Xavier, its very easy to choose the path laid out for you - The path we all have been indoctrinated to take by our society….However, if we really want to make a difference…And deep down everyone wants to make an impact…Then we must “Let-go” and “Let God”…This kind of choice begins with an authentic encounter with the living God…Because God is real…People do not give up wonderful lives for a myth or a lie….So why settle for second best?…..God can do so much more with your life then you can do with it…..”Our Lord shall come with power; he will enlighten the eyes of his servants”

“I rejoiced because they said to me, "We will go up to the house of the LORD."

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah…..”In days to come, The mountain of the LORD's house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it”….Isaiah is giving his people and us as well something to hope for….There is something better on the horizon…..And only Jesus can deliver it….All of us are flawed and everything we touch as human beings are consequently flawed as well……People and governments since the beginning of time try to create “heaven on earth” in so many different ways……All of those efforts ultimately fail….Christ is the “missing piece” that our humanity requires…All people whether they realize it or not are incomplete…Until we realize this and accept the one who only can complete us…We will be like a dog chasing its tail…Whether on Central Park South in Manhattan, in a hut in Tanzania or in housing projects on the Southside of Chicago…..The human race was made by God and when God is rejected, something breaks within us….This is reality….And this reality is visible to all…..The only thing that stands in our way of “filling in the missing piece” is our pride

“Many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven"

All people need hope…Something to look forward too…Something to strive for…Once a person loses that hope - They are finished…..As we get older we realize all the “things” of this earth do not fully satisfy…..Whether it was career advancement, academic achievement or even in the people we love…..Nothing and no one is perfect…That reality should tell us something…We were created for “something” else……….Life has a way of humbling people…And its when we embrace humility….Realize and accept our limitations…And acknowledge our weakness…Its than that a “door” opens and God awaits on the other side of that door…..Billy McGill was born poor in Liverpool England…He left home at 16 to be a Longshoreman never to return to his native country again…..I got to know Billy where I would attend daily Mass a number of years ago in Lyndhurst New Jersey…Billy was a “rough guy”…He lost his family…He lost his house…And when I met him after digging himself out of the hole he created…Starting all over…He found his Catholic faith and was a daily communicant at the Church I attended…..Look at what it took for Billy to get where God could work with him?……In many ways and for many people, this is what it takes…..Rock Bottom!……God allows us to pursue “everything” we "think" we want and need….And when we get it…We find that it does not fully satisfy…I would go to Giant Football games with Billy before he died…..As an older guy, he was very generous and if you met him you would never know the life he once led……Billy eventually got cancer and my wife and I would visit him in the hospital shortly before he passed away…He told me as he was lying in his bed he could hear the man in the bed next to him crying out as he was about to die…Billy told me with tears in his eyes he prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet for the man silently and was assured that Christ took mercy on his soul…Billy lived a rough life and was not dealt the best hand…He made big mistakes and when he “hit rock bottom” he found God and in finding God he found peace…..I think of Billy often and I have peace when I think about him knowing Jesus took care of him….Billy was a Longshoreman and construction worker…And Jesus was a Carpenter….Jesus always takes care of his own!

“Come and save us, LORD our God; Let your face shine upon us, that we may be saved”

The Prophet Isaiah reminds us today at Mass….”They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again”…..The hope of the human race is not found in “things”…Its only found in God…..Mankind still has not “bought in”….Like a dog chasing its tail….Chasing after one thing after the next….When I first got married Billy would stop over my house and give me advice like he was my father…..One day I offered him a Guinness beer…..Billy used to drink a lot but not any more…He kindly turned the beer down, looked at me as he smiled and said…”In every bottle of Guinness beer Joe there is a baby”…Once again Billy was right….My wife and I had five children in ten years of marriage…….The Longshoreman from Liverpool England “figured it out”….With a smile on his face and his Divine Mercy Chaplet in his hand…He figured it out!

“I rejoiced because they said to me, "We will go up to the house of the LORD."

The King of Kings was born in a barn….Are we willing to find him there?……In the world of the forgotten……Born in a barn, Christ came into the world

Today Advent begins in the Universal Church….A time to prepare for the birth of Jesus Christ…Advent is like a “mini” Lent…A time to increase our prayers and fasting to focus our mind and heart towards Christ's birth….During this time I often spend some time sitting before a Nativity scene after daily Mass….The statue of the Child Jesus is not in the manger yet but Joseph and Mary are there…Siting in a barn full of animals…..During the time I spend kneeing before the Nativity…I think just how hard is was for Joseph and Mary…They were fully human…They had so much faith and trust but that did not take away what they had to endure and what they were up against….Then here comes baby Jesus, the King of Kings…Born poor and born for the entire world……The Nativity scene, set up in Catholic Churches around the world during Advent is in a sense a mirror image of what our hearts should look like before the birth of the Christ-Child on Christmas Day - Humble……When we acknowledge out own “poverty” before God - God “raises us up” and fills us with Himself

“Your ways, O LORD, make known to me; teach me your paths, Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior, and for you I wait all the day”

Its hard for me sometimes to focus on the true spirit of Christmas in the New York Metropolitan Area…So much “flash” and “bling”…..Before I was married I would spend the three weeks before Christmas in India serving the poor with Mother Teresa’s sisters….There was no “flash” and “bling” there….When I would fly out of JFK airport in New York and land in Kolkata it was like flying back into time….Life was “stripped down”…..I lived, ate and saw a side of life that is so different from what I was used to in New York….Coming from the “flash” and “bling” of a New York Christmas and landing into a third world city always made me reflect…It helped me to “enter into” Advent…To prepare my heart for the birth of the Savior of the World…………In every city there is what is commonly referred to as an “under-belly”, where a segment of society lives what is invisible to the rest of “polite society”…..Even where we live in New York / New Jersey….You do not have to go too far to find this “under-belly”…....This was the segment of the world Jesus entered…...Born in a barn - The first people to find him were shepherds in fields, the lowest rung of society…..Many times its in this “under-belly” of cities around the world where the Catholic faith is strongest……On Wednesday’s in Lower Manhattan the Missionaries of Charity would give out food to shut-ins living in boarding houses above storefronts in Chinatown…I have gone with them there a number of times….My eyes could not believe how people in my city, one of the richest cities in the world lived - Living in closets with next to nothing - I remember this one man who would only open his door a crack to receive the food the Sisters gave to him…He was clearly mentally handicapped and all alone in this world…This is the world Mary and Joseph entered when they gave birth to the King of Kings….The world of the forgotten……Born in a barn, Christ came into the world for us……I have learned that we do not have to fly halfway around the world to “find the Christ child” as I would do before I was married…Jesus can be found broken and alone right on the street you live on!….In order to find him we must “enter into” Christ’s poverty making our hearts humble, recognizing our own poverty, which we “mask” with “flash” and “bling”…..It’s there we will encounter something we never knew existed

“Good and upright is the LORD; thus he shows sinners the way. He guides the humble to justice, and teaches the humble his way”

So the question today is…How will you make this Advent special?…How will you prepare your heart for the birth of the King of Kings?…..”Then the LORD said: Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will pass by. There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, fire—but the LORD was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound”…….Christ is found in the “under-belly” of our heart….Under our “mask”…..In the “flash” and “bling” of what we Americans know to be Christmas we will not find him….The King of Kings was born in a barn….Are we willing to find him there?……In the world of the forgotten……Born in a barn, Christ came into the worldrist came into the world