The “givers” win and the “takers” lose - Play to win!

Today at Holy Mass Jesus teaches the crowds about the virtue of detachment….Jesus lived for 30 years in a family and worked…Clearly he understands the need to have certain things….He also understands the need to work hard and earn a living…But when “things” become the goal….We loss sight of God…..There is nothing wrong with making money - The question is - How do you use it?….If God has given you great gifts and those gifts permit you to earn a tremendous living, how do we employ the resources we acquire?….Do we have many children?……Do we live modestly?…Do we share with those who are not as gifted as we are?……In the Gospel today, Jesus notes an extreme example for the crowd to ponder….“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple”….The message that is trying to be communicated here is - Nothing can be placed above God…No person or thing…..When we are detached from all things, then we are free to love and serve God and only then can we love our family and serve the world the way we were called too.

“Let your face shine upon your servant; and teach me your laws”

There is nothing wrong with reaching your potential…There is nothing wrong with making money….However, write this down because it is on the “final exam”…What we do with money will determine where we spend eternity…..I can hear it now…..”Stop talking about money”……”All the Church wants is money”…..That is not the direction I am going with this reflection…I am saying flat out - There is nothing wrong with money and being a very gifted person - Its how we employ our gifts and use our hard earned money that determines everything………….When I would travel to Kolkata, India before I was married I became good friends with a Canadian Jesuit Priest….Fr Lawrence Abello SJ had a deep impact on my life…..Fr Abello could have been one of the most gifted people I ever met….He had two PhDs, one in Philosophy and one in Physics…He spoke numerous languages…He was an inventor when he wore his “physicist hat” and had two patents to his name….There is no question in my mind…If Fr Abello was not a Jesuit Priest, he would have been a multi-millionaire….Living in a place like Silicon Valley California, enjoying the best of everything…Instead, Fr Abello lived and taught for 40 years in Kolkata…If you saw him on the street and did not know him, you would have thought he was a poor man…His cloths were old and the sandals on his feet were so beat up…..Jesuits take a vow of poverty and trust me, Fr Abello took this vow seriously….Why tell you about this man?…Because Fr Abello understood what Jesus was teaching us today in the Gospel about detachment from “things”……Fr Abello was more gifted, intellectually speaking, then 99.999999% of the world’s population…..And instead of enriching himself, he put his gifts to work - Serving others…..Guess what happens when we do this. when we face the Lord at the time of our judgment?…Guess what God says?…..”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”…..Now not everyone is called to be a Jesuit Priest in India…I clearly was not…But the question remains - Are we detached from the “things” of this world?……How do we use our gifts?…….This is a critical aspect of how we are to live as a Catholic.……At the heart of living out this virtue of detachment, one must be honest with themselves - What drives you?…..What is your goal?…..I work on Wall Street and have worked there for almost 30 years….And I will tell you what I have observed over the course of those 30 years…..Life is a “show”…....Its all about “look at what I have”…..Trust me on this one - That model of living is not the “ticket into heaven”…..Today, Jesus is teaching us in the Gospel something very different….Is our pursuit of “things” in line with what Jesus is teaching us?…A lot rides on it......The Church does not “want your money”…......Trust me again - God has plenty of money!…..Its what you do with your gifts and talents that matter…….No one ever become poor as a result of sharing…….The happiest people in the world are the “givers” - That is no lie!…..And the “takers” - Well - They eventually come to the end of themselves, chasing after something that can never satisfy…..Because the “show” does eventually end…..Play to win - A crown awaits us - Open your hands and you will receive it!

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart”

Jesus today in the Gospel uses an extreme example to illustrate that nothing is more important than God…And when we order our life accordingly, all the other things…Our spouse, our children, our job, our money….All of those things fall into place……”Americanism” and its brand of Christianity, this includes many Catholics by the way - Gives a lot of lip service to this idea of detachment…..Trust me when I tell you - God does not give lip service……We can point fingers all we want to bad examples in the Catholic community - And do it all day long! - And say how many people, again many of them are Catholic, how they “love their stuff”…......While the poor of the world suffer and die…..God is not blind, He sees what you see….As I tell my five children all the time.....….”You worry about you!”…….”Strive to enter through the narrow gate”……And play to win - The one and only “game” that matters! - The “givers” win and the “takers” lose - Play to win!……………….JMJ

If we pray, we too will stay

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading St Paul write a letter to his friends….In this letter he encourages them but also warns them…..”You once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds; God has now reconciled you in the fleshly Body of Christ through his death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him, provided that you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven”…….There is a lot to dissect here…First - How are we reconciled to Christ, who is perfect? - Through the Church, which provides the Sacraments for us to utilize….This is disputed but this is reality…..Second, Paul warns his friends…That we must persevere in the faith that does not change or shift…How do we persevere?….Daily Prayer - Weekly Fasting which sharpens our prayer - And living a Sacramental life……The narrow road to heaven is underestimated….If we think we can walk this road without the aide of heavenly grace, we are sadly mistaken…..Lastly, Paul also tells his friends that the faith does not change…….Man is to adapt his life to God….Not the the other way around…..Our world today hears what “its itchy ears” wants to hear when it comes to the Catholic faith…..Moral relativism is a virus which has devastated the Modern world……Even within the “halls of the Church itself” - There are some men who twist doctrine to suit personal agendas….St Paul warns us about this today…….Salvation is not found on our terms…If we want to walk the narrow road, we need to help ourself…Jesus who was fully man is aware of the weaknesses of men…..That is why he formed a Church…..And if we want to persevere, we need to “work at it” daily……What is more important than entering into eternal life?……Do we take our salvation for granted?…..Athletes train each and every day to achieve excellence…..Striving to sanctify our soul is no different….And walking the “narrow road” is not easy.

“Behold, God is my helper; the Lord sustains my life. Freely will I offer you sacrifice; I will praise your name, O LORD, for its goodness”

If you were to Google just about any Catholic religious order, you will find on their webs-site a break down of how they spend their day…If you were to look at that, you will notice just how much time they pray each day……..Why?…Because in order to live a holy life, we MUST stay connect to God……This is why the Church in her wisdom asks Catholics to go to Mass each Sunday and to receive the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace……And by the way…That is doing the bare minimum to accomplish what St Paul tells us today in the first reading - To embrace the fullness of Truth in word and deed and to persevere to the end……….Before I was married I would spend the majority of Advent in Kolkata serving the poor with Mother Teresa’s sisters…The day began with prayer and it ended with prayer….Mass was at 6;00am……All the volunteers for the most attended…..After Mass we ate breakfast and took public buses to the various clinics to serve the poor of the city…The day ended back at the convent in the chapel with a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament starting at 6:00pm…….As many people know, I am the co-host of a Catholic radio show. We recently had a guest on the show who is the Senior Editor of a very well known Catholic magazine in America…He said something I will never forget regarding all the Catholic social media voices presently hosting podcasts and radio shows…..”If a person does not pray at least one hour a day - They really have nothing to say” - This man is absolutely right!……..But let’s look to what Mother Teresa had to say about the importance of daily prayer……“When the sisters are exhausted, up to their eyes in work, and all seems to go awry, they spend and hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. This practice has never failed to bear fruit; they experience peace and strength”……..Catholic saints are nothing more then examples that point to Jesus…..Here we have Mother Teresa, a saint “giving us the answers to the test” - Are we paying attention?…….How does a father be a good father?….How does a mother be a good mother?…How do we live sacrificially for our family and the world around us?….How do we live out our Catholic faith day to day?….Mother Teresa is telling us!….We need to “stay connected” to God’s grace…….What I just wrote is the “missing link” and the answer to so many of the world’s problems….Mankind underestimates just how flawed we ALL are!…….Jesus came to the earth to save us from our very selves……I can hear it now…..”That is what you think”….”I got it all together”…..”I don’t need God’s grace”……The devil loves to hear statements like that……Don’t believe me?….Let’s “fact check” what I just wrote……“We cannot separate our lives from the Eucharist; the moment we do, something breaks. People ask, ‘Where do the sisters get the joy and energy to do what they are doing?’ The Eucharist involves more than just receiving; it also involves satisfying the hunger of Christ"……Mother Teresa wrote that and if we are honest, I think we can all agree she was rather “successful” at living out her Catholic faith in real time…..Are we interested in being successful too?

“I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me”

St Paul tells us today at Mass that if we are to embrace the fullness of the faith, which does not change, we need to preserve…And in order to preserve, we need to pray and live a Sacramental life…….The saints tell us this point blank!……The Eucharist is “food for the journey”….Just as our physical bodies can not live without food and water…Our soul requires Sacramental grace to keep it healthy and to give us the stamina to “walk the narrow road”…..Mankind for all the achievements it has accomplished over the course of the last 2000 years has to this present day denies this reality, which I just wrote about in this reflection - And sadly the consequences of that denial are ever present before our very eyes…….If we want to “win the race” - We need to “train”…..If we want to persevere until the end - We need to pray……In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus spent the night in prayer - The apostles slept…We all know how that story ended…Jesus prayed - And Jesus stayed when the Roman soldiers came…..Remember what happened to the apostles?….They ran away……Are we paying attention? - If we pray, we too will stay……..JMJ

There is great power found in one single YES

Today the Universal Church honors Mother Teresa of Calcutta…..A woman who was known all around the world….But before the world knew this woman….God was molding her…Preparing her for the role she was to play on the world stage….How is God molding you?…Are you cooperating with him?……Mother Teresa in her life wore "many hats"….In her youth her family was very wealthy, until her father was murdered, which in turn impoverished her family…….At 18 she left home and never returned again to her native country of Albania, never to see her mother again….For 20 years she taught at an affluent all girl school in Calcutta…..And then God called her to do something “else”, to form a religious order to serve the people of the streets…And she complied with God’s “ask”…..And for 17 years she served the poor at a Home for the Dying and Destitute…..She was complete unknown to the world during those many years of hard work....…Until Life Magazine sent a reporter to Calcutta and wrote an article about her work, bringing it to the attention of the world…..That is where the story of “Mother Teresa” begins as we all know it…But before that…Many “chapters” of life happened…To form her - To become "Mother Teresa"…Today, in the Gospel of St Luke read to us at Mass, Jesus tell us about “old and new wine skins”….To teach us about changing…About evolving……”No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'The old is good”……..Like all fathers of children, God sees the finished product of our life….The way we are “supposed to be”….God has a master plan for our life…To mold us and shape us in his image and likeness…That only happens when we cooperate with him…..Not everyone’s life will turn out to be like Mother Teresa…However, each of us has something very important to do for the Kingdom of God…..But this requires us to evolve, allowing sanctifying grace to shape us….Jesus tells us today in the Gospel that some people told him…”The old is good”……For those who held that position, they missed point of the parable….”New wine” must be poured into “new wine skins”…That means we are to evolve…..We are to change….We are to be transformed…..Everythinging that has happened to you has prepared you for that transformation…Just like Mother Teresa…..She cooperated with God…With each new chapter of life she said YES to God……..Are we doing the same?

“I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life”

Outside of my parents…No other person’s life has impacted mine as Mother Teresa’s life did….If you have been fortunate enough in your life to have met one of the Missionaries of Charity sisters - Then in a way you have met Mother Teresa…In my 55 years of existence on this earth…I have NEVER met people like them…And trust me…I have met every kind of person you can imagine!……This is the power of a pure heart…Merely by witnessing the purity of such a person - The impact is lasting and as we say in New Jersey - It “leaves a mark”…..Why is that? - Because in each of us - No matter what we claim to believe or say - There is a deep longing for goodness and purity……Allow we to share a story......Years ago it was Good Friday……The Missionaries of Charity sisters were serving in Lower Manhattan at a hospice where men (mostly homosexual men) came to die as a result of the AIDS virus….I do not recall the name of this man I am about to tell you about but for the purposes of this story, lets call him John….John had an advanced case of HIV and was dying….Sadly however, he was not behaving well while living in the hospice run by the sisters, so he would be asked to leave - But John kept trying his best - After being asked to leave, he would always come back - Say he was sorry - Live in the Hospice for a time - Do something crazy - Be asked to leave again - Only to come back - Again and again....…I think you get my point - And the circle continued for some time….Eventually, the virus got the better of John and he was admitted into St Vincent’s hospital in Lower Manhattan to die…John knew he was dying…..So what does he do? - True to form - John being John - He escapes from the hospital……When the hospital staff could not find him, they called the sisters and they were worried about John….The next thing that happened was what I call a legitimate Good Friday miracle…..When John escaped from the hospital, he went back to the only real home he knew…The hospice run by the the Missionaries of Charity….And when there sisters came home from the afternoon Good Friday service…They found John in his old bed…He came home to die….This is a true story….The Superior of the house (Sister Vineeth) knew John was about to die and she stayed with him cradling him in her arms, until the Lord took him……Why tell this story?…..Because John, who clearly was not an “altar boy” could still recognize love when he saw it…..And because he experienced love from the sisters, he eventual “came around”…..I call this a miracle!….As Christ suffered and died on Good Friday…..So did John…And by God’s grace…John in the end “figured it out”……Only the witness of love can make a person do what John did…Arguments….Facts…..That will never make a person who has “dug in” and turned their back to God “come around”….…Only when they experience the purity of heart from another…..So what are we to do as Catholics?….We must cooperate with God….He has a plan for our life….To transform us…But here is the “catch”….We can not self manufacture this transformation - No "book" can tell us how to do it…..We need Sacramental grace…..This is what made Mother Teresa who she was - And that is why John wanted to die in the arms of one of the Missionaries of Charity sisters

“I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life”

Today Jesus in the Gospel of Luke talks about old and new wine skins…How the old must be put aside for the new…..Mother Teresa was a great example of this…She lived many “different lives” in her long life…..She cooperated with God…Allowing him to continue to form her…She continued to say YES…She continued to evolve…And that is how the world came to know “Mother Teresa”…How about us?…….Are we satisfied with the status quo?….Something new is always around the corner - God is the master builder and he has a plan…..The old may have been good - But the new will be even better……”New wine must be poured into fresh wineskins” - There is great power found in one single YES…………….JMJ

If you dare to be a “fool” for Christ…..The outcome of our life’s work will be anything but foolish…..”Put out into the deep”!

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Luke how Jesus asks he friend Peter to do something that did not seem logical…What do I mean by “did not seem logical”?…I mean from the prospective of the world, what Jesus asked of Peter surely would not work….But Peter does it anyway and shortly sees with his own two eyes that what Jesus suggested was not only logical but clearly the best course to take…….”Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." Simon said in reply, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets." When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”…….Truth be told, this is one of my favorite stories about Jesus and his friends……We all can learn so much from it…Peter was an establish person in the world…..And he encounters this man who did amazing things and spoke bold Truth…Peter could have left it there - But he did not! - He recognized who Jesus was and trusted him more then he trusted his own instincts….And as a result…..His life took an amazing turn…And bore fruit…More so then he ever could have imagined…..For those reading this today - Do you think this story does not apply to YOU as well?!?….Because it does!….Jesus asks us to “walk against the trends of the world”…To do what the world “thinks” is illogical…..At risk of looking like a fool……Yes - This is what Jesus asks!…..But if we trust him….I mean really trust him and abandon what the world believes to be “logical” and invest “all in” to the calculus of God…We too will do amazing things……The struggle is to “step passed” our fear…Its time to “put out into deep water”…That is where the “big fish” are!

“Come after me, says the Lord, and I will make you fishers of men”

What the Church and Jesus asks of us is the IMPOSSIBLE…Yes you heard that right…Its IMPOSSIBLE to do what Jesus asks of us on our own strengthen…That is our first mistake…We think as human beings do….We see what is asked of us from our own prospective….We forget that God is God and nothing he asks of us as Catholics is impossible…Do you know why?…Because as Jesus said….”Behold, I am with you always, even until the end of time” - That is a promise!…What Jesus asks of us is meant to look impossible to the world - That is why when we do it, the world will give glory to God and KNOW that clearly we did not accomplish God’s will on our own…..Do we trust in God’s Providence - I am mean real trust in him?…..Each person must ask themselves this question……I remember the day I got married….I was a fully formed Catholic….I knew what the Church asked of me - To be open to life - Not to use contraception……The priest that married me was a friend and we spoke about my concern the day of my wedding….Fr Louis assured me - God will provide…..And twelve years later - God did provided…As married Catholics in the world…God asks us ALL to “put out into the deep”….To do what the world says is CRAZY….And if you take God up on that “ask”…You will find that what seems impossible is surely possible and God will be glorified in the process…We as Catholics in the world MUST “put out into the deep”…This is the ONLY way the world will wake up….Know this, God will never be outdone in generosity!……..Jesus tells his friends in scripture….....”Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”……The road to heaven is narrow and there are many struggles…But KNOW that Jesus walks with us…He dares us to attempt the impossible…For our God is the God of the impossible and when the task is complete - The Glory will be his alone!…This is what our world needs to witness desperately…Catholic men and women who “put out into the deep”.

“He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”

Today in the Gospel Peter sees a glimpse of the Glory of God…..He is challenged by Jesus to do something that “does not make sense”….But Peter does what seems impossible…..And sees with his own two eyes the “logic of God”…We too must learn from this story…..We are hypnotized by the world and its propaganda - Far too many Catholics have “bought in” to what we are supposed to say, do and live like….Jesus invites us to “break that mold”…To forge a new way…In order to do that, we need grace - We need to develop an interior life - We need the Sacaraments and daily prayer...…Why?…Because fear holds us back….Jesus Christ conquered death…..His spirit is within us and we have ALL been grafted into his life at our Baptism….He asks us to do what the world calls impossible - What the world deems as foolish……If you dare to be a “fool” for Christ…..The outcome of our life’s work will be anything but foolish…..”Put out into the deep”!………….JMJ

Got God? - Get Purpose!

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Luke how Jesus tells his people why he walked among them…..And what his life’s purpose was grounded upon…."To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent”….Jesus knew who we was - The Son of God…So the question today we will explore is - Do people know today who they are?……We hear in the main stream media phrases today like - How do you identify?….The correct answer is we are children of God…..But this is not how most people “identity” today……And when we “do not know who we are”…We chase after an “identity”…And in that “chase”…We can so easily get lost….We fall into debt….We waste our time….We can even lose our soul…All because we deny reality - And reality does not change because we do not chose to accept it…Each of us are children of God and any other “identity” pursued only leads in time to dissatisfaction……Jesus knew who he was and as Catholics we must ground our identity in the things that last…..In doing so we will live a fulfilled life….Interestingly enough, in the Gospel today, Jesus expels demons from people and even the demons knew who Jesus was…..”And demons also came out from many, shouting, "You are the Son of God." But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ”…….The battle between good and evil rages each and every day all around us….The devil is real - Believe it! - And he is smarter then us all….He knows each and everyone of our weakness….And when you look at the world objectively, you see very clearly how the devil is “playing with people like a cat does a mouse” - “Pushing their buttons”…..All because we “do not know who we are”

“He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her”

Growing older is the great equalizer…..When people are young, healthy and strong…They can so easily “get lost”….Worldly ambition can “cloud” our vision of God and the pursuit of a holy life…….We “think” we will live forever and the “party will never end”…How foolish is this mind set……The party does end and when life is not built upon a “strong foundation” - When the “party ends” - It ends with a crash………………God permits our failures in life in order to “get our attention”……To re-direct our purpose….Years ago I was friends with the CEO of a mid-sized printing company in New Jersey…Armand took his father’s small printing business after he graduated from Fordham University and made millions…He made so much money, he even had his own plane….And one day, his wife died suddenly…That is when I met Armand…He was in crisis - He loved his wife dearly and was lost…..This event, which he believed at the time was the worst thing that ever happened to him, helped him to “see” that the direction and purpose of his life was not where it was supposed to be….He soon began to live a Sacramental life and pray daily….He got involved in charitable organizations, using the fruit of his labor to benefit others…And slowly his life found meaning and purpose….This is how God works sometimes…He uses the events of life to “get our attention”…To re-focus our purpose…To deepen our faith….This process can be painful…But if we “work through it”….....When we come "out of the tunnel", we see the world in a different way….All things that are not of God not only turn to dust but in time will be “take away” from us - Even our very health…..God also knows how to “push our buttons”…To get our attention…He does this to redirect our purpose…..Why?…Because heaven is forever - But so is hell……We are all children of God - Bar None!…And God will do his very best to make the world realize that…But ultimately, its up to us…To “see” reality as it truly is…..To stop chasing the things of this passing world….And to ground our life in the things which are eternal…The great St Augustine who was a brilliant man and very successive in the material things of this world famously said….”The heart does not rest until it rests in thee”……When we know who we truly are - Children of God - Life has purpose…Until then, we “row a boat with just one oar” and fight a battle which we can not win.

“At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them”

Today Jesus at Mass tells us in the Gospel what his purpose was…..To “proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God”….What is our purpose?…Each of us were born with something to do….If you are an objective observer of history, you will notice that the only people who are remembered for centuries are saints…..A thousand years can go by and people will still be talking about the saints - Like St Augustine or say St Francis - Stop and think about why that is the case?….Its because everything that is not of God fades away - That is reality - And that reality should tell us something….When we ground our life’s purpose in reality…Yes, you heard that right - Reality - That we all are children of God - We find purpose and deep peace………How do you “identify”? - Your gender or your pronounces do not even scratch the surface of that question…Nor does your professional designation, your degrees or your address - Got God? - Get Purpose!…………….JMJ

“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you”…..Pray and Fast….And sit back and watch what happens

Today at Holy Mass we are told that in the Gospel of St Luke that when Jesus spoke he spoke with authority….Its important to keep in mind that Jesus was in the eyes of the world a “nobody”, born poor in a remote village…Yet, when this “peasant” spoke, people recognized the authority he had and the power of his words…That should tell us something...Because this is tangible evidence of the reality of the Holy Spirit…..”Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority”……..In each of us there is a spirit of rebellion…While we can perceive legitimate authority, just as the people of Jesus’ time recognized it, there is something in us that rebels against it….That something is our fallen nature, the effects from original sin and we all have it…..Even after we as Catholics are Baptized…We still have this tendency, to rebel…….This is why we need God’s grace…..Human beings were given free will, which comes directly from God…That means we have to choose God and to choose God means we submit to his authority - A sticking point for so many….When we come to the point when we trust God more then we trust ourself….When we know with certainty that God loves us and is working to sanctify us through the events of life, both good and bad each and every day…We learn to “let go” and in doing so we inch closer to this crucial point in our faith journey - Jesus tells us point blank that his “yolk is easy”…..Believe him

“I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD”

The greatest adventure one can have in life is to submit your will to God and follow him wherever he leads….The world does not believe this sadly, but this is reality….God has something for each of us to do and we can not do it if we hold on to tightly to own plans, which many times lead to dead ends….If we only have the courage to place our life in the hands of God………When Mother Teresa left home at the age of 18 to become a nun, her mother told her something I often think about…”Put your hand into the hands of God and never turn back”…Great advice coming from a place of great trust…Such trust is earned over time…It starts small but builds and builds……Years ago, I had a friend named Jim who was blind…Jim went blind as an adult and his life was not easy…He lost his wife and due to his blindness, his life was clearly limited…But Jim never gave up…He worked as a bagger at a supermarket for years despite his physical handicap….I knew Jim through Church and I would pick him up every Saturday morning for a bible study…Jim trusted me to lead him…He would put his hand on my shoulder with total trust that I would lead him to where we had to go…I bring this up because the way Jim trusted me, is how I must learn to trust God…Almost as if I was blind….Putting my hand on his shoulder, letting him lead me where he wants me to go…...Not the other way around…Over the years of my friendship with Jim, he taught me many things….How never to quit…To overcome seemly impossible odds….And to trust implicitly……We are not convinced that God can do more with our life then we can…How we as Catholics can give “lip service” to this idea of trusting in the Lord…And how we “hold on to our plans” - Only to sell ourselves short in the process….We must learn to “let go”….And when we do - Grace will build upon grace as time moves forward …Like my friend Jim who was blind…Jim trusted….We must learn this kind of trust, as if we were completely blind…And when we do, God will do amazing things through us….Yes - You heard that right - Amazing! - The lives of the saints show us this possible….The saints trusted God with reckless abandon…..St Francis, St Dominic, St Ignatius Loyola…..My friend Jim who was blind who worked as a bagger at a super market showed me this too

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The LORD is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid?

Today in the Gospel, St Luke tells us that the people of Jesus’ time recognized the authority in his words….There is something about the Truth….All people are wired for it….When it is spoken, it registers deep within the human heart…….What keep us from embracing what we know to be true?……Do we lack trust?….If we do and lets be honest, we all lack trust to varying degrees…And because of that, we must pray…..There is power in prayer and if we want to “sharpen our prayer”, then we must fast as well…..If we do this…little by little…our trust in God will grow……Do you remember what was told to us by Christ himself?…..“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you”….P

Sometimes its the “bad guy” that turns out to be the good guy after all is said and done…So think twice before we “think” we are so good

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Luke about how Jesus announces to his people that “He is the guy”…..And they miss it completely…..”The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord”…..As we all know, hindsight is 20/20 and with that said, its easy to wonder after reading this how Jesus’ contemporaries “missed it”…..But if we are honest we can say the same thing about society today…And even those you claim to “get it” - How much we miss due to the fact that we still live “behind the veil” which stands between heaven and earth…….In response to the crowd not accepting what was told to them by Jesus…….Jesus tells the crowd a story about two people who were outcasts - People who were not part of the chosen race of Israel, who at a time of trial God came to them……..”Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian”….....This should be a reminder to all of us who claim to “get it”….God sees the human heart, He knows just how little we “get”…….Yet he loves us and is patient with us!……How we “identity” means very little to God…Its the condition of our heart and the purity of our soul that matters most….Many times when we read the lives of the saints we find that God forms men and women who were once living on the margins of society to become something new…..How does God find such people?…….The answer - God sees the heart…Something mankind disregards…The currency of heaven is very different from the currency of the world.

“For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first”

What a “motley crew” the first twelve apostles were…Yet these were the men hand picked by God…..To this day, God calls men and women…..And again like what we saw today in the Gospel, some of those people who are called surprise us……..When I was in college I knew a man by the name of John Foley…John was a good natured guy but not very overtly religious….He drank a lot and for the most part lived a secular life…I was told a story about him one day that shocked me….It shocked me because it was so Christ-like in nature that I could not even imagine such an action could have been done by John….Because I thought I “knew him”…..John and a bunch of his friends went up to Boston to see a baseball game…The Yankees were playing the Red Sox…For those reading this reflection who are American baseball fans, you know that this is a huge rivalry….Anyway back to our story…John and his buddies were headed into there stadium when they saw a fight break out…..A bunch of young guys were beating a man……John did not know the man being beaten but he did something that when I heard about it, shocked me to my core….John jumped into the middle of the fight and covered the man being beaten with his own body, shielding him from the attack…..Please keep this in mind…John did not know this man…..When I was told about what John did, it shock me….....Why?…....Because this was “John” - I never would have expected such an act of selfless bravery from him….But later on after all was said and done, the event made me think even more…..I consider myself “so religious”….Yet if I was honest, I don’t think I would have done the same thing John did that day at Fenway Park in Boston, to save a stranger from being beaten at the cost of receiving the blows upon his own body - In fact, I know I would not have done that….As I read the Gospel today, the story about what my friend John did reminded me of what Jesus told the “chosen people” in the temple…..Jesus reminded them, that God chose someone outside their ranks…..Someone they disregarded…Just as I disregarded John……This is how God works sometimes…Why?…Because he sees the human heart and we do not…This is why we must pray…And fast….And live a Sacramental life…In doing so our hearts will become pure and we will become childlike……. And in turn we will enter into eternal life.

“Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah”

Jesus today in the Gospel shocks the crowd….He tells us indirectly not to “overlook” strangers…….To give people a chance….And to think long and hard about who we “think” we are!…..The story Jesus tells the crowd today has an interesting twist in the end…The people who claim to be “holy” were not so holy - And the two outcasts - They were the ones that God came too - Interesting - Right? - Does that make you think?…..So it will be when we all stand before God at the end of time……God sees the human heart…..It does not matter what we say….Or even what we do as much as it matters about how much love we put into what we say and do - This is what matters! - Labels mean nothing if they are empty…..Somethings its the “bad guy” that turns out to be the good guy after all is said and done…So think twice before we “think” we are so good………….JMJ