NOT MY BUSINESS….I need to focus on ME…And that is a full time job……”I desire mercy, not sacrifice”

Today at Holy Mass Jesus is criticized by the Pharisees for violating the sabbath………”His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them”…….The religious leaders were upset over this because he picked grain on the sabbath - His “crew” was hungry and he fed them….Sadly, the law became more important than God and neighbor to the Pharisees - Whether they realized it or not……And Jesus called them out….”I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath”…….Don’t get me wrong - The laws of God and the dogmas of the Catholic Church are important, but they are merely tools that lead us to God - We do not and should not make idols of them…This is what Jesus was trying to point out to the Pharisees but this idea fell on deaf ears…..How about us?……Do we desire mercy for others?….Are we instruments of mercy for a lonely and wounded world?……Its very easy to criticize…To point fingers…..Its hard to forgive….Its hard to give a good example…..Jesus gave that example and the Pharisees were not interested in it….When this happens to us - How do we react?…..Do we know when to shut our mouth and simply pray for our accusers?…….Something I have a BIG problem doing - Shutting my mouth!…..Sometimes all we as Catholic can do for the world is place others into the hands of God…..Words and arguments will not convince hardened hearts…Sometimes even a good example won’t “do the trick” either….Its at that point that we need to shut our mouth and turn the situation over to God…..To pray…..If we do not come from a place of love and mercy in our interactions with the secular world - We do not stand with God - Even if we do “everything right” like the Pharisees…..When Jesus entered Jerusalem and saw how people lived and have turned from his Father, Scripture tells us that he wept…….”As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation”…Jesus desires mercy not sacrifice….Do we? - What is in your heart?….More importantly - What is in my heart?

“My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord, I know them, and they follow me”

As a father of five young children, going to Mass can be difficult…My wife and I do it every Sunday, but to say its easy would be a lie…..Years ago when we had three children under four years old, we drove into New York City for a Mass which was attended by many pious Catholics…These folks were and are the “real deal”…..Now as anyone who knows anything about New York City, parking is a challenge…I dropped my wife off with the children infront of the Church and went to look for a parking spot…..Once I found one many blocks away I returned to the Church only to find the children misbehaving - Which happens - Why? - Because they are kids!……So I took the children to the back of the Church, to give my wife a break….Now, I am not making excuses for the way my children were behaving, but I do distinctly remember the “dirty” looks and a few of “off-handed comments” that were made by some “pious” Catholics…..To be honest, I let the “dirty looks” and the comments roll off my shoulder…And I only bring this up because this is an example of what we read about today in the Gospel….Have we “lost sight of the forrest as we stand among the trees”?……What is the Mass all about?…..Why do we attend?…..Are we hyper-critical of the priest’s every action?……Do we concern ourselves with the mistakes of others sitting around us?……I write all these things because I have been “that guy”….I have gotten better at simply worrying about me as far as how my inner disposition is at Mass and with others around me - And believe me - Just "worring about me" is a full time job!……I work in mid-town Manhattan and go to daily Mass at a Church near my office building…Recently at a Mass I attended, right before Holy Communion was distributed, a very flamboyant male transvestite walked right up to the front the Church from the back….As I was in line to receive Holy Communion, he stepped in front of me…..Part of me thought - “Is this man in the state of grace?”…….Clearly, one must be in the state of grace to receive Holy Communion….But that is not “my business”…That is between that man and God…..I hope he was and who knows - Maybe he just went to Confession with a Priest - But again, not my business…..After the Blessed Sacrament was distributed…I saw this man - A public sinner and if you saw the way he was dressed, you would agree with me - He approached the tabernacle and knelt before it to say a prayer…This man went out of his way to do this - No one else in the church did that…None of the “pious Catholics” made such a gesture…Now, don’t get me wrong…..Sin is sin and doing things the right way is important…But - I AM NOT GOD!…..Let God worry about “the other guy” - You worry about YOU - And I need to worry about ME….That is a full time job!

“His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them”

Today Jesus reminds the “perfect people”….Do we desire mercy for others?…..It’s very easy to see the flaws of others - But what do we do to help others?…..Do we want what is “best” for our neighbor?…..At the end of the day, each and everyone of us is flawed…And as we all know, Jesus came for sinners….What your neighbor is doing is “none of your business”…..That is between them and God and God will deal with it……Our concern should be ourselves…I am the father of five children under 11 years old living in a small home…And as you can imagine, the children fight among themselves sometimes…..One of the things I always say to them is, “You worry about YOU - Don’t tell me what your brother is doing - Worry about what YOU are doing”…..As Catholics, this should be our approach as well…..We need to focus on what I call First Principals - Here is an acronym to remember those First Principals - MARC: Mass; Adoration; Rosary & Confession…My focus should not be on what the Bishop is not doing…..How the priest is not pious enough…How the person siting next to me at Mass is dressed….NOT MY BUSINESS….I need to focus on ME…And that is a full time job……”I desire mercy, not sacrifice”

We find our peace when we find God…..”For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” - The alternative is not what it is “cracked up to be” and there is nothing “light” about it

Today at Holy Mass we hear something in the Gospel of St Matthew that we all have heard time and time again….But - Do we believe it?……"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light”…So here is the question…..If we follow God’s will - Do we think we are “missing out” in life?……Most people, if they were honest would say YES…..This is one of the greatest lies ever spun by the devil……God only gives, he never takes……And when we live in the state of grace, we live in peace…Even if the world is completely crazy around us…There is a peace that comes with living in God’s will that NOTHING the world can give can equal…Yet - Our world rejects this notion - We continue to “reach for dust” - Only to be short changed in the end…..But today is a new day - We can ALWAYS begin again!…..Ask Our Lady to help you….Ask Our Lady to extend her motherly love towards you and guide you to her son……I can tell you what steps you should take - But that will do no good……Ask Our Lady - In your own words - Ask her.

“He remembers forever his covenant which he made binding for a thousand generations--Which he entered into with Abraham and by his oath to Isaac”

You are missing out?!? - Really!……I got married late in life…At the age of 43 - I always wanted to get married but frankly God did not send me my wife until I was older and in the mean time, between the ages of 22 to 42 I was alone….During that time I learned a “few things”……God forms us in and through life - We must be patient with him because he has a plan for YOUR life and his plan is infinitely BIGGER and BETTER than YOUR plan…Let me stop there - Because most people do not believe that - But today is a new day - Start believing it!……This morning I read something from one of my favorite Catholic saints…Fr Walter Ciszek SJ (1984)….Well - He has not been declared a saint yet, he has been declared a Servant of God by the Church - But I am sure one day he will be canonized a saint…I have read a number of books about him….This morning I read something related to our Gospel today from Mass that Fr Ciszek wrote…For those who do not know Fr Ciszek, he spent 23 years in prison in the former Soviet Union…So I would think Fr Ciszek learned a “thing or two” about what St Matthew tells us today….”For my yoke is easy, and my burden light”……..This is what Fr Cisaek had to say about accepting the burdens of life and trust me - If you read what he endured in prison, you would know that he had to “deal” with a lot and still he remained faithful…..”No matter what my small sufferings are, I have a choice. I can either let them make me bitter, or I can meet them with the confidence that God will not abandon me……… because the proud man or woman just can't really have Christ”…….The purpose of life is to be sanctified - And if you do not view life in this manner, a person automatically rejects any suffering that comes along when following Our Lord and refuses to sacrifice self for God and neighbor…God knows us better than we know ourself and God uses the events of life to sanctify us - Period Full Stop!……No matter who you are on this earth, you will experience suffering and one day you will die….The secular world can not “wrap their arms” around that reality - Only in and through Christ do we find meaning through suffering and death….When we learn to trust the Lord and rely upon his grace given to us through the Sacraments, daily prayer and weekly fasting….No matter what life throws at us - We are given a peace the world can not give…And “such a peace” I just described is REAL…..Those of us who have experienced life know full well that - "All that glitters is not gold”……Most of us reading this right now have at one time or another “taken a bite of the apple” only in the end to be left with a “stomach ache”…Its only in striving, with the help of God’s grace to live out our Catholic faith sacramentally will we find “rest” as St Matthew describes in today’s gospel….Still don’t believe me?…..In my life I have met all kinds of people…Rich people and poor people….Educated people and simple people…….Sinners and Saints and everything in between…..BY FAR - The happiest people I have EVER met were and are to this day Mother Teresa’s sisters - The Missionaries of Charity….And these women live a life that the world rejects outright - Yet …..These women have peace and they are filled with joy……”For my yoke is easy, and my burden light”- Seeing is believing - RIGHT?!?

“He sent Moses his servant; Aaron, whom he had chosen. They wrought his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham”

Today we are told something by St Matthew at Mass that most people have heard but frankly do not believe…..Our world today is desperately looking for God but sadly it is looking for God in all the wrong places….Life is about “finding your peace”….And we can’t “fake it”…..Until we accept the reality that “the heart does not rest until it rests in thee”….A hard lesson learned told to us by St Augustine who was not a stranger to a “good party” before he “figured things out”……Until we accept the reality that peace out side of God DOES NOT exist….Frankly, we will simply live a life of frustration, never understanding why we suffer and fear death as it knocks upon our door……This is reality…..We find our peace when we find God…..”For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” - The alternative is not what it is “cracked up to be” and there is nothing “light” about it

Here is the bottom line - God is real….God can do anything….And God is waiting for you to “get in the game”!…Dare to be great - God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading from the Book of Exodus we continue to hear the story of Moses…..After having to flee Egypt, he worked as a shepherd in the “family business” with his Father-in-Law….God was preparing Moses….Making him humble….All good things come from humility…”For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted”….And one given day - Just another day at work - Moses hears God’s ever small voice…”I am the God of your father," he continued, The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. The cry of the children of Israel has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them. Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt”…And just as any rational working man would - Moses is like - “Who me?, You want me to do what!”…….”But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt? He answered, I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain”……..God can do anything! - Do we believe that?…..As Our Lady proclaimed in her Magnificat…”He has looked with favor on his lowly servant”…Throughout the story of salvation history, from the Old Testament to the New Testament to the present day…God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things…..If we objectively read the lives of the saints, we will see for ourselves these were the people God called….They heard his voice and responded radically…So the question(s) today is - Do you hear is voice?……If you allow yourself to sit in silence before the Blessed Sacrament, you most certainly will hear his voice….And if you do hear his voice - Have you responded?…..We seem to think that somehow we are exempt from doing great things for God….Nothing could be further from the truth…..Each of us by means of our Baptism is called to a unique vocation to bring forth the Kingdom of God upon the earth….If only we allow God’s grace to work in our life….If only we submit our will to his will…..That is where greatness is found…….But we must dare to be great

“Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom”

Years ago, Bishop Manny Cruz, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey was taking some seminarians on a visit to hospital for the poor…A “nice” gesture…But his “nice” gesture soon became GREAT and bore fruit for the Kingdom as a result of Bishop Cruz daring to become GREAT…In that hospital was a poor blind man from El Salvador….His name was also Manny…He was blind and he had HIV….At the time Bishop Manny Cruz first met Manuel, he was basically on his death bed…..Instead of just “ticking the box” as a bishop and doing the “customary thing” of taking his seminarians to a hospital to visit the sick…Bishop Manny saw that Manuel was about to die where he was in that hospital for the poor…So he took action!….He physically carried Manuel with his own two hands and checked him out of the hospital and drove him to the hospice run by Mother Teresa’s sisters for men with HIV in Lower Manhattan….This is where I met Manuel and heard the story about what Bishop Manny did for him - I was EXTREMELY impressed!…For the first two weeks, Manuel was bedridden - I thought he would die any day…But as time went by….Manuel began to regain his strengthen…He began to take his HIV medication….And in time Manuel began to thrive in the hospice - So much so, that he lived there for years…..After a period of time Manuel was ready to leave the hospice and go live on his own at an assisted living facility for the blind in New York City….Upon hearing that Manuel was going to leave the hospice, I called the office of Bishop Manny Cruz in Newark....…Now I do not know this man - Keep that in mind - I am just some stranger calling a Catholic bishop….....I told his secretary the story and he was so moved that Bishop Manny returned to the hospice to say Mass for Mother Teresa’s sisters and see Manuel again, the man he literally saved from death…..Upon the arrival of Bishop Manny, Manuel wept - In fact he sobbed at greeting the Bishop once again…So much more happened that day in the hospice…..Not only was a life saved but a soul was saved as well…All because Bishop Manny Cruz dared to be great…He did not just “tick the box”….He "stepped out" of his comfort zone….And when we do that - God “jumps in”…...And amazing things happen….As Catholics we must not be satisfied with “ticking boxes”…....We must give God “room” so he can work in our life and in the lives of those around us…....That means we must take chances…..We must allow ourselves to be vulnerable…..It’s in “that space” that God works…Its in “that space” that not only will we encounter the living God but so will the world around us!

God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!”…….He answered, "Here I am."

Once again, we hear in the Old Testament the story of another “underdog”…..Moses was called by God to liberate his people and was like - “Are you kidding me? - You want me to do what?”….But as we all know, Moses got passed his disbelief and placed his faith in the hand of the Lord - And amazing things began to happen - Like the parting of the Red Sea - Remember that “little trick”?…… So the questions for us to ponder today are - What is God calling you to do?…..Are you willing to “take a chance”?…..Are you willing to dare to be great?……or……Are we just “ticking boxes”?……Do we look through people and not at them?…..Do we somehow doubt God’s ability to work the miraculous even today?……Sadly, “we” are far too quick to “settle”…....We accept being average…..We are afraid to think big and actually strive to live big……Here is the bottom line - God is real….God can do anything….And God is waiting for you to “get in the game”!…Dare to be great - God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary

“We” can try all we want - History is very clear - God wins - And God invites us to “win” too along side him…..Expect that “flower” to grow once again through the “cracks of the sidewalk”

Today at Holy Mass we hear the story of how Moses was born in the Book of Exodus…..Like a flower growing in the cracks of a sidewalk, Moses was born when the first born male child was to be slaughtered under Egyptian law and “somehow” Moses escaped being killed……”Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her maids walked along the river bank. Noticing the basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to fetch it. On opening it, she looked, and lo, there was a baby boy, crying!”……God had plans for this child, he was to grow strong and led his people out of slavery……How did Moses survive?…..Because man can not thwart the plans of God - And mankind does not learn this great lesson and keeps trying and trying!……Humanity continues its attempt to “get around God” only to fail time and time again…..History shows us that a “flower” always grows between the “cracks of the sidewalk” and from those “cracks” God works out his plan for salvation……The Prophet Isaiah tells us……”Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you”….God’s guiding hand is still with mankind…While we do not understand always how God works - Know with certainty that He is working!…..When we all least expect it…..”That Flower” grows once again right under the eyes of an unexpecting world.

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”

God is forever patient....Because we have “free will” mankind many times makes the wrong choices and we all get into trouble…..Because God will never force himself upon us and violate our free will, we have to “deal” with the poor choices of mankind…However, God works through our mistakes and in time “steps in” to correct what “we” all messed up….History shows us this narrative, which is repeated time and time again century after century…….Let’s look at a real time example….For decades in the 20th centruy Poland was under the control of communism….Many historians say Poland lost World War II twice…First to Germany and then to Russia….After the war, Poland was occupied by the former Soviet Union….Their human rights were suppressed and the people suffered both economically and socially for years….As this was going on a young man named Karol Wojtyla was born to humble parents…Young Karol was brilliant, athletic and his future looked bright…In the mean time, World War II took its toll on the Polish people and after being orphaned at the age of twenty-two, Karol entered the seminary to become a priest….And shortly there after providentially he rose to become the Pope….In June of 1979, he returned to Poland as Pope, which was still under Russia’s thumb…..His trip lasted nine days and those nine days shook the foundations of Poland…So much so that the Solidarity Movement was formed….And as a result, a humble electrician (Lech Walesa) rose up to lead the country to freedom…Not one bullet was fired and the former Sovet Union was expelled from Poland……Almost like the story of Moses, which we heard today in the first reading from Mass…God rose up a saint to address the real time problems that everyday people faced…When nothing could be done to “fix” what mankind messed up…God stepped in….I could give example after example of how this pattern repeats itself throughout the centuries….Man CAN NOT out maneuver God…..So here is the question(s) for us to ponder today - Are you trying to out maneuver God?……Do we “somehow” think the Truth, which is contained in the one Church Jesus founded “somehow” does not apply to you?….Do you think that by ignoring what time has proven to be true will not have consequences in your life if you turn from it?…….Reality is Reality!….We can not change what can not be changed…..The laws of God apply to us whether we acknowledge them or not….As the old saying goes - “If you can’t beat them - Join them”…..God is patient with us…He allows us to “figure it out”…And he will NEVER force our hand…..But in the end, if we ignore him - We suffer in the here and now - And ultimately God’s plan moves forward without us……..Don’t allow yourself to be left behind!

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”

Today we hear once again at Mass a small portion of God’s plan for the salvation of humanity….God raised up a slave, Moses to free the people of Israel….Similarly, God raised up Karol Wojtyla, a young man who had dreams of becoming an actor to become the Pope and free his countryman from the bondage of communism…..Let’s fast forward to today….Mankind’s problems have not gone away…Children are slaughtered in the womb….Economic injustice is imposed upon millions around the world….….Governments around the world use power for self serving gains…..Do we somehow “think” that God does not see all of this?….Do we somehow “think” that “what has been done in darkness will one day not be brought to the light?”….God will “work around” us, despite man’s every effort to thwart what cannot be overcome - “We” can try all we want - History is very clear - God wins - And God invites us to “win” too along side him……Expect that “flower” to grow once again through the “cracks of the sidewalk”

We have to become “that person” for others….That is how we change the world - The only way

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading taken from the Book of Exodus, the Egyptians began to persecute the Jewish people and make them their slaves….Interestingly enough, the more they persecuted then, the stronger they got….”Yet the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread”….Why is this a significant point to highlight?……Great powers have “tried” to destroy the Catholic Church…From the Roman Empire…..To the English Monarchy under Henry VIII….To the French Revolution….To Nazi Germany…To the former Communist Soviet Union….And all of them failed!…..We even see others try the same thing today…..The elites who run all of our American Institutions…..The main-stream media….Higher Education…Hollywood….The list goes on and on……They still all try to discredit and destroy the Catholic Church….And here we are - The Catholic Church is still here….When will the world learn?…..The Catholic Church CANNOT be destroyed…..Why is that?….Because Jesus said so…..”And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”……..What should that objective reality say to us?…..I can only tell you what it says to me….That this is the one Church that God himself founded and because of the fact that it has outlast everyone and everything that tried to destroy it - Maybe what it teaches is TRUE! - “Ya think?”…..To not “second guess” personal biases for whatever reason against the Catholic Church due to the reality I just laid out is missing the much bigger picture……Sadly, facts do not change hearts - Only saints do….So many Catholic “social media warriors” are out there “trying” to change the world…I am one of them…While educating people about the Catholic faith is important….So is defending the Truth important…That is not what will “win the day”…..Only the witness of a holy life will result in the world around you to “second guess” choices made, which have distanced "our people" from God and his Church…..Today the Universal Church commemorates the Feast Day of Kateri Tekekwitha, an American Indian saint from the 18th century….When Kateri was on her death bed, this is what a witness who was a French Jesuit Priest (Fr Pierre Francois-Xavier Charlevoix SJ) documented…..”The wonders of God soon began to work in favor of those who had recourse to her intercession are still at this day a powerful motive to serve in spirit and truth…..Nothing could be more beautiful…….. but with that beauty which inspires the love of virtue. The people were never weary gazing on her and each left with a heart full of the desire to become a saint”……Saints make other saints!….If we want to change the world and make it a better place….We MUST strive to become a holy people…..If we give God permission, God can accomplish this great work within us…This is the ONLY way we impact the world - Is to become a holy people…Let’s make it happen!

“Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”

I am not sure if many people have ever witnessed with their own eyes a person who was objectively holy - I have…..For years I worked with Mother Teresa’s sisters and words can not do justice to what I witnessed….I HAVE SEEN what a holy life can do - How it can impact people and society…I am also convinced that such a life is obtainable….And if we give a full throated - YES to God - He will not only honor our consent but multiply it……This is the only way to impact the world in a lasting way…….On one of my trips to Kolkata, India I got to know Sister Mary Michael MC…….St Michael was a Medical Doctor from England who gave up a lucrative career to spend her life serving the poor on the streets of Kolkata…Let me stop right there…..Coming from the materialist New York Metropolitan Area - Who does that!?!…The answer - No one!…If you put your daughter through medical school and she made that choice - What would your response be?……One given night a bunch of volunteers and I were getting on a public bus during rush hour in Kolkata…To say rush hour in a city like Kolkata is MADNESS is an understatement…With me this night was a bunch of people ranging in age (some were old) and we were all trying to get on the bus….I was doing my best to “herd” the crowd on the bus and not succeeding and interiorly I was panicking …..But for some reason the bus did drive away and somehow we all got on it….Just as we all got on the bus and I looked through the windshield as I stood next to the bus driver…I saw my friend Sister Mary Michael…She was standing in the middle of the street in harm's-way preventing the bus from driving away from us…..This highly educated doctor…Someone who “could” have made a fortune….Became “nothing” so others can become something….This is the witness of Jesus Christ - And this is the witness our world needs so desperately…As I write this tears are welling up in my eyes thinking of the sight of Sister Michael standing in the way of that bus for us….A holy life - The witness of self sacrificial love - This is the only way we change the world……Catholics must strive to become a holy people….And then God will use us to make others holy as well.

“Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”

Today in the Book of Exodus read to us at Mass we hear no matter what the Egyptians did to the Jewish people…They “multiplied and spread”…..While its important to recognize a historical reality to demonstrate how God’s people CAN NOT be wiped off the face of the earth…Its also important to understand how we as God’s people today can impact the world…And the only lasting way to do that is to allow God to sanctify our life….The great French Catholic novelist Leon Bloy (from La Femme Pauvre) once said…"The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint”…The only reason why people may disagree with this statement made by Leon Bloy is they have never seen with their own two eyes someone who was objectively holy…..This needs to change!….We have to become “that person” for others….That is how we change the world - The only way

"Go and do likewise”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Luke the story of the Good Samaritan…..I am sure we are all familiar with that story…..In it two people who were considered “holy people” pass-by a man beaten who is half dead on the street….And the Samaritan, who was considered an outcast by the people of Israel comes to this man’s aide….”He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back”….There are many things we can all learn from this story….But for today, the take-away I would like to focus upon is….”Talk is cheap”…..We can say all day long we are “religious”….We can pray all day long….Fast aggressively two times a week……Read the Bible until we memorize it…..But if we do not see Christ in our neighbor and love our neighbor as ourself…Take all those things I just noted and throw them in the garbage!…..Before we jump to conclusions…..If we do the things I noted…..Pray daily….Fast weekly….Live a Sacramental life……Our vision will change and so will our heart by means of sanctifying grace…..And we will view others differently, even those who are “not so nice”…..Dr Ronda Chervin a convert from Judaism and a professor of philosophy put it this way……”It is in the lives of the saints that we can see how divine love inspires heroic love of neighbor in a concrete and visible form”…..When you get right down to it…..Our Catholic faith is so simple…..We open our soul up to grace and God transforms us….This transformation is tangibly manifested in how we give of ourself to others….The more we empty ourself…The more the Holy Spirit indwells in us…That is how it works!

“If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal”

Our Catholic faith must translate into action!….If it does not, it is empty and frankly good for nothing………If we are able to see Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we will be able to see Jesus in our neighbor and if we see Jesus in our neighbor, we will respond to his / her need…..Jesus gave us two laws to follow…Love God above all things and love your neighbor as yourself…..So simple right?…..But before we can love our neighbor properly, we first have to love God….This is why our world is so “messed up” - We have forgotten God….Each of us are incomplete without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and there is NO WAY we will be able to even love our spouse or children as we should without loving God first - A shocking statement to make!........This is the mistake of most people in our world today….Selfless love, which is required to have a good marriage has human limits without the grace of God - A Stone Cold Fact!…..To love as we should requires grace….I can hear it now - “I don’t need God to love my family”…….If that is the case - Why do over 50% of marriages end in divorce?……Love gives - It never takes! - And for love to be real, it must hurt!…True love is not a 50% endeavor - Its a 100% endeavor!….And in order to love in that manner…In order to “pour out” our self for our family and our neighbor the way we were ALL called to by our shared Baptism, we need divine grace…..When this “kind of love” is witnessed by the world - We as Catholics will stop traffic!…..Truly selfless love witnessed by the world changes hearts in a way words can never do……But that requires supernatural grace, which is available to ALL of us….Our first reading in Mass today tells us, we all know what is required - This is not “rocket science”……"For this command that I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. It is not up in the sky, that you should say, Who will go up in the sky to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out? Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out? No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out”…….St James tells us very bluntly….”Faith without works is dead”…..And to have a faith that is alive, we first must rely upon grace.

“And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing”

Today in the Gospel from Mass the story of the Good Samaritan rings true once again…Jesus ends his parable with this…."Go and do likewise”….But in order to "Go and do likewise” we need grace…Our vision must change but our heart must change first!….We need to be able to “see” with a different set of eyes…And only God can give us this “sight”…..We must give God permission to enter into our life…If we do…We will love our spouse and children in a supernatural way…We love our neighbor as ourself….And the world around us will be a better place because of it….”Nice words” - Right? - But here is the “catch”! - We can not give what we do not have…..Being a Catholic really is simple…..We do our part and God will do his…..Sacrificial love changes the world - “That kind of love” is supernatural - And “that kind of love” is available to us all…..As Jesus rightful said….."Go and do likewise”

Our fears hold us back…..Hold back nothing and step out of your “comfort zone”…..The Lord waits for us there!

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Matthew a message that is repeated over and over in the Bible…”Do not be afraid”……I am sure as soon as you read the first sentence of this reflection you said to yourself immediately….”I am not afraid of anything!”……Really?……If we were to take Jesus’s words seriously - We would ALL set the world on fire…The reason why we do not - Is because we are AFRAID!…..We somehow think Jesus does not have “our back”…..I am hear to tell you right now - That is not the case……..We have to learn to trust in God’s providence…Today in the Gospel St Matthew assures us…..”What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted”…Over the course of time I have learned a “few things”….One of them is…When you expose yourself in trust for the Lord…When you extend yourself in faith outside of your control and “comfort zone”….When you make yourself “vulnerable” for Christ-sake and for the Gospel - God will ALWAYS honor your efforts and more times than not, those efforts will bear fruit…..It’s in that “vulnerable space” that we encounter the Lord himself…Jesus waits for us there…Sadly we do not meet him because we are AFRAID!….I am here to tell you today….DO NOT BE AFRAID!……God has your back!

“God will surely take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”

Fear is a tactic of the devil…The devil uses fear to prevent us from being the people we ALL were called to be….And when fear sets in, we “second guess” ourselves…..We must learn to discern when the devil “whispers” these fears into our heart….And tell the devil to “beat-it”!…….As I stated above…We encounter the Lord when give up control and enter the "space of vulnerability" outside our comfort zone…..No one likes to be vulnerable - Let’s be honest - And the devil knows this….But when we “give up control” and extend our hand to Christ…We will be surprised at how God honors our gesture………………Seven years ago a friend of mine who is a priest encouraged myself and my brother-in-law to start a podcast…He thought we would be good at it….So at Father Louis’s persistent encouragement we went to a studio and recorded a few demo’s…..As you can imagine, recording in a professional studio costs money…..So we racked up around $1000 in fees……Now here is the amazing part….My daughter’s Godfather heard what we were doing and comes over my house one Saturday afternoon unannounced and drops an envelop with 20 fifty dollar bills ($1000) on my kitchen table…He told me an anonymous person wanted to donate to help the podcast get off the ground - That is no lie!…..So with that money I paid the recording bill…..God did not stop there…If we were to actually get this podcast off the ground, we needed equipment…And that all costs money too….So to begin this venture, we simply started streaming LIVE on Facebook and did a crowd funding….And we raised close to $2000 dollars….And we used all the money to set up a studio……Fr Benedict Groeschel CFR, one of the founders of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal would say…If you want to do something for God, start with no money…And if God thinks it will bear fruit, God will fund it himself……Well, I saw that first hand happen right before my eyes….The story is not over….After two years of streaming our podcast across social media…..We were introduced to a man who bought a radio station in Connecticut….He was interested in our work and as a result he put our show on the radio, which now has a reach across the Northeast of 900,000 listeners…..This is how God works! - When you “take a chance” for the Greater Glory of God!….…When you make yourself vulnerable…When you “give up control”……God will NEVER be out done in generosity!……I remember when we first went to the recording studio with Fr Louis….He said to us…”Guys, this is just practice, the “real thing” will happen soon enough”……..He was so sure of it!….DO NOT BE AFRAID!……God has your back!…Step out into the “deep”, that is where the “big fish” are!

“Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name; make known among the nations his deeds”

Today Jesus in the Gospel from Mass reassures us….He tells us to trust him…So the question for today is - Do you trust him?…I mean really - Do YOU trust him!?!…….Grace builds upon grace….With each step of faith, our trust in God’s providence will grow….One of my favorite stories from the New Testament is when Peter, the fisherman gets instruction from Jesus (the carpenter) on how to fish…And Jesus asks Peter to do something that really did not make too much sense to him, but he did it anyway because it was Jesus who asked him.........…..”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 they 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. For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men. When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him…..Our fears hold us back…..Hold back nothing and step out of your “comfort zone”…..The Lord waits for us there!