Can you do the Robot?

A reflection on the readings for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary time, June 03, 2016.

Isaiah 66:10-14c

Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20
Galatians 6:14-18
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

Society wants to blur the lines between male and female, man and woman, father and mother, man and wife. They want us to be convinced that in order to be equals, we must do things in the exact same way.  As a dad I know that there is something more amazing about a mother's love, something that is sought actively by the children because of it's qualities, because of it's comfort.   Yes, there are differences and I'm not painting all men and women with the same brush.. but I do find that the girls want their mommy when they need comfort and their dad when they need something done.  Mom seems to be kinder, gentler, and more understanding.  Dad is often brash and abrasive, but will defend them with his dying breath.  The image we have in scripture today is of a mother, Jerusalem, Zion the dwelling of the Lord.

Oh that you would be comforted by a mother, fed by her, protected by her and guided by her.  Christ gave us the Church to do just that.  He didn't give us a book, for that matter He didn't write a single word with his own incarnate hand.   Rather He gave us apostles, He gave us the Gospel, which the Church then gave to us in book form.  The Church is our mother, our guide.   She is there not to create tension or punish us, but rather to guide us to that joy and comfort that God promises.  That comfort ironically comes from being disciplined.  True freedom comes from being able to make a choice with your intellect even when your senses and desires try to pull you in the wrong direction.  The Church gives us guidelines on what is good for us, what is going to make us "flourish like the grass." 

Why do we do that?  Not to earn the ability to do miracles, or to revel in the fact that demons tremble at the name of Christ, not even for being a healer or a speaker... or any sort of gift.   Those are secondary to the greatest miracle of all, the miracle of salvation.   That's right, Jesus' mission was not primarily to be a healer.. but to remind us that "in the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those dwelling in the valley of darkness and death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace."  Forgiveness of sins, reconciliation to God... restoration of a broken relationship.  That is the greatest miracle that Christ offers us.  He tells us to rejoice because our names are written in Heaven!  How beautiful a thought, oh how happy a day! 

He sends us out like the disciples.  Into the world to be witnesses to this forgiveness.  Not to be grumbling or complaining about that which we have received or have not, but to accept all things with humility and graciousness.  To pass blessings on those who you meet, wishing them peace!  Yesterday I was thinking about this during Adoration.   As I often do I prayed "God get rid of all that is me, and replace it with you."   I've always thought that a good prayer.  God seemed to say to me, "That is not what I am asking of you."   He doesn't want me to become a mirror image of Him, an automaton who simply does everything the way He does, when He wants, exactly as a robot.   If He wanted that, He'd have made that!   Rather, He wants me to be ONE with Him, as He and the Father are one.   I was bowled over.   He wants me to go out into the world as me, spreading the message He has given me, with the words that my faculties allow me to use.  

That's right, when He sent 72 out, there were 72 individuals.. all working together as one unit to provide one message.   Each one though was an individual, unique, loved by God... created with the personalities and temperaments that God desired them to have.   "He loves me for me!"   Jesus told me to stop using Him as a scapegoat and asking Him to simply take away my free will and instead have some discipline, to work to use the brain, soul and spirit He gave me to become the man I am made to be.   That doesn't mean that all Catholics will ever look the same, or sound the same.. or act the same... but we will have the same message, given with our own unique ability to say it, live it, and pray it.  Are you ready for that?  It's time to stop praying for a supernatural conversion that takes away those things we struggle with, and instead receive the grace that He has been pouring out on us to allow us to bolster our own discipline to grow closer to Him and further away from Sin.  

His servant and yours, 

Brian 

"He must increase, I must decrease." 

What is the least I can do?

A Reflection on the readings for Friday of the thirteenth week of Ordinary Time, July 1, 2016.

Amos 8:4-6, 9-12
Psalm 119:2, 10, 20, 30, 40, 131
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew 9:9-13


I almost did not write a blog today.  You see, my summer assignment was to write three days a week and every Sunday.   Then I read the readings today after reading Stu and Robert's blog and was convicted by them to look inward and ask myself why I am just doing the bare minimum.  Other weeks I have written all five week days.   This week I just felt down, worn... out of energy.   I had just mowed my yard and was laying back in the recliner when my alarm went off to remind me that we had Eucharist Benediction at 7 tonight.   So I went.  I am glad I did...

"If we but paused for a moment to consider attentively what takes place in this Sacrament, I am sure that the thought of Christ's love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts into a fire of love and gratitude."
- St. Angela of Foligno

You see Amos was talking to the people about something that we ourselves are very guilty of thousands of years later.   The people saw God as a burden, the Sabbath as a loss of money.  They were just punching their card and looking good to the people all the while bemoaning the day of rest that God provided them.  Then they left the temple, left the Sabbath and fixed their scales and cheated others to make up for the money they had lost by keeping their oath.  How often we do that today?  "How late can I show up to Mass? Do I have to hear the readings? Or just be their for communion?"   "When can I leave?  Do I have to wait for the song to be over?  The blessing?  Or just for the priest to leave the room?"  "Do I have to go this Thursday?  Is it a holy day of obligation?"  "What can't I do on Sunday?  Should I eat out or stay home?"  Always looking for the least we have to do, instead of realizing the gift we have been given.   Instead of asking "How long can I be there before? What time do the doors open?"  "Can I stay for a few minutes after to spend time with Jesus?"



God warned them that this sort of life of just doing the minimum led to a loss... it would lead to a day when the word of God would be gone from their presence.  A day when creation would realize how horrible a thing had been performed.   That day was on Calvary just around two thousand years ago.  As the Word of God hung on a cross and pronounced it was finished, creation itself groaned and mourned.  The sky darkened as if by night, the ground quaked and shook, the temple veil itself tore from the top to the bottom.  A man standing at the foot of the cross was converted instantly as He saw the Word's demise before his gentile eyes.   "Surely this man was innocent."  What would that be like?  That sense of emptiness?  That sense of longing?   That moment in which we realize that something is wrong, that something is missing from our lives?

"Our hearts are restless, till they rest in thee."  - St. Augustine 

That is exactly what we experience when we sin mortally.   When the Word is no longer visible to us, when the universe itself goes awry and we are unable to find happiness.   The Word comes again to us in the Sacrament of Penance to make us whole, to complete us.  He is resurrected!    He wants you to be resurrected too!   That thing you are missing, that happiness and joy you are seeking.. is found right here, in the Eucharist.. in the Holy Sacraments of the Catholic Church.   Don't just punch your card.. find time for this relationship with the Son.   He wants to be a part of your life and you, you have been seeking Him from the moment of your conception.  It's time to put Him in your schedule first.. then add the rest of the things in your day around Him.   That's when we find joy.. that's when we find love...

So do they know you by that?   The Sacred Scriptures remind us that they will know we are Christians by our love for one another.  A saying attributed to Gandhi goes "I like your Christ.. but I do not like your Christians."   That's because what they see when they look at us alone is creation groaning... our soul darkened and shadow.. our very being quaking and the veil of our soul ripping as it cries out to the world the emptiness it feels when God is taken from it's presence..... Are you ready for Him to come in and fill you so completely that your heart overflows with joy?  It's the year of Mercy.. and Reconciliation is just a moment away.

In the life of the body a man is sometimes sick, and unless he takes medicine, he will die. Even so in the spiritual life a man is sick on account of sin. For that reason he needs medicine so that he may be restored to health; and this grace is bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance. - St. Thomas Aquinas

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease." 

Shopping Around?

A reflection on the daily readings for June 10th, 2016.

Many years ago I was in a state of limbo.   I had been Church shopping since my conversion at the age of 14.   I knew I was supposed to serve God, I knew that with all my heart.  I just kept finding reasons to go to a new church.  A wrong teaching here, an angry man there, a hypocrite or a holier than thou 'sinner.'  I started out in the Old Regular Baptist Church that my grandfather preached at.  Then someone said something that didn't make sense.  I moved to a Freewill Baptist church and that was good and rewarding for a while.  The music was pleasant, the sermons fiery and full of spittle.  Soon I found another thing that didn't make sense.  On to the Pentecostal church, a holiness church, a snake handling one, eventually a Methodist one for a brief few days and then an Episcopal one.  None of them had it all in my eyes.  I was looking for explosions, miracles, the fiery rain of heaven being called down to the consume an offering.

There I was sitting in a pew at an adoration service for an intention of Pope Benedict many years later.  I had no intention of ever becoming Catholic but I was studying the faith in order to keep my promise to raise my daughter in it, the one I gave at her baptism.  I honestly believed at that moment that I would re-baptize her when she asked for it later at an older age.  Little did I know that something was about to happen to me that I will never forget.  The only thing I would listen to at that point in my walk was the Bible.   Nothing else mattered.  Every answer, every question, everything a man needed to know I believed was contained right there in those pages.  If you couldn't show me?  I didn't want to hear it.  So there I was, playing Bible roulette.  I dunno if anyone else does that, I still do sometimes with Lectio Divina.   I would flip open the bible, point my finger onto a page with my eyes closed, and read a verse.

So here I was contemplating this thing the Catholics called transubstantiation.   They believed that this host up there was God himself,  Christ.  Body, soul and divinity.  Well, unless God told me that himself through the Bible I'd never believe it!  So here I was on the mountain top with Elijah, seeking to see God's face.  I wanted to know God so badly, so intimately that I could see him clearly.  In that moment I decided to flip open my Bible and ask God what he had to say to me.  I closed my eyes, flipped it open to a page, and put down my finger.  It landed in the Psalms:

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.  - Psalm 46:10

I had been Church shopping because I wanted more fire.  I wanted the explosions, the rain, the wind and thunder. I wanted the miracles.  God wanted me to do something I had not been doing... to simply sit in silence and listen.  To find that whispering sound at the mouth of this cave I had hidden myself in and open my heart and mind long enough to truly find Him, in the place I least expected.  In the arms of the Catholic Church, which it turned out were open wide to me with mercy, grace, and love.  Elijah turned his face away to hide it, that he might not see God and die.  Yet, even the Psalmist called out with the same desire that I had, "I long to see your face, O Lord."  (Psalm 27:8b)  How can we see Him though?  How can we look at Him without losing our lives?  Even the great prophets feared looking on God face to face, that His grandeur and glory would be too much for our mortal bodies.

The Incarnation.  God became man that we might look upon His face with no fear of death.   To see who God is and learn more about Him.  The fullness of all revelation is right there in Christ himself.   Then Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, transformed bread and wine into His own Body and Blood.  He gave us that Sacrament that we might be able to come forward again and again and see Him face to face.  Yes, there are miracles.  Yes, there are explosions.  Yes, God comes forward in some of the most amazing ways.  As a friend of mine once said, "Christ didn't come to bring me the fourth of July, he came to bring me Easter."  The silence of the tomb, the power of the Resurrection.    Miracles and physical healing was not the primary focus of Christ's mission.. but a message, one of forgiveness, of reconciliation with God.  One in which their no longer was a wall between the chosen people and the rest of creation, but one body, both Jew and Gentile, male and female.

He is waiting for us there every day.  In the tabernacle, in the consecrated host.   He wants us to come see Him.  To spend time with Him in prayer, at the Mass, and outside of it.  To spend time in Adoration and Praise.  To receive His sacramental presence into our very souls and then go out into the world as changed people.  People who do not just spend Sunday with Him, but every moment of their waking lives.  That take that presence out to those who are still in the cave, still demanding some powerful sign.  "If God would only make this cancer go away, I'd believe in Him."   "If God would appear right now in front of me, then I'd go back to Church."   "If all of God's people were Holy.. then I might return."  He's offering you something even more powerful.. silence... peace... joy in your heart.  Are you ready to give Him a chance?  Are you ready to stop shopping for a new church, pastor, or parish?  Once you find Him, once you let Him speak to you in the silence of your heart, you'll never need more explosive music, a better preacher, or even a softer pew... you'll just need Him and the rest?  Well the rest is just a bonus, the real message is in Christ's presence itself.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease." 

Look Into the Light

Most people who know me, know that I used to be a commercial electrical foreman.  One of the first things I would do on a construction site would be to get up some sort of lighting.  The first lesson I learned out there in the field was that it's very hard to have quality work if you can't see what you are doing.  It was amazing though how much detail came out when you really lit up the place.  A counter might even look pretty decent with the lights off, then you turn them on and the dirt and grime of the construction process was evident at a glance.  Then I began to see some shady practices that went on out there in the world of commercial sales.  Customers would request certain 'temperature' bulbs for certain applications.  One large food supply store would ask for red tinted bulbs in the meat section to make the food look fresher.  A package of ground beef with a slightly grey tinge would take on a nice, even red hue when placed under these lights.  Another would ask us to lower the wattage in the kitchens so that it wasn't as easy to see the imperfections or lack of cleaning.

That brings me to a spiritual reality that works on those same lines.  The closer you get to light, the easier it is to see imperfections.  The closer you get to the purity of God? The more obvious the filth and dirt in our souls becomes.  That's what sin is really, it's a marr, a missing of the mark.. a dirty spot on our soul.   If you read any of the writings of the Saints you'll see that as they drew closer to God, they felt worse and worse about even the smallest smudge.  After all in a relationship shouldn't we feel bad about the slightest of infidelities?  There are two reactions though that one can have.  One can draw to the light, see the smudges and be convinced they need to clean it up; or one can flee from the light and go for those things which they prefer to the effort it takes to carry their cross.

We humans are fickle things aren't we?  Most of us know exactly what we need to do to be closer to God in our lives.   We like those things though that feel good, that reward us temporally and physically.   We have that pesky concupiscence that makes us want power, pleasure, honor, and wealth.  Christ in the beatitudes challenges us though to put those things in their proper place.  To instead draw closer to the light, to examine any and every log that we might find in our own lives before ever considering to look for even a speck in someone else's.  

Today's Gospel reminds me of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  All too often people run from Confession.  Why?  Jesus says it very plainly: For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed.   We don't want the light to expose what we've done.   In our basements, in our private times, behind closed doors, when not everyone sees.  We fear what the Priest might say or think about us, or even at times we cling to that sin.. the one we don't want to give up.. the one we know we should.  That's pretty much the definition of Hell isn't it?

You see, our faith teaches us that Hell is a choice we make.  It also teaches us that God is an all consuming fire.   Fire burns.  What does God burn?  He burns out the sin.   The Sacred Scriptures tell us that God is a refiner at the furnace, purifying us like gold or silver.  He melts us down and slowly removes the dross.  Someone once told me that the way a refiner knows that the gold or silver is ready is when he can see his own reflection in it.  Think about that for a moment.. when God can see not us in our actions.. but His Son, Jesus Christ.  What happens though when we don't let go of sin? It burns.... I truly believe that for those who have any attachment of sin, that's what happens after this life.  Those who die with no sin attached?  Straight to Heaven.   Those who have an attachment but want to let go of it, and want to cling to God?  Purgatory.  Those who refuse to give up the sin?  Hell.  For eternity God's love washes over them trying to remove this sin from their soul.. this stain... and it burns... but they hold on to it and blame God for the burning.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.   It is God's hope that by sending his Son, the light itself, into the world that it would help every single person to see the areas of sin they needed to work on and remove them from their lives.   That's what the Sacraments are all about.   Confession cleanses us, it allows us to walk into the light and say Lord, give me the grace to remove those things that being in your presence makes me aware of.  Then the Eucharist, oh that marvelous and beautiful Sacrament that is the sign of our faith!   In it Christ himself comes to us and washes over us with his love and embrace.  I am never more aware of my sins than when I come up that aisle to receive Him into my body.  I trust though, that as I draw near to the purest of all lights, and as even the smallest speck of venial sin glares at me, and the demons of this world call out to me and tell me I'm not worthy... I place it all at the foot of the cross and say, "You are right.  I'm not worthy.  I just trust my Savior."  As John said, "Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned."

So ask yourself this morning what is standing in your way?  Like the Apostles in the first reading, each of us has a prison that we've been locked into.   God has been sending his angels to us in the dark night of our oppression to open the doors and to send us on our way to tell others about this life.  What is your prison?  What is holding you back?  What sin has you locked behind it's doors preventing you from living that life of joy, freedom and faith that comes with the grace of God?  Let Him open the doors.  They are locked but God holds the key, and He Himself handed that key to the Church.  Go receive it for yourself in the Sacraments.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Wise Men say....

Tomorrow we celebrate the arrival of the Wise Men with their gifts to the newborn King. As we see from the first reading this was an event the Israelites had been waiting for, for a very long time.  The book of Isaiah was written sometime near the 7th century, and even more ancient, the 72nd Psalm is attributed to King Solomon, over nine hundred years before the birth of Christ.   How the people longed for these events to occur.   They had been waiting centuries to see God's Messiah come to them, for the King from on High to come into their presence and liberate them from the enemy.

How intriguing it is that when the Wise Men arrive at Herod's palace with the question, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews?”, instead of joy we find Herod and all of Jerusalem becoming troubled.  Here is just one event prophesied about the future Kingdom, and instead of finding joy and faith, we find them anxious and worried.  Herod calls his own 'wise' men to him and they tell him exactly where he is to be born.  Yet, Herod still isn't able to find him on his own.

It's strange isn't it?  These men in the court of the King know the scripture in and out.  They know exactly where the newborn King should be, and have been told by these foreigners that He has been born.  Yet, it doesn't record any of them running to greet the Messiah.  Instead Herod asks the Magi to find them for him.  We know that Herod wanted to kill him out of envy, and we see that later when he murders the Holy Innocents.   What of all the scribes and chief priests?  Why did they not run to find Jesus as well?

I think that is just one of the many lessons we can learn from these readings.  Sometimes we aren't actually looking for Him.  He's constantly sending messengers to us, sometimes from places we don't want them to be coming from.  We are so convinced that we have it right, that we go our own way.. and even when God sends his messenger to us, we simply ignore it.  Or we get angry and intend to do away with that new messenger.   We shop for churches.  We shop for new priests.  We change religions.  We reject this teaching or that. 

The problem is that in doing so, we often reject the Holy Spirit.  I think of Herod as a symbol for us men, for our fallen nature.  He wants what we want.... power, success, pleasure.  He is being offered a chance, along with all of his court, to instead truly seek God.  Instead he chooses all of that over Christ.  How often we do the same?  When our Wise Men come pointing to Christ saying, He's been born... you know where he is, he's always been there... do you run to him?  

Both the Wise Men and Herod received the same message.  Legend has it all of them were kings, all of them wealthy, all powerful.   All faced the same temptations.  The Wise Men chose to seek Christ, Herod chose to seek the flesh.   Which are you today? It isn't too late.  He's here.  You can find him every day in the Sacraments.  In Confession.  In the Eucharist.   In Adoration of the blessed Sacrament.  Do you realize how powerful that is?  How beautiful?   The Church is the Star that points to Christ's birth... will you seek Him?  or reject the messenger?

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

What crown is this?

This morning I spent an hour in adoration praying for a friend.  During that time I prayed my daily rosary with that intention in my heart while also meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries.  I was struck with a deep sense of love and mercy.  As I began to pray and meditate on the Third Sorrowful Mystery, the crowning of thorns, my heart really went out to my friend.  While it was one of those personal and unspoken prayer requests, the message was clearly for them.  I wanted to share it with all of you as well.

My Lord and Savior, how pitiful a sight it must have been.  Having been scourged and beaten, your body wracked with pain, how did you have the strength to continue on the journey?  As they placed the mocking robe around your shoulders, onto the flayed and fractured skin, oh the pain that must have coursed throughout your existence.  Here the man who is King of all, being made into what to mortal eyes must have seemed a contemptuous parody.  With all the angels at your command your love for us kept you from calling them to your defense.  Ah, how undeserving we are of that love.

As they placed the crown of thorn on your sacred dome, deriding the very nature of your holy and regal being.  The thorns piercing your tender flesh, bleeding profusely across your stately countenance.  You bore this mortification in our place.  Having emptied yourself, you came to this world with this purpose in mind.  You who wore the very fabric of space and time as your robe, took on this tattered and worn garment of purple.   Him who was crowned with so much power and glory that even looking upon his face would bring on the fear of death, was woven a crown of dried, discordant twigs.  From the comfort of your heavenly throne you took on instead the discomfort of the Cross. 

My child, he seemed to say to me, I did this for you.  What you are going through now is a crown of your own thorns.  A crown that seems full of shame and loss.  A decision that makes you tremble on the inside, throwing yourself on the ground in your own garden of Gethsemane and begging God to take this cup from you.  Oh, my child do not let Satan convince you of this.  Satan is your Rome, your opponent.  He wishes to make you seem far away, beaten and destroyed. For you are a child of God, by my work you have become my co-heir and your dignity is that of the royal family.  You have been grafted into the shoot that sprang forth form Jesse's stump.   Your adversary wants you to believe that your shame is your dignity.  That your fear is your robe.  No, embrace this cross no matter how difficult.  Lift up your chin and bear yourself with the regal countenance that comes from being my sibling.   March forth and embrace your cross, and walk towards your Easter.  Do not be resigned but rather like Jesus, rejoice in the Holy Spirit.  Love this burden.  Grasp it in your arms as you would a newborn child.  Carry it as you would your own.   For then your cross will become a cross, without a cross.

His servant and yours,
Brian

The Writing on the Wall

When the girls were all still little, before our fourth, I came home from work one day to find a bunch of artwork on the bedroom wall with words written in it.   There were some names, some drawings, and even some lipstick and nail polish mixed in.  I called each of the kids in and Julie I began to ask them who did it.  There was a lot of finger pointing, a lot of blame towards the others.  Her mother and I did not need to ask.  We already knew what was written on the wall, and we knew who did it.  That's because only the oldest knew how to read and write.  The fact there were words in the 'art' work indicated she was involved.

When I read this reading for tomorrow's daily Mass I think of that moment.  The kings sorcerers and diviners could not tell you who wrote on the wall or what they wrote.  Daniel though, knew immediately what it was.  Just like Julie and I knew that the oldest was the author, Daniel knew immediately it was a message from God.  How?  Because he knew Him.  Just like we knew enough about our daughters to know who wrote it, we could also begin to understand what she meant by it.  What the words meant to her, what the colors meant to her, what the images might mean to her.  We could begin to understand the message, because we were familiar with the artist.  Daniel knew the message on the wall of king Belshazzar because he too was familiar with it's artist.  He knew the work of God when he saw it.

Daniel didn't need time to figure out the message.  He began to speak immediately informing the king of what God intended by the three words on the wall.  The fact that Daniel was already familiar with God and close to Him allowed him to speak the interpretation.  God gave him the meaning.  God gave him the words to say.

We see the same message in tomorrow's Gospel.  Jesus warns the disciples in the crowd that they will go through much suffering and persecution on account of him.  He tells them though that they don't need to worry about what to say, because he will give them the words to say. Through the Holy Spirit they will be reminded of what words to say.  Because they know Him, and are familiar with Him, the message will be clear immediately.

As we approach the end of the Liturgical year, we approach the season of Advent.  That season reminds us of Jesus birth in our world, of his second coming, and of the need for us to keep him 'being born' in the world every moment of every day.  The question becomes, do you know Him?  Do you know Him well enough that writing on the wall will be clear to you?  Are you open to His spirit so that He can guide your words and actions?  Are you allowing Him to be born through you? Let us draw closer to Christ through the Church, and through the Sacraments.  Let us prepare our hearts to be a living manger, that Christ may come to us through the Eucharist and remain born in our hearts, feeding us, transforming us, into something more.  Just as the manger in the cave must have been made sacred, holy by touching Christ himself... so too must you remember that you yourself are touched by Christ and are being made Holy. 

I have work to do to become a Saint.  Let us journey together on this road.  Helping one another to see the writing on the wall and receive the message from God in our hearts, minds, and souls.

His servant and yours,
Brian

What Makes for Peace?

In tomorrow's Gospel we see Jesus weeping over the city of Jerusalem.  "If this day you only knew what makes for peace..."  Oh, how we still today are seeking that answer.  It was right in front of them though.  Jesus Christ is the Kingdom of God.  It was right in front of them and they failed to see it.  Don't we still do that today?  All of us know that peace is to be had by just turning to Christ.  By accepting him into our lives, turning over our burdens, and simply walking as he walked; we will find peace and joy.  Why is it so hard for us humans to turn over that control?

Jesus then goes on to talk about the coming destruction of Jerusalem.  This prophetic statement came to pass in the year 70 A.D.  At that point the temple was destroyed.   The temple was the center of religious life.  It was there that they believed God was.  Today we have this notion that God is everywhere, and so he is.  To the Jews though, he lived in the temple.  You came to him in the temple.  You sacrificed to him in the temple.  For the temple to be destroyed would have been a sign that God no longer rested with the people of Israel.  How confounding that must have been?  To think that God was no longer with you anymore, it was a devastating blow to an already long suffering nation of people.

The real answer lied in who Jesus was though.  They did not realize him to be God among them.  Sure, some thought he was the messiah.  The messiah they wanted though was a military leader, like Mattathias of Maccabees.   They wanted a man who was zealous for the temple, and so Jesus was.  They wanted a holy man who kept the law, and so he was.  They wanted him to raise up an army and destroy their enemies.   In their eyes, he wasn't doing that.  Here he cries for them.  He cries out of love for them and of sorrow for the coming destruction.  He cries because they don't have peace.

You and I don't always have peace either.  We believe in Jesus.   We see him as the Messiah, just as they did.  We see him as the one to fight our battles, to help us keep the law, to be a man of faith, to raise up an army of angels to defend us in battle; all good images.  I think sometimes we see him as the Messiah we want though.. not the one that He truly is.  We limit God to a box.  We take the part of the gospels we want, and reject the parts we don't.   We adhere to the tenants of our faith that make sense to us, and those that confuse us we simply ignore.  "Oh that one, yeah that one I don't agree with, so I just ignore it."  If we truly 'recognized the time of our visitation' would we do such things?  If we truly believed with our entire heart, soul and spirit; would we compromise our faith?

So what do we do?  Once again, the answer lies in the Sacraments.   Let us flee to him as often as we can.   Go to him on your knees and confess your faults.  Receive him in the Eucharist.  Unlike normal bread that you consume, this super substantial bread consumes you.  Let him change you, make you more like him.  Spend time with him in prayer and adoration.  Then, last but definitely not least, share him with others.  Take him out with you into the world and give him to others.  Share your peace.  Only in sharing it can you ever hope to keep it.

As we see these stories in the news of Syrian refugees, being wrested too and fro, rejected and kicked out; we have a unique opportunity to ask ourselves... are we truly at peace?  Is the answer to reject everyone who is not one of us?  Are we to allow fear and fear mongering to convince us that all of these men, women and children are the devil? Or do we need to give it more thought?  The Bible says that what we do for the least of these... we do for Christ, our Lord.  When you look at these refugees, the good, the bad, the young, the old... ask yourself.. am I looking for Christ in them?  Or only worried about my own comfort and safety? 

I am afraid.  I don't know the answer.   I do know this... when I saw that image of the young Syrian child on the sea shore, laying dead in the waves... I too wept.  I wonder if my eyes have been closed for too long, or if I truly realize that Christ is among us.  As we approach the end of the liturgical year, culminating in the feast of Christ the King... we must begin to ask ourselves.. is Christ truly our King?  Do we see him among us?  Or only in those we want to see him in?  Are we ready to give ourselves over completely to Him? 


So I just leave you with Christ's words as he says: "If this day you only knew what makes for peace-but now it's hidden from your eyes."  Let us open our eyes. 



His servant and yours,
In Christ,
Brian

Ever Wash Your Sandals?

Every summer, my sandals begin to start looking pretty filthy. That's when I get out the trusty scrub brush, dish soap and a water hose. As I was sitting outside scrubbing the inside of my shoe, I began to have several thoughts go through my head. First I began to think about how disposable our society has become. So much so that often times when shoes get this grimy, they throw them away. My children usually have worn them out by that time anyway. They seem to think that we are supposed to buy new ones when they are dirty, the same with socks!

Then my mind began to drift on how that God cleans our souls, just like I'm cleaning these sandals. I do it carefully so I don't damage them. I do it thoroughly so that I don't have to come back and wash them again, I make sure they are clean! Another thing I notice... even though they are dirty, they are scuffed, dinged up... they are pretty good sandals. All too often we Christians see ourselves as bad things, and yes our flesh can do some bad things... but we are also made in the image of God! We are pretty good things! We just have to get the dirt out and keep it out, and God can do that for us, and he has poured his grace out immeasurably through the sacraments of His Church.

Then my mind stumbles upon a very profound truth. We live in a very clean society as far as things go. We have running water, showers, and deodorant. We have paved streets, concrete sidewalks, and homes with floors. Our feet don't get that dirty in the grand scheme of things.. but look at the inside of my sandals and you'll see that dirt builds up fast! Those little bits of dirt don't seem like much on their own, but over time they build up and up, until you find your shoes filthy and nearly unusable. That's how the church sees venial sin. All sin is bad! Too many see venial as not bad, it's still bad! It adds up! It's the pebble that starts the avalanche, it's that little bit of dirt that on it's own isn't much.. but when you keep doing it... it begins to be visible.. eventually leading to the sin that leads unto death. (Mortal).

So keep your sandals clean. Frequently make available to yourself those sacraments that pour out daily in our church. Go to Reconciliation. Go to daily Mass when you can. Go to Church every Sunday reverently for that mere hour(sometimes less sometimes more) that it takes. Spend time frequently in Adoration when you can, find a chapel near your job or your home and go there when you have a free moment. Make use of sacramentals! Pray often! Repent often! Examine your conscience daily, so that you can see how dirty your sandals are getting.. and clean them before it's too late!

His servant and yours;
Brian