Saturday, June 30, 2018

Jun 30 - Saturday 12 Week in OT


+ Our gospel passage today is critical to what it means to be Catholic, to be Christian:  it is all about FAITH. And by faith / belief I just don’t mean – I believe I shall go to the store. What FAITH is is a living energized power to communicate with God on his own level. Without this gift, we cannot communicate with God on his own level. The centurion in the gospel passage demonstrated great FAITH, and so Jesus cured his serving boy – and note here – it wasn’t even his son – it was a serving boy – which says volumes also about the centurion – what a compassionate, caring and loving person he was: and this is the key, along with faith, that unlocks the Hearts of Jesus and his Father every time.

Our faith then can move mountains, it can effect curings and healings, it can be a secure foundation on which to build our lives, and safely navigate through life in this vale of tears.

A very appropriate application of this faith / action – faith good works dynamic is in praying for and doing all we can to reverse the curse of the presidential presence in the White House in Washington – quite literally, the future of our country is in grave danger of dissolution if we don’t.

This is not to influence policy and true government activities, but the very wrong person is “driving the bus” and he must be removed because he is steering a course that will enslave freedom, and bring down not only our democratic system – but cast us into a subservient role to the greater military and political governments of the world.

Come, Lord Jesus, we freely give you our minds, bodies and lives to help right the ship before its too late! Amen.

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Jun 28 - Thursday 12th Week in OT


+ The gospel passage today again tells it like it is:  how you build your house is quite literally a matter of life and death, and in the realm that Jesus is inferring today: how you build your spiritual dwelling is very literally a matter of your eternal life and your eternal death.

In a good sense, we can look around at the insidious dissolution of the government of the United States of America, just shy of its 243rd birthday, and the global ramifications of our sinking into a democracy free, authoritarian populist form of self-imposed dictatorship – as a blessing: for it begs God the Father to intervene, as he said he would, at just the right time, and he will install the true regent, true king, true lord of the universe into a reign that will be so simple, so loving, so powerful, that it will include everyone who ever lived.

This coming kingdom is indeed a fact, but the timing, we have a lot to do with – if we don’t stand up as also citizens of this earth, and demand the removal of such an autocracy immediately, then we will be forcing God’s hand in establishing the new heavens and the new earth, sooner rather than later.

So long as our own spiritual houses are not only in order – with good works galore as our entrance fee to the new kingdom – but solidly built on rock: the rock being the tenets of the Catholic Church – which is the living resurrected person of Jesus Christ, then we can be assured that reckoning day will go easy for us. And for the rest – so long as one is “on the way to the sky” following objectively and rightly formed conscience – he has nothing to fear – but those who just insist on living in a spiritual house of their own design and construction, and on sand, will not fare well at all. And that will be that!
Let our day today be filled with joy because we have chosen Christ, chosen life, chosen, chosen one another! Amen.


Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Jun 27 - Wednesday 12th Week in OT


+ The gospel passage today again tells it like it is:  beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you shall know them.

Sometimes it may be a subtle as false prophecy, or sometimes it may present itself as a plain old wolf, in wolf’s clothing; beware, if you think that there must be some kind of an error – no one can be that obvious.

Well, it comes down to the fruit they produce to mix a metaphor; or the venom that come out of their mouths more appropriately.

Galatians 5 tells us: that love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and the like are the fruits of the presence of the Holy Spirit in one’s life; and that the opposite is true as well: everything that produces hate, sorrow, chaos, short-sightedness, rancor, evil deeds, and forgetfulness of God and his will is poison to be avoided at all costs, and to be driven out of any office of authority over other people. This is where “zero tolerance” rules supreme.

And any who know the difference but do not do all they can to replace the wolf with the lamb, will be held accountable for the damage done. This guardianship and accountability to God must be applied across the board, beginning with elected and appointed officials.

Be courageous, be an apostle of Truth and Justice and Mercy, be the disciple of Christ you claim to be!
Amen.

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Jun 26 - Tuesday 12th Week in OT


+ Today we have a very excellent gospel passage, which ought to jar us to the core. In it Jesus says point blank that it is only by entering through the narrow gate – using the hard road – that we will enter the Kingdom of Heaven – and that only a few will find it.

This road and gate have to do with hard choices to be made, hard speeches to be made, hard actions to be taken – on the side of Truth, on the side of Justice, on the side of Mercy, on the side of God in a twisted and depraved world that is only getting more so by the inane and deplorable spectacle which is the president of the United States “and his minions of brainwashed followers – his core base.

This group has chosen the wide path of blind obedience to a clearly definable autocratic posturing that is poised to take down our democracy and neutralize the core values and sacred principles on which we were not only founded, but which are supernaturally based: all law is derived from supernatural law – and when that reality is debased and ignored grave consequences follows.

And so: DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU – this is not only a fundamental concept all across all civilizations – this is only common sense: but we must call to our own mind and consciences that when Jesus says it he is referring directly to himself both explicitly and implicitly. I, the Lord of Heaven and Earth who Created You – and who sustains you – also redeems you – by my own indescribable Passion and Death on a Cross. This is the type of self-sacrifice that I demand of you who wish to share in my Resurrection to a newness of life.

Yes, going out of your way to protect all of our Father in Heaven’s spiritually common sensed “laws” and “prescriptions” – and extending these rights and dignities to all persons everywhere – especially those who want to come into our country to seek a better life – is essential to our own sharing in the fruits of the rejection, plotting against, execution and then glorious restoration of our model in life – our savior – our Lord, King and Friend: Jesus Christ.

The time has come to use the hardest road, and enter by the narrowest gate – because, in one way or another time is running out swiftly for Americans.

We have a lot to think about, pray about and act on as we approach our nation’s 242 birthday – will there even be a 243rd?

Mary, Mother of the Church, and Patroness of the United States: PRAY FOR US! PRAY FOR US! PRAY FOR US! Amen.

Monday, June 25, 2018

Jun 25 - Monday 12th Week in OT


+ Today we have a very brief but poignant gospel passage. In it Jesus tells us not to judge others. This kind of ruffles us on many different levels and the root idea that Jesus is trying to get across needs to be unpacked, if you will.

Jesus is not saying that, for example, parents can’t “judge” “evaluate” “monitor” the activities of their children in order to steer them in positive growth directions. Jesus is not saying that citizens of the state, who are also citizens of heaven – if they are baptized – cannot observe, assess, and make positive contributions to move elected politician to enact and enforce laws and guidelines, and implementations that are not founded first of all in truth, and charity – the loving thing to do. Jesus is not saying that we cannot “judge” a person who is setting fire to not only physical buildings and institutions, but also invisible institutions like the principles of foundation of our nation as one who has a deep moral conscience, respects rights and dignities of all persons, and who welcomes the stranger as we were welcomed here ourselves.

What Jesus is saying is that make sure that your vision and sense receptors are clear, clean, precise and accurate by using “spiritual Visine” on them – getting rid of all impediments to right vision, both external and internal – but then for God’s sake – make the moral judgments and appropriate initiatives to help others avoid dangers, grave and small.

What Jesus is saying is let your willingness to give critique and a call to action be based on self-less, unbiased appraisal and then the courage to act and speak based on the conditions and the amount of restraint that is advisable to make things better and not worse.
What Jesus is saying is : LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED, and STILL DO LOVE YOU.

Let us never forget that when Jesus arrived on the scene we were all, every man, woman and child enemies of God the Father and enemies of himself – being descendant of mortally wounding sinning Adam and Eve. And even though he himself restored the friendship of God to us, until we breathe our last, we are still members of that earthbound family, and we can jeopardize of eternal placement, by either sinning again, by doing what is uncharitable, or avoiding to do something charitable when it is called for.

What is a practical application: to judge that the base core of our national government is way off the track in many respects, especially in its grossly unjust, uncharitable, and inhumane way it regards and now continues to treat children, who do have a legal right as asylum seekers to be here in this country – when they legally or illegally cross our borders. And then do do all we can and are able personally to help the situation.

Jesus has said very plainly, clearly, and LOUDLY – I AM the CHILDREN of the world! The way you TREAT THEM is the way you TREAT ME! This thought should make a great many people very afraid. Let’s pray it does, and that it leads to a change of heart, and course of action.

Amen.

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Jun 24 - The Nativity of St. John the Baptist


+ Today we preempt the regular Sunday Celebration in Ordinary Time, with the celebration of the Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist. Why do we do this? Because John the Baptist is one of the major figures in salvation history, along with Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!

John, of course, was a second cousin of Jesus, the son of Zechariah, a priest of the temple in Jerusalem whose task it was to burn incense; and of Elizabeth, a first cousin of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As we see in the gospel passage Zechariah’s tongue was released from silence only after the birth of his son, whom he communicated would be named John – because he doubted the angel’s word that his wife would bear a son in her old age, and that the child would be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment of his birth.

John was the greatest of all the Old Testament Prophets because he was the last one of them: who had the exalted privilege and honor of literally pointing to Jesus, as he walked along the banks of the Jordan when he began his public life, and saying: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world! Behold the Lamb of God, indeed – these, of course, are the very words that are now restored to the celebration of Mass as the priest holds the Body of Christ before you to look at and behold just before receiving him in Holy Communion.

But, John’s main duty in the history of salvation was not just to point: but to prepare for the one who would be pointed to: to prepare the way of the Lord – by preaching a message of repentance for sin: only when the heart is clean, and the spiritual path clear, can a person be open enough to receive all that God has to offer through his beloved Son – for salvation!

John converted many to this stage of salvation, and then later encouraged them to follow the Lamb, Jesus, who is the true Messiah – the one they had been waiting for these many centuries – who would take them the rest of the way!

When Jesus finally did come on the scene he came to John at the Jordan to give credence to what John was doing, but also to be baptized himself, but not for himself (as he had no sin), but rather for usto show us that one day baptism and confirmation would be needed by his disciples to bring them into his new and mystical body of His – the Church!

Later, John was imprisoned by King Herod because he told him that it was unlawful for him to marry his sister in law, Herodias. Herod knew that John was right, but when the opportunity presented itself the Baptist literally lost his head so that the King could save face at a dinner party in front of his guests. It was only fitting though – that the very last Old Testament Prophet would give his life as a martyr for Christ – whom he knew to be the Way, the Truth and the Life eternal that he and everyone else was seeking for!

At this critical stage in the history of our nation, is in imperative that we allow ourselves to be a channel of the Holy Spirit to renew the face of this country, to reestablish it among others nations as a beacon of hope and hospitality – as it has always been. We must be voices crying out in our neighborhoods, parishes and workplaces: “There is objective truth, there is objective justice, there is objective and independent Law Giver and Judge, and the one criteria that everyone of us will be judged on one day is LOVE: did you love from the heart, were you honest in your dealings with your fellow men, women and children, were to compassionate, forgiving and bold to proclaim wrong when you see it, and to do all you could in your situation to make it right! The time for judgment may be closer that we might want to admit.

Are you ready own up to your deeds?

Jesus, you came to save the lost, you came to save the frightened, the lonely and the poor, especially the children – in our day – you want desperately to use us – because time may be running out – the next chapter in salvation history will begin to unfold – swiftly!

1.    "If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Friday, June 22, 2018

Jun 22 - Friday 11th Week in OT


+ The gospel passage today urges us to place our heart’s desire where it needs to be – and that is in the super-natural realm – the heavenly realm – the Realm of Christ, the King of the Universe – where it literally and already belongs. Any other placement will always produce a slight discomfort at the least, and downright catastrophic chaos at most. Look around the world today to see how the collective heart of the citizens of this country is right now: judge it by the catastrophic chaos that permeates most of our government leaders beginning with the anti-Christian leader of the free world who sits in the oval office – and is hell-bent in destroying everything that has to do with freedom and democracy, compassion and right-choice, mercy and downright common sense.

The “reality check” for all of this activity is the “eyes” – for all those living in the Light of the Gospel, the Light of the Beatitudes, the Light of Life – the eyes of the body are bright, clear, shining and joy filled! For those living the Darkness of the Evil One – the eyes are shifty, calculating, dead, and self-content to the extreme.

We stoke the fires of the Holy Spirit within us, so that our eyes can see what is really there, and to respond to it with LOVE, compassion, justice, mercy, and common sense (the sense of a rightly formed vibrant conscience) – by attendance at this Mass – it is primarily through this Sacred Banquet that we can have the power to not only see what is truly evil, but have the courage to do something about it.

This time is here for the vast population who not only call themselves Christian – but who actually are Christian and do Christian – to storm Washington DC – we are directly responsible for building up the “earthly city” – in preparation for its transition to the new heavenly city. We are either for this or against it – there is no standing still!

Our heart IS, where our TREASURE IS! Where’s yours?





Thursday, June 21, 2018

Jun 21 - St. Aloysius Gonzaga


+ Aloysius Gonzaga was a member of the Society of Jesus who died in his early twenties and is the patron saint of young people and of students in Jesuit colleges and universities.

 He was born in 1568 into a high-ranking family in Castiglione, in Lombardy, Italy and following the wishes of his father he was meant to go into military service, but on a family trip to Spain in the company of the empress of Austria in 1581 he decided to become a Jesuit. His family could not dissuade him and so Aloysius renounced his inheritance and entered the Jesuit novitiate in Rome in November of 1585.

He was inclined to austere penances, but obedience and poor health (a kidney disease) curbed this penchant a bit and gave him time for real prayer and meditation on the spiritual realities of life. His spiritual director, St. Robert commented that Aloysius’ example of piety was so extreme that others should not be encouraged to follow it; but it was his dedication to his studies, and his few years of nursing the sick in a Jesuit hospital during an outbreak of plague that qualified him for sainthood. He himself contracted the disease and died at the very young age of 23.

Aloysius understood the meaning of the gospel mandate of loving God, loving neighbor and loving self – and is a model for young people everywhere because he himself enjoyed being a child of God who experienced that love more and more deeply every day that he forgot himself and lived only for others. May young people in the world today find a true companion and model in St. Aloysius Gonzaga!

But, in addition, I cannot let this day go by without mentioning the gravely critical moral climate that pervades the political scene in our country, which affects all countries everywhere because of our prior moral and humane leadership, which culminated in a major hemorrhage and collapse yesterday.

“Love one another as I have loved you,” is not just a spiritual nosegay to comfort the weak and the imbecilic. It is the deepest spiritual principle and reality that lies in the heart of every human being on earth. It is so because we are created to love (love God and one another), and to be loved (by God and by others). When anyone denies, stifles or basically outlaws such a natural / supernatural dynamic an uproar will follow – both in the soul of the denier, if he has a conscience at all, and in the lives put into turmoil because of it.

“The straw which broke Trump’s back” is the incomprehensible way that he is toying with the lives of immigrant families and most especially the children caught in the political hailstorm. I should like to call this heinous attack on children and families “real-time-post-birth- abortion” – and ranks in “murderous intent” with the prebirth form of killing the same class of babies before they are even born!

It is time to wake up: this is God Speaking:  LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU – especially you whom I have entrusted with sharing my own administrative role as governor and safe guardian of human persons, human dignity, rights and privileges. Truly you are using my authority to do what you do, and know, that my patience is wearing very thin now. It is time for the same population who votes once a year, and who goes to church on Sunday, to STAND UP AND LET THEIR VOICES BE HEARD.

I predict – and this is not rocket science – that fist fights will be breaking out soon in our government office buildings, the White House and on cable-tv news – WAKE UP – we are about 2 degrees from the boiling point NOW!

LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.

THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH WILL BE A PLACE OF PEACE, OF HAPPINESS, JOY AND ADORATION OF THE GOD WHO CAME FIRST AND LOVED US FIRST AND REQUIRES US TO FOLLOW SUIT.

LOVE MUST TRUMP HATRED, BIGOTRY, LYING, DECEPTION, AND RABBLE ROUSING. THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS – THE FATHER OF LIES – SATAN HIMSELF IS HAVING HIS FIELD DAY RIGHT NOW – but he has already been conquered. He is the “chicken with his head cut off” – HE IS HARMLESS, HE IS HARMLESS, HE IS HARMLESS, if we just tell him in God’s Name – to cease and desist. It is the moral obligation of anyone in the world who is baptized to do this, we are an enormous opposition army: let’s report for duty today!

Whose banner are you now following: Satan’s or Christ’s!

I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Jun 20 - Wednesday 11th Week in OT


+ Today’s reading is a call to conscience and a call to action: the time has arrived for Catholic in particular, to be as fully as we can be, who we say we are: followers of Christ, and not only that, not following like he’s 10 paces ahead of us, it means following him in Spirit and in Truth, in Justice, Charity, Compassion, Kindness and Tenderness – but again, not separate from him, but as his is identical with our very beings: which is what happened when the waters of baptism were poured over us, and the spirit came to us at Confirmation, and Ordination. We now possess the spiritual but very real DNA of Jesus Christ, Creator and King of the Universe. And this fact should make an enormous difference in the way we navigate our way through today!

The political situation in this country today has finally spun off the charts: when babies, and toddlers and young children who are ripped apart and separated from their mothers who are fleeing already excruciatingly painful situations in their own countries, and are coming to our country for asylum – and in the name of the United States supported fully by our so-called President and backed by spineless, cowardly congressional members – are kept from entering with a zero tolerance policy that can be reversed with a simple phone call from the President – then we have reached the bottom of the barrel – this evil is one half step from abortion.

The cowards are now the Catholic Christians who sit by and do nothing, and worst of all – who support such policies. The torch on the Statue of Liberty is now shamefully dark – and as a country we need to hang our heads in shame if we sit by today and do not flood our congressmen and women with outrage, outcry and demand to right the ship of this government before it is too late.
This is not rocket science – look at the faces and cries from the soul “Papa, Papa” – the children and speaking as loudly as they can – trust me – Jesus is getting angrier and angrier by the moment – and the consequences of that could be very frightening indeed….

Just as Elisha the Prophet received a double portion of Elijah’s spirit – Elijah, who was used very powerfully by God to defeat evil – so let us beg the Holy Spirit to rush on not only us, but our pastors and bishops so that the face of the earth will finally be renewed and the children – all children – including us, who are adopted children of God will be safe.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Jun 19 - Tuesday 11th Week in OT


+ The readings today tell us that we are not meant to be aimless, rudderless vessels on the great sea of life.  If anything like that, we may be likened to sail boats who depend on the “wind of the Holy Spirit” to push us along in the ways that God the Father / Creator would have us go. But not only that, there really is a “magnetic pull” if you will, kind of like the Great North Star, in front of us, likewise pulling to toward that perfect pier point that is the gate of eternal life and heavenly existence.

That magnetic pull is the supernatural reality, entity and power of LOVE – the dynamic life of the Blessed Trinity that resides in us in a special way as Baptized, Confirmed Catholics – which knows its origin and source. It is becoming more and more clear that the dynamic exchange of love between the God the Father and God the Word, produces the Spirit (Holy Spirit) whose energetic never ceasing undulation is real “love” – this, is the foundation and subatomic building block of all created things, including human beings.

The dynamism of LOVE then created us, the dynamism of love fills us and allows us to have self-conscious being, the dynamism of love is drawing all of us back to the center, to the core, to the seat of the Trinity, which is the eternal state of beatific bliss that awaits those who do not put obstacles in the way, by the misuse of freedom. We have freedom, to be able to choose to belong to God’s eternal family, that will actually exist in an everlasting “marriage feast” and “honeymoon that will last forever!” – and we shall all live happily ever after – if we want to. This of course, being the “Wedding Feast of the Lamb of God, Jesus” whose death and resurrection to a newness of being – the full glory of humanity – made the same now possible for every one else, who simply believes it happened, and continues to happen, and is the ground of the possibility of eternal endurance, and purdurance.

This is the “perfection” that Jesus tells us we are capable of in the gospel passage when he commands us to “be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect!” If Jesus commands anything, he always gives the actual grace and power to be able to do it! PERFECT LOVING EXISTENCE is our goal, our life and our eternal beatitude.

Today, then let us rely on the fact that we are more than our bodies, we are more than our minds, we are more that our earthbound spirits: we are already immortal, we are already chosen, we are already being drawn to our port in the heavens, by cords of LOVE, cords of Compassion, cords of Kindness, Forgiveness and Peace – but also cords of reason, cords of common sense, cords of plans of human helpfulness. We are here now for each other, so that later we can be there with each other!

I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.


Monday, June 18, 2018

Jun 18 - Monday 11th Week in OT


+ The gospel passage today is a tough lesson in real love. In order to understand the reading, we need to understand that God is God, we are not, and that our finite, limited and often-times prejudiced minds cannot comprehend real reality, or the way God operates - which is vastly more comprehensive, just, compassionate and merciful than our own way of reasoning, reacting and operating ever can be.

Having said that – when Jesus goes beyond that animalistic reaction to injury or attack with the “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” remedy – which actually at that point was being “earth-bound compassionate” – rather than taking off someone’s head for an eye, just the eye for the eye was being very generous. But with all the authority of heaven and earth Jesus says: to any injury offer the opposite reaction, not a similar one:

so, this really means turn the other cheek, and offering no resistance to one who is evil – in this way the Divine Chips may fall where they will – and things will end up better beyond belief in the long run – which is another Divine perspective – God is the Master-Architect, Designer, Artist – the big picture has to be taken into consideration always.

So, we must be extravagant in attacks against us, and also ordinary acts of human helpfulness – always provide more service than required minimally – give when people ask – don’t turn your back on anyone, but most especially your own – your own family members and charges.

Yes, this is very hard – but remember – when God is dealing with us – who are sinner sons and daughters of Adam and Eve – we want him to be as extravagant, forgiving and compassionate. Lord, have mercy on us all!

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Jun 17 - 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time


11th Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 17, 2018

I –I have lifted high the lowly tree.
R –Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
II – Whether we are at home or away, we aspire to please the Lord.
A – The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower. All who come to him will live forever.
G –It is the smallest of all seeds, and becomes the largest of plants.

+ It is no accident that the readings today are about green and growing things, during this “green and growing season of the year.” It is easier to understand planting and pruning and growth when it is happening right outside our windows!

The main point of the readings is that the seed that is planted, or the sprout that is transplanted is the WORD OF GOD! God determined that we needed to hear a few things to ensure our steady progress towards him, and so he spoke one ENORMOUS WORD: and that gigantic word was WORD, the word was SON, the word became JESUS, the word was REDEEMER; the WORD became FLESH!

It behooved God through Jesus to speak this word as loudly and clearly as he could so that all the earth could hear it, men and women on every continent: and this he did by training a group of “word-bearers” “gospel-preachers” and then sending them out filled with the fire and persuasive power of the Holy Spirit. Men and women who were within listening range would have no excuse for at least not hearing this gospel: this was true in the olden days when it was done by word of mouth; but in this electronic age, this digital, internet age: it is even easier to get the word out, but also, having it out there, it can even more easily be ignored as it comes with a barrage of daily emails, tweets, text messages and phone calls and chatter!

The Church is truly meant to be a gathering place for all mankind (as the image of the tiny seed grown to a huge embracing tree demonstrates), and all of mankind with its various parts and pieces of true reality ought to feel itself magnetically drawn to the center of it all, the heart and true home manifested as Catholic Church.

This is the Kingdom of God that we are all invited to, this is the Kingdom that will become a reality, when all of the kicking and screaming, and foot-dragging has ceased, and the multitudes will scratch their heads and say: so, this is what it is all about, this peace, this harmony, this joy, this beauty, this justice – what was I thinking? why did I hesitate? why did I try to run away from this?:

and God our loving Father will smile, nod his head and say, “O yes, my precocious little children, this is what I had in mind all along – what took you so long to agree to participate in it? – but hey, I am glad you are here, get out your best clothes, put on your finest jewels and come to the great feast that I have longed to share with you!”

The Word that Jesus spoke all along is LOVE: love is all there is: what we do here in this Mass celebrates love, what we take from here makes love in the world a reality: may we do always as Jesus commanded and love, love, love!

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Jun 16 - Saturday 10th Week in OT


+ Our readings today have to do with commitment and renunciation.  They have to do with saying “Yes” and saying “No” - and sticking to it! In the first reading young Elisha follows Elijah the prophet after he is selected by Elijah to be his disciple. Elisha says “Yes” and he sticks by his decision. In the gospel passage, referring to the rather indiscriminate practice of “swearing the truth to just about anything at all” – a practice that is still indiscriminately used today, Jesus says to “make good to the Lord all that we vow” – and let the subject matter be serious, let it comes from the fountain of love in our hearts!

There are two kinds of vows that come to mind: the vows of marriage, and the vows of religious profession. The first is made to the spouse to bind the couple together in mutual love and fidelity til death do they part. In essence, they are utilitarian vows, a means to an end, the end being life forever in God, not as a married couple, but as brother and sister in Christ, who were coupled by God to give value and meaning to their lives on earth, to bring into existence more brothers and sisters for God’s predetermined family, and to mirror the relationship between Christ and his Bride – his Mystical Body, the Church – whom he will marry one day – when the last trumpet sounds.

The other major vows are those taken by religious men and women when they commit themselves to following the evangelical counsels of “poverty, chastity, and obedience” as they live their lives with a particular group of men / women who have their sights solely fixed on God, and who allow him to use them in an outward apostolate in keeping with the charism of the group: for example, teaching, nursing, helping the poor, aiding the poorest of the poor. These men and women are exemplary in the heroic amount of self-renunciation they make, so that can be as pure an instrument as God wishes them to be for others.

For us, this means, that we must say yes to all our rightly intentioned vows, either as married persons, professed religious, or committed single people in the world, “vowed as it were” to praising God by doing our jobs well, and helping as many people as we can in our everyday lives, and stick by them, and say no to every other kind of justification that we want to “feather our own nest!” In the end, we must realize that as baptized Christians, confirmed and ordained Catholics that our lives are not our own – we are meant to be instruments of love, day in and day out – let us vow ourselves to this project that is entirely God magnificent work – and spend the day radiating light, joy, peace and hope to all others.  Amen.

Friday, June 15, 2018

Jun 15 - Friday 10th Week in OT


+ The readings today seem to have nothing to do with each other, but it is possible to show an important connection between them. The first reading is the striking revelation that Elijah learns that God is found most clearly, loudly, and boldly in the tiny whispering sound that can only be heard in the dead silence of contemplation of his Always-Presence deep in our heart and mind and soul. He is not to be found in the showy, flashy, glitzy, glamoury anything at all.

Those who roar in quoting scripture and lording it over everything and everyone – the mighty winded ones – those who cause earthquakes by the depth charges and grenades of prejudiced judgmental war cries, those who fire up fake-news in torrents by sheer stupidity and blatant ignorance – are not the bearers of anything constructive, productive, or humanly helpful. No! what comes from the inner resources of the heart is what gently guides, forms, molds and shapes in line with God’s holy will for a soon to come new heavens and earth!

And so the gospel passage can be related or complementary in that it tells us the it is the intention of the heart that determines sin, sexual sin, relationship sin, family sin, pornographic sin, chauvinist sin, political sin and the like. We need to “tear out and throw away” any and all parts of us psychologically, and emotionally that frame us as guilty conspirators in tearing down the kingdom of God – and we need to replace them with limbs, and appendages that actually go out and self-sacrificially give form and life to that kingdom to all those God places in our path each day.

Let’s go where God would have us go this day; let’s do what God would have us do, let’s sacrifice like God himself manifested by sending his very own Son to be murdered so that we could be free, so that we could have peace, so that we could have abundance of life, both here and hereafter!

My friends, this time is now, the outside world is unravelling at an unparalleled pace – just watch an objective news station – read an objective newspaper – listen to objective new commentaries and documentaries.

God the Father’s patience, though everlasting, is not meant to be ongoing with us in this dimension: Come, Lord Jesus, put an end to our foolishness, and inaugurate the great reward for faithfulness in the face of hopelessness!

Amen.


Thursday, June 14, 2018

Jun 14 - Thursday 10th Week in OT


+ The readings for mass today are startling. The first reading tells of torrential rains – that hadn’t fallen on that particular spot of land for three years – that started out just a few minutes earlier as a little gray cloud over the sea no bigger than a man’s hand. This manifestation records the mighty power of God to do what he wills, when he wills. It is also important to know that the rain was the result of the prayer of the people whose agricultural and economic life way virtually put on standstill until the rains indeed fell.

In another place Job says: the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. But in his own experience, he can also report that when he gives back again it comes in torrents of blessings and joys beyond our imagining: this the “fist-cloud!”

The gospel passage shows Jesus in a righteous rant about the quality of our lives: if our main joy in life is seeing how many corners we can cut today – just eeking by the barebones, basic and fundamental supernatural principles (such as the scribes and Pharisees were accustomed to doing) we actually needn’t bother at all. Our spiritual lives are dead as can be if we do this.

Jesus begins a torrent of truth telling when he actually replaces the Law of Moses with his own take on each prescription. Why is he doing this? Who does he think he is? Well, he God! He is Word of God! He is Law of God: which is the LAW OF LOVE! period.

And so when we try to cut corners, we are “snipping away at our own noses!”

For example: the law of Moses says: you shall not kill, BUT I SAY – even if you just grow angry with your brother you are guilty of sin; the law of Moses says: He who calls his brother a “Fool” or a “Renegade” is in effect murdering him, because his name, and reputation equal the man – and you will end up in eternal separation from life and love.

So, therefore, when you pray at home, when you pray in church – and you remember any of your brethren who have something against you – go first and be reconciled with your brother or else you are wasting your time praying or worshiping – because the purity of our love, and our forgiveness is the measure of our prayer and worship.

Is he serious? Quite! Unless we begin to show that we are remorseful, sorry and willing to change for the better – then we will stay locked up in the prison of our own minds and hearts: and that can be a very terrifying place to be!

Jesus, the Person, not just the concept or doctrine, is the one to listen to and to follow and not only to imitate – but to activate in our baptized souls, by frequent and heartfelt prayer and worship – give him the time of day – and he will give you the time of your LIFE!




Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Jun 12 - Tuesday 10th Week in OT


+ We have two very profound and definitive readings today at Mass, and they both tie together nicely. The first reading is the amazing story on how Elijah the prophet demonstrated to the widow of Zarephtah of Sidon, that trustingly and boldly following his instructions about the flour and oil would produce miraculous results. So long as she acted and did what he asked her, no matter how impossible it seemed to her, there was enough little cakes to feed Elijah, but also she and her son for a year – but, she had to keep making the cakes in order for the boon to last.

For us this means the same as the point of the gospel passage today, where Jesus tells his disciples that they are in fact salt, light and as a city on a hill, so long as they are his disciples and do what he asks, do what he did – so long as they are connected to him by obedience, then their supply of savor, light and encouragement would last – because it is all done for OTHERS and not for self. This is the whole point! We generate an increase of faith, we generate an increase of connection to God, we generate and supply what other people need, when we do what we do for others and not for ourselves: this is the basic, core, fundamental and salvific posture that we must have – or what little salt, light and brilliance we have will die out!

So our good deeds, are meant to flow from our connection to the Divine Source, which we first engaged in at the time of our baptisms, no matter our age, and are meant to give glory to God – and not ourselves.

Sometimes we have things backwards, but this is one such thing that we must keep straight – for our own salvation, and the infinite good of others!

So long as we have life and breath, let us live for others, entirely for others!


Monday, June 11, 2018

Jun 11 - St Barnabas


+ St. Barnabas was (of course) a Jewish convert, coming to the faith soon after Pentecost, taking the name Barnabas (he was born in Cyprus and given the name Joseph). Though not one of the chosen Twelve Apostles, Barnabas is mentioned frequently in the Acts of the Apostles and is included among the prophets and doctors at Antioch and is considered an Apostle. We know him as the companion of St. Paul who introduced him to the Twelve.

Like Paul, Barnabas believed in the Church’s mission to the Gentiles, and worked with him in Cyprus and Asia, but split with him over a non-theological matter. He evangelized in Cyprus with St. Mark and founded the Church in Antioch. He was martyred in 61 at Salamis; and at the time of his death he was carrying a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew that he had copied by hand. His name, Barnabas means, son of encouragement and consolation, because he was always cheerful and had a gentle and sunny disposition!

Our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles situates Barnabas at the Church in Antioch; it also describes how during a worship service the Holy Spirit instructed the congregation to set aside for him Saul and Barnabas for the work to which they have been called. After completing the prayer and fasting, the community laid their hands on them and sent them off!

The gospel passage gives us in outline form the traveling instructions for apostles: taking nothing with you, as the laborer is worth his keep, cure the sick, raise the dead and proclaim as present in the midst of the people the very Kingdom of heaven: use the offering of peace as the litmus test for reception: if the household or town accepts your greeting of peace, stay there and encourage them with truth and the gospel; if they refuse your peace and ridicule and insult you, leave them and take God’s blessing with you: at a later time they shall be held accountable at the very throne of God himself!

Of course, the object of all this evangelizing and peace making is to ensure that what the Lord had said would be true: “I am with you always, until the end of the world.” He is with us when brave disciples speak his word confidently and boldly and do what he did! LOVE! May we be brave and courageous disciples today!

The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.



Sunday, June 10, 2018

Jun 10 - 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time


+ Our readings today are about life and death: eternal life and eternal death! The first reading situates the battle between these two very real entities and possibilities from where they originate – in the Book of Genesis – in the events of “the very beginning” of human life. Because the woman and then the man disobeyed God’s single commandment and test sin and death entered the world. Yet, even though the offspring of the serpent and the children of the woman would be at odds throughout the coming ages – the Child of the New Woman – the New Eve – Mary – the Christ – would smash and kill the evil serpent once and for all.

And Jesus accomplished that feat on the Cross in an enormous act of obedience to his Father’s will and it was the “beginning of the end of Satan” – even though some of the effects of the original sin were still to be played out – like the conquering of physical death once and for all – at the time of the Second Coming.

An eternal existence beyond our wildest imaginings awaits us – all foretold, preached about, talked about and demonstrated by Jesus own Resurrection from the Dead to a Newness and Fullness of Human Life! We will share that very life, after we are admitted through the passageway of being separated from our human bodies for a short while.

The resurrection of the dead is real, very real – and the soul that persists after death will be reunited to it – and then a magnificent, promised, feast will begin in a new heavens and a new earth!

In the gospel passage Jesus assures us that Satan had has his day! Even his detractors knows that Jesus is casting out Satan from people possessed by him, so he tells them, that if I cast demons out by the Prince of Demons, then I would be defeating myself. This obviously is not the case. But if I cast them out by the finger of God – then the power of God has come into your midst.

Jesus was accused of being a bit crazy, who at some points is beginning to think he is, because his teachings and actions are so radicall different from other rabbis and teachers – but his quells the conversation by simply stating that whoever does the will of God, moment by moment, are brothers and sisters and mothers to me – family to me – because of their direct connection therefore with Our Father in Heaven – and you know the rest of the prayer. And a very key line in it is this: Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is In Heaven!

May we today live as children of the Father, family of Jesus, and caster of demons both from our lives and the lives of our loved ones and friends – even strangers – if the Spirit moves us to do so today! Amen.

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Jun 9 - Immaculate Heart of Mary


+ There is a deep and inviolable connection between the Sacred Heart of Jesus (whose feast we celebrated yesterday), and that of the Immaculate Heart of Mary that we celebrate today. If unbounded love and exhaustless generosity are what make those hearts beat, then these days of honoring them are right on target.

It was from the incomprehensible love of God the Father that the Word became Flesh, took on our humanity, including a human heart, and did all he did out of love for us, and for our salvation. But so that he could even arrive on the human scene – a heart whose joy was devoted as the deep blue ocean – had to be willing to receive him in a womb specially prepared and now preserved. Into a heart that never saw the vestiges of sin of any kind, the Spirit came to dwell, and then Jesus was born nine months later.

As the child grew, his parents Mary and Joseph, kept learning and marveling at what they saw developing and unfolding right under their roof: a child who would change the destiny of all of mankind. They loved him with a simple love, a holy, love, and a generous love. And these traits he learned from them, and he spent them wherever he went thereafter.

A question always comes up: did Jesus at an early age know that he was God’s Son. Yes, he did. But not in any other way than you or I can. His destiny was revealed to him daily: and so “he found himself in the temple teaching the teachers” – perhaps what came out of his mouth surprised him as much as it surprised them. We learn our destiny and find our relationship with God, daily, the same way: by doing what we feel him calling us to do: not necessarily with the learned in their halls, but wherever he brings us in contact with people.
And so today, let us embrace the hours given us to draw us even closer to our eternal reward, and to help other get closer to theirs: all done out of love, the tremendous love and life that God is so willing to share with us – now and always.


O Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us!
Immaculate heart of Mary, prayer for us!
Lead us one day to where you are enjoying the bliss of the Father’s love: His astounding Heart!




Friday, June 8, 2018

Jun 8 - Most Sacred Heart of Jesus


+ The visual image we have of today’s Solemnity is the Sacred Heart of Jesus the Christ – Word of God, Incarnate. An apt caption for just about any image the we can portray and visualize concerning the Heart of Christ is this: “As God Becomes the Flesh, so too the Flesh shall become God.” This says it all: Jesus, the reality of God,  who took on human flesh, is everything there is to know about God the Father: for he is the exact re-presentation of the Father; the purpose of his coming to earth was to ensure that we, as fallen human beings, could once again become God – which was in the plan all along, from the time of Adam – though this time from God’s gift, rather than from man’s grasping at becoming God.

GOD IS LOVE; therefore, God is nothing but a giant Heart, full of love, full of gentleness, patience, kindness, compassion, mercy and truth; Jesus re-presents that Heart: and above that, His own human heart exists entirely for us. The Word of God did not need a body, he did not need a human heart; but He chose to take them on so that we could be forgiven of sin, so we could be healed of our defections. This is the totally selfless meek Heart we honor, adore and worship today in this feast.

This is the Heart that lived a solitary life for 30 years; this is the Heart that was excited about proclaiming a Kingdom of justice, love and peace for all humanity; this was a Heart that was moved to pity for so many, and who performed miracle after miracle to show His own personal care for people; this was the Heart that resolutely made its way to Calvary; this is the Heart that transsubstantiated bread and wine into his very self (including his heart) as a memorial of his Passion that would soon follow; this was the Heart that was pierced with a lance, at the site of crucifixion, allowing the last vestiges of blood and then water to flow from His Divine Heart; this is the Heart that was glorified and became the glowing image of peace and forgiveness for everyone, everywhere from that moment on; this is the Heart we celebrate today; this is the Heart that we love today; this is the Heart extraordinaire that we are called upon to go to, to hide in, be refreshed by and then moved by to reenter our lives calmed, joyful and eager to spread such a marvelous and wonderful love to all we meet, after having experienced it first ourselves!

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, “burning furnace of charity” – fire us up to imitate your self-sacrificial loving nature, this day and every day – let us reach out and be for others tirelessly, and when we think we have no more to give – hide us in your Heart, and have mercy on us always!

And let us also remember, that as St. John Vianney, Patron of Priests says: The priest is the living icon of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: which poured forth everything for us and for our salvation! Let us deeply honor, respect and love all priests – all of them!




Thursday, June 7, 2018

Jun 7 - Thursday 9th Week in OT


+ Our gospel passage today sums it all up, doesn’t it – LOVE. It’s all about love, isn’t it? It always has been, and always will be. Some scribes come up to Jesus and try to play a game with him: “So, which of all of the hundred commandments of Moses is number one, which comes first!”

And Jesus, immediately quotes the top choice: which really is the top choice: Hear, O Israel! The lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” and the second is just like it: in fact it is directly hooked up and connected with it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

That’s it! and it’s “love, actually.” But, not Hollywood love, but a real “Love Story” that actually boggles the mind, in fact, so much, that many people these days don’t even want to hear about it anymore: GOD LOVING CREATION AND PEOPLE INTO EXISTENCE and then REDEEMING THEM when the flunked a test he gave them to determine if they would FREELY love him in return for all his blessings on them.

Yes, loving God FRIST is it! and since the GOD OF LOVE is intimately bound up with all of creation, especially people, he’s present there – we can’t say that we love God, if we don’t love everything that we see, especially people who are journeying with us back to the Father’s house in the heavenly kingdom.

Meaning: we are at home in creation that we will encounter today, we are at home with all the people we will encounter, we are at home with ourselves, therefore, let’s all try really hard to believe these realities and live like we believe in them: LOVING AS CHRIST LOVED US! because Jesus IS GOD’S LOVE in the FLESH!

The first reading exhorts us not to deny him and these teachings, especially about the New Law of Love - which absolutely comes first: because if we do, he will deny us FOREVER – and we just would not want to the see the consequences of that! we just wouldn’t!

“Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths, Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God our Lover and our Savior!”


Happy New Year 202

  A Happy New Year to you all! I hope and pray I am able to keep this blog up to date now that we are entering into the New Year! I would li...