Lk 21:5-11 Stones Thrown

Tuesday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
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While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, "All that you see here - the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down."

America is so fragile.  Often we think of how fragile our world is.  There is so much concern about global warming and its effects and how easily our planet could be destroyed.  But I, on the other hand, often think of how fragile our country, civility and democracy is, and how easily it could crumble. 

All nations and governments are fragile, including America's. Her institutions and laws are fragile than we care to think.  Our way of life could easily change and become unrecognizable within a generation or two.  And given all the wrong "environmental" conditions, our Constitution could easily become just a scarp of paper.

When Ebola hit Dallas, I wondered what would happen to us and our institutions if things got out of control.  Would there be mass quarantining, lootings, and chaos?  My imagination went even wilder when I found out that one nurse, who was infected with the deadly disease, had taken a flight to Cleveland, Ohio! What would become of us if our neighbors began getting sick?  How would we treat them?  What would happen to our hospitals if they became overwhelmed?  And what about our police force and emergency services?  What would happen to our government if our leaders began calling in sick?   

Sure, America is militarily powerful but that's nothing.  If there lessons to be learned from history, then we should fear destruction from the inside, rather than from the outside. 

Last night I watched St. Louis Prosecutor Bob McCulloch report the ruling from the grand jury on the Michael Brown/Officer Darren Wilson case.  Like most Americans, I watched and listened carefully to every word he said.  I was very impressed by the prosecutor's professionalism. 

The grand jury, comprising nine white and three black individuals, met on 25 separate days over a three month period.  They heard more than 70 hours of testimony from about 60 witnesses and sifted through a mountain of evidence - all the evidence: recordings, photographs, physical/forensic evidence, eye-witness testimonies, expert opinions, including three medical examiners and experts on blood, toxicology and firearms. 

Conclusion? The grand jury declined to indict the police officer. 

Shortly after the news conference, authorities released more than 1,000 pages of grand jury documents, including Wilson's testimony.  Although the deliberations were not recorded and the vote from each member was not revealed, the evidence the grand jury examined was released and made public for all to see. 

Result?  Tears, sadness, dismay, anger, violence, vandalism, arrests. 

Businesses - many of them owned by hard working blue collar workers - were torched.  Family-owned businesses were destroyed.  Property destroyed.  Lives destroyed. 

Last night, the poor town of Ferguson got a little poorer.  And so did America.

What I find disturbing is how the media appeared to be adding fuel to an already hot situation.  Some journalists asked Prosecutor McCulloch if he "would be able to sleep tonight."  What???  What kind of question is that? 

Others reporters said he looked "defensive."  What is all this subjective gobbledygook?     

All that you see here - the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.

If evidence in this case had not been released to the public, or if it had pointed to a different conclusion, then I would completely understand all the angry and confusion in Ferguson.  But this is not the case.  This is a very different and very sad case. 

No one wants to see a young man killed.  But does anyone want to see an innocent man's life ruined? 

Attorneys for Michael Brown's family on Tuesday vowed to push for federal charges against the Ferguson police officer who killed the unarmed 18-year-old.

My fear is that they are being set up for another let down...and another stone thrown.  

Lk 21:1-4 Big Rewards with Small Coins

Monday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
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When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.

A small boy with a massive tumor.  I'd like to share with you an article I read not too long ago:

"Surgeons in New Mexico have removed a rare, football-sized tumor from the neck and upper body of a Mexican boy, capping a two-year charitable effort to get the disfigured child U.S. medical attention."

"The 11-year-old patient, Jose Antonio Ramirez Serrano from Ciudad Juarez...was expected to remain at the University of New Mexico Children's Hospital for at least a month recovering from Monday's surgery. 

[U.S. missionaries] first noticed the child walking across a street in the impoverished Anapra neighborhood of Juarez two years ago and learned the child's family had exhausted all medical efforts in Mexico...

Faith-filled widow with two small coins.  What I find most striking about today's beautiful Gospel passage is how nothing - not even a "small" act of faith and love - escapes God's eyes.  The Lord saw what this poor widow did, and he set her on a pedestal, apart from all the others, for all to see, including his own Apostles.  Her act of faith was enormous - gigantic!

How in the world could it have gone unnoticed by so many people?

Today's article and today's Gospel passage are so similar.  How in the world could Jose Antonio's medical condition gone unnoticed by so many people? 

What were the doctors in Mexico thinking?  Are you going to tell me they were unaware of the great hospitals in the United States?  They didn't care.  They sent him away.  They weren't concerned enough or determined enough to see this boy get the help he needed. 

Where were the religious - the priests and nuns and local missionaries - in Cuidad Jauarez?  Why didn't they mobilize the full force of the Catholic Church?  Are you going to tell me they didn't have any important phone numbers or contacts? 

What happened to the doctors and the religious is what happens to so many of us:  we don't see our neighbor in the mirror.  We don't see ourselves as Jose Antonio or ourselves as Jesus Christ!  We don't see ourselves choking and dying a painful death because no one will really - honestly - help.  We don't see ourselves as the one picking up our Cross and carrying it until everything is finished!  It is finished!  

The Spanish ministry coordinator for the First Baptist Church, Kristean Alcocer, said "Many promises were made [to the family] over the years, but no one ever came through with a meaningful solution."

So it took two foreigners, two American missionaries, from a Protestant Church to imagine themselves in this child's shoes and imagine themselves as Jesus Christ...and move some serious mountains!

God bless them!  

It's amazing the big things we can do for little people if we only have the faith the size of a mustard seed...or two small coins. 

Lk 21:1-4 Against Complacency

Memorial of Saint Andrew Dŭng-Lạc, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs
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By KATIE GROSS

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people

putting their offerings into the treasury

and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.

He said, “I tell you truly,

this poor widow put in more than all the rest;

for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,

but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”

​Over this past summer, one of my friends went on a long hiking trip.  Every time he goes on one of these trips, he wears a dog tag with a verse from Scripture on the back—Philippians 4:13. However, before this past trip, he mistakenly told me that the verse was Philippians 4:12, so I looked it up. It says, “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.”  

​What is St. Paul saying in this verse? He is not merely recounting his past wealth or bragging about his spiritual might; in fact, in Philippians 4:13, he claims that he could not have lived well without God’s assistance:  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Instead, St. Paul is saying that he found just as much difficulty in living in prosperity as he did in humility. He needed the same assistance of Christ to live out his vocation in both seasons of his life.

​How is this? How did St. Paul, who was eventually imprisoned and beheaded for his faith, find the same struggling in wealth as in his persecution? The truth is that comfort is a great temptation against faith. It breeds belief in self-sufficiency. It breeds complacency. But it’s not just the super-wealthy that are tempted to complacency. The truth is, unless you are travelling all across the world and evangelizing like St. Paul, you are probably tempted to complacency every day.

 

​What is complacency? Simply put, it’s the temptation to say to ourselves that we are good in our current station of life. We don’t need to pray more, strive more, act more. We are fine. What a terrible lie, but what a tempting one!

​How many times have we gone to Mass to simply fulfill an obligation? Like the wealthy men in the Gospel reading, we put in one hour but not a minute more, lest it should interfere with our comfortable Sunday. Two weeks ago, a family member was baptized in a very large Baptist church in the area. It is not uncommon for service at that church to last for an hour and a half to two hours, or more. I have to admit that I could not find it within myself to be attentive for the whole service. One of my Catholic family members upon leaving the church joked, “I like being a Catholic because our services are one and done”—of course, referring to the length of the Mass. I have to admit that I laughed, but upon further reflection, how sad! If our Masses were two hours long, would we go as easily? Could we spare another hour of our time for the man who spent much more than an hour living and dying for us?

​Or think about complacency in prayer. We say prayer before meals, and maybe upon rising and before going to sleep. But can we find motivation to pray more? And if we do, can we sustain it, even when it seems to be inconvenient or even unfruitful?

​How do we serve others? Do we give just enough to satisfy our guilt, or do we give entirely of ourselves like the widow did? I have told this story before in a previous blog post, so if you have already read it, bear with me. In my English class this year, our teacher had us watch a speech by a woman who risked everything to start a small company that gives microloans to impoverished business owners in Asia and Africa (usually women who sell things they make, small farmers, etc.). She said that before she resolved to take a risk and do more, she was simply throwing money in donation jars to satisfy her own guilt. Her service was mostly motivated by selfishness, or a sense that she was obligated to give. We have all been there, much like the wealthy men in this Gospel reading who only give to fulfill an obligation—NEVER sacrificing their own comfort. John Paul II once said that our lives only find meaning when they are poured out for another. Do we believe it? Can we do more than the bare minimum in our service to others? Could we give of our very livelihood in service? These are great aspirations, but we must know how to live them out. We must learn how to fight complacency and truly give what is due to God.

​Teenagers or students who may be reading—never get too busy for the important things; namely, prayer, your family, and your community. I am slightly biased, but I think complacency is easiest to fall into in this stage of life. Everything in our culture says that we should be working towards our own comfort and success. Unless we give ourselves to God through prayer and service, we will look back and find that we are slipping down a slippery slope.

​Mothers and fathers who may be reading—never forget how important your job is. I have been greatly blessed in my life with incredible parents who give of themselves every day for me.  Now that I am getting closer to leaving home, I have been getting more sentimental than I would like to admit. When I look back through the years, I realize that I owe everything I have and everything that I am to my parents (well, to God first, but through them-- you understand). Parents, you have blank canvases before you in your children. The way you live your vocation as a parent will determine the way your children will live their vocation as Christians. Don’t do the bare minimum for the faith of your family. Don’t just take your kids to Mass on Sunday and be done—talk with them about how God has worked in your life as a family, and pray together. Mother Teresa said that world peace begins in the family. How right is she!

​We need to be on our guard against complacency. We need to get rid of the bare minimum mentality. Today, let’s ask God to help us, because we need His help in all things.

Mt 25:31-46 The Best Who Served The Rest

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
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By FATHER ALFONSE NAZZARO

Jesus said to his disciples:  "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him.  And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father.  Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."


Jesus Christ, Shepherd of the Universe.  What a sight it will be!  A glorious throne.  Nations assembled before Him.  Emperors, Dictators, Presidents - everyone in a position of power and authority - will be bowing and shaking before the almighty King.  Peasants - simple folks - will be bowing and shaking as well.  Some will go to His right.  Others will go to His left.  They will know their place.  They will know who stands for Him and who stands against Him.  They will know the real King - the only King - of all things.  LIGHTS, CAMERAS, ACTION!

Will Christ will pound His chest and declare His authority for all to hear and fear?  Will He point His finger and make us blush?  Will He sentence some to life and others to death?  Will people cheer?  Is there applause in heaven?  Will He make us feel weak and small?  Will He Lord himself over us?

Will He repeat what others have done throughout the centuries?

No!

The refrain.  Today's reading reminds me of a song written with two verses and a refrain.  What is the refrain?  "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me."

What?  Is this right? 

I find today's "refrain" to be abrupt and somewhat out of place, even shockingly unceremonious and downright underwhelming.  Could this be right?  Is this what it takes to inherit God's kingdom?  Is this what makes us royals?

Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.  I'm sure the Lord never physically pounded his chest, or sat in a high chair or throne.  I'm also sure He never went on top of any mountain to coronate himself.  But in today's first and second staves, it sure sounds like He could have...if He had wanted to.

What's Christ's secret to being a King, a real King, a noble King?  Being a servant.   

What's the secret to living a long and prosperous life while keeping your mind sane and your body healthy?  Serving others.

Why are so many people sick today, with unhealthy thoughts and unhealthy bodies?  Could it possibly be that we are spending way too much time thinking about ourselves and not enough on others?

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me."

Stop thinking about all the times you were rejected.  Stop reliving them in your head.  Stop worrying so much about what you eat, what you wear and how you look? 
When was the last time you looked in the mirror and saw your neighbor???

For I was hungry... This world is starving for Christ.  It thirsts for righteousness.  We're all looking for a good friend and someone to love.  Have you found him/her?  Is it real?  Is it noble?  Is it holy?

LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND SEE YOUR NEIGHBOR!

To be a king, you have to treat others as kings.  To be a royal, you have to start giving others the royal treatment:  "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me."

If you want people to worship you, then you must first worship them.  If you want people to love you, then you must love them first.  If you want people to delight over you, then take delight over them.

Jealousy:  the killer of Saints.  I've said it before and I will say it again.  Jealousy is a very ugly sin because it is a very unforgiving sin.  It spiritually, emotionally and physically kills its host! 

If all I do in life is compare myself to those in front of me, and never notice those behind me, then I will always appear to be a loser.  

Be fair.  Look in front of you and behind you.  There is nothing to be jealous of.  Learn from the best to serve the rest!

Now here is the twist:  As a priest, I've noticed something.  I've learned more from the "rest" than from the "best."  I've learned I have very little to fear, and that I can do without, and that it's more appealing and attractive to shine a spotlight on others than on yourself.   

So after careful review, I have determined that today's refrain is not frightfully unceremonious or underwhelming, but rather plucky and refreshing. 

Look in the mirror and see all those who need you.  See God and neighbor. "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me."

This isn't a story of rags to riches, but of service to riches.

Lk 19:45-48 My Body, His Temple

Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, "It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves."

His Temple.  It's amazing how much the Lord can say in so few words.  We know the Temple is the place to worship God, for it is where God resides.  But we also know that the true Temple of God is the body of Jesus Christ.  "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (Jn 2:19).  For "the God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands" (Acts 17:24).

Jesus is the Temple of God.  Where He is, God is.  The Lord is worthy of not only respect and admiration but of adoration.  He is God.  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (Jn 1:1,14).

My Body.  Now if the Church is the mystical body of Christ, the "sacrament" or visible sign of Jesus Christ, then we cannot forget that we are the temple of God.  "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?" (1Cor 3:16).

So with all that said and done, the question now is:  How is my house cleaning going?

My Body, His Temple.  Unless we take matters into our own hands, then what happened to the thieves will happen to us. 

He will turn our lives upside down and clean out our pockets!

Have I turned my body into a marketplace?  Are my thoughts and actions geared towards material things?  Tis the season, you know.

Let's be on our guard against all kinds of greed, pride and vanity, for they can easily permeate within us, take on flesh and masquerade as a good rather than what they really are - an evil.

Let's no forget:  It's His Temple, our Body.  Let's put our worldly desires to death, not Him.

Lk 19:11-28 The Good Manager

Wednesday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

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By BENEDICT AUGUSTINE

The first came forward and said,
‘Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.’
He replied, ‘Well done, good servant!
You have been faithful in this very small matter;
take charge of ten cities.’
Then the second came and reported,
‘Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.’
And to this servant too he said,

‘You, take charge of five cities.’

Very often, when people devote themselves to a career or a big project, they focus the product but often fail to think about the result of that product, whether their bosses will reward their labor or not. In a few cases, success will land them a promotion, or a raise, or extra vacation time, but more often their success will simply lead to a pat on the back and even more work. Younger employees always fall into this trap, going above and beyond to impress their bosses only to have additional workloads, but the seasoned employees often know better and keep a low profile in order to keep their workload to a minimum.

In an unjust, but very common, ironic twist, many bad employees are sooner promoted over good ones because the latter are more valuable to the company at the lower level than they are at a higher one. Schools will often work this way, keeping their talented teachers in the classroom while promoting the mediocre teachers to positions of administration. After all, if a school has talented teachers, the administrators do not need to do all that much except attend meetings and fill out paperwork, something any average person could do. Unfortunately, these average paper-pushers earn much more money and receive much more respect than the pedagogical geniuses of the classroom. This dynamic has created a huge problem in American education. Great teachers will do one of three things: they stop teaching and find a career that rewards their ability; they purposely stifle their excellence and pursue a promotion that will take them away from the classroom and compensate them better; or, most often, they will do amazing things for a few years, burn out, and quit the profession altogether. Bad teachers will usually stay because they figured out a way to as little as possible and still keep their job.

Far from giving more to those who have, schools (and probably many other organizations) take from those who have and give to those who have not. Besides internalizing spiritual implications, people might do well to understand Jesus' words in a practical sense. School districts could pay their teachers, the people who actually work with the students, more, and they could pay their principles, the people who work the paperwork, less. Moreover, good teachers could earn even more for doing especially well with their classes. And since secretaries and paraprofessionals handle most of the paperwork, and administering discipline is simply a matter of following predetermined protocol, the school could easily let go many of its principals, superintendents, and all the unseen education bureaucrats in the administration buildings, and replace them with more efficient grading software, new copy machines, and maybe some ping pong tables for the teachers' lounge. In such a case, Jesus' wisdom could finally shine: “I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Teachers who have ability will have more, and those who cannot, or do not, teach will either quit or be demoted to administration.

Jesus' parable of the three servants draws a parallel between management and discipleship. The nobleman rewards his first two servants, but punishes the the third. The first two servants follow their master's command to “engage in trade” with the money he gives them; this means that they must enter the world, create, sell, and manage so that they can make a profit. In their effort to gain a profit, they invest themselves in the gift of their master. Not only do they grow richer since their master rewards them, they also grow as people because they have learned to successfully manage and acquire wealth—in a way, they have become masters themselves.

The third servant, and the people who despise the nobleman from the beginning, do not have anything to offer except excuses. Instead of growing like the first two enterprising servants, they shrink in their own pettiness and envy. The third servant, in accounting for his utter laziness, mutters the excuse of every mediocre imbecile: “you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.” Compounding his failure with defiance, the third servant actually criticizes the master for even expecting something from him—one could translate his reply as, “I'm not paid enough to do any kind of work.” Not even repentant for his failure, the servant still feels entitled to his master's mercy. Unlike the slave who follows a perverted justice that compensates dullards like himself, the master executes true justice to suit the third servant's response: “Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.” Like a good manager, he rewards excellence and punishes failure.

On the surface, this parable seems to suggest that Jesus lacks sympathy for the poor and only wants to make the rich richer, but the details and context lead to a different interpretation.  The servants were not rich, and they received their capital with the same request made to them. The first two became rich through hard work and obedience; the third one became poor through indolence and disobedience. In terms of discipleship, the first two servants resemble the saints who worked hard through prayer, fasting, and alms-giving and obeyed Christ's teachings to convert nonbelievers, while the third servant resembles the growing mass of lackadaisical believers who feel entitled to the sacraments and salvation without lifting a finger. Obviously, the first group will bring souls to God as they themselves grow closer to God while the second group does precisely the opposite.

Therefore, Christ, the good manager as well as the good shepherd, must elevate the first group and humiliate the second one. In keeping with this judgment, leaders of the Church and leaders of the family (and the leaders of schools) have a responsibility to do the same with their own members. To do otherwise would inevitably lead to corruption of the whole institution.

In the end, as Christians, we are all Christ's servants and we have a choice to work and obey, or not. Fortunately, Christ is a loving master and makes it clear what we should choose.

Lk 19:1-10 Seek N' Save

Tuesday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

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By JENNIFER BURGIN

But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone

I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

 "Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he!"   This song comes to mind every time I read the familiar story of Zacchaeus in the Sycamore tree.  I remember as a child spending summers at a Baptist day care center, sitting through boring Wednesday chapel service.  My repetitive yawning and occasional roll of the eyes kept me more fully engaged.  I somewhat enjoyed singing songs like "Zacchaeus was a Wee Little Man" or "Jesus Loves Me" but the preaching was automatic tune-out material.  At the end of the long sermon, we'd be invited to stand up at the front to "Be Saved!"  There was the normal uncomfortable, dead silence.  Most of the kids were saved anyway, so I didn't understand the reason for a weekly invitation.  Every now and then a brave young soul ventured up to the front.  I understood the "real" reason why.  If a kid proclaimed that Jesus saved him, he received tons of attention!  In fact, other kids would smile and pat him on the back; kids who never paid attention on a normal day suddenly noticed him.  It was a clever attention-seeking mechanism.  Of course, stardom was only short lived....  

I often wondered how many kids were truly "saved" and believed in Jesus Christ or just pretended to be "saved" in order to get brownie points with the staff.....

I felt somewhat like Zacchaeus -- a wee little girl.  Too short in height, I climbed up the tree trying to see Jesus.  I just couldn't find him!  I climbed higher and higher.  Where are you, Jesus?  I know you are here!  All I could see was a fog of fakeness and a sea of hypocrisy in the child care center I was "dropped off" at each day.  Jesus was in my heart; I knew that for a fact.  I believed in him; however, I couldn't quite see the Lord among the haziness of memorized scripture verses and uninspiring sermons by non-ordained ministers. I trembled in fear on top of the Sycamore tree's wavering branch.  Would I ever feel connected to the Lord like all of these others who have been "saved”?  Would I have the courage to seek the Lord out? I always had a funny feeling that the Southern Baptistidea of faith just wasn't for me.

 I hate to admit this, but I resented my mother for making me go to that daycare every day.  Later I understood she simply had no other choice as a single mom.  It was her best option. She never found out, until I became an adult, about the bullies.  If kids weren't bullying me then they just ignored me.  Most of the children played sports.  I lacked athletic ability, but I could definitely beat them at board games!   

Short in stature but big in heart  Some of the smallest people have hearts of gold.  They may be short in stature, quiet and shy, but they love big.  They see the good in everybody and everything.  People may snub them because they aren't as tall or sophisticated.  They may even be hated  because they stand for things that others don't like.  Certainly, Zacchaeus wasn't a very popular guy around town.  Tax collectors were known to charge higher rates and then pocket the difference.  They accumulated vast wealth at the expense of the poor. 

Zacchaeus knew he wasn't well loved by the people; yet, he was curious about Jesus.  If I sought him out would he save me?  Would he forgive me where others just shame me? I'll stay up in this tree, away from the people.  I fear what the Lord will think of me.  Will he recognize me and call me out?

Low and behold, Jesus discovers the wee little man up in that Sycamore tree.  Not very many grown men hang out in trees!  Jesus calls out to him and Zacchaeus repents!  The wee little man is so impressed with the Lord that he's willing to give up all of his possessions and redistribute his wealth to the poor.  Now this is a conversion worth a huge pat on the back and a round of applause!  

Seek N' Save  Kids of my generation (the good old 1980's) played with Speak N' Spells.  Our parents shopped and bagged their own groceries at neighborhood Sack & Save supermarkets.  It never occurred to me until I was much older the need to Seek N' Save.  Seek out God on a daily basis; seek Him out in our homes, work places, and places of worship.  When we seek God, we rediscover bits and pieces of our lost selves.  God saves these fragments in hopes that we will utilize them as we grow wiser in the faith.  For me, I've learned to forgive the daycare bullies and love them as children of God.  I've learned to respect those with different religious viewpoints.  Best of all, through years of seeking out God, and finding the Catholic Church, I finally understood the true meaning of being saved.  Christ died on the cross for our salvation.  God forgives us over and over again; he loves us that much!

This meditation was written by Jennifer Burgin.  Please follow her blog:  Jennifer's Spectrum of Spirituality