Mt 16:13-19 What God Can DoThe Lord is capable of moving two mountains, bringing them together and making them one. I cannot stress that enough in today’s solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. These two mountains of the Church came together at the right time to serve and build up the body of Christ, and they are living proof of God’s amazing power and love.
The Lord alone is capable of changing people’s lives, even the harshest of adversaries. He is an expert in transforming people’s lives, even the roughest of characters. The Lord is more than willing to forgive our past, to forget it, and set before us a new journey of life that literally wipes away all ill feelings and brings us to the heavenly gate that is left wide open.
The Catholic Church has survived attacks from empires and emperors. It has endured the test of time. How? I will tell you how and it may shock you: by the power of God and by its sinful members. Sinners and saints comprise God’s Church today, yesterday and tomorrow! Someone once told me that if popes, bishops and priests have not been able to destroy the Church, nothing will! Nothing ever will because it is founded on solid ground. This ground never shifts with time. The truth never changes, and those who stand by the truth will in the end stand in glory! The Church stands on solid not hard ground, for the Lord has a soft spot and the nails prove it! When the Church speaks, it speaks from the heart and although her message may bother homosexuals, adulterers and promiscuous teenagers, she never uses the language of her foes, language that is typically harsh and vulgar.
Sinners and saints comprise the body of Christ. We are the largest hospital in the world with over two billion patients. Even the doctors get sick. God help us if we ever forget this. We all need The Doctor! We all need a heart transplant and a blood transfusion. We all need a skin graft. We need Christ’s flesh, blood, heart, mind and soul to penetrate our tough-as-nails skin, hardened heart and thick skull! The one who chooses to submit will be admitted into God’s presence. We know because we have witnessed it in the lives of the saints who were sinners like us.
Recently, I read an article where a criminal was labeled a “monster”. He definitely did horrible things and yet did the Lord ever call anyone a “monster”? One question: who creates these so-called monsters? God? No. We do and we do it through our laws! Divorce, unnatural unions, live-in boyfriends and girlfriends destroy a child’s natural right to a loving, stable and natural family. And we, like Victor Frankenstein, have become schizophrenic! After all, we sought it, built it, promoted it and then rejected our very own creation.
May the Lord today enter into your life, touch your soul, enlighten your mind and move your heart in His direction, for His glory and for the salvation of all men! May His forgiveness and mercy penetrate the defensive walls that surround our lives so that He can transform us into living images of his beloved Son who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
