Luke 12:54-59 You Should Know By Now

Luke 12:54-59  You Should Know By Now

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Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain – and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot – and so it is.  You hypocrites!  You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

Discovery Channel has a program known as Animal Planet.  How fitting.  But what is even more fitting is its subtitle:  surprisingly human.

In today’s first readings, St. Paul urges us “to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received” (Eph 4:1).  You would think by now we would be getting closer to the Kingdom of God.  Instead, it seems like we’re moving ever closer to the Animal Kingdom.

This phenomenon might be due to the fact that we’ve gotten bad at predicting the weather.  That’s the only explanation I have in how bad we’ve become in predicting human behavior.

When you go outside in Texas, and there’s a strong cold wind that greets you, you know it’s coming from the North.  When you feel a blazing heat, you know it’s coming from the South. 

Yesterday, I was speaking to a young student who told me that their best friend had recently become their worst enemy.  They began to share with me all the awful things this “friend” had done.  I asked this young person what they thought the problem might be.  They didn’t have a clue.  When they finished, I said: “It sounds like she’s having family problems.”  There was a look of confusion.  I asked, “Do you know her mother?”  The student replied, “Well, her mother is in rehab.”  I asked about her father.  They replied, “Her father left them.  She’s being raised by her grandparents.”

Oh, I get it.  Do you? 

Is it so hard to see?  Is it so hard to judge things?  “Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.” 

What are these mysteries?  Maybe we can address them with maxims: 

·         If you try smashing the commandments, you won’t succeed.  But you will end up breaking apart.

·         If you try to crucify the Lord, you'll end up crucifying yourself.

·         The further away you get from Christ, the greater the chance you’ll get lost. 

·         Major problems always start off small.

Is this so hard to see?  Is this all a mystery to you?  What about these maxims:

·         An absent father and mother leads to a child seeking affection in all the wrong ways and places.

·         The smaller the family, the more expensive the problems.

·         Immodesty is a reflection of insecurity.

·         Promiscuity leads to poor self-esteem.

·         Spoiled kids tend to manipulate their parents.

Sure, there are exceptions to every rule.  But, who wants to live with the odds always being against you? 

Even in this political year, some things should be clear:

·         When someone attacks who, it means they’ve given up on solving the problems. 

·         When someone belittles you, it means they have little confidence in their abilities.

·         When someone resorts to foul language, it means they are desperate.

The Lord asks the crowd: “Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?”  

The world has been collecting a lot of data for some time now.  We have data in just about everything!  We know what works and what does not work.  So why are we still so confused?  It might be because what works doesn’t necessarily sell as well as what does not work as well.  There’s a lot of money to be made in false hopes and false ideas.  There’s a lot of pressure to keep the public as stupid as possible. 

At the last Presidential debate, Mitt Romney commented that we had “fewer ships today than in 1917”.  The President of the United States responded by saying, “Yes, and we have fewer horses as well.”  I have to admit:  I laughed very hard!  I laughed because of how cheap the President’s response was and how expensive the problem is.  I wish I could have responded.  I would have said, “Mr. President, you must have forgotten how a $150,000 Humvee is blown up by a $100 IED.  You must have forgotten that we have been forced to replace each Humvee with a $250,000 JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle).  Did you forget how the USS Cole was destroyed buy a raft?  Don’t you think we need quality as well as quantity, for we never know what the enemy will throw at us?”

You should know this by now.

Luke 10:1-9 Clearing The Way

Luke 10:1-9  Clearing The Way

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The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.  He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

He was driving home from a football game.  His team had lost (like always) and he was in a bad mood.  Instead of taking the normal (safe) route home, he decided to take a different route.  It was late at night when he noticed a woman on side of the road.  She was waiting.  She was a prostitute. 

This young man, a senior in high school, lived under very strict rules at home.  Although he never complained, he was a bit resentful of his life.  As he was speaking to me, he reminded me of the eldest son in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Yes, he was a solid Christian man.  He went to church on Sunday.  He prayed before meals.  He was respectful to his elders.  He kept his virginity.  But he wasn’t happy.  He felt like his family was keeping him from the best things in life!

He decided to turn into an abandoned lot.  He stopped the car.  She walked up to it.  He rolled down the window.  He looked at her.  She looked at him.  But when she looked at him, he felt as though she looked right through him.  She smiled at him, shook her head and said to him, “No.  You shouldn’t be here.  This is not for you.  Go home.”

He took off, ashamed of himself and crying as he had never cried before.  A prostitute had saved his soul.

Maybe she was an undercover cop.  Maybe she was a real-life prostitute.  But no matter what, this young man will never forget what happened to him that night. 

Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom (cf. Psalm 145:12).  Paradoxically, morals, values and principles are black and white.  People are not.  What is right or wrong is clear.  That people are good or bad is not. 

Of course, much of who we are is connected to what we do.  But instead of focusing on what we do, the Lord focused on who we are.  This is why the Lord was so successful in converting the sinner.  He was able to look beyond the sin and see the broken heart behind every “Sinner”.  By healing the heart, he eliminated the bleeding, the sinning. 

I chose you from the world, to go and bear fruit that will last.  No matter what state of life I am in, I can give glory to God.  No matter what I have done, I can give glory to God.  No matter what work I do, I can give glory to God.  No matter what I have or where I am, I can give glory to God.  No matter how sinful I am, I can give glory to God.  For God chose the weak to make the strong look weak. 

He chose us (the weak) to carry his work along.    

So what do you work for?  Who do you work for? Who’s your boss?  Do you work for heaven and earth or just for earth?  Do you work for God and man or just for man?  When was the last time you invited someone to go to Church with you?  Never??? 

“Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.”  Leave behind your pride (money = security), your vanity (sandals = image), and your sensuality (greetings = seeking approval).

What I must do is pretty clear.  Who I am is not so clear.  Let’s make it all a lot clearer by clearing the Way of the Lord. 

Luke 10:38-42 Lord, Do You Not Care?

Luke 10:38-42  Lord, Do You Not Care?

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Martha, burdened with much serving, came to Jesus and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?  Tell her to help me.”  The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

Lord, do you not care?  The Lord cares…that I know.  But I’m not convinced that He cares so much about what we care so much about.  While we stress over a lot of things that maybe are just not worth stressing about, we don’t stress enough what we should be stressing.

Forget for a moment that Martha is working hard in preparing and serving a meal.  Let’s, for a moment, imagine that Martha is a 21^st century woman, wife and mom who doesn’t prepare or serve a meal but rather stresses over picking the right nanny to tend to her only child.  Lord, don’t you care that I pick the right nanny? Now of course I can’t speak for the Lord, but my gut instinct tells me He really doesn’t care.  Or let’s take for a moment our full-time working man who thinks he's a part-time dad and husband.  He puts in extra hours on Saturday and Sunday to get that big promotion at work.  Lord, don’t you care that I make more money than I really need?  Again, I can’t speak for the Lord, but I think it’s a sure bet that He doesn’t really care.   

There is a school for young children in Dallas that by the name of it I thought at first was a French pastry shop.  But then one morning I was surprised to see so many kids getting dropped off to get a pastry, and right before school!  I inquired and found out that my little “French pastry store” was actually an American’s ingenious business plan to start up a very expensive school for the snobbish and lonely children of the very rich and far too busy parent.

Recommendations written by school parents reinforce what I just said:

“If not my wife or I…then [this school]...as slightly (maybe overly) protective parents, we looked at EVERY option. Nanny’s, babysitters, daycares, half days, half weeks, full weeks…Far and away the best decision was [this school].

They stressed.  They looked at every option, except the obvious one; that is, that they downsize to allow someone to stay home and be the most important person in their child's life; that is, the first educators of love, faith and values to their own God-given and precious child. 

Another stressed-out parent writes:  “Our daughter has attended [this school] since she was 7 months and she’s now almost 4 years old.  [This school] has exceeded our expectations and prepared her so well for Pre-K.  I highly recommend [this school] This is not a daycare but the first steps into education.”

Yes, before your child can take his or her first physical steps, they need to be taking their first cognitive steps “into” education, Pre-K. 

Now, I've always understood how some poor families could not afford to have one parent stay home.  But the fact that rich families cannot afford to either is very confusing to me. By the looks of it (and commentaries), it seems as though rich parents are stressed just as much over the right educational options for their child as poor parents are stressed over the lack of options for their child.  Everyone seems to be stressed out, regardless of whether or not they are rich or poor.  So maybe poverty and wealth have nothing to do with stress but being over-ambitious and selfishness do?

This might explain why so many children are on medication for anxiety and stress.  It’s not because their parents are rich or poor, it’s because their parents stress over the wrong things.

We should all take a trip to Finland where children start their education at the age of seven and don’t seem to worry so much about keeping up with other Fin’s.

I don’t think toddlers need teachers to learn skills or a foreign language like French by the time they can pick their nose.  [Of course, there is a French way to pick one’s nose…if you did not already know.]  I think toddlers need their mom and dad to take care of their bloody nose.

Does the Lord care about this?  I don’t think so.  Actually, I know He doesn’t care at all!  But I guarantee you that the Lord does care that we are faithful to our vocation as husband/wife and father/mother.  The good news is that he will hold us accountable for the simple things in life.  The bad news is that most of these things are neglected on a daily basis. 

Did you give your time, attention and affection to your spouse and family?  Did you stress to your children the need to pray to the love of their life?  Did you teach your children how to love as they should? 

If not, then it is time to stress over them...over and over again.

Luke 9:57-62 The Would Be Followers

Luke 9:57-62  The Would Be Followers

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As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go?”  Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

Amanda Clayton had it all.  Her life had become a rags-to-riches story.  The story of Cinderella had finally come true!  

For years Amanda collected welfare benefits.  But that all changed in September of last year when she won one million dollars in the Michigan state lottery.  But one year later, almost to the date, she was found dead of an apparent drug overdose.  Her former boyfriend told a reporter, “The Amanda I knew was a caring person….She went down the wrong path, she got the money, got the freedom and felt like she could do whatever she wanted.”   Let’s keep her in our prayers.

Poverty kills.  Wealth does too.  But money is not the root of all evil.  Sin is.  Sin separates our heart, our mind, our will, our worth and our dignity from our Creator.  And when that happens, evil happens.  And that evil can lead us to the worst possible separation ever, the worst divorce ever:  hell.

Job was a very special man.  He was found worthy of God’s graces.  Yes!  God’s graces!  Even though his possessions were put through fire, his servants put to the sword, and his children swept away, he never found it in his heart to curse God!    Job was a man of deep faith and not of deep understanding.  Even when his mental faculties were tested and his body afflicted, he refused to try to explain why God would do this to him.  Through it all, Job never lowered his dignity; never forgot his Creator.

I say that Job was a man found worthy of God’s blessings because he was.  When this beautiful story of faith and fidelity was circulating among the Jews, he was the closest imitation to the real, yet unknown, person of Jesus Christ. 

Job is the prototype, the forerunner, of Jesus Christ.  But where Job lost everything, Christ gave everything.  Why?  Because it was worth it. 

Scripture scholars continue to debate whether or not this story is true.  I don't know why!  Give me a break.  Don’t they know people who have gone through “hell”, who have lost everything they had and everyone they loved?  Who cares if Job is a fictitious or anonymous name.  The facts speak for themselves.  The name “Job” may have been created, but we don’t need to be very creative to come up with this narrative.  We have seen it for ourselves!  Maybe we have lived it ourselves!  I know plenty of people who have gone through very dark times.  What makes all the difference in the world is how they respond to it; how it can get much better or far worse! 

Lord, I will follow you wherever you go!  How immature!  What nonsense.  Someone came up to the Lord and said, “I will follow you wherever you go?”  Sure, the first day, the days of excitement, are the best and easiest days.  But when days become years…  This poor guy didn’t know what he was talking about.  Job lost all that he had because the Lord stripped it from him.  This would-be-disciple thought he could bring it all.  Little did he know the Lord would ask him to strip down (physically and pride-fully) to nothing!  Poverty, chastity and obedience have a way of doing that to people.  My oh my!!!  But don’t feel too sorry for priests.  All commitments, even marriage vows, have a way of doing that to people! 

Love is all about giving and receiving…and in that order, and not always receiving on time.

It is immature to think the Lord will do what we tell him to do if we pray to him.  It is highly irrational to think that God’s protection means I will not experience dark days.  It is pure fantasy to think with God on my side, I will be rich and healthy.  Sorry folks, I just don’t see that anywhere in Scripture.

God is not very much interested in helping us settle down on earth.  He is very much interested in uprooting us and making His home our dwelling place.  This isn’t a “pie-in-the-sky” faith.  This is mission impossible - Delta force and Navy SEALS - work on earth!  Why would anyone risk their lives like these people do?  Because they consider it worth it.  They have been called to serve. 

We've been called too.

Job reacted in a way that none of the “would-be-followers” of Christ did.  When he experienced the loss of family and friends, Job did not look back:  The Lord gives and the Lord takes, blessed be the Lord now and forever!  What a declaration of faith!

Our faith and prayer life are very important for our survival and holiness.  We may lose our treasure on earth, but we can never lose the treasure of our faith.  The glitter and confetti of life’s pleasures will eventually fall…fall flat on the ground, but our hearts and minds must remain firmly planted on that which never changes.  When autumn approaches, let us prepare for winter.  When our enthusiasm for God evaporates faster than our possessions, do not grind your teeth and cast the Lord aside. Instead, hold firm to the faith of our Fathers.

Mk 7:1-23 Neat and Freakish!

Mk 7:1-23  Neat and Freakish!

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When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands… Jesus responded, “You disregard God’s commandments but cling to human tradition…From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.  All these evils come from within and they defile.”

Does this sound familiar?  Is this not happening today?

Every year, I taught a bunch of high school boys a very long course on etiquette.  It was mandatory, just like religion, but it never replaced religion.  God forbid that etiquette would ever replace God’s commandments!

Soon, however, I began to realize that I needed to teach them at an earlier age.  Bad habits, once fully grown, are hard to break.  And these kids were fully immersed in all sorts of bad habits.  They had either been told that it didn’t really matter or the silence had taught them that it really didn’t matter.  What mattered was always something “greater” or something “else” or something “obvious”. 

So, I decided to teach the same course to my middle school students.  They were shocked to hear when and how you should take a drink of water and how you should walk across a row (to get to your seat) in a movie theatre.  But what really shocked them was how you should speak to a woman and greet a woman. 

But why is any of this important?  Answer:  In order to be a saint, you must first be a human being.  There is an old saying in seminary:  “First the man, then the saint.” 

Most people would be shocked at how much “human formation” is taught in a seminary; that is, instruction on how to cut your finger and toe nails; how to polish your shoes; how to sew; how to iron; how to wash and fold your clothes; how to shave and groom yourself; how to make your bed; how often you should shower and change your clothes; how to comb your hair; shake someone’s hand; etc…

It’s obvious why these things need to be taught.  Just look around!

Recently, I met a woman who was shocked that on her first date with her boyfriend he was flossing his teeth right in front of her, at the dinner table, in the restaurant!  How neat and freakish!

Over the years, all forms of etiquette have deteriorated, except the one’s that keep us “physically” healthy.  Americans use more hand sanitizer than any other nation in the world.  Yet, we continue to be a nation that uses more medication than any other nation in the world.  We strive to be the premier advocate for women’s rights around the world, yet we continue to lead the world in the production of hardcore and violent pornography.  We are a peace loving nation, giving billions of dollars in aid, but we continue to fight more wars than any other nation in the world.

We are not neat-freaks.  We are very neat and very freakish.  It is not unheard of to hear of a very polite and courteous teen who is sexting.  Or of a young gentleman who insists on using a condom with his girlfriend while insisting on his right to not let her know that he has HIV.  How neat and freakish!

Over the past 40 years, the social engineers (the real freaks of society) have worked hard to dismantle every single “barrier” with regards to female and male relationships; student and teacher relationships; adult and child relationships; etc.  But what they have really been highly successful in doing is removing any form of respect among females and males; students and teachers, adults and children.

And while they have worked hard in dismantling all barriers (respect) among people, they have kept building a higher wall with regards to God and man; the body and the soul; faith and culture; morals and civility.

We thought we had outgrown the need our ancestors had in drawing lines.  Now and again, we are reminded of why they were so wise!  We know why.  We just hate giving any sort of credit to the dead.  We hate admitting that a blurry or erased line leads to all sorts of harm, confusion, neglect, abuse, criminal behavior, liability and lawsuits.  Or, as the Lord would so succinctly say:  sin and death.

In order to point out something, sometimes you need to let it stand out.  The Lord was not telling his disciples that they should not bathe or cleanse before meals, or that these types of human traditions are not important.  He was teaching his opponents that they should not replace God’s Commandments with human traditions.  Exterior beauty should not replace interior beauty.  Exterior cleanliness should not replace interior cleanliness.  Looking good should not replace being good.  It's not that the exterior is not important; it's that the exterior should mirror the interior.  We should be just as good as we appear to be.

Out of respect for others, it is important, when taking your seat in a movie theater, to walk across the row with the front of your body facing the people; it is a sign of respect for your neighbor as well as for yourself.  It is important to wash your hands before meals.  But it is just as important to pray before meals.  In this way, not only will the meal be more beneficial, it will also be less superficial. 

And this is the point:  We can either continue to live life solely in a highly superficial way or we can decide to live it in a highly interior and radical way as well.  Anyone can say, “Who cares about all this formality?” when they haven’t learned any of this formality.  But if they were humble, they would say, “Will you teach me?”  Then, not only will they know that someone cared, they will also know some wisdom as well. 

If we always find an easy excuse for our kids by saying, “They are only kids!”, then why do we find it so hard to come up with an easy excuse when they grow up and ask, “Why didn’t you help me?”

Eating a meal with unclean hands is bad; just as bad as using your clean hands with an unclean heart.  As a society today, we suffer just as much from the former, as we do from the later.  The later, however, makes most of the news.  The solution is not to ignore one or the other, but to work on both and join them together.  First the man, then the saint.    Let's put the same time, effort and dedication in being good as we do in looking good.

The Lord loves us just the way we are, but He would love to raise us higher than where we are.  He would love to lift up our body, blood, soul and divinity, to where He is.  That’s when we will no longer be neat and freakish, but both neat and holy.

Mt 14:22-36 Walking On Water

Mt 14:22-36  Walking On Water
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When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea they were terrified.  “It is a ghost”, they said, and they cried out in fear.  At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”  Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  He said, “Come.”

These past few days I’ve been on vacation in New York and have had the opportunity to watch some of the Olympics.  I love the sportsmanship, competition and of course, the victories.  What I don’t enjoy are the commentators.  They can be very annoying, especially when they give their opinions.  I’ve noticed a pattern in their comments:  that if a team is winning it’s because they are very confident in themselves, and if they are losing it’s because they’ve lost all their confidence.  God forbid they are losing because they didn’t work as hard as the other team.  God forbid it’s because they never expected a challenge. 

I don’t know about you, but I remember busting my behind in College to get good grades.  I didn’t bust it because I was confident in myself; I busted it because I lacked confidence in myself.  Thank God!    I also remember some students waiting till the last minute to study for a test because they thought it would be easy.  I began to see a pattern:  those who thought the test would be easy scored low; those who thought it would be difficult, scored high.

Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on water.  His problems began when he had far more confidence in the power of the storms (and wind) than in the power of the Son of God.  There are two correct ways to read this Gospel:  either Peter sank because he had more confidence in himself than in God or because he had more confidence in what others were saying and doing and less confidence in what God says and does.

It’s bad enough if we only listen to ourselves.  It’s worse when we only listen to what others have to say.  What we need is balance and order:  first God and everything else will fall into place.  We need to place much more confidence in God, our Creator and redeemer; the One who has proven, time and time again, the love He has for us.

I love myself because the Lord first loved me.  I believe in myself, because I believe in God.  I trust in myself, because I first trust in the Lord.  If I can do some good, it’s because the Lord taught me what is good. 

In 2007, over 90,000 young girls and boys underwent plastic surgery.  They did it not to correct any life threatening problem or an objective defect.  They did it because they were being bullied by classmates.  Just recently, one young lady has been appearing on TV over and over again, giving free advertisement to an organization that does such deeds.  Her mother defended her daughter’s decision because she was being bullied in school.  Kids would often make fun of her ears, calling her “Dumbo”.  When a reporter asked the young girl how she looked (after her surgery), she said she had no regrets:  “I look beautiful, this is exactly what I wanted, I love it.”   

I thought she wanted the bullying to stop. 

Hm…I have a feeling this young girl will learn a very hard lesson.  In our world full of sinners (bullies), the only way to stop a sinner is not by believing them, appeasing them or seeking their approval, but by converting them by showing them who you will believe. 

I fear for this young girl.  Her classmates may stop calling her “Dumbo”, but what will stop them from calling her “Plastic face”?  And then…what will she do?  What will her mother do?

In my opinion, this was a great victory for the bullies; and a tremendous defeat for common sense.

My fear is that this is the beginning of a new market.  Already so many of our elementary school kids get their teeth whitened, false nails fastened, and hair colored.  Why?  Because someone in their class did it first.  Actually, some parent, in their class, allowed it first.   Slowly, but gradually, these common procedures will expand to different areas of the body and become less expensive, more attractive and a nightmare for good parents and children and a victory for business and overly confident parents that see what bullies see:  “imagined defects” in their children. 

The day will come when a child is bullied for not having had plastic surgery!   Children will demand to have the “perfect” ears, “perfect” nose, “perfect” skin tone, “perfect” chin, “perfect” chest, etc…

I am not exaggerating; this is our pagan history.  A new emerging market is just waiting to win acceptance and it will.  A new business, based on a false sense of compassion, will emerge from all this publicity, forcing younger and young girls and boys to submit to the driving winds of false “perfection” and a false sense of confidence.

The “cover girl” for this organization has another thing coming if she thought that the bullying would come to an end.  Bullies will come to an end, when we come to our senses and faith.

I could wear contacts.  I refuse to do so.  I consider wearing glasses as a great way to showcase something no one likes to show:  my weaknesses and failings.

This is what we need to see.  This is what the Lord wants us to see.  This is the beginning step towards walking on water. 

Mt 13:18-23 Seeds That Grows

Mt 13:18-23  Seeds That Grows

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Jesus said to his disciples:  “Hear the parable of the sower…The seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

We all look for excitement while we all appreciate what’s common.  What’s common is what is very stable.  For example, in order for a seed to grow it must fall on rich soil; take root; and persevere in times of trial. 

The Lord knows human nature as well as he knows plants.  Without stability; without roots; without Christ, we have little to no chance of surviving like humans and living like saints. 

Yesterday, I saw a very disturbing video of a nine-year old boy in a daycare center that viciously punched and kicked other children while they were waiting for a parent or guardian to pick them up.  He attacked children as little as nine-months old!  He knew what he was doing.  He actually waited for the day care assistant to turn her back before he ruthlessly attacked the children.  At one moment, he positioned a little girl, turned his head to make sure the assistant wasn’t looking, and kicked the little girl in the back.  When the assistant turned to see what had happened, he cleverly went over to the baby and picked her up, giving the appearance that he was consoling her.

Let me guess:  He has “mental health” issues, right?  He needs to be medicated.  Health officials should have informed the daycare center that he was capable of doing great harm to others.  They should be held liable for not predicting this type of behavior.  Or maybe the answer (or solution) is that he was born evil.  Some people get more of original sin than others.  Original sin affects the genetics of a person, right?  WRONG!

What’s wrong with our kids today?  What’s changed, other than time?  Have their bodies evolved?  Do they no longer need two arms but three?  Do they see from their ears and hear from their eyes?  Are they no longer born with an umbilical cord, like the first humans?  Kids do not evolve, they grow.  There is a difference.

What’s changed is the following:  they no longer have any type of roots; that is, they have little to no stability; little to no responsibility; little to no morality.  Man has not evolved with time, but marriage and family have, and they have left everyone behind, especially their children, our future.

Far too many of us will do whatever it takes to be happy, even at the expense of those who depend on us.  We will do whatever makes us happy but not whatever it takes for our children to be happy.  Sometimes the two coincide.  Many times they don’t.   

Evolution can be a great thing.  It can also be a lousy thing.  Supposedly we have become stronger over time, but so have viruses and bacteria.  Whatever gains we made with our minds, we’ve definitely lost with our hearts.  We have evolved into thinking that a child born out of wedlock is worse than a child being born.  Kids that know this think about this and grow up with this.  They value their comfort level much more than their sense of honor, duty and responsibility.

Human nature has not changed with time.  We still need to eat.  We still need to sleep.  We still need to be taught order, discipline, stability, responsibility and morality.  We still need someone to take care of us when we are vulnerable and someone to love us always.  If we take a beautiful tree that has been firmly planted in the ground and uproot it to move it, watch out:  chances are it will die. 

That’s what’s happening to our kids.  They don’t have a family that will love them so they find a family in a gang, prison or cult.  They have no one to spend hours with so they text, tweet, chat, and Facebook.  They don’t have a sibling as a friend so they find a sibling in a friend.  They don’t have a mother or a father to love them so they find a boyfriend or a girlfriend that will.  They don’t have someone that will teach them, discipline them, help them, tough-love them and be honest with them, so they find a mother or a father in a coach, teacher, social worker, priest or neighbor. 

But what eventually ends up happening is that they find out just how inhumane they really are.   They are not human.  They are like an artificial plant; no leaves, no roots, no soil.  And we are content with it, as long as we can get by with it.

Although the world around us may evolve over time, plants still need what they have always needed since the dawn of time. 

Although marriage and family may evolve in name and over time, children still need what they have always needed since the dawn of man. 

The lack of it will be ever more noticeable (and shocking) over time.

John 20:24-29 Don’t Let The Word Go By

John 20:24-29  Don’t Let The Word Go By

(Click here for readings)

Thomas, one of the Twelve, said to the other disciples, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 

She looked like she was sixty.  She walked very slowly and with a cane.  She spoke with a raspy voice.  The poor thing slept outside all night long.  She was looking for help.  She was looking for a meal and a place to stay.  I asked her how long it had been since she went to Church.  That’s when she finally looked up at me and said, “I stopped going to Church when a priest told me that if I didn’t change my ways, I would go to Hell.” 

I told her, “He was right, wasn’t he.” 

She was just forty-two years old.  I couldn’t believe it.  But after years of drug and alcohol use, this poor lady was living life in hell.  Her pain was unceasing.  At times she felt like her body was on fire.   Instead of quitting the Church, she should have quit her sins. 

The priest had told her the truth, and so she took it out on the Church.  Though we can be the subjects of our liberty, we will always be captives of the truth.  No matter how hard we try, we will never be able to free ourselves from the truth; that is, free ourselves from God!  Blessed John Henry Newman once wrote:  “Our strength is this world is, to be the subjects of the reason, and our liberty, to be captives of the truth” (Loss and Gain)

Seeing is believing. Life can be very long and miserable, especially when it is lived in sin.  Is this so hard to believe?  Is it so hard to believe that there is a right way and a wrong way to live life? I don’t need anyone to convince me of what will lead me to heaven or to hell.  I don’t need any convincing, especially when I can see it for myself! 

So how do we go so wrong?  How do we get ourselves into a horrible mess?  My guess is that we are easily fooled by the tiniest portion of the whole truth; that is, we are fooled by “the moment”.  “The moment” is the part of truth we can see and easily believe.  It is also the part that gets us into trouble.

When we grasp “the moment”, we tend to throw ourselves at it not realizing that it can actually sink us for good.  For example, we see the glamour of evil and believe it, and are mastered by it, and only later terrorized by it. 

When children see the glamour of the stage, the fans and the young artist, rock musician, actress or model on it, they are easily mesmerized by it.   What they don’t realize is what we have all seen before; that is how the final production; the last call; the final farewell is given and received.

Believing is truly seeing…Why just limit life (or sight) to “the moment”.  Why not believe in what we cannot immediately see?  We believe a lot of things we can’t see.  Why not believe in God’s Commandments?  Why not take them to heart?  Is it so hard to believe in the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?  Is it so hard to take what we have seen in the past and project it into the future?  Haven’t we seen enough to help us believe? 

I have often heard parents tell me, “They’re just kids”.  I know that!  Don’t tell me the obvious.  But why trust in just "the moment".  Kids grow up and either they become a parent’s joy or a very serious pain in the neck.  Don’t let them mess around with sex, pornography, drugs or alcohol.  Do you need to see in order to believe?  Can you believe before you see? 

One week later…Thomas missed “the moment”.  But in reality, he “missed the point”.  While the world went by and revolved around the sun, the Word went by and the Apostles revolved around the Son.  Thomas was in hell…at least for one week.  He neither believed in what his friends had seen or in what the Lord had said.  His past experiences with the Lord meant nothing.  His past errors in judgment meant nothing.  A priest should have told Thomas, “If you don’t change your ways, you will go to Hell”.  Thomas was living in hell!  He was a doubter and his doubts had finally caught up to him.  He always had a hard time putting together the whole truth (the past, the moment and the future).  Doubts are like missing pieces of a puzzle or like time gone missing.  By now, he should have been able to fill in the blanks.  Instead, he wasted a week in his doubts.  The Lord helped him.  The Lord appeared to him. 

“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed”.  Why?  Because they have seen the whole truth and nothing but the truth:  Jesus Christ. 

Mk 5:21-43 Whatever It takes

Mk 5:21-43  Whatever It takes

(Click here for readings)

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.  One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.  Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death.  Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” 

What would you do?  What would you do to say the life of your daughter or son?  I know what I would do.   I would do whatever it takes to save their life.  I know it. 

But not really…and thank God for it!

If I was in a hot air balloon with my friends and a hole suddenly appeared and we were losing altitude.  Yes, I would do whatever it took to save my life BUT… I would not throw one of my friends overboard.  I would not do what goes against my beliefs and my God.  If God wants me to die, then so be it.  I won’t give up, but just like another life, I will not throw overboard my principles, morals, values and dignity in order to extend it.  I will treat my principles as if they were another human life because they are worthy of my life and death. 

Jairus would do whatever it took to save his daughter’s life, but he would not sell his soul.    He would give his heart for his baby girl but we would not rip the heart out of his neighbor’s little girl.  He wouldn’t do that, even if it was humanly possible.  He would do what he could as long as it respected the Lord, his dignity, his values, his morals, his principles.  For this reason, he turned to Jesus. 

When we turn to the Lord we get closer to the Lord.  It doesn’t mean we’ve given up or given in.  It means we won’t play God.

No matter how desperate things get, I will not throw away my principles.  I know there will come a time in my life when I can go no further, out of love for God, and will have to place my life and my trust in His hands.  I know there will come a time when I have to say: “Thy Will Be Done!”

We can do all sorts of things that are humanly possible.  But we should never do everything that is humanly possible.

We often overhear teenagers say, “I’ll do whatever it takes for him (her) to be my boyfriend (girlfriend)!”  Really?  How pathetic!  I mean, don’t they realize that every boy and girl loves a challenge?  There’s a song out there (not on the Catholic radio station!) that is very popular with our teens, but sends a very strange message:  “So here’s my number, just call me…maybe?...Cause all the other boys love to chase me…so here’s my number, just call me…maybe?”   

So…what will you do to get noticed?  Will you throw yourself at him?  Do the shorts need to get any shorter to get noticed?  (I really don’t think they can!) 

If you want to be noticed, then don’t do what others do.  Don’t be so desperate.  Don’t be so pathetic.  Since “all the other boys chase you (except for the one that’s worth something to you), then maybe he doesn’t seek your number but something else.  Maybe it’s time to do something different.  Don’t throw your number out there, but rather your beliefs, your convictions, your soul, your morals, your values and your dignity, and I promise you…just maybe, you’ll be noticed… by all the right guys and girls!     

July 4^th is coming up.  It is a time to reflect on the principles that drove our nation to Independence.  When George Washington was close to defeat and was experiencing mass desertions in his forces, a mystery man appeared:  Thomas Paine.  He’s an interesting fellow.  As soon as the revolution began, he appeared.  As soon as it was over, he disappeared.  He was a writer and what he wrote made all the difference in the world for young a nation in crisis.  In fact, George Washington ordered that Paine’s essay be read to all his troops.

“These are the times that try men’s souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.  Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered…”

The worst thing that can happen to a soldier is not that he dies for his country, but rather he dies for the wrong country.  People pay tribute and give honors to those who died for truth, freedom and love.  People feel great sadness for those who died for lies, slavery and hatred (Nazism, Fascism and Communism). 

Jairus was ready to do whatever it took to save his daughter’s life.  But he was not going to sell his soul.  The Lord was ready to do whatever it took to save us, but not if it meant betraying His Father.  The Apostles were ready to do whatever it took to save their life, but not if it meant betraying their Lord. 

The Catholic Church has been fighting for affordable health care for centuries.  It is ready to do whatever it takes for every single American to have it, but not at the expense of a single human life, and not at the expense of cheapening human life.  We believe in the sanctity and dignity of every single human being:  born and unborn.  This is a principle that is very much worth fighting for.  This is a principle that we are very much ready to die for.