In God We Trust

As Christians, we believe in God’s presence in Jesus’ coming among us...and yet we wait; for what? If we already know the person of Jesus, God’s presence, Who walked among us, then for what are we waiting?

At this time of year my thoughts turn to many special people who walked with me in life (my dad, my brothers, aunts and uncles, some friends) who have died. I know their loving presence to me in life, but feel a great loss in their death. I feel that they are with God and somehow still with me, but I miss the fullness in life of who they are (were) with us here. Perhaps this is true in many ways with how we struggle to “know” God’s presence. We believe that Jesus did walk, talk and live among us. We remember as we reflect on His words and life in the Scripture. We believe that God’s spirit IS with us now. Yet, the fullness of God’s presence in our daily lives is something for which we seek, pray and yearn...God’s peace and love in fullness.

During this special time of Advent each year, we step back to remember that yearning, the hoping, that deep desire for God in our life, NOW!

But, as we go about our day to day lives, filled with “to do” lists that seem to grow during the holiday season as we prepare to gather with family and friends, we drift from the center of our yearning - the peace, the Godliness in our lives.

In whom do I trust...is it God? How and where is God truly present (or perhaps the question really is, “How and where am I really present to God”?).  Seeking, hoping, and taking time in praying for peace, and for God’s presence is one step, but if I truly believe that God’s Spirit IS within and around me, then how do I help create that center of peace?

God‘s fullness IS here, but not yet realized. That is what Jesus’ words call us to do; to build on a rock—to build on our faith in Him ! ! !

“Anyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them. . . .” (Mt 7:21, 24-27)

 It’s not enough to listen. Action is called for! It’s insufficient to know what is good to do; one must do the good that God has asked from one.

St. Paul reminds us that we are many parts, but we are all one body. (1Cor 12) The gifts we have, we have been given to share. That means each of us performs a unique, required task within the body of Christ. Each of us does some good that no other person can do. Some have ministry for feeding the poor, others visit the sick and the shut-in; still others help out the Church in its various ministries. And still others simply pray--or pray simply.

Each person has a task, a form of good that only that person may do. Even though many may visit the sick, the visit of one particular soul to another may be more efficacious than dozens of visits made by another - not because the other person is not good, but because God has given us our particular tasks - and when we cooperate with them, we multiply the bounty of His Goodness through our obedience.

So, don’t worry about the tasks given to others - tend to those that God brings particularly to you. In this way we will multiply the blessings given the body of Christ and we will please God so that He will shower us with more gifts and more tasks. Everything we undertake should be undertaken solely for the love of God.

In our readying for the Christmas holidays, we need to take some time to stop and reflect in peace; to trust and be with God and do what is just.  Building on our Rock means paying attention to where those in need around us need the most help.  Is the promise of God’s fullness among us something we only hope for, or are we also open to working toward being God’s presence in the now toward that day of fullness?

As we continue in our Advent journey, let’s pray the words of Isaiah: “A nation of firm purpose (unwavering faith and living presence in God) you keep in peace; in peace, for its trust in you. Trust in God forever!” (Isaiah 26:1-6)

O Merciful Father, we ask that You open our hearts and minds by removing all that hinders Christ's wisdom and love from entering within us. Let us then rejoice in His light, peace and joy.  Amen.

It’s day 4 of our novena to St Peregrine for Darlene and all others who are suffering from cancer.

It’s also a good day to pray for those who have no warm place to rest their head tonight.  May our Blessed Mother keep them warm with the love of her Son.

Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death!

The first called had happy feet

O Lord, Thank You for the fishermen You called to be apostles, especially St. Andrew whose feast we celebrate today. Through them we benefit from hearing about You and believing in You! May we always listen to Your call - and follow You.  Amen.
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“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” (Isaiah 52:7, Romans 10:15) On this feast of St. Andrew the Apostle I am grateful for all the apostles, preachers, family and friends whose feet have brought the good news of the Gospel to me.

Faith is the foundation of my life — truly the greatest blessing God has given me. My Christian faith has been my strength and guide in good times—it has also been my strength and guide and comfort in difficult times. Most of the time, however, I take this blessing for granted.  Sadly, I don’t adequately thank God for this gift. 

Fortunately there are special times each year when I realize anew the great blessing of faith.  Advent is one of these times.  My heart resonates at Old Testament passages that express humankind’s longing for a better world, for a messiah, for a savior, and those that speak directly to my own restlessness and to my often unarticulated longing for a fuller coming of God to my heart and to our world.

 “Faith comes from what is heard,” Paul reminds us. (Romans 10:17)  During this advent season I ask myself, “Do I witness to what I have heard and believe?  Can mine be the feet bringing the good news to others and the voice that is heard and that arouses faith in others?  “Their voice has gone forth to all the Earth and their words to the end of the world”. (Romans 10:18)

During this season of giving, is there any greater gift we can share with loved ones?

I continue my novena to St. Peregrine for Darlene and all other victims or survivors of cancer.  I ask you to pray for me.  I’ve caught the cold that is going around.  Usually that means an evolution into bronchitis.  Pray that I can keep it from getting any worse this time around. Thanks.

Immacualate Heart of Mary,
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.....

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit . . . . (Luke 10:21)

And then Jesus prayed to the Father.

The Trinity appeared in this instant of great joy!

We have entered Advent and we relive, in these first weeks, the long and impatient waiting of the people of Israel for the Messiah long promised them. Jesus recognized this when He said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see but did not see it . . . “ (Luke 10:24)

Although we are not direct eyewitnesses, we are also among the privileged because we are no longer waiting. We have been chosen among all the people of all time to live in an age when we know with certainty, the salvation that is Jesus Christ. We no longer wait, but we hail Him as Lord and Savior!

And we do this through the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within and who constantly urges us to a closer relationship with Jesus, the Christ. In the times before Jesus, the Holy Spirit inspired men and women to lead Israel in the way it should go—He moved them toward their salvation even though they walked in the dark.

In the present day, the Holy Spirit constantly urges us to open our eyes to see the light that has come to us: Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is still the harbinger, announcer, and confirmer of that most wonderful act of Holy Love—The Incarnation! But now we walk in light and knowledge and we too should rejoice with the Holy Spirit in what we are most blessed to be able to see!

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love.  Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations. We ask You this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Don’t forget day 2 of our novena to St. Peregrine for Darlene and all other cancer victims and survivors!

I’m also remembering our very own “AdventMan” (my brother Bob) on the first anniversary of his leaving this world to be with Jesus in the next.  Happy feast day, brother!

By the way, how cool is that?  His birthday is November 1 (All Saint’s Day) and his “feast day” is November 29^th (if he’s ever recognized by the church as a saint—of course, until then, continue to pray for him and all the faithful departed).  It will make it easier for me to keep him in my prayers all through the month of November!

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Chipping away at the House of the Lord

The readings of the Advent season call us to prepare in the ways of the Lord.  For instance, all of Monday’s readings have a “house of the Lord” context to them.  Isaiah (Isaiah 2:1-5) creates a vivid picture of people flocking to the Lord’s house, built on the highest mountain, drawn by their hunger to receive the word of the Lord.  Isaiah predicts a time of peace, where swords are beaten into plowshares, and war ceases to exist.  In the psalm (Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5, 6-7, 8-9), people go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.  And in Matthew (Matthew 8:5-11), the house is not of the Lord, but of the servant, and the servant acknowledges his unworthiness to have the Lord enter his house.

One of the joys, and also frustrations, of celebrating holidays when families expand and grow is the intricate dance of determining at whose house to gather and who should be invited.  Grandma has always done this, but Aunt Mary wants to try that, and what about my side of the family, when do we fit them in? These are real problems, but good ones, because we have options.  We can choose to expand our house and include others, or we can choose to limit our house to a select few.

As Isaiah reminds us, God doesn’t have that problem.  God includes us all.  The house of the Lord will be on the top of the mountain and all will stream toward it, from all directions, each on their own path.  Who is in this human stream seeking the Lord?  The rich, the poor, the strong, the weak, the sick and lame, the morally upright and the morally corrupt, the victims and the perpetrators – in short, all of us, all 7 billion of us now wandering around on this planet.

Are we close to changing swords into plowshares?  Well, there was a recent report that we live in one of the least violent times of human history.  How can that be?  I think it was based on the number of people in conflicts as a percentage of the total population, so the growth in numbers actually has made all of us a little safer.  We still train for war, and still spend a lot of our resources on it (especially the US).  But we also have increased agricultural yields to un-dreamed of levels, we have eradicated many diseases, we have provided educational and cultural and societal opportunities around the world that could not have been anticipated a century ago.

So where is the Lord’s house?  Is it on top of a mountain, or is it in each of us as we strive to move forward on the path that calls us to the Lord?  Don’t we really build the house of the Lord one small act at a time by our reverence for each person, by our willingness to stop and help, by our civility, by our recognition that the Lord is in each of us, and therefore we all are in the house of the Lord in our every moment?  Don’t we add to the house of the Lord when we remember not only the victims of heinous crimes and acts, such as the children harmed by pedophiles, but also when we pray for the pedophile, in whom the Lord also resides?  And don’t we chip away at the house of the Lord when our anger, our frustration, our selfishness, our greed, causes us to think only of ourselves and not of the other 7 billion pilgrims on their own path to the house of the Lord?

I have to admit that I “chipped away” at the house of the Lord this afternoon.  I told Marilyn that I would like to leave home about 4pm or so in order to get to Bakersfield by 8pm.  It’s usually a 3 hour and 40 minute drive.  So, the loving wife she is, she made sure my dinner was ready close to 4pm so I could have my favorite Thanksgiving leftover—turkey tetrazzini—before leaving for another week.  I was in a pretty good mood, actually, when I left—not considering the fact that I hate having to be gone from home so much for work.  Everything on my drive was going as usual, until about 20 minutes from home.  Traffic stopped on I-5 to a standstill.  “Uh oh,” I thought, “there must be an accident ahead”.  As I usually do, I said a Hail Mary for the “victims” of the accident and settled in for the wait.  As the traffic started moving again, it was at between 15 and 30 MPH with brake lights flashing about every second somewhere ahead of me.

After 30 more minutes, I realized I was in the middle of the holiday traffic!  It was bumper to bumper, in-your-face-drivers weaving in and out and causing more congestion than relieving it.  I was getting really frustrated and yelling at the other drivers, as if they could hear me.  The more I screamed my frustrations out, the more frustrated I became.  I realized I was not going to change the situation by being frustrated, but what was I going to do?  I asked the Holy Spirit to help me calm down as I started praying the rosary.  As I got deeper in prayer, I became more aware of the fact that all of these people I had been yelling at are also the Body of Christ and are simply trying to get home after the holidays.  At that point, my frustration and anger just simply melted away and the drive became more bearable, thanks be to God!   

And so my prayer today is for the grace to better recognize the needs of my fellow pilgrims and act toward them in a way that adds a small piece to the house of the Lord as we journey together on our individual paths to the Lord.

I found out today that my neighbor Darlene has breast cancer.  Please join me in praying a novena to St. Peregrine on her behalf, and on behalf of all women who are or have been affected by this disease.  I have placed the novena on the right sidebar of this blog.  If you want to know more, or if you have cancer and want to pray the novena on your own behalf, click on the saint’s picture.  It will take you to EWTN’s website with more on the Saint and the novena.  Thanks.  I’ll remind you each day for the next eight days until the completion of the novena.

Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

Watch for the changing seasons

In our spiritual life, we should be attuned to the seasons and strive to get the most out of every breath we take and every prayer we speak. It is so easy for any of us to get caught up in the daily happenings of our lives and get pulled away from our faith and a life that is centered on Jesus. Stopping to look back on the year, not to relive, but to learn, we have an opportunity to assess: how has my relationship with Jesus grown, how has my prayer life deepened and how have I allowed the Holy Spirit to help me to live the beatitudes?

Jesus says in the Gospel, "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man." (Lk 21:34-36) 

No one knows exactly when that day will come, or when each individual will die.  Everyone should live each day as if it were the day.  Jesus says to be ready just in case.  Those who get tied up with worldly cares, instead of giving glory and eternal praise to Him, may wish they had more time to get their spiritual affairs in order.   

I think about that passage in Daniel (Dn 3:82-87) that is all about giving praise and glory to God.  If people start each day thanking God for the gift of the day, and give glory and praise to God throughout the day, it seems to me that it’s a pretty good step in putting God first in their lives.  The passage says that all people should give glory and eternal praise to Him.  Eternally praising God might not leave a lot of time for sinning.

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Almighty and merciful God,  You have broken the power of evil; keep us faithful to Your Son, working to help create a new world prevailed by truth, love, joy and peace.  Amen.

Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death

Pray for strength in faith, and pray for one another as we end this liturgical year today (Saturday).  Pray that the new English translation of the Missal is instrumental in creating or renewing the focus of the Mass on the Holy Eucharist; our Savior’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

A model of faith

As I listened to the Mass on EWTN tonight, the Holy Spirit moved me to thank God for my Uncle Bob.  He was a great help to my mom until he contracted Alzheimer’s disease and moved into an assisted care facility closer to his daughters, who live up North.  There are two Scripture readings that remind me of Uncle Bob.  One is the epistle that was read at today’s Mass (1 Cor 1:3-9):

Brothers and sisters:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The other is the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 18: 1-5):

At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

Whenever I think of my Uncle Bob, it’s those two characteristics that come to the fore; the strength (firmness) of his faith, and the (child-like) humility that he brings to that faith.   He is a great example to all of us.  I firmly believe that though he cannot express it nor even show it outwardly due to his illness, his humble faith in his Creator remains firm. 

God bless you, Uncle Bob.   

He is with us every day

Jesus tells us that He will come again. He tells us that if we are watching we can know when spring will be here. He tells us that the time will come and the signs will be there.

But He also tells us in other places that it is all too easy to read the signs wrong. And time and again people have done so. How many times in the past year or so have we heard the word "apocalypse?" How many times have people told us that Jesus will be here soon?

The odd thing is that Jesus is always here. Jesus is present in the Eucharist and in the body of Christian Prayer. In a real sense, He has never really left. So, while He encourages us to look forward to His second coming in glory, He also is there with us every day telling us not to spend so much time looking for the signs of the future, but to revel in His presence here and now.

Truly, He will come again, and there will be great joy. But do not let the hope of the Second Coming overshadow the joy of experiencing Jesus right here and right now.

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O Blessed Redeemer, make us aware of those conditions that should awaken us to a coming change and prepare us for a time of difficult testing.  Amen.

Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death

My prayer intentions for today are for the people who are going to start shopping at 12am on Friday morning.  I pray that as they shop for their loved ones’ Christmas presents they remember to do so in a Christ-like manner.  Every year, it seems, we hear of someone who has been crushed to death by a frenzied mob over something meaningless in this life, like a TV set or the hottest new toy.  I also pray that those shoppers who are focused on getting the best deals put as much focus on the needs of the poor and hungry as the nights grow darker and colder earlier.

One day a year hardly seems adequate

O God, of Whose mercies there is no number, and of Whose goodness the treasure is infinite; we render thanks to Your most gracious majesty for the gifts You have bestowed upon us, evermore beseeching Your clemency, that as You grant the petitions of them that ask You, You will never forsake them, but will prepare for the reward to come. We ask You this through Christ our Lord.  Amen. ===================================================================

Not everyone will be sitting down to a homespun Thanksgiving feast this week.  In fact I’m one of those who won’t.  I have to work because of some unforeseen circumstances so I will be about 250 miles from home on Thanksgiving Day.  Am I disappointed?  Yes!  But I am still thankful for lots of things: the love that I share with my wife and kids and grandchild and my mother, my recent healing, I am employed, etc., etc.  I could go on and on!  I am truly blest!  I only wish I were worthy to receive all of the blessings God bestows on me!

And if you really think about it, we all have reasons to be thankful.  In these exhausting economic times, if you're finding yourself stretched for one, try to look at the most astonishing of our blessings, which we share with each other purely because we enjoy the same awe-inspiring Creator:

"May you be praised, O Lord, in all your creatures, especially brother sun, by whom you give us light for the day; he is beautiful, radiating great splendor, and offering us a symbol of you, the Most High. . . . May you be praised, my Lord, for sister water, who is very useful and humble, precious and chaste. . . . May you be praised, my Lord, for sister earth, our mother, who bears and feeds us, and produces the variety of fruits and dappled flowers and grasses. . . . Praise and bless my Lord, give thanks and serve Him in all humility."  (St. Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Creatures)

St. Francis doesn’t even mention the very air we breathe, or the gift of awareness and self-knowledge that is unique to the children of God!  Thank God that He made Himself known to us so we can thank Him!

Each of us is directed to give our Lord praise and thanksgiving, today and every day that His Love commits us here. - Catechism of the Catholic Church, Para. 344

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death

So that’s my intention for today—to give thanks and praise to our Lord; Glory be to the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be!  Amen!

Don't worry about what you are to say.....pray the rosary!

In Luke 21, Jesus is speaking to His disciples regarding what they are to expect after His departure from this earth. At first glance, it may seem like a rather brusque and cold farewell speech. “Hey, after I’m gone things are gonna be pretty rough. Because of following me, you’re going to be betrayed , hated, seized, put into prison, and generally despised.” I can just imagine the disciples’ thoughts in response to this…”Umm, seriously? We’ve been here with You through thick and thin and this is what You’re going to leave us with as a parting gift?” (At least that’s what would have been going through my mind…)

However, with a more thorough reading of the passage, it becomes clear that Jesus is in fact imparting a blessing (not a curse) upon His followers. He’s letting them (and us) know that no matter how bad it gets, no matter how much it hurts, He will always, always, always be there. He’ll be there when those closest to us let us down, when the world turns its back on us, even when our very life and existence are threatened. Throughout all of this pain, all of these struggles, Jesus will be there with us, holding us close and giving us the words of wisdom and the grace needed to turn each of these moments of hurt into moments of beauty and testimony that reflect back on the miraculous nature of His love.

Each one of us has experienced unspeakable moments’ of pain, betrayal and sadness in this life.  Moments when it seemed that all was lost, that nothing can possibly hurt more or be worse than what we are currently experiencing.  All too often in my own life I forget what should be at the forefront of my mind in times like these….that Jesus has promised not to leave me, not to forget me, not to turn away from me. He hasn’t left me out there to wade through the muck and mire of each painful moment by myself. On the contrary, He’s made a promise to be there, a promise to provide me with the wisdom to speak His words in every situation, and a promise that “not a hair on [my] head will be destroyed”.

My prayer today is that we can each turn to Jesus more instinctively, more completely and more fully in times of pain and suffering. That our hearts and spirits will be comforted by the assurance that He will always be there with us, that we are never alone and that no matter what happens, in the end “all will work for good to those that love God, that are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). I pray that we may find peace today in knowing that we are never alone and that our eternal lives are forever secured with Jesus.

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death

Blessed Lord, help us to see the harm we bring upon ourselves so that we will renew our connection with Your love and truth and so live in peace, harmony and justice.  Amen

Don't listen to the false messiahs

O merciful God, through Christ our King You have broken the power of evil and make all things new. Open all our hearts and fill them with Your love, truth, justice and peace.

Merciful Christ, help us see that heaven or hell is a matter of human choice, and that we can attain eternal life with You if we, in this life, agree to being transformed in Your holy Image.  Amen.

We live in a (false-) messianic age. There are messiahs by the dozen: people who will save us from global warming and people who will save us from oppressive thoughts; people who will save us from our debts, and people who will save us from our possessions; people who will save us from our government and people who will save us from those people. Everywhere you look there is a new messiah -- from the kitchen to the garden we can name a dozen famous figures who will save our minds, our morality, our dinners, our houses, our portfolios -- you name it, there's someone to save it, someone to turn to.

Our politicians promise us salvation from greenhouse gases, social unrest, war, poverty, and hunger. And never once have any of these messiahs brought us one step closer to peace of mind or heart. And as long as there are people, there will be false messiahs -- some taking on the mantle themselves, others having it given to them by star-struck crowds. But Jesus has already told us -- dozens will claim to be Him, may even perform magnificent feats to prove their claims. But we are not to listen. (Luke 21:5-11)

There is one faith, one Lord, one baptism. (Ephesians 4:5) There is one God and Father of all. There is one Messiah, one great King and Brother whose sacrifice brought us all into the courts of His Father. There is NO ONE else, there can’t be because the Son of God is singular -- there is but one of Him. He is Lord and Master, King and Messiah, Brother, Friend, and Helper in all of our needs. With Him we have need of no other messiah. Christ Our King is King indeed, Lord of all. Don’t wait for His second coming to be with Him; be with Him now -- Friend in times of trial, and sole source of comfort in our afflictions.

Today, let’s pray for our government leaders—worldwide, nationally, and locally.  They have a very tough job to do.  Let’s pray that they use their authority in the service of God by enacting laws that respect life at all stages—from conception to natural death. 

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death

We are given sufficient grace--we only have to accept it

The memorial feast of the Presentation of Mary gives us an opportunity to recall how carefully God prepared Mary to be the Mother of His Only Begotten Son.  Not only was she conceived without the stain of original sin, she was preserved in grace by God's continuous favor. Unlike Mary, we suffer the devastating effects of original sin and do not have the fullness of grace she enjoyed, but instead, inclinations toward both holiness and sinfulness.

It wouldn't be hard to despair over the many times we have failed, tending more toward sinfulness if we weren't reminded that as carefully as God prepared Mary, He also prepares us and gives us sufficient grace through the sacraments to accomplish His loving plan.  And what is that plan, but that we be preserved in grace, know Him, even in this life and enjoy Him forever in heaven.

Like Mary we have the opportunity and sufficient grace to give our fiat, our consent that, like Mary, the will of God may be done in us.

O Lord, may we be found pleasing in Your sight.   May our willingness to help others be a mirror of Your own love for us.  O, Blessed Virgin Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death

As we start Thanksgiving week, remember the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned in your prayers.  Don’t forget about the unemployed and the homeless!   Also pray for those who have been extraordinarily blessed by God but forget to thank Him every day for those blessings. (Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa)

¡Viva Cristo Rey!

Jesus said:  “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over…but as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Then Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” (John 18: 28-38) And the truth that Jesus came to testify to was God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness, and God’s call to repentance.

Jesus’ Kingdom is not about ruthless power, or royal attendants, or all those things we think of when thinking of kings. LumenGentium describes Christ’s Kingship in these few words, “to reign is to serve.” Matthew Gospel sums it up best, I think, when it says: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for the many” (Mt. 20:28).

We, the people of God rejoice this Sunday in God’s Love. We hear Ezekiel’s prophecy hundreds of years ago, and we know it is the truth:  “the lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal…” (Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17) In humble repentance we accept the embrace of the Good Shepherd, and know that goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life, and that we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6) Not that we deserve it, but because Jesus gave His life for us – the ultimate act of service. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn.10:11) Jesus loves us!!

The Kingdom of God is amongst us – in our midst. This is what we believe. God is with us. God is always there for us, and God is always ready to help us live by God’s ways. We must always remember that God is always ready to forgive and comfort us when we repent. At times we might tend to doubt or feel unworthy. Maybe it is when we have acted in some deplorable manner. Maybe it is when someone else has acted in an unloving – unchristian manner. But then we hear the call of the Good Shepherd, “Come, come to me all that are weary.” (Matthew 11:28) We remember God’s love -God’s mercy. We find hope again, and surrender in repentance to the God who cherishes us. We keep on going, telling God we’re sorry, accepting God’s forgiveness, trying even harder, and remembering to pray for the wayward and our enemies.

"O King of Kings, I praise You! Be merciful to me, a sinner."

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death

Today, I pray for the strength to forgive those who have offended me, and I ask for forgiveness if I have offended others.

There is a resurrection

We have many moments of death in life:  loneliness, losses of loved ones, of ways of seeing things - perspective, of ways of doing things as our bodies grow into illnesses, of jobs, of relationships, of our dreams, etc.  Some of these deaths feel like terrible blows.  They knock our socks off for a while.  We grieve, are angry, or we may feel defeated.  With faith, time and good friends, we pick ourselves up and move on in life.

We have other moments that stun us, keep us bound up inside - in webs of addiction, our own or other's.  These deaths may be related to alcohol, drugs, gambling, relationships, our work, etc.  We may be victims of another's aggression or domestic violence.  We may be trapped in our grandiose pride or a need to control:  "It's my life and I'll fix it!"  We may be caught in depression.  We are caught in a tornado; a wind that envelopes us.

Jesus' message to us is "Live!  God loves you!"  How do we find God's love in times of death?  Is there really a Resurrection and Life?

When we're caught in a tunnel of darkness that feels deadly we can pray hard for grace and light, perhaps to understand our darkness and move into light.  Besides praying, we often need help - another's compassionate heart.  Our God loves us tenderly and is with us in times of sorrow and death as well as moments of lively living.

In our modern world of high-speed communications, we hear news daily of wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines and plagues. In this morning's news one does not have to look far to read or hear about a magnitude seven earthquake in Japan this month and in Pakistan the month before, the threat of a flu pandemic, and the wars in Iraq and elsewhere. Two thousand years ago these stories would have been passed by word of mouth and were months if not years old before they were widely spread. Today, we get it live and in color instantaneously, twenty four hours a day. Are these the signs Jesus spoke of?

Who cares?  Jesus tells us to not be deceived and to not be terrified.  We are to steer the course our Lord set us on, with Him clearly in focus, with Him and His kingdom our aim. Remember Lot and his wife? Lot's wife turned to look at the destruction and was turned into a pillar of salt, hardened and useless. But Lot, keeping his eyes fixed where the Lord told him, escaped and lived

When we focus our attention on the Lord, and ignore the signs of the times, we will live in the company of the Lord just as Lot did.

O Father of love and truth,

You raised our Lord Jesus Christ resplendent in glory as King; open our hearts, bring all of mankind together in Christ to renew fallen creation.  Amen.

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

Please pray for those who are terrified of the “signs of the times”.  Pray that the comforting mercy of Jesus envelop them and relieve their fears.