Is this guy nuts?

Relativism rears its ugly head yet once again. While listening to a program on the radio this morning, a man called in to say that there was nothing “special” about Mary that would merit her any more consideration in God’s eyes than anyone else, and who are we (the Catholic Church) to determine that she is a Saint?

IS HE NUTS?!! Since the beginning of time, at least 10,000,000,000,000 (IMO) women have been created by God. Only ONE was created to be the mother of the Savior of the world! There is a reason why she is in Heaven interceding to her Son on our behalf. She is “blessed among women” for all time! And this bozo who says that he ONLY believes what is in Scripture but seems not to understand the passage where Gabriel proclaims Mary to be “full of Grace” and “blessed among women” says there is nothing special about Mary? I would think that his standards are a wee bit high! If Mother Mary is not special in God’s eyes, then who among us will be worthy to even stand in His presence and serve Him?

1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-16At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the LORD came to him,“Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.”A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake— but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire—but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, “Elijah, why are you here?” He replied, “I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. But the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant,torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.” The LORD said to him,“Go, take the road back to the desert near Damascus. When you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king of Aram. Then you shall anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king of Israel,and Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah,as prophet to succeed you.”
This reading hit me like a ton of bricks. The key point I get out of it is this. Elijah is told to go outside the cave and “listen for the Lord, who will be passing by.” Elijah expects the Lord when the hurricane comes, but He is not there. Then an earthquake occurs, and the Lord is not there. Then a fire! The Lord did not come in any of these spectacular events, as Elijah assumes He will. He finally “whispers” in the silence. Sometimes we look for God to come into our lives with the blaring of horns and flashing of lights. Or we look for “signs”. If we would just sit in silence and speak to Him, He will come and speak to us. As Jesus said, “Go into your inner rooms and pray to your God in private. And the Father who sees all that is private will answer.”

The other thing that strikes me about this reading is that Elijah is frustrated and feels like a failure. He has done everything the Lord has asked him to do, but has accomplished (in his own eyes) nothing. Does the Lord sympathize and say, "That's ok, Elijah, you've done your best, go ahead and rest"? NO. He gives him even MORE to do! We are never finished doing our part of God's plan until He calls us HOME. This is another way of saying that it is not easy to follow God's plan, but if we persist in our zeal for Him, we will be rewarded. Maybe not by being taken to Heaven in a flaming chariot, but seeing the face of God nonetheless.

You just never know when you are called

One Sunday morning two neighbors of 10 years came out of their houses at the same time. The first man was loading his golf clubs into his car. He asked his neighbor to join him for a round of golf. The second man declined, “No, thank you. I have to attend Mass.” What he was thinking was, “This guy goes golfing every Sunday. When does he find time to worship God?”

The second man was startled when the first man said “I have asked you every Sunday for the last ten years if you would like to join me in a game of golf. You have always declined because you are going to Mass. Yet you haven’t asked me once to join you at Mass”.

We never know when we will be called on by God to evangelize. This story reminds me that I shouldn’t ever pass up the opportunity to share my faith and beliefs with those around me. I don’t even have to be evangelical to evangelize. I just have to listen and watch for the opportunities. Jesus has a way of putting opportunities in our paths when He knows we have faith in Him.

The story also reminds me that I shouldn’t be so content and self-confident in my own reverence that I forget to share the Truth that is the Catholic Church. There are plenty of lost souls that are searching for the Truth all the time. I pray that our Lord places these souls in my path and sends the Holy Spirit to help me recognize them and give me the strength of faith and the courage to use that faith to spread the Good News not so much in words, but by example

Pray out of love, not need

Mt 7:21-27Jesus said to his disciples:“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.Many will say to me on that day,‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?Did we not drive out demons in your name?Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly,‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came,and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.And everyone who listens to these words of minebut does not act on themwill be like a fool who built his house on sand.The rain fell, the floods came,and the winds blew and buffeted the house.And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

As I read this Gospel the first time today, I was as confused as those who say, “Lord, Lord”, and yet are refused entry into the kingdom of heaven. They have a pretty good list of accomplishments that were done in Jesus’ name, don’t they? Then why does Jesus say, “I never knew you?”

Then it occurred to me—were these deeds done in Jesus’ name for HIS sake, or for their own glory? How many of us have seen some difficult times and turned to God for deliverance, then once things were going good again, did we forget to pray in thanks or even acknowledge His presence in our lives? This is a relationship built on sand.

God will not be fooled. We must have faith based on a love for Him, not a fear for our own souls. I will admit that I have feared for my soul and the souls of those near and dear to me and many times I worshipped out of that fear. The more I feared the harder I prayed. The funny thing about prayer is that it strengthens our soul within us and increases our ability to hear the Holy Spirit. What Jesus told us, and what the Holy Spirit reminds me when I pray, “Be not afraid. I am with you, even until the end of the world.” And the more I pray, the less fearful I become and the more I feel I want to pray out of LOVE and GRATITUDE. I think that this is the attitude that Jesus is looking for in today’s Gospel. This is a relationship built on Rock.

For my part, I will try to pray when things are not so good, and I will try to remember to pray even harder when things are really good. This is love.