I have been striving to post twice each day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Unfortunately, being slightly under the weather, this has not been easy for me this weekend. I have been trying to keep my prayer life at the forefront, since I have noticed for myself, that when I am not well, my prayer life suffers. I think we all go through this from time to time. Life has a way of constantly trying to draw us away from our faith despite our best efforts and intentions. 
  I think the best thing we can have is our God who experienced our life. I am sure Jesus understands this, after all, He lived as we do. He saw our life firsthand. He experienced us.
  So the best we can offer is to experience Him.

Turn Me Upside Down Lord

READING 2 Timothy 2:8, 11-13

Remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of David,
was raised from the dead. You can depend on this:
If we have died with him
we shall also live with him;
If we hold out to the end
we shall also reign with him.
But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful
he will still remain faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

Today, as I prepare to preach for the families at the family mass, I can see in the Sunday readings and in this morning's reading, that we must lose ourselves to gain Christ. For one to die with Christ, one's life must change once Jesus has entered. But like that day in the temple, the danger is there of worrying about me, my life, my needs, my desires. The people in the synagogue heard about healings and miracles and wanted to see these in their own town for their own people. They became enraged that they had not received their fair share. 

  If we deny Jesus, we deny that Jesus died to give us life. If we do not allow Jesus to stay in our lives, we become unchanged and similar to the Pharisees, talking a good game but living another. Jesus made the cross, a sign of death and oppression used by the Romans, something different. Jesus turned it upside down to become a symbol of life and salvation for us. We must strive to turn our lives upside down as well, and turn the me belief into the we belief. To turn our concerns away from our needs and wants and comforts in to sharing God's love with others.

Preaching dates

Preaching 

TONIGHT 5:00 PM MASS

TOMORROW 10:00 AM FAMILY MASS

Suddenly, Jesus

READING Malachi 3:1

Lo, I am sending my messenger
to prepare the way before me;
And suddenly there will come to the temple
the Lord whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.

Malachi reminds us of how suddenly we may feel God's presence. We need to always be alert to God being present in our lives at any time in any way. Sunday's gospel shows what happens when we are not aware of God stepping into our lives. We allow Him to pass through and never recognize his love, support, strength. Sunday also celebrates the feast of the presentation of the child Jesus at the temple. As the holy family enter, Simeon, who was awaiting the messiah because God had promised he would not die until he had seen the messiah, came forward and declared Jesus as the savior of Israel. Simeon had awaited The Lord entering his life. Simeon represents each of us. Do we recognize Jesus in others? Do we recognize Jesus in our lives? Are we open to God's divine plan? 

   Malachi reminds us to be ready. Like the virgins awaiting the bridegroom, we must keep the light of our faith burning until The Lord calls us, or returns. 

Loss Of Self

When I was first dating my wife, her oldest brother was in medical school on the verge of becoming an orthopedic surgeon. He told stories of the surgeries he participated in and what went on at the hospitals where he operated. On Thanksgiving day, I assumed he would be the person to carve the turkey. But my future mother-in-law would have none of that. She insisted that he would not carve the turkey correctly and instead had my father-in-law carve it.
   I guess there is some truth to the idea that a prophet is not recognized in his own land. How could he be a surgeon, he was just my little boy. How can he be the savior, he was the one making our tables and chairs. There is a certain amount of pride involved in those statements. In some way we don't admit that the other person is more than we want them to be and this is exactly how the crowd reacted to Jesus' statements in Sundays gospel. And because these feelings took over, they lost the message. They never heard the good news. They were too wrapped up n themselves.
   The evil in this world wants us to care more about ourselves. To let our pride take over so we lose focus of God. It is the same pride that overtook Adam and Eve in the garden, because they wanted to be like God and not themselves. Pride is dangerous. Pride is our downfall.
    I believe that pride is at the heart of every sin because any sin can be reduced to putting our own wants, needs and desires before anything else. It is pride that blocked the message then, and it is pride that continues to block the message. This is the reason we must die to ourselves. So that we can truly lose ourselves (pride) and follow Jesus.

Prayers

Please pray today for a young family who recently had a set of beautiful twins. At 24 weeks old, one died last night and the other is in critical condition. May our prayers give them strength to accept God's plan and perhaps, in the Lord's mercy, the other child will be saved.

Weak? I Think Not!

READING 2 Corinthians 12:9b-10

I willingly boast of my weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I am content with weakness, with mistreatment, with distress, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ; for when I am powerless, it is then that I am strong.

When I got up this morning, I was sick as a dog. Stuffed and coughing, I felt so weak that I just crawled right back into bed. And yet it is at those times that I clearly understand what God asks me to do. I have just gotten out of bed and in that weakness, when I felt I could just do nothing, I processed the final ideas for tomorrow's homilies. God seems to work that way. When we are at our lowest point we can really hear God and respond. I think because we are so busy and so wrapped up in the world and our selves that we never give a chance to really hear what God has to offer to us. And when these moments hit, when we are forced to shut down and shut out the would because we just can't do it, that is when God's whisper becomes loud and clear. Remember that Elijah heard God's voice, but in the whisper of a gentle breeze, not booming storms and thunderous roars. Use what quiet time you have. Do not wait for your body to force these on you by fatigue or sickness. And as you have more of these times when you hear Him, you will have more time to love Him.