Be Perfect?

 

Jesus says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48).

Is that possible? John Henry Cardinal Newman says, "Yes!"

    If you ask me what you are to do in order to be perfect, I say:

        - first, do not lie in bed beyond the due time of rising;

        - give your first thoughts to God, 

        - make a good visit to the Blessed Sacrament;

        - say the Angelus devoutly, 

        - eat and drink to God's glory,

        - say the Rosary well

        - be recollected,

        - keep out bad thoughts;

        - make your evening meditation well,

        - examine yourself daily,

        - go to bed in good time

    and you are already perfect.

(as quoted in, Pathway To Our Hearts, Archbishop Thomas Collins)

Giving Ourselves To God

 

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?” (Rom 8:31-33)

 Because God offered up His only Son for us, we can trust that He will not hold anything else back from us. We can trust that He will provide for us in our need. We can trust that He will comfort us in our sorrows. We can believe that, no matter how great our sins may be, He will forgive us. We can also rest assured that, no matter how far off we may have strayed, He will always call us back to the right path. He has made a big investment in us by handing over His only Son and we can be sure that He will not rest until that investment pays dividends in our lives.

What does God ask for in return for His great generosity? He wants nothing more than that we love Him in return. As He has devoted Himself to us, He desires that we devote ourselves to Him. As He has invested Himself one hundred percent in us, He longs for us to trust Him enough to invest one hundred percent of ourselves in Him.

 This is the great truth of the spiritual life that so often gets lost on us. God’s desire for us is not just that we keep commandments, follow rules or make sacrifices. All those practices only have meaning if we do them as an expression of our love for the Lord. Without love- without a willingness to give ourselves completely to God- they have little value. What God wants more than anything else from us is our heart. Once we give our heart to the Lord without holding anything back, then all the rest will fall into place.

 In his classic work, The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a’ Kempis expresses this truth beautifully. Jesus says, “I care for nothing that you offer me besides yourself; it is not your gift I want, it is you....[N]othing you give can please me, if you fail to offer yourself.”

 That is the purpose of the prayers, sacrifices and charity we offer during these forty days of Lent. We go without meat to teach our heart to hunger only for God. We give our money to others to teach our soul that only God can provide us with what we really need. And we pray to remind ourselves that our Heavenly Father wants nothing else than that we give ourselves totally to Him just as He has given Himself one hundred percent to us in His Son, Jesus Christ.

God Did Not Spare His Own Son

 

Losing a child is about the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone. It is every parent's worst nightmare. Parents who experience such a tragedy tell us that for many years afterward they continue to struggle with grief, anger and guilt over losing their child. Even when they are able to accept the loss and find some measure of peace, the thought of their child is always on their mind. And tears are never far away.

 Today's first reading presents us with a man who is faced with the imminent death of his son. What was going through Abraham's mind when God told him that he was to sacrifice his only son Isaac on Mount Moriah? Was he angry that God would ask so much of him? Did he wonder what good killing the boy could possibly do? If these thoughts were going through his mind, the Scripture does not tell us. Just as shocking as God's request is Abraham's determination to obey God's command. And God rewards Abraham's heroic faith and obedience by sparing his son and declaring that he will be the father of many nations.

We might think that God is cruel for requiring so much of Abraham. But have any of us ever thought that, while God spared Isaac by having Abraham substitute a ram in his place, he did not spare his own Son, Jesus, but gave him up to death for us? What we most fear - the death of a child - is exactly the price God was willing to pay to save us from our sins and to hold out for us the gift of everlasting life. God loved us so much, that he was willing to do the unthinkable to ransom us from the power of death.

Jesus Battles Satan

 

 What is it about sports that we love so much? On the surface, it is just two teams chasing after a ball. However, deep down, there is something in our human nature that loves to see a fight. Perhaps it is because we are all in some kind of a fight. All of us are struggling in one way or another. By watching others put everything they have into whatever sport they’re playing, we can believe that we can also overcome whatever challenges we are facing in life.

 In Sunday’s gospel, the Spirit drives Jesus into the desert for forty days to be tempted. Saint Mark mentions it in passing. Nonetheless, it points to a fight that has cosmic proportions- a true heavyweight battle. Jesus is going into the desert to struggle against the ancient serpent who led our first parents, Adam and Eve, to disobey God and lose Paradise. He is Satan, who down through the centuries has deceived the nations and caused so much suffering and misery. Jesus goes into the wilderness to draw the devil out into the open, confront him, and defeat him.

 Of course, it isn’t a fair fight. Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He created the devil out of nothing along with the other angels who were meant to serve God and humanity. But out of pride and envy, the devil and a third of the angels rebelled and were thrown out of Heaven. The devil hates God and he hates us because we are made in God’s image and likeness. Jesus, as the divine Son of God, could easily banish the devil to hell with just a word from His lips.

 But something else happens during these temptations in the desert. He does not simply banish Satan to Hell. He does not call down angels from Heaven to defeat the devil. Rather, He struggles against Satan through his human nature. Remember, Jesus is not just the eternal Son of God, but He is the Son of Mary, and is human in every way we are. He shares our human weaknesses and vulnerabilities, which the devil attacks. So, when Jesus overcomes Satan, it is not just a victory for God but a victory for us, who share His humanity. Jesus defeats Satan, and we share in that victory.

 This is an important truth for us to remember as we begin this Lenten Season. Many times we look around and see evil everywhere. And, as we confront our sinfulness during this time of penance, we also see a lot of evil within ourselves. That can be discouraging. It can tempt us to doubt that Jesus really has the upper hand over the devil. In fact, that is one of the ways the devil likes to tempt us. He wants us to get discouraged and feel defeated so that we will give up. That is when we have to remind ourselves that, in Jesus, we have already won the victory. We can stand up to evil in the world and in ourselves with confidence that, no matter how difficult the struggle will be, in Jesus we will ultimately prevail. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “The devil may have his hour, but God will have His day.” 

What should we do then when we’re facing temptation and feeling discouraged? We should keep our eyes focused on Jesus.

To Never Again Destroy The Earth

 

The story of Noah and the flood is one of the best known and fascinating narratives in the Old Testament. Not only is it a gripping saga about a family trying to survive a devastating natural disaster in an ark filled with animals, it is also a tale about the destructive power of sin and God’s desire to save us.

 The book of Genesis tells us that, when God saw the wickedness on the earth, “[He] was sorry that he had made humankind....” (Gen 6:6). These words sound harsh to us today; however, God does not utter them out of anger and contempt. Rather, He says them out of profound grief. The people whom He breathed His own life into and created to be “very good” had turned out to be wicked. God is saddened by the sinfulness of His people.

 Because sin offends God who is “all good and deserving of all our love”, it warrants punishment. In civil society, when laws are broken, a fine or jail sentence is handed out to restore justice. Just so, when God’s commandments are broken, a punishment must be inflicted to bring the evil doing to an end so that no one else may be harmed. In the story from Genesis, that punishment comes in the form of a devastating flood.

 However, the story does not end with sin and punishment. For all the terror and destruction the flood inflicted on earth, the point of the story is that God wants to save us, not punish us. For that reason, He commanded Noah to build the ark to protect his family and to give His creation a fresh start. When the waters recede, He makes a covenant- that is, a sacred promise- that He will never destroy His creation again. God makes that promise on His own initiative because He wants a relationship with the people He created. In the end, God is willing to put aside His right to punish us so that He can loves us and be loved by us in return.

The ultimate sign of God’s desire to save us comes in the person of Jesus Christ. He took upon Himself the sins of the world and endured the punishment we deserve by dying on the cross. Any good works or any penance we might perform over a lifetime could never begin to make up for the offense against God that only one of our sins causes. However, because Jesus never sinned, His offering on the cross is pure. Also, because as God, Jesus is infinite, the blood He shed on the cross can be extended to all people who ever lived and ever will live. It can never be used up. There will never be a point where the wickedness of humanity will exhaust all the forgiveness that flows from the cross of Jesus Christ. 

 We no longer have to fear punishment. We do not have to be defeated by sin. We do not have to despair because of the shortness of our lives on earth. Sin and death have been defeated on the cross. Everlasting life is offered to us through the resurrection of Jesus. This everlasting life which is ours through baptism is not something we will reach only at the end of our lives. It is a power which is at our disposal even now to defeat temptation, to fight injustice and to do good. It is simply a matter of drawing on it when we need it. Then we will be truly living out our baptism and experiencing the victory of Jesus every day.

The Lie At The Core Of Every Temptation

 

Temptation and sin are realities that all of us face, no matter how far along we are on our spiritual journey. The devil tempts us because he wants us to fall away from God and lose our hope. However, that doesn’t have to happen if we keep turning to our Heavenly Father with confidence in His mercy.

 In Sunday’s gospel, Jesus goes to the desert to confront Satan. Throughout Scripture, the wilderness is the place of temptation and testing. During their wanderings in the desert, the people of Israel fell to the temptation to worship a false God and to lose hope that He would provide for them during their journey. Though Saint Mark doesn’t tell us how the devil tempted Jesus, we know from the other gospels that they were similar to the ones the people of Israel and all people face - namely, to turn to something other than God for our well-being, security, and hope. Jesus does not fall to temptation but vanquishes the devil. In doing so, He gives us assurance that we can do the same.

So, we can face temptation with confidence. It doesn’t have any power over us because Jesus has already conquered Satan not only in the desert but by His cross and resurrection. Temptation only has power over us if we give in to it. If we resist it, push it out of our minds, and remind ourselves that Jesus has power over it, we will conquer our temptations. As Saint James tells us, “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

 When we are tempted, we should always remember that Satan is the father of lies. At the core of every temptation is a lie. We might be deceived into thinking that giving in to sin will relax us and make us feel better. However, all sin can do is leave us feeling empty and guilty. Satan might whisper into our ear that it is only a small sin and nobody will get hurt. Then, consequences we didn’t anticipate arise from our sinful acts and innocent people are hurt in the process. In any case, our relationship with God is always damaged whenever we give in to sin. So, whenever we are tempted, we should ask ourselves, “What is the lie that Satan wants me to believe?” When we bring that temptation into the light of truth, we will see it for what it really is and it will lose its power over us.

This beautiful season of Lent is an opportunity for us to face our sinful selves and turn to Jesus with confidence and trust. As we prepare for the celebration of Easter, we spend these weeks renewing our baptismal vow to reject Satan, and all his works, and all his empty promises. We reject the glamor of evil and refuse to be mastered by sin. Standing up to temptation, arming ourselves with the word of God, and staying close to Jesus in the sacraments will ensure that we will share His victory over sin and one day reign with Him in heaven.

Forty Days Of Transformation

 

In the Bible, many numbers have symbolic value. For instance, the number seven is a symbol of completion and of the covenant. And when Jesus chooses twelve apostles, it is symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Another number that has symbolic value in Scripture is the number forty. For the ancient Hebrews, the it represented change and transition. When the Jews left their bondage in Egypt to enter the Promised Land, it took forty years, symbolic of Israel's transition from an enslaved people to a kingly people. Today's first reading recalls for us the great flood when it rained for forty days and forty nights. This is symbolic of God's desire to transform the world from a place of wickedness to a place of justice. And, in the gospel, Jesus is compelled by the Spirit to spend forty days in the desert doing battle with Satan. Jesus' forty day retreat was symbolic of his transition from a hidden life in Nazareth to a public ministry of announcing God's Kingdom.

 This past Wednesday, we began the forty days of preparation called "Lent". They are forty days of change for us. Like the Jews who traveled forty years in the desert, we are to spend these forty days transitioning from slavery to sin into the freedom of the Spirit. Like Jesus who spent forty days in the desert, we are to do battle with the devil by facing our weaknesses, our temptations and our sins. These forty days are meant to change us.

 To help us maximize these days of preparation for our great celebration of Jesus' death and resurrection, the Church gives us three practices- three tools- so that we may overcome our weaknesses and temptations. They are prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

 These forty days are a time of transition and change in preparation for the celebration of Jesus' death and resurrection during Holy Week. They are a time for us to go into the desert with Jesus to face our temptations and sins. The desert is a symbol of the place where we encounter God. But it is also the place where people can get lost and die! By using the tools of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we can be sure that the Holy Spirit will help us to grow beyond our slavery to sin and make real in our hearts the freedom we are called to by our baptism

Lenten Mysteries of the Rosary

 

If you'd like to branch out in praying the Rosary, consider reflecting on these mysteries based on the gospel readings for Lent (Year A).

1st Mystery - The Temptation in the Wilderness - Matthew 4: 1-11

2nd Mystery - The Transfiguration - Matthew 17: 1-9 

3rd Mystery - Jesus Meets the Samaritan Woman - John 4: 5-42

4th Mystery - Jesus Heals the Man Born Blind - John 9:1-41

5th Mystery - Jesus Raises Lazarus - John 11:1-45

Cleanse Your Hearts

 

 Every day, each of us, before going to school or to work, makes an effort to look our best. We shower, shave, put on make-up and fix our hair so that others will see us at our best. We want to make a good first impression. We want people to think the best of us and to like us

 So what sense does it make for us to come here today and put ashes on our forehead?

What we are telling our God and ourselves by this gesture of smearing ashes on our foreheads is that we recognize that despite all our efforts to look our best, we are at our core sinners. Despite our best efforts, we lie and gossip. We are sometimes jealous and petty. Though we try to keep all that hidden from others so that they will think we are "nice", we recognize that we cannot keep it hidden from God. He sees us as we really are.

 There is something more to this gesture, however, than feeling badly about ourselves. Rather we are expressing faith in the God who loves us despite our sins and failings. We live our lives with a suspicion that if people knew what we really thought and how we really felt, they would stop liking us. And so, we are always hiding behind a mask of polite talk and good manners. But God knows who we really are. He reads the thoughts that we keep hidden from others. He sees what we do behind closed doors. And he loves us anyway. He sees our sins and offers to forgive us nonetheless.

Today is a new beginning for us. As Saint Paul tells us in the second reading, "This is the acceptable time. This is the day of salvation." No matter how we may have sinned in the past, God is giving us yet another opportunity to turn to him and renew our friendship with him.

When we receive ashes on our foreheads today, let us keep this in mind. God knows us as we really are and loves us just the same. We can only please him by humbly accepting his love and pledging to do whatever it takes to live as he commands. If we do this in the secret of our heart, then the God who sees what is hidden will shower us with his grace and love as we journey to the feast of the resurrection of Jesus.

Saint Damien of Molokai

 

He was considered the Mother Theresa of his day. Just as Mother Theresa brought the plight of the poor in Calcutta to the world’s attention, so this saint showed the world the suffering of those living with leprosy on the island of Molokai. 

His name was Saint Damien of Molokai.

 Born in Belgium in 1840, he joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts with his brother. Though his brother was originally supposed to go to Hawaii, he became sick and Damien would have to go in his place.

 Upon arriving in Molokai and witnessing the inhumane conditions the lepers were forced to live under, his heart went out to them. In fact, the conditions were so difficult that missionaries were only sent to live there three months at a time and then were sent back home to rest. However, Damien asked to stay past the usual three months, so much did he desire to bring comfort to them. Through his efforts, he was able to build permanent housing and bring medical care to the colony.

 After working so closely with the lepers of Molokai, he eventually contracted the disease himself. Rather than make him bitter and resentful, it drove him to give even more of himself in service to those most desperate of people. As he wrote in a letter to his brother, “I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Christ.” The disease finally took his life in 1889, but his efforts inspired a generation of Christians to seek out and share their lives with those who suffer from disease and poverty.

The Lepers Among Us

 

In the twenty-first century, we would like to think that we are more sophisticated than the people in Jesus' day who treated lepers with such superstition and contempt. But a good, hard look at our society tells us something different. It has become common nowadays to abort a baby that is diagnosed with Downs syndrome or any other birth defect in the womb. We are told that such children are "burdens". Add to that the growing opinion that the elderly, the handicapped, those in comas and the terminally ill should be given a "right to die". We are told that they too are a "burden" and that there is no quality to their lives. What we are really saying is that we do not want to be bothered with having to pay for them or even having to see them. We do not want to be reminded that we too will someday be old and infirm. For all our technical advances, we have not made much progress in valuing the lives of every human being. In fact, the people of Jesus' day would be shocked and horrified by the way we treat the unborn and the elderly.

How different the gospel message of Jesus is! He came to bring hope for everyone. In Jesus' eyes there is no one so disgusting that he or she is beyond being loved. There is no one so sinful that he or she cannot be forgiven. The healing that Jesus most wants to perform in our midst here today is not so much to take away our suffering and illnesses, but to transform our hearts so that we look at that pain in a new way. God has the power to transform suffering. When we offer any kind of hardship or pain to him, we become like Jesus who offered his suffering on the cross for the salvation of the world. Instead of causing despair, suffering can actually bring us peace and even joy when we realize that God can use it to bring forgiveness and reconciliation to us and to others. If we are caring for someone who is suffering or if we are suffering ourselves, we need not feel like outcasts or burdens. On the contrary, those who offer their sufferings to God in faith provide more blessings for the world than we can ever know.

The fact is that we are not so unlike the lepers in Jesus' day. As beggars and outcasts, we come to him because he is our only hope. Jesus is offering us words that can transform us through the gospel, His body which is broken to heal us, and his blood which is spilled to save us.  If we approach Jesus with lively faith, He will work a wonder in our lives.

Sanctifying Our Work

 

 There is a beautiful story that a cardinal tells about his time in Rome. He was walking down the street toward the Vatican when he saw a man sweeping the street. After greeting him, the man said, “Your Eminence, you are going to the Vatican to do important work. But, if I sweep this street with more love, then my work is even more valuable in the eyes of God than yours.” The cardinal told him that he was absolutely correct, because love is what gives value to human work.

That is something that all of us should remember. As Pope Saint John Paul II put it, “It is the human person who gives dignity to the work, not work that gives dignity to the person.” Whatever our work may be, if we are doing our best and serving others out of love, then we can hold our heads up high and do it proudly. At the same time, we should never look down on others because of how they earn a living.

 Now matter how much love we put into our work, however, it will still be difficult. All work involves some kind of suffering whether it is physical or emotional. As Christians, we have a way of dealing with suffering- by uniting it with the suffering of Jesus on the cross. So, when I am straining every muscle to do my work, I can call to mind how Jesus struggled to carry the cross. If I am not being appreciated for what I do, I can remember how Jesus was looked down on and ridiculed as He hung on the cross. By uniting our suffering with that of Jesus, we find strength to carry on and we are transformed in the process. 

 One thing many people do is offer the suffering of their work for a specific intention. For instance, we could offer the pain involved in a particularly challenging project for those who are not able to find a job. Or, we could offer the anxiety and nervousness we might be feeling for those who are poor and do not know where their next meal will come from. By doing that, we take the focus off ourselves and what we are experiencing and remembering those who have less than we do. Whenever we do that, we grow in appreciation for what we have and in love for others.

Work is meant to be a blessing for us. It is a way that we can develop our talents and serve others out of love. It is also a way that we can share in Jesus’ cross. So we gather here on this day of rest to thank God for the gift of work and also to pray for those who are unemployed or who are being exploited in their work. May our work help build a world marked with God’s justice

Holy Rest

 

 In last Sunday’s gospel, we find Jesus at the end of a very long day.

It began in the morning at Sabbath services in the synagogue. Jesus got up to speak and everyone was mesmerized by the authority of His teaching. With nothing but a word, He drove out demons from those in attendance. All those who witnessed the authority of His teaching and His power over demons could not help but be amazed. In little time, the word spread all over Capernaum about the wonderworker from Nazareth.

 Today’s gospel picks up the story. After the synagogue services are over, Peter invites Jesus over to his home. Before He even has a chance to sit down and rest, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law.

The rest of the evening, people from all over town are bringing the sick and the possessed to Jesus in hopes that He would cure them. So many people came, in fact, that they did not all fit in the house.

 As we read, it is not until very early the next morning that Jesus can break away for some quiet time in a deserted place. But even then His disciples are seeking Him out. The Greek word that Saint Mark uses that is translated as “pursued him” is very strong, the same word that might be used for hounds chasing down a rabbit. Jesus is in demand because of His power to heal but His desire is to preach the good news of His Father’s Kingdom as He says, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.”

Many of us here today can relate to the hectic pace of Jesus’ life. Whether it is family responsibilities, the demands of our jobs or schoolwork, many of us barely have time to sit down and take a breath. Mothers of young children especially can relate to the disciples seeking out Jesus even when He was trying to get away for some quiet prayer time. How often do your children burst in on you even when you are just trying to go to the bathroom!

 The dizzying pace of modern life makes it imperative that we follow Jesus’ example of finding a quiet, deserted place where we can be alone with God. Psychologists even recognize how important quiet time is for our sanity. Just a few minutes of quiet can alleviate stress and anxiety throughout the day. When we welcome God into that quiet time through prayerful meditation, the benefits are even more profound. Not only are we less stressed and anxious but we experience joy and become empowered to do every sort of good work. 

As Job says in today’s first reading, life can be a drudgery filled with pain and restlessness. However, if we spend some quiet time with God everyday calling to mind His presence, reflecting on His love and filling our mind with His wisdom, we can experience profound and abiding joy in the midst of our struggles. Not only that, we can bring God’s love into those difficult situations and transform them into opportunities to show Jesus’ love to others. Rather than having our day dictated by the pace of events around us, we will be guided by the movement of God within us. And that will make all the difference

Healing The Broken Soul

 

 When Jesus walked among us, He made it His mission to relieve suffering. When He encountered a man possessed by demons, He expelled them and set the man free. In today’s gospel, He heals Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever. The blind, the deaf and the paralyzed all come to Him seeking to have their health restored

However, there was another kind of suffering that He came to relieve. Not only did He heal broken bodies but He also healed wounded souls. He brought the hope of forgiveness to sinners. He instructed all who sought Him out about the love of God and how we should respond by loving our neighbor. To those who were struggling to understand who He was, He opened the Scriptures to show them how the whole Old Testament points to Him. To those who opposed Him and sought to have Him killed, He showed great patience even to the point of asking God to forgive those who crucified Him.

 As important as it was for Him to heal the sick and feed the hungry, Jesus considered serving souls through the preaching of the gospel to be His primary task. He makes this clear in today’s gospel when He says, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose I have come.” There is an urgency to Jesus’ mission to save souls and He will not allow Himself to be slowed down.

As important as it is to serve our neighbors’ bodily needs, we must also seek to meet their spiritual needs. In today’s world where there is much prosperity and abundance, it can be easy for us to overlook the signs of spiritual poverty. We can be fooled into thinking that because people have a roof over their heads, plenty of food and warm clothing that they have no other needs. But that is far from the case. The signs of spiritual poverty are everywhere. It shows itself in our culture through the growing lack of respect for human life. In individuals, the symptoms are despair, sarcasm, boredom, fear of commitment, anxiety and depression. Other signs are doubt, confusion, addiction, bitterness and selfishness. Do these characteristics describe anyone you know? Do we find these signs of spiritual poverty in ourselves?

 How do we relieve the suffering of the spiritually poor? By practicing the spiritual works of mercy. The spiritual works of mercy are instructing the ignorant, counseling the doubtful, admonishing sinners, bearing wrongs patiently, forgiving offenses willingly, comforting the afflicted, and praying for the living and the dead.

 By practicing the spiritual works of mercy we are bringing to life the prayer of Saint Francis to be instruments of peace. We bring love to those who hate, hope to those who despair, light to those in darkness and joy to those who mourn. There is a great satisfaction in bringing the joy of God’s love to others because they can never lose it. Those we feed bread to will go hungry again but those whom we bring the good news to will always have that joy illuminating their soul. At the same time, when we pray for others, encourage them or challenge them, we may not always see the fruits of our work. We can be fooled into thinking that we are not making a difference when in reality, God is working secretly in the hearts of all those we serve. Therefore, we need to be people of faith and prayer ourselves so that Jesus’ healing hand will reach not only the bodies of our neighbors but their souls as well.

(image Copyright (c) Wirestock/Dreamstime.com)

Getting Off The Treadmill

 

 Many people compare their everyday lives to running on a treadmill. They are always busy, always on the go, but never getting anywhere. Such people find themselves getting up in the morning, going to work, coming home to take their children to whatever after-school activities they may have, grabbing supper on the road, and then going to bed only to start the cycle over again the next morning. Others have unfulfilling jobs that leave them drained at the end of the day. The only thing they have to look forward to is the weekend or their next vacation. After years of living on this "treadmill", people begin to question the meaning of their lives and wonder if all the activity is worth it. 

 In this Sunday's first reading, Job expresses some of the same sentiments. As he puts it, "Life on earth is drudgery." Remember that Job, in a series of tragedies, lost his wife, his children and all his possessions. In his grief, he couldn't find the strength to pick himself up from the ground. In a near state of shock, he compares his life to that of a slave or hireling who has no share in the profits of his work. These are sentiments we can very easily share, especially during these dark and cold February days. 

 While Job poses the problem, Jesus provides the solution. In today's gospel, Jesus has had a very long day. The people of Capernaum, hearing that he had the power to heal and cast out demons, were bringing the sick to him while he stayed at the house of Peter's mother-in-law. When everyone had finally left, Jesus slips away by himself to a deserted place to pray. He needed time away from the crowds and the demands of the people to spend time alone with his father. 

 For Jesus, prayer was a source of strength. All the power to preach the good news, to heal and to cast out demons came from the time he spent praising and adoring his Father in secret. Like all of us, Jesus needed to step aside from his busy, demanding life to take stock of his Father's presence and love.

If we are going to live lives marked by peace and joy, prayer is vitally important to us. It will bring clarity to our minds when we are confused and calm to our spirits when we are anxious. Prayer is like an incubator cultivating faith, hope and love within our spirit.

 Every Sunday, we give God an hour out of our week because we believe something important happens at Mass. We believe that Jesus is speaking to us through the Scriptures we proclaim and giving his very life to us through the gift of his Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We go to church because we believe that our lives are about much more than what we do day in and day out. Our lives are rather about who we are- children of God made in his image and likeness. By making daily prayer along with Sunday Mass the foundation of our lives, we see ourselves being renewed and transformed daily by God's presence and power. Our lives are marked, not with monotony or drudgery, but with the joy and peace which come from the Holy Spirit.

The Presentation Of The Lord

 

Today we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Jesus, Mary and Joseph travel to the temple in Jerusalem to fulfill one of the dictates of the law- that of offering sacrifice for a firstborn son. This was done to recall how when the people were enslaved in Egypt the angel killed the firstborn sons of their captors but spared the firstborn of the Israelites. The law required that a sacrifice of a lamb, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons be offered. Scripture scholars tell us that because Joseph and Mary were poor, they were not required to bring a lamb. However, there is another way to look at this. Could it be that they did not bring a lamb because Jesus Himself was the lamb? 

 Jesus is the Lamb of God who is sacrificed on the cross for our sins. We no longer observe all the sacrifices and ritual laws of the Old Testament because Jesus has met them all for us by offering Himself on the cross. His death made all the sacrifices of the Old Testament obsolete. We no longer need to offer bulls, lambs or turtle doves to find forgiveness for our trespasses. God has taken care of all that through the blood of His only Son. As we read today in the book of Hebrews, “Through death [Jesus destroyed] the one who has the power of death...to expiate the sins of the people.” Through our baptism we have been made pure to worship God and to enjoy a personal relationship with Him. 

 There are still rules we must follow. However, they are just the minimum that is required of us. Like the people of the Old Testament, we can fall into the trap of only trying to meet the rules without living the faith in all its fullness. We can become content with making it to Mass every Sunday yet fail on Monday to live the demands of the gospel we heard. When we do that, our faith becomes lifeless. It becomes just a matter of jumping through hoops. We do not exude the joy of the good news. 

 To be true followers of Jesus, then, we need the purity of heart which the Old Testament speaks of, a purity that is not content with keeping rules but with showing love. If we are to truly know the God who reveals Himself in Jesus Christ we must not only keep the letter of the law but the spirit of the law. We must forgive those who offend us just as God has forgiven us in Christ. We must reach out to the poor, the needy and the sick as Jesus did. Then our prayers, our sacrifices and our good works will be acceptable to God. Then we will know the salvation that Jesus died on the cross and rose in glory to make possible for us. 

 It is customary on this feast day to bless the candles that will be used in the church in the coming year. They serve as symbols of Jesus who is the Light of the World. This same Jesus calls us to be light for a world plunged in the darkness of fear, skepticism, denial and hatred. If we are content to simply follow the rules, our light will be dim at best. But if in the power of the Spirit we love our neighbor, feed the hungry, show mercy to sinners and give comfort to those in need, then we will radiate hope to a world that does not need more judgment or more laws but, instead, needs more of Jesus and His love

Don't Try This At Home!!

 

 Television shows featuring stuntmen jumping over buses on motorcycles or walking between skyscrapers on tightropes always carry the warning: “Do not try this at home.” The women and men who perform such acts of derring-do are highly trained professionals. The producers of these action packed shows are afraid that people at home will try to imitate their stunts and hurt themselves and others in the process and so they are sure to warn them, “Do not try this at home!” 

 There are many scenes in the gospels as well which should probably carry the warning: “Do not try this at home!” Last Sunday's gospel is one example. None of us should be trying to cast out demons from people, especially in the middle of church services. We should leave that to trained professionals- the bishops and priests who have received Jesus’ own authority over unclean spirits through the sacrament of Holy Orders. 

 This warning to “not try this at home” should extend also to any activity that involves calling on occult demonic forces. We can sometimes think that popular practices such as consulting our horoscope or playing with a Ouija board are harmless. But they open us up to dark forces which pose real dangers to our soul. We should also avoid all morbid curiosity about paranormal activity and witchcraft. Most especially, we should steer clear of seances and any attempts to conjure up or contact the dead. Unfortunately, many clairvoyants and mediums claim that they have a gift from God and may even use Christian images such as statues of Mary or rosaries in their performances. However, we should have no doubt in our minds that any powers they may have come from demons and not from God. Followers of Jesus Christ should have nothing to do with them. 

If through ignorance any of you have found yourselves involved in such activity, there is no need to fear. God has given us the Sacrament of Confession to cleanse and heal our souls. However, it is imperative that you go to confession as soon as possible, get rid of any occult materials you may still have around the house and strictly avoid this activity in the future. 

Every day we should be filling our souls and minds with the pure light that comes from God. Instead of reading our horoscope or tarot cards, we should be reading the Bible. In it we find our true future- that we are destined to live with God forever in heaven. Instead of going to seances to consult the dead, we should be coming to Mass where we encounter the living God in Jesus Christ who has risen from the dead. Instead of uttering incantations or reciting mantras, we should be praying the Rosary to meditate on the life of Christ. And instead of trying to gain power over others through witchcraft, we should be serving others through works of charity. 

 DO try that at home and learn to trust in the love and wisdom of God who alone holds our future in His loving hands and who promises to make all things work out for our good

(image by Art Revisited Tolbert www.artrevisited.com)

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