22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Hypocrites. Mk. 7:1-23

Jesus was considered a pretty nice person. 

He ate with sinners and the outcast. 

He associated with the wealthy and the poor. 

But there was one group of people He didn’t care for,

And for whom He saved His most condemning words;

Hypocrites!

Hypocrites were concerned on how they appeared on the outside,

Sin however, resides on the inside. 

As Jesus said, within our hearts is where all evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, and folly come from.

So Unless one cleanses the inside,

One is never really clean. 

Jesus was able to resist His temptation in the desert because his heart was pure. 

He had no desires for power or pleasure in His heart. 

On the outside, St. Francis was a mess

He was dirty and unkempt. 

Dressed in rags. 

But inside he was pure of heart. 

This is what confession is for. 

It cleanses the inside of the cup. 

We may look and act great on the outside for others to see. 

But God does not judge by appearances. 

But by what is in our hearts. 

Everything we do at Mass is to prepare our hearts;

To receive Christ at Communion. 

We call to mind our sins at the beginning and seek a change of heart. 

We listen to His words in the Scriptures that call us to follow Him. 

We pray as He taught us. 

But if all we do is go through the motions,

And nothing changes inside,

Then we are no different than the Pharisees. 

Saturday 21st Week of Ordinary Time

 Prayer to the Blessed Virgin

     My Queen, my mother, I give myself entirely to thee, and to show my devotion to thee, I consecrate to thee this day, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my whole being without reserve.  Wherefore good Mother as I am thine own, keep me, guard me, as thy property and possession.  Amen.

Friday 21st Week of Ordinary Time

 The foolishness of the Cross

Life is a mystery. 

There are some things we will never figure out. 

The Cross is one of those mysteries. 

For Jews the Cross is a stumbling block,

Because they look not for a Crucified Messiah,

But for one that will restore the glory and power of Israel. 

For the Pagans the Cross is foolishness,

Because suffering does not bring life. 

But for us who believe 

The Cross is the Wisdom of God which puts the foolishness of Man to shame,

And the Cross shows that the weakness of God is stronger than Men. 

In other words,  God uses the cross to show the world that it is not as smart or as strong as it think it is.  

Thursday 21st week of Ordinary Time

The Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist

Herod was attracted to John,

Much like a moth to a flame.  

But at the same time he rejected John,

Because he did not want to hear the Truth;

The Truth that he cannot marry his brother’s wife.

And eventually Herod silenced the Truth,

By having John beheaded. 

Or so he thought. 

The life and message of St. John the Baptist lives on,

While Herod fades away. 

This is how it is with Truth. 

People are attracted to it.

But often reject it because it convicts them of the falsehood of their opinions and desires. 

Jesus was crucified by public opinion as the crowd cried crucify him crucify him.

Truth is Always being crucified on the altar of public opinion. 

If the polls say it’s true then it must be true.

We may be Put on trial in the court of public opinion as was Jesus and Saint John the Baptist.

And Like Jesus and Saint John the Baptist,

We too may be crucified in one form or another,  for holding onto the Truth. 

But it is better to die a martyr for the Truth live as a slave to Public opinion. 

Wednesday 21st week of Ordinary Time

St. Augustine

It Is Never Too Late

In the story Alice in Wonderland, the white rabbit goes around saying, "I'm  late,I'm late for a very important date. 

St. Augustine prayed "Too late have I loved you O Lord, too late have  I loved you"

He had spent so much of his life on false philosophies and false religions and loose living.

Are there times in our lives when we are afraid it is too late?

Too late to say I am sorry?

Too late to forgive?

Too late to start over?  

No matter how old we are or what we are doing.  

It is never too late for the Lord.

Tuesday 21st week of Ordinary Time

 St. Monica

St. Monica had a wayward child. 

He left the church in which he was baptized 

And went off to a life of pleasure

Following one cult after another. 

And what did she do?

She did not preach or scold or admonish her son. 

Rather she wept tears for him. 

Tears that God saw

And tears that eventually touched the heart of her son. 

And through those tears

Her son came back to the Church and became

St. Augustine. 

Perhaps the greatest theologian in the history of the Church. 

So never underestimate the power of tears. 

Monday 21st Week of Ordinary Time

 Enduring Faith 2 Thes. 1:1-5

The early church faced persecution continually. 

Some people were ridiculed and rejected. 

Others were imprisoned and executed. 

Persecution continues even today and comes in many different forms. 

Maybe it is a direct attack by an individual. 

Maybe it is indirect through social media. 

Regardless our Faith must endure. 

Not for our glory,

But for the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

And if it does endure,

Then we will share in the glory of the Lord when He come again. 

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

 Tough Choices 

Joshua had gathered all the people together. 

They had just crossed the Jordan into the land of the Amorites. 

And he wanted to know if they were going to continue to follow the Lord or the gods of the Amorites. 

The choice was a difficult one. 

If they followed the gods of the Amorites in whose country they now found themselves;

They probably would get good jobs;

Property and social standing right away. 

If they they followed the Lord,

Things might be more difficult. 

So they had a choice to make. 

Many people thought that what Jesus said was difficult and hard to understand. 

Deny yourself; take up your cross;

Eat His Body and drink His Blood;

They too had choices to make. 

And some chose to walk away. 

But Peter did not. 

He said, “where can we go?”

You have the words of everlasting life!”

There are those even today who walk away from Jesus. 

But where are they going?

Is there life any better?

There are choices and then there are CHOICES

Just ask Adam and Eve who had to choose whether or not to eat the apple. 

Or David who had to choose whether or not to fight Goliath. 

Or James and John who had to choose whether or not to abandon their nets and follow Jesus. 

The toughest choices are the most important ones. 

They define who we are and

What we will become. 

It is the choices we make today

That prepare us not only for tomorrow 

But for all Eternity. 

Saturday 20th Week of Ordinary Time

 Prayer to Mary, Queen of all Hearts

     O Mary, Queen of all hearts, Advocate of hopeless causes, Mother so pure, so compassionate, 
Mother of divine Love and full of divine light, 
     I place into your gentle hands the favours that we await from you today.
     Look upon our wretchedness, our hearts, our tears, our inner trials, our sufferings:
     You can answer our prayers through the merits of your divine Son, Jesus Christ.
     Graciously hear our prayers at your altar, where every day you give so many proofs of your power 
and your love for the healing of body and soul.
     We hope against all hope: Ask of Jesus our healing, our pardon, and our final perseverance.

O Mary, Queen of Hearts, heal us, we trust you. Amen.

Friday 20th Week of Ordinary Time

Love the Lord Mt. 22:34-40

The Great Commandment is that we should love the Lord,

With all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength. 

Why?

Because God has loved us with all of His heart and soul and mind and strength. 

He has shown us this total love by dying on the cross. 

Now is a good time to make a list of how we love the Lord,

With all our heart, all our soul and with all our mind and strength. 

So find time to sit down,

get out a piece of paper and write down,

All the ways that we show how much we love the Lord. 

Thursday 20th Week of Ordinary Time

The Queenship of Mary

After Mary was Assumed into Heaven she was crowned queen of Heaven and earth. 

This is a very very royal and glorious title. 

But Mary’s queenship is different from that of most queens. 

Most queens are born into the royalty. 

But not when it comes to Jesus. 

One becomes brother, sister and mother to the Lord,

Not by blood but by doing the Will of God.

No one was more obedient to the Will of God

Than Mary whose motto was,

“Fiat!”

“Let it be done to me according to your word.”

If we follow her example and always seek to do God’s Will

Rather than our own,

Then we too will reign with her forever 

In the Kingdom of Heaven.