Friday 10th Week of Ordinary Time

The Body of Sin Mt. 5: 27-32

Sin begins in our hearts and extends out to our hands, our ears and our eyes.

We first desire a particular sin in our heart and then we strive to attain it with our hands, our eyes or our ears.

This is why Jesus warns us that it is better to pluck out our eye or cut off our hand rather than risk the fires of Gehenna.

He does not mean for us to literally pluck them out or cut them off,

But to beware of what we desire with our hearts

look at with our eyes;

or listen with our ears;

Or reach for with our hands.

For it is not worth the fires of Gehenna

Or anything else for that matter.

God Bless

Corpus Christi

How would you describe the times in which we live?

Confusing? Lonely? Painful? Difficult? Divisive?

It is at these times that Jesus says

“Come to Me....”

Come to Me all you who are weary and find life burdensome

And I will refresh you. Mt. 11:28

Come to Me, All you who are confused

and I will ease your mind.

Come to Me all you who are lonely,

And I will talk with you.

Come to Me all you who suffer,

And I will heal you.

Come to Me all you who are facing difficulties

And I will help you carry your load.

Come to Me all you who are experiencing division

And I will gather you together.

Come to Me all you who are angry,

And I will give you Peace.

Come to Me all you who sin,

And I will forgive you.

Come to Me all you who are lost,

and I will show you the way.

Come to Me, all you who are oppressed,

And I will lift you up.

Come to Me all you who are enslaved,

And I will set you free.

Come to Me, all you who are dying,

And I will give you Eternal Life.

Come to Jesus,

With whatever burdens the world has placed on you.

For His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Come to Jesus,

For in His Gentle and Humble Heart.

You will find rest from all that wearies yours.

God Bless

Thursday 10th Week of Ordinary Time

The Letter of the Law Mt. 5:20-26

The commandments of God are not only written on stone,

But must be written in our hearts as well.

For if we are only concerned with the letter of the law and not with the spirit,

Then our hearts are a cold as the stone on which the commandments were written.

And then like the Pharisees,

We will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

God Bless

Wednesday 10th Week of Ordinary Time

Excuses

When a person is pulled over by a policeman

Usually that person begins to think of an excuse

For breaking the speed limit.

It is no different with the laws of the Church.

We can often come up with excuses why we did not attend Mass

Or keep the commandments.

And Jesus reminds us that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Mt. 5:17.

If Jesus did not offer excuses but sought instead to fulfill the law,

Then maybe we should not either.

Instead we should strive to fulfill the law as He did.

And then we shall be called “Great” in the Kingdom of Heaven.

God Bless

Tuesday 10th Week of Ordinary Time

The Light of the World

We are the Light of the World. Mt. 5:14

That means we must live our Faith so that others can see it.

And by the Light our Faith

Help others find their way in the darkness of this world.

But like all light,

We must not shine it other people’s faces

For then it only blinds them.

Our Faith should be like a candle in the night

Whose gentle light and warm flame

Is a Kindly Light, Leading others on their way.

God Bless

Monday 10th Week of Ordinary Time

The Beatitudes Mt. 5:1-12

The Beatitudes are a ladder to Heaven.

And Each Beatitude is a rung on the Ladder to Heaven.

But like all ladders you can only take one rung at a time.

Have you ever tried skipping two or three rungs on a ladder?

It is impossible.

One must take one rung at a time beginning with the first one.

So the first rung on the ladder of the Beatitudes is

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit.

After one has taken that step,

Then one can take the next rung to

Blessed are those who Mourn.

And then the next rung

Blessed are those who are Meek.

And on and on.

But each one is a big step and one must make sure that one has

Attained that step and is steady on it before taking the next one.

Or one may slip down and have to start all over again.

God Bless

The Holy Trinity

St. Augustine, who is one of he greatest minds in Christianity and the world was having difficulty thinking bout how there could be Three Persons in One God,

And he could not quite get his head around it.

So he went for a walk.

While walking along the beach one day,

He saw a little boy with a bucket.

And he asked the little boy what he was doing.

And the little boy said,

I am going to empty the ocean into this bucket.

And St. Augustine laughed and said,

“You cannot empty the ocean into that little bucket!”

And the boy answered,

“And you cannot grasp the Holy Trinity in your little mind!”

And then the boy disappeared.

nonetheless our Faith is always seeking understanding.

And the way we often gain greater understanding is through experience.

But how do we gain experience of the Holy Trinity?

First of all through Creation.

Did you know There are 2 million insects for every person.

There are 250 billion stars give or take 150 billion in the Milky Way Galaxy.

There are two trillion Galaxies in the universe consisting of billions of stars each.

And then there is you and me!

So we can experience God the Father as a Creator everywhere we look.

Secondly through our humanity.

The Son of God, Jesus Christ.

became flesh and dwelt among us.

He was born of a woman.

And walked the earth

He ate bread and fish.

And Suffered and died.

So we can experience God the Son as someone just like us.

Thirdly through inspiration.

Every great Poet, Musician, Artist and Author

Speaks of inspiration.

A sudden idea or understanding

That came to them out of the blue.

When they least expected it.

This is what “inspiration” is,

Being “in-the-Spirit “

So we experience the Holy Spirit as inspiration.

How these Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are One God is beyond our understanding.

But how they relate to us and are part of our lives,

Every person great and small can experience

If only we open ourselves up to the God

Who lives, and moves and has His being in us and all around us!

God Bless