I Will Open Your Graves…

“Thus says the Lord God: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel,. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people ! I will put my spirit in you that you may live , and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the Lord, I have promised, and I will do it , says the Lord.”

(Ezekiel 37:12b-14 )

Here again, reading this passage, and taking it on it’s own, you might be tempted to believe that this passage is about the 2^nd coming. It is not. Whenever we have the opportunity to be presented with scriptural passages one needs to go back and get the “ story behind the story” ( Thank you Fr. John for drilling that indelibly into the brain !)

This story , and this passage, take place in the backdrop of the Babylonian exile and enslavement of a vast majority of the Jews. To be sure, the discussion of what is happening above is the Lord letting Israel know, that it will be restored.. The coming out of the graves here, has 2 applications. The first are for those who are in fact under the rule of the king of Babylon. There were however, others who were not under Babylonian rule, but who were none the less displaced from their homelands and also “in the grave” from loss of both their patriotic and spiritual homeland.

In the passage just previous to this , it says that Israel is “cut off” meaning that it has nothing to give it hope at all.

This passage also reaffirms his promise, that as their God, He will restore Israel, bringing an end to their exile, and thereby confirming their faith.

So the question is… “ Where does that fit into your life ?” .

I am sure that we can all relate to this passage. Are you struggling with something ?

Do you feel like your in a “dry patch” spiritually ? Maybe you feel like you are alone or that God has not answered some prayer for something you want or need ?

Possibly, you are just having a ruff time of it. Things are not going well.

It’s funny how life for us is really not all that different. The same sort of issues face us today. Things are going along OK, and your making your way along and things seem to be going well, and then all of a sudden.. they are not so great. Something happens either from something we did , or something that happens to us and things are not good .. not good at all. Maybe you, like the Israelites, feel like you have lost hope.. or even lost your faith. ?

I am here to tell you to listen to the story of Israel. Listen and have faith !

Know that God has not abandoned you in your struggles, or in your life ! On the contrary, it is when we are going through these struggles, when we are going through the pains and challenges of life that God is yet even closer ! Working for what is best for you.

Just like the exiles, He will bring you through your struggles, through your battles. He will bring you back to Him and through it make you stronger. He will also put the fire of faith within you, and give you strength and courage.

You will then tell your story of this journey in word, or in deed, so that you can show others what it is that God has done in your life.

Be still and KNOW that I AM GOD !

May God give you the gift of His peace !

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The Blessing of Paul…

“ May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus our Lord, furnish you with all that is good, that you may do His will. Through Jesus Christ may He carry out in you all that is pleasing to Him. To Christ be glory forever ! Amen. “ (Hebrews 13:20-21)

So, what is going on with this scripture ? It sounds good.. and it is uplifting and pretty much sounds like your run of the mill kind of blessing. OK.. lets get some more detail.

This passage is written tot he Hebrews, from Paul who is with the Gentiles and busy trying to win converts there. So it sort of begs the question why is it that he his busy writing letters to the Hebrews when that not really the assignment he was given, per se ?

Here again, you need to take a look at “ the story…. behind the story”. !

Paul, who was a Jew, was not just your run of the mill Jew. Oh no ! Prior to his conversion, he was extremely well trained in the law of the Jewish faith, and so much so that he gained great renown as an orator and debater of the law, and so much so that he was known to confuse and bewilder his challengers with great ease. He became one of the “go to guys” for matters of the law.

Now you might imagine that after his conversion, he started preaching against the law which made the leaders of the faith hate him with great zeal. So because of that, they would not have accepted him or his words and would likely have beat him, thrown him in jail, or killed him, as they had done with many other of the disciples.

God in his infinite wisdom, sent Paul amongst the Gentiles in order that the Word would spread according to His will. Paul, although do the work laid out for him, still loved the Jews, and longed to preach the faith to them as well.

His prayer for them was that God would furnish what ever was necessary to do His will. This is important. He is not praying for them to have all they WANT, or all they think that they need, but for what is necessary to complete God’s will in their lives.

Sometimes our prayer lives enter into a path to a certain resolution. Possibly, the prayers take the form of a particular need, or desire. As we know, things do not always work out that we are given what it is that our human desire wants.. A friend used to say “ You don’t always know what God saves you FROM”. How true it is. We may not receive what we want, but what we receive is for our good, AND for the bringing about of the Kingdom. We may not see it,, or understand it. It is so, none the less.

In our lives our prayer should include, the desires of our hearts, because like we would talk to a brother or sister, we lay bare our desires for a given situation, even if it is reluctantly. We do so because we love God. He already knows the desires of our hearts, but this is part of the relationship we have. We should pray for those desires, yes, but we should pray for whatever is the will of God to prevail and that we too, are given what is needed, to complete our calling.

May God give you the gift of His peace !

On Carrying Your Cross…

“Look on the needs of the saints as your own; be generous in offering hospitality . Bless your persecutors; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.

Have the same attitude toward all. Put away ambitious thoughts and associate with those who are lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never repay injury with injury. See that your conduct is honorable in the eyes of all. If possible, live peaceably with everyone. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves; leave that to God’s wrath, for it is written” Vengeance is mine; I will repay says the Lord”. But “ if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink; by doing this you will heap burning coals upon his head” Do no be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.” ( Romans 12:13 – 21 )

There is, in our spiritual lives, an ever present struggle. This struggle takes the form of knowledge and application. We have both the ideal, and the reality. The ideal is that we become saints, the reality is the struggles we face to get to that point. You may think that being a saint is to grand a thought, too lofty a goal, to much to even hope for. Let me assure you that it is not.

For a moment lets change that paradigm, and lets say that the ideal is living your life exactly as Jesus told the disciples to do. We are going to love everyone.. OK.. so I failed there.. maybe I will do better with the next one.. Nope.. That boss at work, who is a jerk. I have to love HIM ? Even when he is directing his attitude in my direction ? Still ? Really ? OK. Well I can’t stand him. So the answer to the question is, I will just avoid him and that way I can just not have to deal with it.. and I can “love” him from far away.. FAR FAR away..

How would it have worked out for us, if while Jesus was going through his agony in the garden, he knelt down and said “ Father, I am just not feeling the whole crucifixion thing. I think I will save these folks from one of those nice seaside resorts with palm trees and handmaids to wait on me.. that sound good to you ? “.

Going through the trials and tribulations that we have are “good” for us. In same way that disciplining a child is “good” for them. They wont like it to be sure. It will not be pleasant. In the end, however, they will come to understand why it was good, and they will tell others about the experience more than likely.

In the same way, we have crosses we carry. Most of them are not pleasant, and some feel horrible and we really seek to find some reasonable explanation for them. We , we cry, we might feel defeated. In the end however, we come out the other side, and no, we might not have the answer to why but, we will have learned something, and hopefully gotten some insight into our spiritual lives.

Just like our Lord, your cross is visible. Possibly not to all, but to some. Your cross and your response to the cross you carry may also be the testament for another person, a lesson on how to carry their own cross. Everyone has one, at every stage of life.

Finally, the cross that every person of faith carries, is the struggle to bring our spiritual world into our earthly existence. To be sure the more you are aware of what you are called to, the greater that cross is, however, at the same time, as large as that cross might seem, not only are you given the spiritual muscle to carry it. Just as Simon helped Jesus carry his cross, God places people in our lives to do just that. It could be priest, or a brother or sister who cares, or it just might be someone you witnessed carrying their cross. Consider this as you carry your own.

May God give you the gift of His peace !

Control and Treasure…

“There is a certain spiritual wisdom which we express among the spiritually mature. It is not a wisdom of this age, however, not of the rulers of this age, who are men headed for destruction. No, what we utter is God’s wisdom: a mysterious, a hidden wisdom. God planned it before all ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age know the mystery; if they had know it, they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory. Of this wisdom it is written :

“ Eye has not seen, ear has not heard,
nor has it so much as dawned on man
what God has prepared for those who love him “

Yet God has revealed this wisdom to us through the Spirit. “ ( 1 Corinthians 2:6 )

No matter how much things change, they are exactly the same. The folly of mankind lived out suffering growing from some misguided notion, that the world has better things to offer us, if we can control more of it. If we own more of it… If we exercise dominion over more of it !

It is something that we tell our children.. make sure you get a good education.. no one can take that from you.. Make sure you have enough education because it will open doors for you, it will give you a job so you wont have to work, or work so hard. Climb the ladder, become the boss, or own your own place so YOU can be the boss, and then no one can control what you do ! You need to get ahead.
You need more, so that you have a comfortable life. So that you have more control over your life.

In some fields of work, the ego, the control, and the ability to lord that over others is more prevalent. It is there from the smallest businesses… to the largest of corporations, to governments, all wanting to exercise control to see who will “win”.

Lets look for a moment at WHY it is that this thought process is not a bad thing in theory, however the practice is where we lost something important.

It starts with what we receive. You did not get your job, or your education, or your opportunity on your own. There were people who sacrificed, people who taught, people who cared, and people who provided for you to get where you are. While it may be true that you may have worked hard to get where you are, and you too may have sacrificed, and labored to get where you are, it was there, because someone else built it, bought it, made it, or taught it into being so that you might avail yourself of it.

At the very core of those opportunities is God. God in his infinite wisdom granted to you life. Things were set before you so that you have the opportunity to grow. You accept or deny either part of that reality, and you have not fulfilled your purpose.

Consider for a moment that when you accept those gifts that are placed before you, that there is a responsibility that comes with those gifts. There was a book/movie that quipped “ With great power comes great responsibility…” I tell you that you have no power, save for the free will you were given to make one decision, whether to accept the gift of faith, or not. Even THAT power was given to you so that you have an opportunity.

With the gift that was given to you, comes at a cost. The cost of being a disciple means that you have a responsibility to your brothers and sisters. To care for them.. To love them… To feed and clothe them…
to help them in this world, along their own path. To share, and to teach… and to do as much of that as you can in the short time we are given on this earth.

Oscar Wilde I believe was the one who said a man is judged by the quality of his enemies. I tell you this is not true. I can tell you, that man is judged by his capacity for LOVE and his journey of faith.

At the end of our earthly life. God has assured us that we will not be able to comprehend the level of riches that await us in heaven.. I can testify, that the greatest treasure I have is the love that Jesus has for me and you.

May God give you the gift of His peace !

You Who Were Once Far Off…Or Me ?

“ Now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
It is he who is our peace, and who made the two of us one by breaking down the barrier of hostility that kept us apart. In his own flesh he abolished the law with its commands and precepts, to create in himself one new man from us who had been two and make peace, reconciling both of us to God in one body through his cross, which put that enmity to death “ ( Ephesians2:13-16 )

In this passage Paul is talking to the Ephesians, about how it is that in the process of His ministry, and in his preaching, and in his life, Jesus put an end to the divisions between not only the factions within the Jewish faiths, but also an end to the division between Jew and Gentile ( pretty much anyone who was not of the Jewish faith).

Remember that Paul spent a vast majority of his public ministry, working to being the faith to Gentiles and spreading the word of God among those who knew had not grown up with the idea of God as the Jews understood Him.

Paul is trying to explain that Jesus showed us how it is to build community, regardless of where it is that we started from, or where you are now !

We need to be mindful that we have a number of spiritual leaders in our lives. It is easy to put them on a pedestal and look up to them, believing that they are good and holy people. We would like very much to believe that we are good and holy people. If we take the time and really analyze where we are in our spiritual walk, and do some critical review of it, that we can clearly see where it is that we have work to do. Our God, being good and loving, and wanting what is best for us, will show us where our flaws are, whether we want to know them or not.

Recently I was at a meeting, and admittedly sleep deprived and nerves already a bit frayed when someone touched on a personal hot button. Now, mind you, there is nothing quite like thinking you are in a good place, and it’s all good when your talking about generalities and abstracts, but now when things hit home.. NOW we are getting to the meat of things. Needless to say, I was rather strong in my response. I was not wrong in what I said, but definitely wrong in HOW I said it. Shortly after I ceased speaking, I realized that possibly, I might have hurt the feelings of one or two others, and so
after the meeting was done, I sought them out and apologized and attempted to explain my reaction, and entered into a discussion with them about how they felt and why.

I tell you this because we need to understand that the people who are the leaders, are leaders, yes, but they are human. They are flawed and broken, they have feelings and patience ( and a limit to them no matter how loving they are). This is exactly the same bridge we need to be crossing when we deal with people of differing faiths, people who are not where we are, people who might seem different, but in truth are the same.

In this letter, Paul is reminding us that you may believe that you are in a good place and others are “far off” but through the blood of Christ, I promise, you have been brought nearer, to where they are, than they to where you are. My mother used to say.. “ Life is a matter of perspectives”. This phrase used to be trotted out usually about the point where I was angry about this or that thing, or at this or that person. As much as I hated it at the time, it did cause me to think about it.

So today, brothers and sisters, let us work on not being the one who is “far off” , but accepting that no matter how much we may feel like we are in a good place, that WE ALL are still far off, and work on building the community of global faith, that Jesus tried so hard to get us all to see.. To build a global community of love and acceptance. To build a place where even a flawed brother like me, will find a place of forgiveness. And lets begin to build that global place by building the first place in our hearts.

May God give you the gift of His peace !

The Unblemished Lamb…

“Realize that you were delivered from the futile way,of life your fathers handed on to you, not by any diminishable sum of silver or gold, but by Christ’s blood beyond all price : The blood of the spotless , unblemished lamb chosen before the worlds foundation and revealed for you sake in these last days. It is through Him that you are believers in God, the God who raised him from the dead and gave Him glory. Your faith and hope, then, are centered in God.

By obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves for a genuine love of your brothers, therefore, love one another constantly from the heart. Your rebirth has come not from a destructible but from an indestructible seed, through the living and enduring Word of God. “ ( 1 Peter 1:18-23 ).

There are a few things about this passage that are of importance for us to take stock in. In the first part of this passage Peter, is talking to the church explaining that it was Jesus, who delivered them from
the futile way. Now.. If we didn’t know anything about history, you might be inclined to think that this statement was all about the idea of them getting into the church and not following some generic path of sin. We know however, that this “futile way” that Peter is speaking about is actually speaking about the principle of “justification by law”. “The law” were all the rules and laws of the Torah that were passed on to every child.

“ The blood of the spotless lamb” this idea hearkens back to Exodus and the institution of the Passover feast. This is where the unblemished lamb is sacrificed that was the salvation of the slaves in Egypt. Jesus was the unblemished lamb that is our salvation today. Our faith and hope are centered in God alone.

It is of utmost importance that we take heed of one particular part of this scripture. This is paramount !
“ The blood of the unblemished lamb chosen before the worlds formation, and revealed for your sake in these last days” … think about that….. BEFORE THE WORLDS FORMATION..

This bears out the Franciscan preaching that Jesus did not come into the world because of SIN, he came into the world because of LOVE. There was no sin of man BEFORE man was created . Before the creation of the world ! Therefore, we know that the plan was for Jesus to come into the world because of Love, to be our Savior, our Lord.

In the end of this epistle Peter, gives them encouragement and instruction. We all need encouragement and building up of our faith lives. Just like the disciples in the early church we struggle, and we strive in trying to live out our faith. But what does Peter tell them..? He says to them that it is because of your faith, you struggle to love your brother. Keep going ! Keep loving your brothers from the heart.
Not a superficial kind of “ see you next Sunday” sort of thing. It is a deep and abiding love for our brothers and sisters that we must maintain and build on, not only for them, but the others in our communities because they see, they learn and they are also encouraged by the strength of the love we share.

Take peace then, not only in your faith, and in your brothers and sisters, but in the Lord the unblemished lamb, who rose from the dead, who was raised in glory, and who loved each one of you before the creation of the world.

May God give you the gift of His peace !

Pray Without Ceasing ?

“ Pray without ceasing” ( 1 Thessalonians 5: 17).

I have a friend who asked me about this recently. I have a good understanding of what is meant here. It does however take a bit of forethought, not only in what is going on. What is the story, behind the story. ( Thank you Father John, for drilling that into my head with a deeply Italian accent ) .. To really look at its origin, its meaning, and its application will take a bit of background.

So lets get to it..

Paul is busy writing epistles to the early church community in Thessalonika, and is providing a basic laundry list of things for the community to follow. These are to enforce some basic Christian virtue into the daily lives of the community members there. Like any other community it has had it’s share of growing pains. Paul is there to help out.

This is a list of reminders. Respect each other… respect your elders, admonish those who have not been pulling their weight, be kind, be helpful, be patient. Seek out the good not just for the people within the community, but for everyone. PRAY..PRAY.. PRAY.. and give thanks always. Your basic hallmarks of Christian living.

He (Paul) is still waiting for the second coming which he still believes will be soon. So he does not want to have this fledgling community in a state of sin when the Lord returns. So this is what is going on.

Each morning, the church offers its morning prayers. For those in the various orders and institutes of the Church, we pray the Morning prayer upon rising each day. The prayers include the offering of the entire day. We offer our challenges, pains and sufferings and join them in union with Christ, both in the way that is reparation for our own sin, and for the sins of our fellow man, we offer the day, in thanksgiving and in joy. In Thanksgiving, because of the fact that even in our challenges and in our sufferings of the day, it is through those challenges and sufferings that God ultimately uses those things not only to our own benefit, but to bring about the Kingdom of God.

I prefer to look at this passage in this light. In the process of the morning offering, we call to mind our priestly office ( remember this means we are called on to offer prayers , praise and sacrifices, and thanksgiving to God). We recall in the morning and we pray to offer our day.

Like many other things we need practice, or reminders periodically to be better at this thing or that. Prayer is no different. As we go through the day, we receive prompting from the Spirit where we might have failed, or where we might have forgotten to pray about this or that, and in the practice of prayer, you will find that your prayer becomes more and more frequent,

Now, will you spend 24 hours a day on bended knee, and in front of the crucifix or the Blessed Sacrament ? No… Our lives generally do not allow for that. Do we have to be there to fulfill Paul’s charge to pray ? No. In fact by fulfilling the morning prayer, you have fulfilled the call, but it is so much more, and there is so much more to be done.

Life has a way of creeping in, and trying to dislodge you from your prayers. Praying is a habit, in the same way that going to have coffee every morning with your spouse, or with a friend is a habit. It is easier, the more you do it. Do not be discouraged, but take heart and press forward with your prayer life, you have to make the time to do it initially, but after you do this you will find it is an integral part of your day, and you will not want to be without it.

Until next time, may God give you the gift of His peace !

On Being a Builder..

“Every one of us will have to give an account of himself before God. Therefore we must no longer pass judgment on one another. Instead you should resolve to put no stumbling block or hindrance in your brothers way. The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, but of justice, peace, and the joy that is given by the Holy Spirit. Whoever serves Christ in this way pleases God and wins the esteem of men. Let us the, make it our aim to work for peace and to strengthen one another.”
(Romans 14:12-19)

There is so much food for thought here.. So much to be taken in not only in our own view of the world around us, but to look within, at the state of our own souls…

Each one of us will have to give an account to God, for what it is that we have done in the course of our lives. Let’s be honest… Looking back over the course of our lives, there are for each and every one of us moments where we have stumbled, fell, or just plain hurled ourselves into some parts of our lives we would just as soon forget. Then, there is that one family member, or that one friend, or one person who just would just as soon, not allow that particular moment to fade into oblivion.

It’s all up there.. in the volumes of our lives. Consider for a moment, if the last person we did not show the face of Christ to…. became the judge.. or became the prosecutor when we stand before the Seat of Mercy ? The last person we were unkind to… the last person we judged…. the last one to whom we forgot who and what we are, and unleashed our temperament upon..

To be clear, it is not that God is unloving, or unforgiving, think of it this way When you were a child, and you did something wrong. You at some point ended up standing in front of your parent, or teacher or whoever it was, and admitted to what ever it happened to have been. You felt terrible, horrible, wretched. Then after a time that person came to you,and told you that you were forgiven for what ever it was that you did. It was terrible, and ultimately that person came to forgive you,

And consider this… Jesus came and provided us a blueprint…. a model to follow. Jesus planned for us.. God planned for us from the very beginning a way for us to be with Him. There was the Agony in the Garden… Our lives are a reflection of the both the entrance to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the joys and the triumphs of our lives, and then the Agony where we have not fared so well, not only in our misfortunes, but in our spiritual failings. This Agony.. is part of our earthly life. How many times have we prayed to allow one “cup” or another to pass us by ?

We also have death and judgment, In death there is a worldly judgment. In this passage it says that, if you conduct yourself in this way… then you will please God, “ and the esteem of men”. People will think and say many things about you when you depart the earth. I would like to think that those who are left, will be kind and say good things. There might be some who do not. It should give you comfort to know that it was no different for Christ. After he was gone, not everyone said good things about Him.

Our God is a loving God. For those who have faith, and whose hearts belong to Him, He has already assured forgiveness for our failures. His request of us, is to work for Peace, Justice, and Joy. Notice how PEACE comes first ? We need to cease being a world where entitlement and self-victimization are the center stage of our lives. We need to move towards being peacemakers, Building bridges both in our lives and in our hearts. We must move towards being builders. Building lives, and building hearts, and saving souls, one seed at a time !

May God give you the gift of His peace !

To Walk Humbly…

“ In your relations with one another, clothe yourselves with humility, because God “ is stern with the arrogant but to the humble he shows kindness”. Bow humbly under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time he may lift you high. Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you. Stay sober and alert. You opponent is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith, realizing that the brotherhood of believers is undergoing the same sufferings throughout the world. The God of all grace,who called you to His everlasting glory in Christ will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish those who have suffered a little while. Dominion be His through the ages ! Amen.” ( 1 Peter 5: 5b-11)

Horses are beautiful creatures.. They are large and very strong, and at the same time very sympathetic to human emotion/condition. Anyone who has raised animals can attest to this type of response.
If you have never ridden a horse, it is an experience. I personally have ridden a grand total of 3 horses in my lifetime to date ( it’s not in my future plans to do so). To be honest, although it may be ridiculous, being a person of not small stature, I always believed it to be an undue burden on the animal, for the sole purpose of my own pleasure. If it were a necessity, for transportation or work to be done, then by all means, it would be so.

Anyway, if you have ever been on top of a horse, one of the first things you will note is how high up it is that you feel on that mount. A very abnormal feeling , although I am sure it is one you might eventually become accustomed to.

This feeling of being high up, and looking down on all one surveys, feeling the power under your control, is exactly where the idea of “getting on your high horse” came from. In medieval times, a person who was of some nobility or rank, would have owned a horse that was very large and powerful.
His horse would be larger than that of a “commoner”, or a person of lesser rank or state.

This idea, is exactly what it is that Peter is attempting to convey in his message to the people in Asia Minor who needed some organization and to lay the ground work for the larger church. This particular passage was directed primarily to those who were part of the body of the church, not elders per Se. The idea here was to instill humility, and subjugation not only to the church leaders, but for them to be subject to each other. To care, to love and to be present to one another. To address each others needs, and to share each others burdens and to be on guard not to be proud in ones own estimation.

This echos the passage of Micah 6:8 “
* You have been told, O mortal, what is good,

and what the LORD requires of you:

Only to do justice and to love goodness,

and to walk humbly with your God “

In today’s world, we need people of faith, to provide for others not only a witness to God in their lives, but an example of HOLY humility.

May God give you the gift of His peace !

Who Will Separate Us From God ?

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ ? Trial, or distress, or persecution or hunger, or nakedness, or danger or the sword ? As Scripture says… “ For your sake, we are being slain all the day long, we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.” Yet in all this we are more than conquerors because of Him who has loved us. For I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor powers , neither height nor depth nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus, Our Lord.”

Romans 8: 35-39

Are you struggling today ? Are you trying to find your footing ? Feeling lost, or depressed ? Unloved by someone, or feeling lost ? Feeling a certain void ?

If I could give you this passage, and have you think about this message. Ask you to take some time and REALLY think about this scripture and what it means for you.

I want to go back for a moment to last weeks reflection, where we talked about salvation. Do you remember how I shared with you that the Franciscan view is that Jesus did NOT come to into the world because of SIN… He came into the world because of LOVE.

For God so LOVED the world … Not for God thought the world was a totally wretched placed and all of humanity was so sick and twisted with sin that letting them kill His son was the only way to fix it all. NO..

Consider this passage, and examine the depth of Love it contains. This , brothers and sisters is a declaration of undying, unending and eternally abiding love. There is nothing that can separate us from the LOVE of God. From the very beginning.

Remember that “ In the beginning was THE WORD, and THE WORD was with God, and THE WORD was God, and THE WORD was made flesh, and dwelt among us. “ (John 1:1)

THE WORD is Jesus Christ, and notice that Jesus was not an after thought, not a remedy, but instead always has been and there in Love from the very beginning and was part of the plan of the world.
THAT plan is like a great jigsaw puzzle. Each person, each life, each vocation , each soul, is a piece.
That piece is unique. It only works when it gets put in the place it was meant to be, when it joins together and clasping together with the other parts.

You are like that piece. You are unique ! You have a purpose, a reason , a vocation that only you can fulfill in this life. I don’t mean vocation in a career sense, I mean a spiritual/ministerial vocation, a function in the puzzle of life. And it only works because in that piece, fitting into that puzzle, you are there to touch other lives, other souls. You are grasping together with others.

The picture on the face of the puzzle is the story of salvation. Yours, and theirs, throughout all of the history of mankind. This type of unending, unflinching,, undying love that God has for us that is
there for us every day. God in the Trinity, is the great love of our lives. No matter where you are in your life, there is nothing that can separate us from the LOVE of God. If you have faith, if you allow yourself to experience and share that love with others. You will know that in the end, it will be as it was in the beginning, nothing but the love of God.

May God give you the gift of His peace !