Today remember to bring to the Light of Christ in your actions!  

Dick Folger tells this cute story, every night of a play performance, the lead actor stood atop a small trapdoor on the stage floor and announced with flourish: “I descend into hell!”  At that moment the door would … open and he’d plunge down out of sight.  One night the (lead) actor became suddenly ill, so an overweight understudy was pressed into service.

When he said the line, the small door opened, the new actor plunged down — and got stuck halfway.  Unable to free himself, he looked helplessly out at the astonished audience and gave one of the greatest ad-libs of all time:

“Hallelujah! Hell is full!”

Well I hope that Heaven is not full when my journey here on earth ends. After reflection the early Christians realized that the Cross and the Resurrection are symbols that point to God’s love for us.  Jesus died to free us from the fear of death; His Cross reminds us of His love.  Signs and symbols mark our world, our country and our homes.

 

Photographs of earth taken from outer space remind us that we a tiny spec in the Universe yet loved by God.  The Statue of Liberty reminds us that we are a nation of immigrants whose generous hearts bear witness to God’s love for the stranger.


 

 

What (sign/symbol) in your home reminds you and your guests that Jesus is the center of your life? 

 



Spend a few minutes after you make the Sign of the Cross reflecting on what it means to you.

May God Be Blessed!

Yesterday at Mass we sang 10000 Reasons, here are a few excerpts:

Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before, O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning

It's time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing when the evening comes….

For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

10000 Reasons for you and me to find the Joy, Praise, and the Spirit of God dwelling in us.  Jesus tells us “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” – all of these and much more are offered to us.  The Prophet Zechariah [“The Lord remembers”] instructs us to “Rejoice heartily … shout for joy ….  For a people who have been saved, we sometimes neglect to live joyously, with gratitude for the gift of life – for the gift of salvation.

Zechariah tells us that our savior will be “meek” – not weak.  St. Francis deSales said, “There is nothing so strong as true gentleness & nothing so gentle as true strength.”  We have been chosen (you & I) to follow Jesus in humility and in gentleness.  In Psalm 145 we pray, “I will praise your name forever, my king and my God …. I will praise your name forever.”

How do you praise God’s name?  How you live God’s name?  Actions, deeds, words, life.  Living in the spirit enables us to live our vocation, to fulfill our God-given purpose here on earth.

Jesus shows us how to live as His Children, doing His work and following

His teachings.  Matthew says that what is important in life is not esoteric, in fact, it is available to all, even the “little ones.”

Jesus reminds us that He knows that life is difficult, demanding, stressed-filled and if we live His Gospel (the Word of God), our life will be joy-filled.  He tells us “… my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Jesus wants us to embrace our faith in Him, like little children, with openness, trust and hope.  Doing that will fill your life with joy, God’s joy, try it.

Take a few minutes to listen to 10000 Reasons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1WYo4eKdSE

           

May God Be Praised

St. Francis deSales taught us, “In the end, we are really what we are before almighty God.”  (Sermon in a Sentence, p.31)   

The hymn “We are Called” has these words in it: “Come! live in the light … we are called to be light for the kingdom.”   

There are hundreds of references in the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament) to light.  In fact, in the first chapter of Genesis we read, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light and there was light’.  God saw that the light was good.” (1:3, 4a)  The Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of light.  The light of the STAR led the wise men to the baby, Jesus.
 
In the psalm 119 we pray God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. (119:105)  You and I are disciples of Jesus and therefore we are to bring the light of Christ to the world.  In the Book of Revelation, we read, “…the city had no need of the sun … to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof.”  (21:23)

The sanctuary light in our churches is a simple, yet profound light –– to remind us that Jesus is our light!  He is with us!  We are to be the beacons of His radiant light – in our world.

As we prepare to reflect on Jesus, the light of the world, may we be reminded that our lives will either brighten our world or add to its’ darkness.  St. Matthew tells us, “The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father.”  We close this reflection as we began, “In the end, we are really what we are before almighty God.”  (Sermon in a Sentence, p.31)

Listen to This Little Light of Mine, and then, let your little light shine today and everyday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2kDsqGeoLU

For a few minutes, in silence, reflect on how much of Jesus light you are radiating?

May God Be Praised!                                                

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest." [St. Thomas More]

Have you been keeping God’s commands and living His Way, His Truth, as your #1 priority?  St. Teresa of Calcutta … began with the most meager of resources.  She told her superiors; “I have three pennies and a dream from God to build an orphanage.”  “Mother Teresa,” her superiors said, “you can’t build an orphanage with three pennies . . . with three pennies you can’t do anything.”  “I know,” she said, smiling, “but with God and three pennies I can do anything.”  

(Sermons.com, God and Three Pennies, July 20, 2014)

From the Book of Wisdom, we learn – the just must be kind.   And we need to trust in the Spirit, to help us, and to guide us and we know that in the end – God wins, but we, also, know we live in the now with God’s victory in process not

completed.

 

Maybe this story about a Cherokee can help us live as God wants us to live.  An old Cherokee once told his grandson about a fight that was going on inside of him.  He said it was between two wolves. One was evil: Anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, gossip, resentment, and pride.   The other was good: Joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, generosity, truth, compassion & faith.    
The grandson thought about it for a moment & then asked, 'Which wolf do you think will win?'  The old Cherokee replied, 'The one I feed.'" 

We have been richly blessed with the Gospel, the Sacraments and the Church, what is left for us is “…to be a witness to the glimpses of God that (we) have been allowed to catch.” (Fr. Henri Nouwen)  Pope Francis advises us to “… see everything with the eyes of God.”

Take a few minutes today and reflect on the eyes you see with, the wolf you feed and the glimpses you share! 

May God Be Praised! 

In a little town in Ireland, John O’Toole found a messy plot of land.   

He spent weeks cleaning up; then raking and fertilizing the soil.  He planted flowers, carefully watered them.  After a few months his garden was a thing of beauty.

As he was admiring his garden one-day, Fr. O’Reilly walked past and said, “What a fine garden you and the Lord have made.”  O’Toole said, “Father, you should have seen it when the Lord had it on his own!”

  

Many people ask, “Why does God allow so much evil in the world?”  Some even speculate that they could do a better job, if they were God.  God gave us free will so we could love Him, but free will can be wrongly used; it often is – we call it SIN!  St. Thomas Aquinas said, “God permits evil in order to bring out of it a greater good.”  He brought good out of His Son Jesus’ crucifixion; our salvation.  Since the fall of Adam and Eve, we have grappled with evil.  The best way that I can help explain it; is to share this story with you.

About 350 years before Christ a rabbi was teaching students his students.  In those days the rabbis would gather 4 or 5 students around themselves and teach them. One day as a rabbi was teaching his students, they saw foreign troops invade their town, they heard the screams and saw the fires – finally the rabbi looked up to heaven and screamed, “If only I were God!”  One of his students asked him, “Rabbi, what would you do differently, if you were God?”  “I would do nothing differently, but I would understand!”

We are not called so much to stamp out evil, but to nudge it out with our good deeds.  Today, each of us needs to spend a little time examining what in our own lives needs to be changed, what needs time in the confessional, what in our lives needs reconciliation.  Have you ever been seriously ill, and after you recovered - discovered a deeper appreciation of family, friends, life, God?

Today ask God to increase the gift of grace, so you may live in hope, faith and charity, and be a beacon of the Lord's Beatitudes in the world.

May God Be Praised! 

Christ should be the focus of our life today and every day.

“The life of the Christian has three distinguishing aspects: deeds, words and thought. Thought comes first, then words, since our words express openly the interior conclusions of the mind ….  Each of us must examine his thoughts, words and deeds, to see whether they are directed toward Christ or are turned away from him.”  [From a treatise on Christian Perfection by Saint Gregory of Nyssa, bishop]

Whatever you do in word and deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. [Colossians 3:17]

Mary Lempke did in thought, word and deed follow the Lord.  Here is her story.

In 1952, May Lempke a 53-year-old retired nurse received a phone call from a Milwaukee hospital.  “A baby was born blind, mentally retarded, & had cerebral palsy… he didn’t respond to sound or touch.  His parents abandoned him. The hospital didn’t know what to do with the baby… somebody remembered May Lempke … that she had raised five children of her own….  They asked May to take the infant, saying, ‘He’ll probably die young.’  She responded, ‘If I take baby the baby, he won’t die young; and I’ll be happy to take him.’  She named the baby Leslie; it wasn’t easy to care for him.  Every day she massaged the baby’s entire body.

She prayed over him; she cried over him; she placed his hands in her tears.

As Leslie grew so did May’s problems, she had to keep him tied in a chair to keep him from falling over.  He was 16 yrs. old when May finally taught him to stand-up by himself.  But all the time May … continued to love him and pray over him.

One day she saw him plucking a string on a package, and wondered if he might be sensitive to music?  She surrounded him with music, even bought a piano and put it in his room.  May took Leslie’s fingers in hers and showed him how to push keys down, but he didn’t seem to understand.  Then one winter night, May awoke to the sound of someone playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no. 1. 

She went to check; Leslie was sitting at the piano smiling and playing by ear.  May dropped to her knees and prayed, ‘Thank you, dear God.  You didn’t forget Leslie.  Soon Leslie played the piano [professionally] and he still plays today.  He is an autistic savant.  May Lempke extravagantly sowed the seed of her love and her prayers for years. (The Word in & out of Season, pp.273-275, Bausch)  

She was privileged to see the harvest of her prayers and her love; few of us are granted such a privilege.  Our privilege is to fall in love with God - do the sowing and let the harvest to God!

To view May's story in more detail look at this short video interview: May Lempke's Story

May God Be Blessed!

Remember this precious insight!  “The Bible never once says ‘Figure it out.’  But over and over it says, ‘Trust God.’  He’s already got it all figured out.”  [Anonymous]

Remember where in the Gospel said - the seed that falls on good ground will yield a great harvest: 30, 60 or 100-fold.  That yield would have astounded Jesus’s listeners; they knew that a yield of 10-fold would be spectacular.

You and I are in preparation for the Kingdom of God, to live the Gospel with every fiber of our being.  How much TRUST do you have in the Lord’s guidance?  St. Teresa of Lisieux said, “God gives me whatever I want, because I want whatever He gives me.”

Let me share a story with you, “… a little boy wanted to meet God … so he filled his backpack with Twinkies and root beer.  When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman… sitting in the park quietly watching the pigeons.  The boy sat down next to her on the bench and opened his backpack; offered her a Twinkie.  Gratefully accepted it, she smiled. 

 
 

Her smile was so wonderful that the little boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer.  Another smile delighting the boy.  They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, never saying a word.  [When] it grew late the boy got up to leave; he turned to the old woman & gave her hug. 

She gave him the biggest smile ever.  When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of happiness on his face.  “What did you do today?” she asked.  “I had lunch with God [and] “You know what?  She’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!”

The old woman returned to her home.  Her son was stunned by the rare smile, “Mother, what happened that brought such a smile to your face?”  “I ate Twinkies in the park with God; he’s much younger than I expected.”                                                 (Twinkies & root beer with God, Connections)

Our privilege is to fall in love with God - to do the sowing and let the harvest to God! “Remember God’s already got it all figured out.”                                                          Take a few minutes to reflect on when you saw God?  If you haven’t seen God lately offer somebody Twinkies and a Root Beer.

May God Be Blessed!

Boy: “Mom, is it true that God formed man from the dust of the ground?”

Mom: “Yes, it is, why do you ask?”.

Boy: “Well, then, you'd better come quick and look under my bed, someone's either coming or going!”

Today let’s reflect on our attitude and perspective.  Jesus asks us to embrace the choices we make and own them, He urges us to take the attitudes and the perspective of The Kingdom and accept them as our own, but we decide whether or not to engage the world with them as ours or not.  The basic human question is: How will I live -- God’s way or my way? 

In the book of Genesis, the woman and the man are presented with the option not just of committing a simple little sin but of going wrong in the most fundamental way.  They are tempted to decide for themselves, against God’s instruction, what will be good or bad for them. In that sense, they face the choice of whether to take on the role of God for themselves. And they do.  They go their own way, away from God.

In life we get to deal with both the manure and the good gifts that come our way, how we deal with them makes all the difference.  Being a committed disciple of Jesus Christ is demanding and life giving, eternal life giving.  Jesus lived and died in obedience to God.  His loving, trusting relationship with God is accessible to us, because we are united with Him in baptism.  We can learn to live, "The Lord, your God, shall you worship, and God alone shall you serve."

Take a few minutes today, in silence, and reflect on you attitudes and your perspective on how to live.

May God Be Blessed!

Children can teach us how to open our hearts to the Lord!  They are filled with the Holy Spirit.  So are we!  

What does that mean, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit that we received at our Baptism and our Confirmation?  It means to live Jesus, to believe that Jesus Christ is Son of God, is Lord and Savior. 

  

Peter Maurin said, “The Holy Spirit will direct our lives to do God’s will if we allow it.”

This poem may give us some perspective:

“Alone we are only a spark,
But in the spirit we are a fire.

Alone we are only a string,
But in the spirit we are a lyre.

Alone we are only an anthill,
But in the spirit we are a mountain.

Alone we are only a drop,
But in the spirit we are a fountain.

Alone we are only a feather,
But in the spirit we are a wing.

Alone we are only a beggar,
But in the spirit we are a king”.

(Amado Nervo)

Today may we joyfully allow the Holy Spirit to fill us and guide us, today and every today.

For a few minutes, in silence, talk to Jesus about the Holy Spirit in your life.

May God Be Praised!

Homily 6/21/2020 - Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062120.cfm

Welcome Back, welcome back Home; here at Mass where we get a glimpse of the Heavenly Banquet and Happy Father’s Day to all of the Dads [here, throughout the world and in heaven].

  

Way back near the middle of the last century I was born.  In fact, it was on 9/6/1947.  Why is that important, well it certainly was important to me because without being born I wouldn’t be here.  In September 1947 the price of an ounce of gold was $34.71 & last Wednesday was $1,733.00.

There is an old saying, “You are worth your weight in gold.”

It means they are valuable; they are important.  If that is the measure - my value went from $4,442.88 [1947] to $6,377,440 [last Wednesday], getting old is valuable, and that is a beautiful thought!

Jesus teaches us that we have value, not monetary value, BUT eternal value as His children.  We are created to show God’s goodness in this world & share with Him everlasting happiness in heaven.  In the Gospel Jesus tells the apostles (& us):

1.    Fear no one

2.    Do not be afraid

3.    Do not be afraid.

That message is clear, but hard to live, especially during the pandemic and the protests.

 

June 16, 2020 was the 100^th anniversary of John Howard Griffin’s birth.  He wrote the classic book “Black Like Me”.  John with the help of a medical doctor darkened his skin, then in 1958 he went and lived in the segregated city of New Orleans.  His book tells that story and it is still a powerful today.

During this COVID-19 time we had to live in isolation to protect each other’s health – we were not to keep separate for racial, gender or other discriminatory reasons.  As we begin to move “back to normal” - may that “normal” be without racial or gender discrimination or the materialism that afflict our society.  May our “new normal” be lived on our Gospel commandment.  Love God and Love your Neighbor as ourselves.

  

Sister Thea Bowman in 1989 was dying from cancer as she spoke to the American Catholic bishops about “Points of convergence.”  “I can introduce my black friends to my Hispanic friends, to my Angelo friends, to my Asian friends, to my Native friends.  I can be a bridge over troubled waters.”

[America Magazine, 6/24/2020]

You and I are called to do the same, be a bridge over the troubled waters of our times.  Jesus, true God and true man walked this earth to show us how to prepare for His Kingdom.  Today’s readings have an “ominous quality” with references to attacks, sin and death, BUT in reflecting on Jesus’ message, we find HOPE - HOPE in God.  That HOPE is based on TRUST in God, TRUST in God the way the Blessed Mother TRUSTED.

In the 14^th century during the Black Plague the Hail Mary was expanded & “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners NOW, and at the hour of our death” was added.  Then Catholics prayed to Mary for her intercession, “NOW” and at their “hour of our death”.

Overcoming the pandemic and the racism in our country, will not be easy, so please join me in asking our Blessed Mother to intercede for us “NOW” for an end the COVID 19 Pandemic and for courage to do our part in ending the racism that infects our nation.  Let’s us pray together, slowly and mindfully,

“Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with you.

Blessed art you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners NOW,

and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Mary gave her FEARS to God and TRUSTED that God would handle them; let’s follow her example.

May God Be Blessed!