Ever question what the hardships are that one must undergo in order to enter the kingdom of God?
In today’s day and age, many face financial hardships because of the use of credit cards and excessive spending. There are many who live from pay check to pay check with very little savings. There are those who make just enough money to make their mortgage payment on a house they cannot afford, a car payment for an expensive car, and their utility bills. They pray each week that the air conditioner on the house doesn't break, or that they don’t have a major breakdown with their car, for then they will have to charge to get it fixed, adding just another hardship in their life. These are hardships, but they are "secular hardships”. The hardships spoken about in Acts are what we could call, "spiritual hardships”.
The spiritual hardship would not be that which one develops by living according to worldly ways, but rather, they are those hardships that we encounter by giving up the ways of the world. It is easy to spend money with the use of credit cards; it is a greater hardship to say no to the things we want to buy.
Another spiritual hardship would be that of not creating, or taking part in, gossip or idle talk about another person. It is so easy to tell stories about other people, whether they be true or false. It is a hardship to refrain from spreading gossip and slander about another person.
It is easy to join in with everyone else when they choose to live an immoral life, or do that which is not Christ like. It is a hardship to live the teachings of Christ and to be "different" from the ways of the world--not by placing ourselves above others, but by humbling ourselves to them.
Have you ever questioned why Jesus cried out these words on the cross? Those who were standing at the foot of the cross understood fully what Jesus was saying. I wonder how many people who knew their Psalms, the prayers or the people, began to walk away and ask themselves, "my God, what have we done."
The words that Jesus cried out are first heard in Psalm 22
The Psalm fortells all that is now happening. His cry in not a cry of anguish, or despair but it is one that brings hope for us all that He truly is the Savior that God has sent to take our sins away.
In the Gospel of Mark it says, "no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins."
As I was giving out communion at mass I could hear the door of the church slamming shut as individuals were leaving the church as soon as they received the Lord in the Holy Eucharist. My thought was, "if only they understood the meaning of the word 'Mass' from the Latin word "missa" comes the English word "dismiss." "Mass" means "dismissal."
The dismissal, the sending forth with the Blessing of the Lord is so important to those who now receive the "new wine." We must ask ourselves each time we hear the Word of God and receive the Body and Blood of our Lord, "am I putting new wine into the old wine skins of my very being." We can not be followers of Christ who say "I am a Christian, I go to church, I know my prayers, I know the rituals" and then fall into our old patterns of sin. To be a follower of Christ we can not keep the knowledge of the Lord inside ourselves but must also allow it to be seen on the outside of our selves. When people see us they must be able to see Christ and not just hear about Christ from us.
Let us pray as we begin our Lenten Journey that we may allow Christ to enter into us so that we can become a part of Him. Let us pray that we receive the "new wine" and shed our old ways of life and put on the "new wine skins" of Christianity.
Today was one of those rare occasions that I was able to sleep in. Usually for me to sleep in means, 7:00 a.m but today it was a little later.
When I finally got up I let my dog outside who was anxiously waiting for me to do so. As I walked out onto my patio I heard and saw the rain drizzling down, a slow steady rain. I could hear the bells from the church tolling and I remembered the day that we were called to "remember."
I turned the TV on and listened to the names being called out, one by one, and the faces of thousands being flashed across the bottom of the screen. People who died of not a mere tragedy but of something even greater, an atrocity. As the family members and friends were placing the flowers at "Ground Zero" one could see the dust gently stirring around them.
Reflecting on what I saw I could see the grace of God present in our midst. The names being called out reminded us that people of all walks of life, all nationalities of all countries were affected by what took place. We have all be touched in some way, some form. Through all of this I was reminded that the Son of God came for us all. That dust being stirred up by the Holy Spirit one might say was a reminder to each of us that "we are dust and unto dust we shall return." But we are not alone in this world, our savior came to ring out each of our names in the bells that tolled. The rain gently falling upon us is a reminder that He came to wash away our sins, to cleanse us and to heal us.
All day long I struggled with, "what am I to say at the memorial mass we were to have this evening." I went out to dinner with a friend a couple hours before the mass was to begin. Upon walking into my favorite Mexican Restaurant my friend pointed out to me the address of the restaurant which we frequented many times. I have never noticed it before, "911." It was then that I realized the grace of God once more. I could hear the Lord say to me, "I've told you many times, why do you worry over what you are to say. If I am truly in your heart and you follow me I will nourish you with the words to say so that you may bring comfort and hope to my children." "I nourish them with my Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist, I will nourish them with my Holy Word and I will nourish them through my priests."
How appropriate the readings of today's mass were for me in light of the experiences of my own life. For a number of years now another organization has come about that does nothing but make false accusations and twist the truth about priest, bishops and religious in the church. A few years ago I was added to their list. I tried making contact with those who made the false accusations and twisted the truth, but they choose to remain hidden for the most part. Just a few days ago it came to my attention that another individual is out there doing the same. They are now directing visitors to their site to visit the web site with the false accusations and twisted stories without ever having checked out the facts. They themselves are living a contradiction to their faith, a contradiction to the recent scripture passages we have been sharing in our sacred liturgies and allowing a beautiful ministry of theirs to be tainted by temptations of the "evil one."
When I became aware of their actions I was angry and upset. The thoughts of filing a law suit against them for defamation of character and anything else that could be used against them, came to my mind. Then Christian reality set in when I reflected on the readings for today's mass.
Reading I
1 Cor 6:1-11
Brothers and sisters:
How can any one of you with a case against another
dare to bring it to the unjust for judgment
instead of to the holy ones?
Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world?
If the world is to be judged by you,
are you unqualified for the lowest law courts?
Do you not know that we will judge angels?
Then why not everyday matters?
If, therefore, you have courts for everyday matters,
do you seat as judges people of no standing in the Church?
I say this to shame you.
Can it be that there is not one among you wise enough
to be able to settle a case between brothers?
But rather brother goes to court against brother,
and that before unbelievers?
Now indeed then it is, in any case,
a failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another.
Why not rather put up with injustice?
Why not rather let yourselves be cheated?
Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and this to brothers.
Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the Kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived;
neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers
nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves
nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers
will inherit the Kingdom of God.
That is what some of you used to be;
but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and in the Spirit of our God.
After reading this passage I then read the Gospel and could say nothing other than, "Thanks Lord for being there for me again! Thanks for showing me the way and telling me how I am to respond."
Gospel
Lk 6:12-19
Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground.
A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon
came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.
Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him
because power came forth from him and healed them all.
I realized once more through an experience such as this that I must do as Jesus had done. It is so important that we build up a relationship with the Lord and allow ourselves to walk with him in our daily lives. I must become a holy person of God and grow stronger each day in my faith. I must pray always so that through my relationship with the Lord others may see him through me. It is necessary to all that is possible to draw others to him and accept the sufferings that go along with spreading his word.
We live in a world today where some find it difficult to accept that fact that it's ok to disagree with one another but then we must go on to do the will of the Father and not our own will. So many conflicts arise in the world because people see and look at things differently from others. Why is it we must ask ourselves, "if people do not do things my way or see things my way must I shout and pout till I get my way." Why do people find joy in attacking others. We are reminded in this past Sunday's Gospel reading (Mt 18:15-20)
"If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that 'every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.'
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.
If he refuses to listen even to the church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
We see in the Gospel of Mathew chapter 9 how Jesus treated these very individuals and his reason for doing so:
Jesus ate with the Gentiles and tax collectors, we must do the very same. We must love those who are different from us and allow them to touch us when we have become Holy as Jesus was Holy. We must allow Jesus to heal others through us. For any of this to happen we must be people who pray, we must be a holy person. I ask for your prayers that I may have the strength to be that person.
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