.png)
Don't you just love it when pieces fall into place? Last night at my women's bible study, we were watching the final episode of the series "The Mass" with Bishop Barron. In the last episode, he covers the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. He talked about how, many times, God's words aren't just spoken to convey a message, they actually affect change. "Let there be light," and there was light. "Lazarus, come out!" and a dead man comes back to life and walks out of his tomb. "Talitha koum! Little girl, I say to you, arise!" and a dead girl gets up and is restored to her parents. "Quiet! Be still!" and a storm on the sea calms down. "Rise, take up your mat and walk," and a crippled man is restored to health. So many instances throughout the Bible we read how God speaks and His words affect change. And then there is, "This is My Body, this is My Blood" at the Last Supper. Jesus wasn't telling a parable or making reference to symbols. In that very moment, when He spoke those words, the bread and wine were affected by His words and became what He said they were--His Body and Blood. God speaks the world into existence. He heals the sick with words. He forgives sins with the power of His words. He calms storms, raises the dead, multiplies fish and loaves all with His words. And people think that one of the most significant nights of His earthly life--the night of the Last Supper--was just Jesus playing in word symbols? No. The Son of God is the Word made flesh and His words have power beyond our ability to understand. He still affects this change in bread and wine at every Mass. Working through the priest, who is in persona Christ and says Jesus' own words in first person, Jesus affects the change of the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. And then there He is fully present on our altars for us. I've known these things, but last night more pieces fell into place. We are truly blessed, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingAfter one of my old college roommates became an atheist, she said to me one time, "How could God ever take someone too soon?" I asked, "Well, what's too soon?" "I feel like you should at least get 90 years." "Does God owe you that?" Mind you, this is all coming from someone who supposedly didn't believe in God anymore. As we talked, her thinking became more and more clear. What she wanted was for everybody to have the opportunity to do whatever they wanted for X amount of years and then, once the end was drawing near, then, you get right with God, if you want. This attitude is what Jesus is referring to in our parable today. "But, if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and rink and get drunk, then that servant's master will come on an unexpected day." If God owed each of us at least 90 years, many of us would live however we wanted until we got close to the end. Then, we would "shape up" and hope to get that chance into Heaven and that God would just ignore all the past and we'd be good to go. But this attitude lacks love of any kind. In fact, it is selfishness of the highest degree. In effect, we are saying, "God, you owe me. I'll live how I want here on earth. Then, once my days are done, I'll try to do what you ask, and I expect welcome arms waiting for me in Heaven. Also, Heaven better live up to what I'd like it to be." What lies at the heart of all this, is a lack of trust that God's Will can satisfy here on earth. Many believe that they need to be allowed indulge sin to have their fun and then once they are "too old" to really do anymore, then the God stuff can come along. God, though, doesn't owe us anything. Instead, we owe Him everything because our very existence would not be possible without Him. It is better, infinitely better, to be like the servant in the parable who is faithful and prudent and ready for whenever the Master comes. The truth is, a life squandered for self will never satisfy no matter how many years you get, Catholic Pilgrims. So, live the faith boldly and travel well.
Continue ReadingSo last week, I saw a video of a female "pastor" doing a "I'm a pastor" take on social media. Throughout the entire church, the going theme was rainbow flags and banners galore. And they weren't there because this "church" was super into Noah. It was weird because it looked like she had taken over a church and just gutted it, turning it into a place where maybe a mosh pit would be? I don't know. It was weirdly hollow...or maybe that isn't weird...but instead incredibly on the nose. Anyway, at one point, she said, "I'm a pastor, of course, I believe all lives are sacred, which means that women and those who can bear children should make the decisions that they, their doctor, their family, and their god believes is best for them." So many problems with the nonsense uttered here. I responded with, "I 'love' when they say, 'I believe all lives are sacred' and then go on to support women deciding that it's fine to murder their unborn babies. There's such a disconnect." To which I got this response: "How about we stay JUDGMENT FREE and continue to love thy neighbor, like Jesus taught?!" Beware the ALL CAPS, as we discussed a few weeks ago. So, I said back, "Loving people doesn't mean we just let them sink in sin. Also, your comment doesn't address what I said. Her nonsense belief that all lives are sacred and, also, unborn babies are fine to kill if the mom wants them dead, is contradictory and utterly wrong. Also, you showing up to tell me to be judgment free is a judgment call. We can and should judge actions as morally good and morally bad. What we can't do is judge souls to Heaven or Hell." "She never stated 'Unborn babies are fine to kill,' YOU said that. Vilifying someone doesn't make you right." "She couched her thoughts on abortion in a slew of euphemisms. I'm making it clear." "You interpret what in YOUR heart {sic}. Ask yourself what would Jesus do?! and do THAT. "No, I'm not interpreting what's in my heart. I'm using clear language because I know what abortion is--the murder of unborn babies. And Jesus would say, "Thou shall not murder." It's in the Ten Commandments, clear as day." And that was it. It's so important, Catholic Pilgrims, that we speak firmly, truthfully, and with clarity. When you have truth on your side, you don't need to shroud your language in euphemisms. If all lives are sacred, they are from conception to death. Live the faith boldly and travel well.
Continue Reading.png)
.png)
.png)