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We often forget that Jesus reprimands pretty hard at times in the Gospels.
As I’ve noticed, we tend to read these passages where Christ calls out the Pharisees and scribes, with our arms crossed as we say, “That’s right! Call ‘em out! The hypocrites!”
Then we go about our business sure that we are in no way like those arrogant, self-righteous Pharisees. Which means, we never take the time to see if what we believe is hypocritical.
The verse that stood out to me the most from our reading from the Gospel of Matthew was where Jesus says to the Pharisees and scribes, “You say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’”
Historical arrogance gets a lot of us in trouble.
“Well, *I* wouldn’t have been involved in the morally corrupt things of the past.”
“I wouldn’t have taken part in the genocide committed by the Nazis.”
If you in anyway support abortion, you support genocide. The murder of millions, no matter the method, is genocide.
“I would never have been a part of slavery.”
If you in anyway support pornography or even feel it’s no big deal, you support modern-day slavery in the form of sex trafficking.
“I would never be like the ignorant, uneducated folks of the past who ignored science and only followed their church.”
If you in anyway support the false and dangerous idea that men can be women and women can be men, you are ignoring biology.
“I’m a good Catholic, I just feel the Church gets somethings wrong in the area of morals.”
If you find that you believe your authority on matters trumps what the Church teaches, you are doing the same thing as the Protestant revolters.
We love to look back on people of the past and feel scorn for the practices they engaged in, but we do ourselves no favors by being blind to the modern-day ways we support immoral practices.
It’s the same old song, just a different tune, Catholic Pilgrims. We must check ourselves to make sure we are not being hypocrites. There is a bit of Pharisee and scribe in all of us. The only way to combat that is to be brutally honest with ourselves.
Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Wednesday.
In the Gospel reading from Mark today, Jesus lists off a bunch of actions which defile: unchastity, theft, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, etc. He is basically covering the Ten Commandments. At one time or another, I have broken all Ten Commandments in one way or another. I haven't murdered anyone, but I have raged so hard against a person that I'm afraid I aided in their leaving Christianity behind. I haven't committed adultery, but before marriage, I wasn't chaste. Sadly, though, I have blasphemed God, used His name in vain, neglected church, dishonored my parents, cut people to the quick, been unchaste, lied, stole, been greedy and envious. I am not usual, humans tend to struggle to follow the Ten Commandments. One reason that we struggle is because we all like to think we are a "good" person. How we decide this is we take the Ten Commandments and follow them out to the worst possible outcome. We will say to ourselves: "Well, I've never denied God." "I've never murdered anyone." "I've never cheated on my spouse." "I've never robbed a bank." "I've never lied under oath." We take everything to the extreme, conclude that we've never been "that bad" and therefore, we are a "good" person. "Sheesh, better than that guy over there." With the declaration that we are a "good" person, we slowly stop looking at our behaviors and keeping tabs on them to check ourselves. We feel we don't need Confession because that's for the big sinners. Sure, we'll acknowledge that we are a sinner just like the next person, but that's just something you're supposed to say. And yet, all the while, those small sins that we pay no attention to or brush aside, start to pile up and weaken our souls. They defile us and cloud our judgment and before we know it, we've slipped into mortal sin. I don't write this to be a downer. All that I've written here is what I know to be true in my own life and, for love of God, I don't want to be that way. So, stay close to Christ, recognize your need for Him and His grace, frequent the Sacraments, and be honest with yourself, Catholic Pilgrims. Live the faith boldly and travel well this Wednesday. *Santa Rosa Catholic Church, Lone Pine, CA
Continue ReadingLet's continue looking at the Sierra Nevadas today, shall we? This past weekend, my oldest daughter and husband got into a theological discussion that I thought was very interesting. My daughter was wondering that since we will get our bodies back after the Second Coming, and since time and matter are connected, will that mean there will be time in Heaven? We know from Einstein that time, space, and matter go hand-in-hand. So, my husband said: "Well, matter is something that changes and because it changes, time is part of the equation. God gave us free will. A lot of people don't see this as loving, but it is loving because it means that we aren't programmed robots built to "love." But, because we have free will, that means that we will make imperfect choices and do imperfect things, yet, God gives us time to change. Time is actually such a blessing because without the opportunity to change for the better and become more perfected and more Christ-like, we'd be doomed. Angels didn't get time, their decision to be with God or not was a one "time" decision. So, the greatest gift God gave us was existence itself and with that comes His love. Then, He gave us free will. And, He gave humans the gift of time, to learn to change and come to love Him, our Creator. What can be tempting then, and many of the great philosophers of the world have believed this, is to think that we can perfect ourselves. But nothing imperfect can perfect itself. This means, we need a Savior, and we need grace which is the Divine Life given to us. We can only get so far on our own. In Heaven, we will be perfected. Once we get our bodies back, they will be perfected and there will be no change. They won't decay, get old, need food, need sleep to recharge. They don't need time to change. So, while we don't know for sure what will happen in Heaven and how it will be, change will not be part of the equation and if there is not change, there is no time. Thought you might like to read this these thoughts from my husband, Catholic Pilgrims. And, I thought you might want to thank God that He gives us time. Have a good Tuesday.
Continue ReadingThis past weekend, I finally got to see the tallest point here in the Lower 48--Mt. Whitney. I didn't want to climb it, just see it. It stands at 14,495 ft. What's cool is that an hour east is the lowest place in the Lower 48--Death Valley. The peak you see here is Lone Pine Peak, which I thought was Mt. Whitney, but one of you kindly corrected me in a DM. So, Mt. Whitney is behind the Mobius Arch and you can't see it, but it's there! Lol. Read your map carefully, kids. Do you think I can find some connection with Mt. Whitney to our Catholic Faith? Why sure I can. Have I ever let you down? 😉 On September 12, 1934, Father John Crowley, the Padre of the Desert, was the first priest to celebrate Mass on the summit of Mt. Whitney. Up on the summit is a hut, or at least there used to be, called the Smithsonian hut, which was a place for scientific study. Fr. Crowley set up an altar out beside the hut and said Mass with the help of a deacon, Harry Clinch. Father Crowley worked in the Death Valley area and the eastern side of the Sierras and he was home-based out of Lone Pine, CA. Lone Pine is where you go to hike up to Whitney or around it. We spent the day hiking in the Alabama Hills which is in the Owen Valley and is where TONS of scenes from movies have been shot to include--Ironman, Man of Steel, Gladiator, Tremors, and oodles and oodles of Westerns. It's a beautiful place to visit. So, if you ever pass by Mt. Whitney, Catholic Pilgrims, you can smile, knowing that a Catholic priest hiked up there on a donkey to say Mass. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
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