Pick up your mat John 5:1-41

Today's readings give us good indication of how we should act and what the signs will be that we are helping to bring to fruition God's plan.  We should bring the water flowing from the temple to the world.  If we do the world will be like a watered garden.  If we truly lived God's plan for us there would be no want or selfishness in the world.

Jesus said that came to fulfill and not abolish the law so the literal interpretation the Pharisees have of the law must be incorrect.  How could he law of a loving God allow a man to stay ill one more day simply because it was the sabbath?  We should be careful using the law of God to be selfish or to feel better about ignoring the needs of those around us.  Would Jesus really want us to make doing drug free a condition of giving someone the food they need?  I don't think so.  His law is compassion itself.

Leaving it to God John 4:43-56

When reading today's Gospel I thought how I would have probably continued to beg the Lord to come with me, thinking He had to touch the child to make him well.  I would have been disappointed that I had failed.  How often does God have a plan to work something in our lives but we don't believe because we had a different idea about how it should work?

I wonder how many times I recited God's plan for m because I wanted Him to work in a different way.  When I think about it, it's those times when I haven't been expecting Him to work and there didn't resist Him, that God has made the biggest changes in my life and in my family.  It's been those times when I followed Him not knowing where he would lead me that I followed Him most closely.

We need to allow God to lead us wherever he wants to.  Something may look scary or bad to us but if we believe we will take that leap of faith and follow where He leads.    I will do my best to remember this passage.

Not as Man sees does God see

We look at the superficial appearance.  We see the clothes, the house, the car, the family, God sees the heart.  We  can never say by looking at someone on the street if they are a sinner or not.  Just because the person is poor or is homeless we want to say that they must have done something wrong.  They made poor decisions or are addicted to something.  This may all very well be true but God still loves them and they may be a better person than you.

I met a man on a street retreat in Austin who had been a pastor of a church in Houston, he was offered a mega church but God spoke to him and he sold all he had and walked or hitched rides to Austin.  He gathers people on the street around him and ministered to them.  They formed a camp for people trying to get off drugs or with mental health issues.  Years before I met another man who did a similar thing but he gathers the mentally ill and disabled.

You don't know when you look at the person next to you if they are someone you can teach about God or someone who can teach you.  If you approach them with an open heart and mind, God will show you.

The Greatest of Commandments Mark 12:28-34

To love God with all that we are, what does that mean?  How do we love God?  Does simply knowing his words do it, or do they have to become a part of us so that they truly guide all we do?  What does it mean to love our neighbors as ourselves?  Can we exclude anyone?

I believe we love God by loving all He has made and trying at least to know His word so that it is a part of us.  His word should be our guide for our lives and not a stick we beat others with.  If a part of scripture troubles us we should pray on it.  Either we don't understand it or it convicts us.  If we love all God has made we should try not to destroy it.  It is a reflection of him.

We have to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Do we have a home, food, health?  Then so should they. We can not love them and treat them differently then we do ourselves.  They are God's creation and so reflect his image.  To reject them is to reject God.

Listen to my Voice

God says this over and over in the Bible and He has to because we have stubborn hearts and stiff necks.  Listening to God means being quiet ourselves and open and attentive to His voice.  I think of how often what we want is to know ourselves what to do.  We don't want to ask anyone let alone God.  I think we often times study the Bible so we will know the answers and not have to ask.

Reading the word of God should be a way of listening to Him.  We can't just read the parts we want, that was where Luther was wrong, or we aren't fully listening to all God has to say.  We also have to be alive and open to God speaking to us through other people.  He will talk to us through our Pastors but he will also speak to us through our family and friends and even the homeless man on the corner.

Prayer, quiet meditative prayer, where we open our hearts to God and then listen with our hearts for an answer is critical to listening for the voice of God.  Sometimes he will actually talk to you and you will hear Him but most of the time it is more subtle.  Look for it everywhere and in everyone.

The Law of the Prophets Exodus 17:1-7

Reading this passage the first thing that came to my mind was this was just and introduction to the 10 commandments but in reality it is so much more.  The Lord tells us if we really are His followers, if we are truly just, others would admire us and want to join us.

If we really followed the commandments of God and didn't try to live only the letter of the law and then only the barest minimum, we wouldn't need to evangelize.  If we didn't listen to clever people who convince us that God didn't really mean what He said when He said do not kill.  We convince ourselves that racism isn't really stealing or that because we really want to our adultery was okay.  We  even tell ourselves that because we are "saved" we no longer have to worry about sin.

In Matt 5 we read whoever breaks these commandments or teaches other to do so will be called least in heaven

Lord, how often must I forgive my brother? Matt 18:21-35

I imagine that when St. Peter asked our Lord if he had to forgive his brother seven times that he thought he was being generous.  How often do we ask the same question of our Lord?  How often do we ask that question after we ourselves have gossiped or told a lie for the thousandth time?

Forgive, or you won't be forgiven.  Jesus says this over and over.  When we pray the Our Father we tell God, forgive me only as I forgive others.  Do I only forgive those whom it benefits me to forgive, someone I need something from?  Do I forgive only those whom I feel really ask for my forgiveness?  Do I assume that because I am "saved" I no longer need to forgive?  At times I can say yes to all these things.

One of the people I find hardest to forgive is myself.  Certain mistakes I hold against myself and I have to ask the Lord to help me forgive myself just as I need His help to forgive others.  Holding on to grudges doesn't do you any good.  Forgiveness frees you up to love, it gives you space in your heart.  You don't have to keep letting people hurt you but until you forgive them, can you ever actually be free of them?

What will it profit a man

If we try to improve our lives by not feeding the poor, caring for the elderly, or helping those in chains, our efforts will come to nothing.  I am not saying that we won't have bit more change in our pockets for a time, that may happen, I am saying it will do us no good.  Becoming miserly will change who we fundamentally are.  We become someone who worships money, not God.  We may still go to church as often and sing as loud, and read the Bible as much but what we do will be hollow.

Think of the difference between these two worlds, one where everyone is out for themselves versus one where we all love and care for each other.  One is hell on earth and the other the Kingdom of God on earth.  Worshipping money means not depending on God for our life.  We are so poor and so finite we can not see into the next minute, shouldn't we depend on God who is is all knowing and all loving?  Put your life in the hands of God and do not be afraid.  He is there and He will,lead you.  It may not be where you thought you wanted to go but it is where you need to go to end up in heaven your final and best home.

Lazarus Luke 16:19-31

I have often wondered, the rich man obviously recognized Lazarus and knew his name so he knew Lazarus in life.  What did the rich man think of Lazarus when he saw him?  Did he think that Lazarus should get a job or say to himself if Lazarus would just get off drugs or alcohol he would help him?

Jesus doesn't say why Lazarus was poor, he doesn't even say that the rich man was condemned because he didn't help Lazarus, he does say that later Matt 25 :31-46, he says only that the rich man enjoyed the good things in life.  Does merely being wealthy condem The rich man?  I think it is more complicated than that.  Abraham tells the rich man that his brothers have the law and Moses.  So following God is the key and if he had followed God, he would have helped Lazarus.

Servant Leadership Matt 23 1:12

Today's Gospel is one that I hold dear to my heart as a Franciscan.  Being small, one of the minores as Francis called them, is the cornerstone of what he taught.  See, to be small, unimportant, and humble.  Lead as a job and not for your own aggrandizement.  As a leader you are the servant of those you lead, you are in fact then beneath them.

Loving Christ is our goal as Christians and in this world we can only love Him in others.  We serve Christ by serving Him in other people.  How can we serve Him in those other people if we are lording over them?  Live to serve and you can't really go wrong.  Serve and others will follow you.  Love and others will love you.  Do all this in Christ and you will serve Him and teach others to do the same.  Love.

Listen to Him Matt :17 1-9

"This is my son, in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him".  It funny when I read this passage I put myself in Peter's place.  He is running around trying to do the right thing, he wants to build tents.  That is what we so often do, we want to do something, anything for God to "win"Himover or to impress those around us.  We don't listen to Him.

The next thing Jesus says is to "Rise, and do not be afraid".  If we are with Him we should not be afraid to do His will.  We need to do two things, listen and don't be afraid.  We listen by making quiet time to be with the Lord and not talking.  We also listen by being alert at all times to the pro tings God sends us.  It could be a series of events through a day that lets us know that God wants us to do a task for Him.  It can be the stranger you see walking down the street crying who needs your help.  We have to lrelax and listen, don't get so caught up in doing something that we do our own will and. It His.

Rise and do not be afraid.  Rise, I love that.  He will help us rise if we are not afraid to do His will.  We have to be sure it is His will, or we will be building the tents.  If God never asks you to do something outside your comfort zone, you may not be listening.  For can we rise if we stay where we are?

Repent!

Repent is something we think of being yelled at us by some fire and brimstone preacher, but in reality it is a call of mercy and a reminder.  In the readings for Mass today God reminds us that it is never too late to repent and that we all need to repent continuously everyday of our lives.

None of us is so Holy that we can forget repentance.  We all get angry, we all say foolish things, and we all fail in a hundred different ways each day.  God understands this and only asks that we repent of our failings, turn back to Him, and try to not sin in the future.  He is so loving and He truly loves and understands us.

He wants us, he so wants us that no matter what we have done and how we have lived our lives up to this moment He desires us still and wants to give us His mercy, all we have to do is ask for it.  Repent, turn to Him and do our best to sin no more.

He also reminds us that no matter how righteously we have lived us to this moment, if we reject Him he gives us our freedom and allows us to walk away from Him.  If we reject Him, turn away from Him and do evil, we are lost.

Repent, believe in the Gospel on a daily basis and times a minute by minute basis.  He wants us and will welcome you home.

Reach out to those who are suffering

Being Pro-life to encompasses many things.  It doesn't mean just being anti-abortion but truly being Pre-life to me means just that, making life better, not just preventing untimely death.  Making life better, being there for those who are in pain, who need to know someone cares if they are alive or not, is being pro-life because you never know whose life you will save.

I am thinking of this because a lovely man I worked with but had lost touch with, committed suicide last week.   He was one of those people who was so loving but had issues fitting in and in I think accepting himself that life was a real struggle for him.  I kills me to think that people treated him unkindly.  I met another man over the weekend who was so down on himself he seemed unable to see the beautiful work he did.  Everyday people around you are struggling with their own personal hell.  Little things you do can make that better, a thank you card for the church secretary, taking cookies to an elderly neighbor, sometimes just really looking someone in face and giving them a compliment.

Spreading a joy and not adding to the pain of those around you will make you happier too.  That love you spread will be returned to a hundred fold by Our Lord.  Ask him today for the gift of seeing others and knowing how to help them in their pain.  Loving those who are different will open your heart to love all that much more and compassion will lighten your own pain.

A Sign of Jonah

We live pretty comfortable lives.  I imagine that if you are reading this you are better off than 90% of the rest of the world.  The people of Nineveh were also living a comfortable life, unaware that they needed to repent.

We look at others, Muslims, the poor, and other groups and say to ourselves those people!  They need to repent, not me, I don't do those things.  We all need to repent, and only God knows for sure which of us is the greatest sinner.  Concentrate on your own conversion, if that is real, others will follow you.  Ask yourself these questions, have I by my faith, ever inspired some on to become a believer?  Has anyone ever noticed something in me asked me wher my peace comes from?  Do people ever avoid me because of my faith?  How many times a day do I examine my own conscience, how often do I judge others?  This is your sign of Jonah, repent! And God will relent.

Finding he time to do God's will

My Lord, my God, my Savior, my King, what do you want me to do for You?  Speak to my heart and tell me what You want of me in these troubled times.  Help me Oh Lord to desire only to do Your will, to listen to what You tell me to do, and to have the strength and courage to do what You ask of me.  Dear Lord, help me to give of my time unselfishly.  I want to serve You.  I want to do Your will in the world.  Whisper in my ear what You ask of me and grant me the grace and courage to respond wholeheartedly, Yes.

During this time of Lent sometimes what God asks us to give up is our time.  It takes time out of our day to do the things He asks us to do.  It takes time to call you Legislators, it takes time to volunteer in a food pantry, it takes time to do the little things people ask us to do for them or that we know they would like.  It takes time to add prayer to our lives so we know God's will for us.  Maybe time is the real thing we should give to our Beloved for Lent.

Only by taking the time to pray and to truly listen to God can we do His will.  Remember we want to do His will, not our will or the will of others we want to impress disguised as His will.  Only through prayer will we find His will for us and then only if we abandon our will to follow Him.  If we can not give Him our time, how can we give Him our lives?

Awake

Once we wake up to the injustice in the world, what do we do?  Hopefully we are aware of the prejudices we all harbor in our hearts for those who are not like us on the surface.  We have to start there be we can't wait until all of that nonsense is removed from our own hearts before we start working to make the world a better place.  Reach out to groups that are already doing something if you can, don't try to reinvent the wheel.  But start.

Facebook is not the same as really doing something.  Marching and calling on your legislature is doing something.  Getting out the vote and voting yourself is doing something.  Start, Lent is a good time to do so.

Lenten fasting and Isaiah 58:1-9

Wow!  Today's reading spells out what we must do when we fast.  It isn't enough to give up chocolate or meat during lent.  We have to set free the oppressed, share our bread with the hungry, clothe the naked and not turn our back on them.

How often to do sit at home and pat ourselves on the back saying how good am I, I am doing XY and Z for Lent God will surely bless me.  And what do we want?  We want God to make our lives easier.  God says our fasting isn't fasting if we don't take care of the marginalized.  Not only do we have to take care of them, we have to stand up for them.  Only then will our prayers be answered.

We can not make a better life for ourselves on the backs of others.  We have to welcome the oppressed and help the poor.  We can't kick them out of our country with the idea that we will save ourselves.  God hears the cry of the poor.  Their prayers will be answered.