Choose Life Then

Although Blessed John Paul II coined the term Culture of Death to describe the culture of the modern world, it is clear from the first reading that the culture of death has existed for quite some time. Moses is speaking to the people of Israel(DT 30:15-20) thousands of years ago but his message is equally appropriate for men and women of the modern world. He sets before them a clear choice between life and death. One leads to prosperity and the other to doom. Choosing life is what leads to prosperity. Death leads to doom. This seems pretty clear, it makes sense. How then can we account for the overwhelming prosperity of the modern world when we have clearly chosen death? We murder our children in the womb by the millions, and we do so in a manner that is so violent(dismembering/cutting them to pieces) and viscious(chemically burning them to death), that we can hardly speak of what is actually being done to these babies and mothers. We have systematically changed the demographics of whole societies by eliminating some forms of life simply because we do not want them: Downs Syndrome children and those with other possible birth defects especially in the West, and Female babies especially in the East. The sick and elderly have become a drain on our so called prosperity, so we choose death for them. By lies and cunning we pressure them to not be such a burden, then we go on pretending it to be their decision when we in fact we have facilitated their suicides. At other times we out right kill them under the polite term euthenasia or under the lie that hospice eased their pain with a leathal dose of a narcotic. Our narcotic loving society loves to get high, to escape. We are constantly assuring one another that we deserve to unwind, relax, decompress. Prescription drugs and our societies addiction to them are ok because a doctor wrote a prescription. Illegal drugs are okay because we get them from a friend and he never hurt anyone, he just sells to his friends. Murder, kidnapping, torture, rape, beatings, violence, slavery, all these exist only in the movies or on cable tv. Those seven evils are only for our entertainment as we get high. We are not complicit. We pretend they had no part in our drug of choice getting to our family room coffee table. Our escape from life has become so important to us that we condone all sorts of behaviors that previously were rightly considered abnormal at the least but in fact are and always have been gravely sinful. Women's liberation has come to mean that women are free to degrade themselves as long as they are getting paid. Porn stars are now main stream. Strip Joints(Not Gentlemens Clubs) and family resturants are found on the same block in nice parts of town. Sexual perversion has become a best seller, in particular perversion that includes violence, pain, bondage and slavery. So called reality tv is our modern form of entertainment. We revel in the public degradation of others, in the devient lifestyle of others, in the sins of others. Websites are set up to arrange adulterous affairs and this is considered mainstream. Apps are sold so that sexual liasons can occure with no strings attached. Whatever escape you desire, society must be tolerant to it, accepting of it, and approving of it. Even when that desire can never transmit life as is the case of same sex unions or marriage, in this culture of death we are required to be tolerant and approve. Many do approve claiming a false compassion because they have Gay friends, co-workers, or family members. Of course many are tolerant and approving of others because they do not want to examine their own choices. Devient sexual practices are rampant in marriage today even in those who consider themselves to be good even holy people. Husbands are guilty of sodomizing their wives in one way or another, often times requesting it as a special treat. Wives are guilty of using sex as a weapon or tool to get their husbands to do what they wish. Husbands hide in the filth and perversion of pornography thinking it has no affect on their marriage or worse ask their wives to watch along with them believing it will enhance their marriage as they collectively enjoy the degradation of the men and women paid to perform. Particularly insidious in the lives of married couples is the grave sin of contraception so widely practised today that people are shocked to find out that it is a grave sin. Many women have even been convinced that birth control pills can be used to treat other health issues they are having. Or worse the health problems their teenage daughters are experiencing. In reality the Pill leads to disease and death. The practise of sterilization in marrige at the spouses request or at the financial planners advise leads to destruction. Yet good people are continuing to choose to undergo these surgeries as if it was a choice for life and a benefit to their marriage. The other side of that selfish choice by some is the selfish choice by others to make their own children through IVF. Having a baby to these couples is a right, an accesory, a privaledge they deserve. They kill any number of their own children in trying to get pregnant, to get what they want. They freeze others as if they were vegetables not human persons. All with a doctors approval. In fact all these sins, all these perversions and there are many more, all of them are performed and commited with the approval of others. The seeming prosperity of the modern world is an illusion, a lie. The Culture of Death is Doomed. We are like a seemingly normal healthy person who is riddled with cancer on the inside. We have placed ourselves and our own approval at the center of our very existance. God does not approve. God does not approve. He is the Lord and Giver of Life. He is the source of all freedom. It is clear then that we must choose Him. We must choose to obey Him in all things. We must choose to love Him. We must choose to walk with Him. In this we choose life and will know true prosperity. This is the choice that Moses gave to the people of Israel, and it the choice he offers us this day. Life and Prosperity. Death and Doom. Lent is a time to choose life. Lent is a time to put God at the center of or lives. A time to taste a see the prosperity that comes from living a well ordered life. It requires obedience. It requires love. It is a journey (a Lenten Journey) in which we can all grow. This is the invitation of Moses and it is the invitation of the Church every year during this Holy Season. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel today (LK 9:22-25) it means bearing our cross, and it will seem like we are losing our lives, our freedom but in Truth we will be embracing the gift of eternal life. For Jesus the world is not enough. He wants to bless us with a heavenly reward. The scribes, chief priests, and elders rejected Him. They chose to put to death the Author of Life. Choose Life then. Take up your cross. Commit yourself to God. Humble yourself and walk with Him. Love Him this Lent as you never have before. This is our call to holiness. Let those who have chosen death and doom see what true prosperity and life look like. That in seeing how good our Father is to us, poor sinners that we are, they may come to know and believe what we know, that is the love and mercy of God given to us in Jesus Christ our Crucified Savior.

God the Father and Ash Wednesday

In the Gospel today we hear about our Father who sees in secret when we fast, when we give alms, and when we pray. So many in the world believe God to be angry and judgmental. A God ready to condemn us at a moments notice. This of course is the height and the depth of our selfcenteredness. Our own deep disatisfaction with ourselves and our lives we apply to God or attribute to God. Thus we believe that there is no way we could be pleasing to Him. Therefore if we can never please Him, then why try. We are living a LIE and serving ourselves or some other God, but not the God of Revelation. The God of Revelation is our Father who sees in secret and Loves us so much that He sent His only Son to be our Savior. Lent is a time in which we are called to abandon the LIE by fasting and prayer and almsgiving in order to live in the TRUTH of our Father's LOVE. His LOVE that is revealed in the life, passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, the Savior of the world. We are preparing to celebrate the mystery of our Catholic Faith. The very foundation of that Faith is our Father's LOVE. Revealed most clearly in the Paschal Mystery. What a joy it is then to engage in the disciplins of Lent. For by these we enter into intimate union with our Father who sees in secret. In the secret of our hearts He encourages us to gaze upon His Son. To immitate His Son. To meditate upon His Suffering, Crucified Son. To experience the loss of His Son. That we may rejoice in the Resurrection of His Son and the GIFT of Eternal life He offers to us in His Son. In this, in His Son Jesus He is revealed. His Mercy, His Love for each of us is revealed. As Christmas reminds us, when we adore the Christ Child, the visible Son of God, we are caught up in the love of the invisible God, our Father whom we cannot see. So too in Lent as we meditate on the mysteries of the life death and ressurection of Jesus, the Father's Love who sees in secret is manifest in our lives. This Lent open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the intecession of our Lady let us walk with Jesus beneath the gaze of our Father knowing that He sees in secret. Knowing that He Loves us, and that we are pleasing to Him. He is our Father, He is the God of Revelation.

Sin in Perspective

Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog, or a single flea! David's question to Saul really puts sin in perspective. Remember that Saul is filled with anger, resentment and jealousy because the people, especially the woman, are acclaiming David as a hero. In the first reading today, Saul's sinful thoughts and feelings have fermented in the misery of his self-centeredness long enough that he is now actively pursuing David seeking to kill him. David's question to Saul puts Saul's motives into perspective. What is the point Saul? A dead dog is worthless as is a single flea. This question brings clarity. It demonstrates the futility of Saul's blood lust. The ridiculousness of Saul's anger, jealousy, and resentment. The source of this vicious quest, is laid bear as Saul is presented with the absurdity of David's question. The sinful motives are absurd as is the sin of Saul. We are no different. Saul has felt and thought he was justified in his anger, jealousy, and resentment. Thus he cultivated them and harbored them and nurtured them and finally has acted upon them for a sustained amount of time, the length of a military campaign. All this time and energy wasted. For What? A dead dog or a single flea! The futility and absurdity of Saul's sinful passion is certainly evident to us as we listen to the first reading. What about our own? How much time do we waste cultivating, harboring, and nurturing our own sinful thoughts and desires? What tortured reasoning goes into the justification of such feelings and thoughts, as well as desires?How committed are we to acting upon that which we have falsely justified? Often our whole life revolves around a few well cultivated sins. How long have we sustained our commitment to a particular sin whether it be in Thought, Word, or Deed? All this time and energy wasted. For What? A dead dog or a single flea! Yet we follow Saul. We follow his lead. Sin gains us nothing. It is a waste and it wastes us. If we can admit the absurdity of our reasoning then perhaps we can begin to turn from the vicious cycle of sin. If we can admit the futility of our quest for satisfaction in a sinful thought, word or action perhaps then we can begin to cooperate with the sanctifying grace offered to us in the Sacramental Life. If we can humbly admit we are not justified in these sinful attitudes and pursuits then perhaps we can begin to heal. The choice is ours to make this day, Virtue, Grace, and Healing on the one hand opening us up to Everlasting Life, or a flea and a dead dog on the other. These are symbols of misery, futility, slavery and death. David poses the question to Saul, but each of us better answer.

The Illusion of Thoughts and Feelings

Saul was very angry and resentful of the song, for he thought:
"They give David ten thousands, but only thousands to me.
All that remains for him is the kingship."
And from that day on, Saul was jealous of David.

Saul discussed his intention of killing David
with his son Jonathan and with all his servants

The jealousy of Saul in the first reading is understandable. After all David in a rather short time has become a young charismatic hero. Saul is certainly blessed, he is anointed by the Most High as king, but in the face of such great accolades that women in every city give David, it is understandable that he would feel jealous, resentful and angry. The commission of a sin very often hinges on what we do with our feelings or thoughts. So often people are compelled to certain acts based upon their feelings. We are not our feelings. We are not our thoughts. Yet so many people degrade themselves based upon the false notion or more clearly the lie that says we are our thoughts or our feelings. Many believe the lie that says since we have certain feelings or thoughts we must act upon them. The frequency of a certain thought or feeling is often the only consideration when deciding to act upon that feeling or thought. Reducing ourselves to our thoughts and feelings in this way has disastrous effects. Vice and addictions abound among those who live according to this lie. Slavery is the end result. Slavery that is often vigorously defended by those enslaved simply by repeating the same lie they have embraced.
A simple definition of prayer is lifting of ones heart and mind to God. Enslaved in the belief that we are our thoughts and feelings and thus compelled to act upon them, our souls do not reach out to the Living God, they collapse in upon themselves. Pride and Vanity are what drove Saul even to seeking approval from his son Jonathan and all his servants. Approval of his murderous thoughts and desires. He did not lift his heart or mind to the Living God. He sought the approval of men. Spending time in Adoration helps us lift our hearts and minds to God. In humble Adoration before our Lord our pride and vanity are tempered by Grace. We are not our thoughts. We are not our feelings. We are beloved sons and daughters of God. We are called to live accordingly.

And What Have You Been Doing?

People came to Jesus and objected,
"Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?".

The people in the Gospel today unfortunately mirror the spiritual life of many in the modern world. They object to the practices of the disciples of Jesus, but they are not disciples of John the Baptist nor of the Pharisees. What have they been doing? It is easy to object to some spiritual practices and even easier to ignore the promptings to perform some others. In the end what are we left with but strong opinions and our own ruminations usually leading us down the road of self righteousness. In this self centered state of mind and of being they do not see clearly the Bridegroom in their midst. We too fall victim to the same blindness when we refuse to have some spiritual discipline in our lives. When we reject the fervor and piety of some while refusing to practise that of another, we become spiritually blind and self centered. The truth is that the Lord is in our midst. He reveals Himself to these judgmental people today as a way of calling them out of themselves to rejoice with Him in the gift of Life that He gives each one. Thus the challenge for each of us is to entertain and practise some spiritual discipline each day. The Rosary is often a starting point but for many a beginner it is too hard or perhaps perceived as being too long. For others who struggle with it each day and have let it go, it can be hard to pick back up. I recommend to both groups the praying of the Angelus. It is a short yet powerful prayer and meditation on the Paschal Mystery with devotion to Mary the Mother of the Church who can guide us in the deepening of our faith. It also can be prayed three times a day, morning, noon, and evening. It is a great way to jump start your devotional life so you do not have to stand dumbstruck when asked, "What Have You Been Doing?"

The Holy Name of Jesus

At your name they rejoice all the day this line is taken from Psalm 89 in the liturgy today and is worthy of our reflection. The Psalm says that they rejoice all the day at the name of the Lord. It does not mention whether they are having a good day or a bad day, a hard day or an easy day, a stressful day or a relaxing day. At Jesus name they rejoice all day. In some way this is the key to holiness and happiness. This is the key to living a peaceful life. Rejoicing in Jesus name in our hearts and minds and even on our lips all day every day brings us true peace because Jesus then is present to us. He is not a thought or feeling nor an idle word. He is our Lord and He is with us, present to whatever the day is bringing us. Unlike the crowds in the Gospel today we do not have to push to see Him. We do not have to break open the roof to belowered down as the paralytic man was in order to be healed. We can simply rejoice in His Name Jesus each day in our minds and in our hearts and He is present. Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus, God Saves. Rejoice in His Holy Name. The scribes in the Gospel were hurling accusations at Him in their minds and their hearts were turning away from Him until He spoke directly to them demonstrating in this healing that He was Lord and Savior. So He knows our hearts and He knows our minds. He, Jesus, longs to be united with us both in our heart and mind. By rejoicing in His Name each day all day we open ourselves up to living in that Communion.

Everyone Is Looking For Jesus

Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, "Everyone is looking for you."

How profound are the words that Simon speaks in the Gospel today. In truth they reflect what is in fact the longing of every human person. That being the longing for God, but more importantly and this is reflected in the Gospel, a longing for Jesus. Every heart, every soul, every person who has ever lived longs to know Jesus. "Everyone is looking for you." This is the TRUTH. The truth of this longing really is at the heart of our human experience and existence but for so so many it is overlooked, or ignored or tragically misunderstood. Thus in not acknowledging the longing for Jesus our lives are consumed with emptiness. For most modern men and women if they are asked what are they looking for in life, Jesus would not be their response. Like St. Augustine they look for satisfaction in created things but ignore, overlook, and tragically misunderstand that they Really are looking for the Creator, for God, and most clearly for Jesus. Jesus. The Word made Flesh. God Incarnate. Son of God and Son of Mary. Saviour of all mankind. Many say this is presumptuous of the Church to believe this and even if we believe it we should never come out and speak it. The TRUTH is that when Simon speaks in the Gospel today, he is not only refering to the people in that town, but all humanity."Everyone is looking for you."
In not recognizing this, or in not admitting this many are left wondering what life is all about or why they can never be at peace, or how to simply be each day. In the western world life becomes about the pursuit of goals, every moment is about fufilling responsabilities in order to get things done, that we may be a good: mom, dad, father, mother, daughter, son, student, boss, worker of whatever kind. The goals, responsabilities, and roles constantly change. Nothing in that sort of life remains the same. Their is always something new to try, or to do, or to learn that will tell you what life is all about, to bring you peace,that you can finally be comfortable with yourself. "Everyone is looking for you."
Jesus is the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever!What then is the remedy to the miserable condition so many experience each day? First is to admit the TRUTH that we are looking for Jesus. He is the answer to the longing we feel deep inside. The second is also found in the Gospel. Simon and those who were with him pursued him. They PURSUED JESUS! They FOUND HIM! They were WITH HIM! Jesus IS our LIFE and our HOPE. In LOVE Jesus teaches us what life is all about. In LOVE Jesus fills us with His PEACE each day as we go about our duties. In LOVE Jesus reveals to each one who we are as beloved sons and daughters of God. Thus we come to understand how to Be Loved.
Today Simon's words express the deepest truth of the human condition, and his example shows us what needs to be done in response. Today we can imitate Simon by simply going to Mass or Adoration to be with Jesus.