Monday May 28, 2018

First thought.  Today is Memorial Day – spend sometime in thanksgiving thinking about the men and women of this country who have sacrificed their lives in service to you and me.  May their souls and the souls of all the just, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

For the Leahy family:

Blessed Mother, we pray you take our intentions and lay them at the throne of all Graces. Intercede on our behalf at the feet of our Triune God. We ask that our prayers be heard and answered according to Their will.
(State your intention…follow with):  We ask you to  heal the divisions in the Leahy family and allow Andy to attend the funeral Mass of his son Chris.
(1) Our Father
(3) Hail Mary’s
(1) Glory Be

My wife and I listen to Bishop Barron every Sunday morning on our way to Mass.  A few weeks back he spoke of division and sin and it has stuck in my mind since.  He stated what divides us in the Church is sin.  Pick an issue – any issue – and if there is division in the Church, if there is division in the faithful, the source of that division is sin.

I wrote the other day in this blog about having two choices before us – one is life and the other is death.  We are constantly having to make decisions between right and wrong, life and death.  That choice is evident again in today’s Gospel.   A young man approaches Jesus and asks what he must do to follow Him.  You will notice a recurring theme in Christ’s answer to him – you must obey my commandments.  The young man replied that he has obeyed the commandments since his youth.  Then Jesus put before him the choice of “life or death”…

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
“You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At that statement, his face fell,
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Before you think I’m getting off point with “division”, think about what just happened in the Gospel.  What divided this young man from Christ?  Sin.  He had so many possessions that he knew he wouldn’t separate himself from that he chose those instead of following Christ.  He had a choice of life or death set before him and what did he chose?

I have found some very good articles on line that do a beautiful job of addressing issues that divide the Church, and I don’t refer only to the Catholic Church, but the Christian church as a whole.  What was it that “divided” us so many years ago (and I’m speaking of Martin Luther) but sin.  What was once one is now many.  My point here is not to pass judgement on Martin Luther but to get us to think how each of us  are responsible to educate ourselves in the Truth.  The Truth is not Sin.  The Truth is not Division.  So if there is division among the faithful, we must humble ourselves, educate ourselves and conquer the sin that divides us.  Here are the links to two articles that discuss this topic.

The Sin of Division by Wes Church

Bishop Barron on the Pro-Life/Social Justice Split

As a christian, I want to follow the Truth.  I want to be like Jesus.  If you are looking for that “5-hour energy” boost that we all need at times, take a look at the beautiful words from Peter’s 1st letter in this mornings first reading…

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,
kept in heaven for you
who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith,
to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time.
In this you rejoice, although now for a little while
you may have to suffer through various trials,
so that the genuineness of your faith,
more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire,
may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Although you have not seen him you love him;
even though you do not see him now yet you believe in him,
you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,
as you attain the goal of faith, the salvation of your souls.

Without Seeing You – David Haas

Pray that we can be as one, cease our division, our Sin, that we can do great things for our Lord.

God’s will, not mine, be done.

Be not afraid.

Jesus, I trust in you.