OUR MOTHER IS WEARY FROM HOLDING THE ARM OF HER WEARY SON FROM STRIKING

“I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”  Then Isaiah said:

Listen, O house of David!  Is it not enough for you to weary people, 

must you also weary my God?  (Isaiah 7; 10-14)
Je ne demanderai rien, je ne tenterai pas Yahvé.  Il dit alors : Ecoutez donc, maison de David ! est-ce trop peu pour vous de lasser les hommes, que vous lassiez aussi mon Dieu ?
Respondió Ajaz: «No la pediré, porque no quiero poner a prueba a Yavé.» Entonces Isaías dijo: «¡Oigan, herederos de David! ¿No les basta molestar a todos, que también quieren cansar a mi Dios? 

The reading from Isaiah brought me back to Our Lady at Guadalupe and at La Salette.  It is so true that very often we get sick and tired of the way we treat one other.  We also come to a point when we resemble Ahaz and we say, "I am at the end of my rope trying to tell these people how to be righteous.  I'm sure that even God and his angels are out of patience already.  Why should I go back to them and make them all the more tired.

Mary at Tepeyac tells Juan Diego, "You are the one I have chosen.  You go talk to the bishop.  I need a place from which to instruct the people the Will of God."  

Juan Diego followed her counsel.  The bishop asked for a sign, and he got one.  In the end, Mary and Her Son prevailed.

At La Salette, Mary tell us that she is getting more and more tired of holding back her Son's angry arm.  She is afraid that He will run out of patience and strike us with terrible things.  Already the crops are beginning to fail.  As in Mexico three hundred years earlier, Mary herself is the sign.  Mary herself can speak in straight and direct terms about the feelings of her Son and the measure of his patience.  

The readings from Scripture to the Catholic Faithful of the world today underline the authoritative continuity of the work of God among His people.  He is always with us.  He is always patient.  He is always frank. He is always supportive and strong in His guidance.  It matters not whether His sign came 1,000 years ago, or 600 years ago, or 300 years or yesterday.  It remains the same sign.  The sign of total sacrificial love that will never end.  We hear it so often.  We see it daily.  Why don't we spend more time pleasing God with our sacrificial love?  Talking about gifts at the time of the year, we should be offering Him a decisive and continuous gift of our dynamic response to His invitation to follow Him and to help him in the mission of winning people's hearts over to him.

FRANCAIS

Cette lecture d'Isaïe me ramène à Notre-Dame de Guadalupe et à La Salette . C'est tellement vrai que très souvent nous tombons malades et fatigués de la façon dont nous nous traitons les uns les autres. Nous arrivons également à un moment où nous ressemblons Achaz et nous disons: « Je suis à la fin de ma corde en  essayant de dire à ces gens comment être juste. Je suis sûr que même Dieu et ses anges sont déjà à bout de leur patience. Pourquoi dois-je revenir à eux et les rendre d'autant plus fatigué.

Marie à Tepeyac dit a Juan Diego, " Tu es celui que j'ai choisi . Tu iras parler à l’évêque. J'ai besoin d'un endroit pour instruire le peuple a propos de la volonté de Dieu."

Juan Diego a suivi son conseil. L'évêque demande un signe, et il en a obtenu un. En fin de compte, Mary et son fils ont prévalu.

À La Salette, Marie nous dit qu'elle est de plus en plus fatiguée de retenir bras de son Fils. Elle a peur qu'il sera à court de patience et nous frappera avec des choses terribles. Déjà les récoltes commencent à diminuer. Comme au Mexique trois cents ans plus tôt, Marie elle-même est le signe. Marie elle-même peut parler en termes simples et directs sur les sentiments de son Fils et la mesure de sa patience.

Les lectures de l'Écriture sainte aux fidèles catholiques du monde aujourd'hui soulignent la continuité autoritaire de l'œuvre de Dieu parmi Son peuple. Il est toujours avec nous. Il est toujours patient. Il est toujours franc. Il est toujours favorable et fort dans sa direction. Il importe peu que son signe a apparu il ya 1000 ans, ou il ya 600 ans, ou 300 ans ou hier. Il reste le même signe. Le signe de l'amour sacrificiel total qui ne finira jamais. Nous l’entendons si souvent. Nous le voyons tous les jours. Pourquoi dépensons-nous pas plus de temps a plaire à Dieu par notre amour sacrificiel ? En parlant de cadeaux à cette époque de l’année, nous devrions lui offrir un cade décisif et continue de notre réponse dynamique à son invitation de le suivre et de lui aider dans la mission de tourner le cœur des gens à lui.

ESPANOL

La lectura de Isaías me trajo de vuelta a la Virgen de Guadalupe y en La Salette. Es tan cierto, que muy a menudo nos cansamos de la forma en que tratamos a los demás. También hemos llegado a un punto en que nos parecemos a Acaz y decimos: "Estoy al final de mi cuerda tratando de decirle a esta gente cómo ser justos. Estoy seguro de que hasta Dios y sus ángeles son al fin de la suya paciencia ya. ¿Por qué debería volver a ellos y hacerlos aún más cansado.

María en Tepeyac le dice a Juan Diego: "Ères tu el que yo he elegido. Serás tu a ir a hablar con el obispo. Necesito un lugar desde el que instruya a la gente de la Voluntad de Dios. "

Juan Diego siguió su consejo. El obispo pidió una señal, y él obtuvo uno. Al final, María y su Hijo prevalecieron.

En La Salette , María nos dice que ella es cada vez más cansado de retener el brazo enojado de su Hijo. Ella tiene miedo de que él se quedara sin la paciencia y nos herirá de cosas terribles. Ya las cosechas empiezan a fallar. Al igual que en México 300 años antes, la misma María es el signo. María misma se puede hablar en términos directos sobre los sentimientos de su Hijo y la medida de su paciencia.

Las lecturas de la Escritura a los fieles católicos del mundo de hoy subrayan la continuidad autorizada de la obra de Dios entre su pueblo . Él está siempre con nosotros. Él es siempre paciente. Él siempre es franco. Siempre es de apoyo y fuerte en su dirección. No importa si su señal se produjo hace 1.000 años, o hace 600 años, o 300 años o ayer. Sigue siendo el mismo signo. El signo del total amor sacrificial que no tendrá fin. Lo escuchamos tan a menudo. Lo vemos todos los días. ¿Por qué no pasamos más tiempo agradando a Dios con nuestro amor sacrificial ? Hablando de regalos en esta temporada del año, deberíamos le ofreceremos un regalo decisivo y continuo de nuestra respuesta dinámica a su invitación a seguirle y ayudarle en la misión de ganar los corazones de la gente hacia él.

...GO, MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS...

Luke 14; 12-14

Yesterday, 11/4/2013 I was participating in the daily morning Holy Sacrifice of the Mass when Luke's Gospel came shouting out at me,

"12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

I sat down and realized that I had felt something that I had not yet heard in my life.  I knew that there is more to the meaning of the word "nations" than what constantly enters our mind.  It suddenly struck me that there are several "nations" all around us. It suddenly struck me that we walk around surrounded by borders of many descriptions, each one separating us from the "nationals" living on the other side.   

If you think that was a deep trip, it really got to me when I realized that I know a lot of "foreign" people, as in French, Spanish, Australian, Brazilian, Guatemalan, Canadian, Filipino, Japanese and of course, Mexican.  That didn't make me as happy as it normally would because it was accompanied by the consciousness that I could never in my most strenuous efforts think of such a rich list of truly poor people with whom I have an on-going relationship.  Yes, that is one border that I have not yet crossed.  Here I am, a child of Mary at La Salette who tells me every day to "make this known to all my people" and I walk around only inviting my friends and relatives into my life with great gusto, just like the pagans do.  If I don't fix that in my life, you will have reason to cry at my funeral.

GOD'S EXPECTATION OF US? PERFECTION. PERIOD

Matthew 5:48

The other day I received an email message that read:

"I'm sure even Jesus didn't expect his apostles to hit their mark 100%. What he expected was they fixed it if they see it needs fixing. Seems to me like the history of the Church followed the same story."

I could write a book in response, but I also have to make a living.  So, I will just leave you with these six hundred words.

I have to say that some statements at the top are slightly out of context.

You don’t believe that 1 bad thing in 1,000,000 is not acceptable.  You don’t believe that there is no room in Catholic life for an AQL attitude. [Acceptable Quality Level] I know that you don’t believe it because you can write what you wrote above.  I am telling you that what you wrote is dead wrong.  The history of mankind, not just the history of the Church is a history of falls and rectifications.  In fact, the history of creation going back to the angels is a history of falls and rectifications.  Never in this history has God ever expected anything less from His creatures than total perfection.  Never.  

If God expected humans to be anything less than perfect, He Himself would then be imperfect.  When God does something, it is perfect.  He expects it to maintain its perfection.  For humans to accept anything less than what God expects, which is perfection, is a sinful attitude. 

To say that God expects humans to fail a certain percentage of the time is to degrade the value of human life to a degree that is outside the Divine Will.  To say that in the Divine Will humans are expected to fail and then to say that He expects them to “fix it if they see it needs fixing” is beyond the ability of humans to produce.  The only way to fix immorality is in conjunction with God Himself.  It is erroneous to think that it’s OK to miss the mark because God expects it anyway.  It is erroneous and presumptuous to think that humans can be saved because they can fix it if they are less than perfect.  It is erroneous to think that Jesus was tortured, crucified and died and resurrected because he expected humans to continue being less than perfect.  To think that He did all of that to remove the burden of being perfect from them, is flat out wrong. 

You will not find in the Sacred Writ, Jewish or Christian, Words from God indicating that He expects anything less than perfection.  You will see a lot of condemnation for imperfection, to the point of damnation for human obduracy in immorality.  You will find nothing in Traditional, Apostolic and Church documents indicating that a life of falling short is OK.  You will not find a Saint who accepted the attitude of expectation that humans will fail a certain percentage of the time.  You will find confessions of human frailty, and in those confessions you will find the glory of having overcome the frailty and found perfection.

I repeat, and I will not be dissuaded by anyone, because it is a matter of Divine Will,  God does not expect His Human Creatures to be anything less than perfect.  There is no AQL in God’s plan.  No, not even in His Church.  With Him, perfection is the expectation, and only perfection.  We, His collaborators do not have the freedom to expect anything less than what He expects.  From ourselves or from those around us.

To you I say, Believe it, or else.

Now you know why you won't have to cry at my funeral.

ONE IS ALL GOD NEEDS -- IF NOT YOU, WHO?

Seven years ago I did not know that this poster existed. Today, a friend sent it to me.  I have decided to re-publish what I wrote seven [7] years ago below this gripping image.

The "Numbers Game"
By Paul Dion, STL

We all know the legendary story about Thomas Edison who didn't discover the secret of how to make a working light bulb until after being unsuccessful nearly 1,000 times. When someone asked him how he had the courage to keep going after failing over 900 times, Edison responded, "those weren't failures, they were learning experiences".

We also know the story of the Samaritan Woman who met Jesus at the well. After a short conversation she ran back to the village and brought all her friends and Jesus stayed in the village for three days more.

Going farther back we all know the story of Abraham and his unfailing obedience to God's wishes. God picked the right person. He promised Abraham that he would be the father of God's people, whose progeny would outnumber the stars of the sky. Sarah, Abraham's aging wife, laughed out loud when she heard it. Look around, Sarah!

I am reminding you of these stories because all of us need to be reminded that God knows how to cultivate the seed that He asks us to plant.

We forget that. I forget that, all the time.

I start to do something and I set my goal at 200 participants. I am lucky to get 60, despite my best efforts. One time I set my sights on getting at least 15 participants in a class of 5 sessions spread out over 5 weeks. This is the precursor of the 2006 Mom and Pop Theology event - a highly successful parent Religious Ed program we launched at my parish of St. Christopher in Moreno Valley, CA. - that is now quite well attended.

I had to be blind! The first day, I had 6. I figured, oh well, half isn't all that bad. HHmmm, notice the optimistic math there?

Inside of myself I was thinking that the Lord was testing me for the first day and that the second session next week would bring me twice as many. So I plowed ahead. The next week, things did get better. I had a lot more room to move around in since only two people made it to the room. The good thing was that they had both been to the first session, so I didn't want to disappoint them by cutting off the effort. We went ahead and it was a nice session. It got to be a little informal, but quite effective in its sincerity.

Now I went to have a little talk with my Maker and told Him in no uncertain terms that I didn't appreciate the way I was being treated by Him and His heavenly minions. I told Him that I was doing His work here and that I didn't expect Him to hang me out to dry.

So He didn't.

The next Tuesday the only person who came was the prettiest and the youngest woman of the original six. I had the "Mom" but the "Pop" was nowhere to be found. I invited her in, left the door open, kept myself visible and smiled on the outside while my mind was letting God know that I wasn't totally happy with His pranks. She looked around and actually offered to leave because she felt as though it wasn't fair to take up my time just for herself. I think her guardian angel was slyly giving me an opening to take at shot at God.

I looked at her and simply said, "No, we will stay because both you and I have the same commitment to God for this subject." There, take that, You!

We finished the course. The two of us.

She went home and I went on about my business managing the project for which I was expecting at least two hundred. This was to be the first SONshine Summer Bible Camp for children at the parish. Things were going quite well on the organizational part of the project, but recruitment was slow. Milestones were coming and going, but the number of registered children was not increasing very quickly. I knew that we were not going to get to entertain 200.

As we got closer to the opening date I was still looking for a few volunteers, but three in particular were becoming difficult to find because they needed special talents. I was continuing my "conversation" with the "Man Upstairs" and I think that I was running out of diplomacy because nothing was happening.

So, one morning after the Holy Mass I told my wife, "You had better have a talk to God about the volunteer situation. It's so bad that I'm going over to talk to His Mother, you know, the Weeping One." Now, when it comes to prayer, my wife is an expert. I don't know why, but I think that Jesus is afraid of her.  I don't blame Him.

After I had my talk with Jesus' Mother, I went home to work and wifey went to her office.

You know, I hate to tell you this, but by 11:00 AM spouse called me to tell me that the young lady from my Mom and Pop class was so enthusiastic about volunteering on the SONshine Summer Bible Camp Project I was working on that she didn't leave the office for two hours after hearing about it. As she left she gave us the name of another person whom she was sure would be very happy to volunteer as well. I called the other person and sure enough, there I was two out of three, all set for the time being.

I'm writing this to confess to "You-know-Who" that I'm sorry that I mistreated Him. He sure gave me a big lesson. My "student" told my wife that she couldn't stay home while there was someone working for God who would sacrifice his time for one person. She kept saying that she didn't think that she would ever come to meet a person who loved God that much. My wife said that she nearly choked on that one.

These two ladies that God sent us have been absolutely marvelous. Believe me, I didn't do a thing, God did it all, and He is still doing it. The seeds that these two generous ladies have sown in our parish are still producing sweet fruit. I was just the hick farmer who threw the original seed on the ground. Our parish will never be the same because of these two saintly ladies.

All of you out there who have grandiose dreams of going out and being the next Abraham and creating a new generation of God's people, listen to this: Abraham had two children, one of a slave and one of God. Just ONE of each.

Look at me, just ONE and she brought me ONE.

The project continues to repeat itself, and it continues to grow. Abraham's progeny repeats itself over and over again, and it continues to grow in number and in wisdom. The "Mom and Pop" theology grew out of those first 5 weeks of struggle and now has numbers in the hundreds.

Never call off one of God's projects based on numbers. God knows that His Son and His Spirit flunked math, so He covers for them. Talk to Him, talk to His Mother, tell Him I sent you in my waning years.

He'll support you and you won't have the least temptation to cry at my funeral.

PLEASE GOD? WHO? ME?

The Scripture readings of today called forth many of the same hackneyed homilies that we have heard for years.  Be ready or else be punished.  The same old stuff about the master goes away and the servant who is left in charge carouses and when the master comes home unexpected, the servant gets punished.  I sat there in church this morning and from the first syllable I knew what the next twelve minutes were going to be like.

I sat there asking myself when someone would think of talking about the trust of the master that has to be fulfilled by the servant in order to please the master?  When is someone going to give a meditation on what it means to please the master?  There is nothing in these readings that indicates an employer/employee relationship, is there?  There is nothing here that speaks of pay is there?  

There is not one place in the gospel that shows God remunerating anyone according to a strict adherence to productivity or time.  God doesn't ever pay anyone.  God rewards those who please Him.  He punishes those who displease Him.  God is not bound by any legal requirement to pay anyone for collaborating with Him.  God and we are bound together in a love covenant, not by an employment contract.  

Yes, we are bound to collaborate with God in the work that has to be done in the world.  From the very first pages of the Bible God enlists us as His collaborators.  Not employees.  Collaborators.  We find out the depth of the relationship when we are taught to pray by Jesus.  He tells us that we pray and develop a relationship with "Our Father."

I don't know about you, but I know that in my house my father had expectations of me and of my siblings concerning the chores that needed to be done.  You know what?  We did them, or else.  I remember one time I asked my father why he didn't give me an allowance like some of my friends got at their homes.  My father just looked at me and said, "I feed you, don't I?"  I was ashamed that I had even asked.  It also came to me that he not only fed me, but bought my school books, my clothes and even gave me a sip of wine at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

All of that to say that <Yes, God expects us to collaborate with Him in the "chores" that need doing.>  If we do not meet expectations, He is not pleased.  If we meet expectations, He is pleased.  If we exceed expectations He is well pleased.  The more pleased He is the deeper our relationship with Him gets because the more His Grace flows our way.  

The more we displease Him, the worse things get.  You don't believe me?  There's a book on your shelf that has that teaching ennumerable times written into the more than 2,000 pages that are sitting there.  You will find the expression about God being pleased many times.

Stay ready?  Why tell me to stay ready when you could be telling me to keep my Father's loving satisfaction and pleasure in mind?  Staying ready is easy when you are doing what it takes to please the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  When you tell me to live in constant and persevering readiness through loving collaboration with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then you won't have to keep harping on "staying ready."  Was it so hard for the five wise virgins to stay ready?

Remember, God doesn't pay wages, He shares His love and His spiritual treasure out of love to those who please Him by living in His presence by constant and collaborative faith, love and hope.

Think about it.  Do something about it in your life.  If you do, you'll be glad I reminded you about it and you won't have to cry at my funeral.

OPEN LETTER TO ONE AND ALL -- RULES FOR MY FUNERAL

RESURRECTION OF A NEW DAY IN GALILEE

In seven years of blogging, this is the second time that I entitle my thoughts, Open Letter.  The first time was about the way young people prepare for their wedding day and the exhorbitant amounts of money that they demand their parents spend to make it a memorable day.  It might be of interest to you to know that the event that sparked my reflections back then cost $35,000 and kicked off a marriage that lasted a grand total of five, count them, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 years.
All that money sure didn't cement that relationship.
That's the same wedding, Catholic, by the way, where one of the Scripture readings was read from the Jehovah Witness version of the Bible and no one but me noticed.  Trust me, friends, strange things happen in life.  You will see that a similar thing happened to me today.

The present thoughts are occasioned by a funeral that I attended this morning.  Catholic funeral, of course.  Well, it took place in a Catholic church, anyway.  Things were normal until the presiding priest took to the pulpit. It was then that we got a stream of thoughts about the goodness of God and His everlasting and wide reaching Divine Mercy.  It didn't take long before the deceased was pronounced as being comfortably ensconced in the bosom of Abraham and seated at the right hand of Jesus. So, and I paraphrase, as we mourn the departure of our dearly beloved, our faith tells us that she is happily enjoying the eternal bliss of being with God in heaven.  This is 21st century Catholic drivel, and contradictory at that.  Why are we mourning someone whom you are telling us is in heaven?
Hmmm...Wait, it doesn't end there.  After the sad attempt to comfort people with questionable Catholic doctrine, the priest returned to the altar and announced that we would now pray for the repose of the soul of the deceased.  Really?  Not me, after what you said I want the deceased to pray for me from her exhalted position at the right hand of God Almighty.
By this time, swamped by these mixed messages, I was not a happy camper.  I was saying to myself that we Catholics deserve better than this.  Then I was interrupted in my reflections by the crown jewel of Protestant theological hymnology, "Amazing Grace."  I did say that this funeral took place in a Catholic place of worship, right?  I didn't anticipate that I might also be attending the canonization of the latest saint.

There were two acts that I appreciated, yes, only two.
1. The priest explained why the Paschal Candle was present and was lit.
    He explained that this happens only for three occasions, Easter        
    Season, during the conferring of Baptism and at Funerals.  Each use of
    the Paschal Candle has the same meaning, the Resurrected Christ is
    the center of our life.
2. The priest used the traditional Canon of the Mass, not the short form       to which we have all be subjected on a regular basis, ad nauseam, I
    might add. Yes, I noticed.  The church was full.  I would dare anyone
    to take a poll to see how many of the congregants noticed.  
    Fortunately for the priest I noticed.  It gave me something good to
    say about my experience at this quasi Catholic funeral.

Here are the preliminary rules for my funeral.  Follow them if you want. It just so happens that I won't be in a position to care.
* No crying allowed.
* Two nights of waking.  4:00 PM to 10:00 PM.
* If cremation will keep the price down, do it before the funeral.
* If you keep me in the box, remember, I have the right to have my
   face toward the assembly.  My wife will explain this to you.
* $2,500 limit for the whole thing (Inflation makes it that high)
* No eulogy.  Everyone at the funeral knows me. That's good enough.
   Besides, eulogies tend to make people heretics because they have no
   idea what judgment has been meted out by God to the dead person.
* 1st reading is the story of Enoch from Genesis.  Not more.
* Psalm 15 - in its entirety .. no singing, slow meditative, clearly
   pronounced declamation
* Gospel, "I am the way, the light and the truth."  Not more that 3 or 4
   verses.
* Homily, no eulogy.  Remember, it is not the dead guy you want to
   speak about, it is God.  Do it.
* No Latin, no Protestant hymns.

Remember that I said that God is Merciful and He is a Fair judge.  Hell is a reality and that means that some of us will be there.  Don't dance around it by taking away God's justice by making him exclusively loving and merciful.  Then he would no longer be God.  So don't make Him less than what He is.  It should not be consoling to us to make God fit us when we are experiencing death.  The true consolation that we should seek is the understanding of whom He is and the acceptance of His Divine judgment whatever it may be.  Anything else diminishes Him and diminishes us.
So don't cry for me.  I know what I am getting into.  I am 76, so I face the reality of death every single day as the probability of my disappearance gets ever greater.  I am not afraid...I believe in the truth in the conviction that Jesus has liberated us from the teeth of death.  I repeat, do not cry at my funeral.  Remember and believe that no matter what, I got what I deserved from God the Loving, Merciful and infinitely Fair Father of us all.

OUR FATHER -- JOHN NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT!

Yesterday, Sunday, July 28, we heard something daring coming from the disciples of Jesus, well, one disciple anyway.  He dared to compare Jesus to John the Baptist.  He said, "Teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."  This fellow dodged a bullet...or rather, he was blessed that bullets had not yet been invented. Jesus, placidly did not react to the comparison that the disciple made between Jesus and John.  Instead Luke just passes the center of focus on to Jesus who, as it happens does not teach his disciples to pray in the way that John had taught them to pray. Those of them who had been disciples of John had never heard what Jesus brought to them at that moment.  His first word, "Father" was the miraculous moment in the lives of the disciples of the Son of God when they became God's sons as well.  Nobody before that time had ever addressed God as "Father.  Not even John.  This, brothers and sisters is what Jesus taught His disciples and us about prayer.  It is the privilege that we have to address God Himself and to call Him Father.  The disciples received more that day than what they expected, and perhaps even more than they could fully understand at the moment, and even for a long, long time.  Our Mother,
weeping at La Salette, reminded us of
that miracle by instructing us to say, at least twice every day, Our Father.

Mary at La Salette:
"Do you say your prayers well, my children?"
"No, Madam."
"Ah, my children, you must pray every morning and every night.  You must say an 'Our Father' and a 'Hail Mary' at least.  When you have time, say more."

SAINT JAMES AND THE TONGUE -- TRUTH? WHAT IS THAT?

Bring the truth to earthly power

On this 25th day of July, when we celebrate the great apostle James, it is a good time to consider one of the things for which he is famous.  First and foremost, he is remembered as the first official, de facto, leader of the New Community, The Way, as the followers of Jesus were collectively known.  His seat of leadership was atop Mount Zion, the Holy City of Jerusalem.  He is also known for his short but powerful written instruction to the world, The Epistle of James. Finally, and to the point of my present letter he is famous for his teaching about the human tongue.  [James, 3; 1 - 12]  You can imagine that anyone who could have written that must have lived by it first.
When I think of James, I always remember Nathan, the great prophet Nathan,  God's "mouth piece"  bringing judgement down into the ears, heart and soul of the great sinner, saint and  King, David.  Nathan was not afraid of David because Nathan was dedicated to God and God's truth.  Like all God fearing and revering people, Nathan was not afraid to die because he was doing God's work and speaking for God.  He knew that he was right and that the king who had been chosen by God through the service of the Great Patriarch Samuel, knew that he had to listen to God's word coming to him now through the holy prophet Nathan.
We have much to learn from Nathan.  We have much to learn from James.  We also have much to learn from our Weeping Mother, Mary as she appeared to two illiterate children at La Salette in France in 1846, speaking the Naked Truth in stark, real-time terms. The first thing to learn is that closeness to God makes us strong in the truth.
The second thing is that the truth is always produced by God in every age until the end of time.  Jesus used His human tongue to bring the truth home to us.  He showed us that the truth is a sign of contradiction. He showed us that the truth, because it is inexorably from God, is, in fact, a sign of contradiction just as He, Himself and His Father are, and always will be.  Jesus, when His Hour had come, clebrated the truth by testifying to it while standing before the ultimate earthly power, the cruel potentate, Pilate, who, just before handing Jesus over to the Jews and the Roman soldiers asked, "Truth?  What is that?" [John 38, 38]
            Answer:
Closeness to God. The whole truth and nothing but the truth takes away our fear of earthly power.  It doesn't matter what the source of power is, it can never equal the grace of God.  Staying close to the pure, unvarnished truth is therefore a very important virtue for us to practice.  It keeps us close to God, the Pure, Eternal Truth, at every moment.  It is in this actual intimacy that we will find comfort, peace and joy.

We should be aware of this every time we use our tongue to communicate something.  We have some very lofty sacred examples to follow, Nathan, Mary, Jesus, James just to name a few.
Think about it the next time someone asks you "How old did you say you are?"
Don't be afraid to say that you heard it here.  Don't be afraid to refrain from crying at my funeral because I say the truth when I tell you not to do that.

DO YOU PRAY THE BIBLE? OR DO YOU JUST READ IT SO YOU CAN ARGUE BETTER?

Click here for a perfect example of what this says

The other day, about two weeks ago I was sent a link to a Catholic blogger's site within an email which said: "This, you're going to really like!"  Since the source of the email is someone whom I really love and trust, I did proceed to go to the website and the first page that appeared provided me with some joy and satisfaction.  In fact if you click here you can go there to judge for yourself.  As I usually do when I am on a Catholic site, after I have read the first page I then go back to follow the links that the author proposes.  That was easy to do since the link sent the reader back to an exchange of comments from an earlier blog post published by the same author.  It turned out to be nearly 90 pages worth of diatribe and rebuttal after re-rebuttal between the "Sola Scriptura" crowd and the 'Roman Catholic" crowd.  90 pages full of smoke and not a single syllable of Holy Fire.
Two sides of invincibly ignorant people trying to convince the other about something that is so deeply entrenched in people that it is incorrigible by any other other force than by the Light, the Way and the Truth -- yeah, Him!
Oh, Him.  Well, in 90 pages, not a single word about Him nor from Him.  No siree, not in apologetics.  It's all about the text and MY way of reading the text against yours.  And I know that the text is God's word infused and Spirit blown into the soul of the writer, so my reading can't possibly be wrong.  Real sweet...Both sides coming from opposite poles with the same weapon.  One using it as a hammer and the other as a saber.  Neither one of them acknowledging the Christ Himself is the Word.  Brothers and sisters, this is we humans' greatest insult to the Word of God conducted in His Name, if you can believe that?  The text put before the living Word's life example.

Apologetics the way it is understood in our world is nothing but the centuries-old head-butting between the Pharisees and the Sadducees continued.  The only time the Gospels are mentioned is when a) it is pointed out by whomever thinks of it first, that Jesus defeated Satan by the Scripture quotes He wielded in the desert and b) snippets of rebuke to the people of the day about, say, when Jesus says that Satan can deceive even the believers.
In nearly 90 pages, not one single word of Jesus' command that we "pick up our cross daily and follow Me." [Mt. 16;24]
Not once did we hear the command, "...you lack one thing, go, sell all that you have, give the proceeds to the poor and then, come and follow me." [Mk. 10;21 + Mt and Lk]
Not once did we hear the admonition to "...visit the sick, clothe the naked..." - not once! [Mt. 25]
I could go on for at least another 1,000 words, but you get the point.  At no time was God, neither the Father nor His Son, His living Word,  the real subject of this discussion.  It was all about who is right and who is in error.  It is my opinion that in this kind of exchange, neither side is doing the Will of God.  Discussions of this nature do not make God float to the top and come into the line of vision of those discussing and certainly not of those reading/hearing.

You all know, of course, that I am Catholic.  I was born long before many of you saw the light of day.  I admit to being an exception to the Catholic "rule" about the Bible.  We always had a Bible in our house.  Not in a place of honor.  We were not THAT much of an exception.  But we had it because my father was a faithful prayor [maybe that's not word, but you know what I mean] of the Psalms.  We read the stories of creation, Noah, Abraham, Samson, of course, Tobit and the great fish, The Birth of Jesus and His passion, etc.  The praying of the Psalms is a daily exercise for me.  The praying of the song of Moses is a now and again treat.  The Song of Zachariah,  of Mary, of Hannah are all moments of deep spiritual meaning for me.  I regularly pray the vocation stories of Moses, Abraham, and the great prophets.  Finally, every single day I read one of the commands of God the Father to Adam, Cain, Noah, Abraham and others to collaborate with Him in the work of caring for His creation.  Every day I read the parallel orders of His Son to follow him, to feed the hungry, to help the widows, to pray daily, to eat His Body and Drink His Blood and finally to serve all nations by spreading His Good News.  Finally, at least once a month I reread the powerful prayer of Deacon Stephen [Acts, chapter 7] as he prepared to be stoned to death by the Chosen People themselves.  His prayer was the Biblical story of the escape from Egypt and the Covenant between God and the very people who were preparing to kill him.  

Brothers and Sisters, no matter what else you may hear about the Bible, remember this, it is the sacramental presence of the Word of God, telling us who He is and how to maintain a righteous spiritual and physical relationship to Him.  It is not exclusively to teach us who He is through the reading of it and the arguing about what it says to us.  We come to really know who He is through praying it, not just reading it in order to sharpen our saber.  Finally, we come to know Him even more deeply by duplicating His life style in our own, by energetically collaborating with the Triune God in an effort to make this world a holier place in which to live.

Now that you know all of this about me, since you won't be crying at my funeral, you'll be saving yourself the trouble of having to wash another handkerchief.

DISCOVER THE FAITH DAILY, DEEPER, CLEARER WITH GOD AS YOUR BEST FRIEND FOREVER

"Faith implies a journey and a discovery. Faith itself is not the completion or the arrival. It's a journey. Abraham and the Magi signify this journey.

"It is impossible to believe alone." Faith is always communal. This means that faith always requires the Church.

Since we live in time, the faith is handed down in community." (Canterbury Tales: Dr. Taylor Marshall)

From the latest encyclical to come from the Holy See.  The two friends who have taken the wheel of the Ark (Benedict XVI and Francis) have produced a work of art for today's world. 

http://www.braxmobile.com/parishweb/

This is the world of "social media" where people call themselves "friends" without ever having delved into the spiritual reality the one of the other.  Hearts and souls are now joined though the power of bytes and pixels, of BTW, BFF and ;))).  Even Jesus rides the Ethernet waves.  By faith, Abraham followed the directions of God the Father; by Faith Noah built the ark; by faith Moses led the people out of Egypt and across the desert and finally, by faith we read the words of Jesus as crafted by his earthly ambassador on a hand-held marvel of the 21st century. 

We no longer have to wait for Jesus to come up to Jerusalem from Galilee; we no longer have to wait for the Osservatore Romano to be published before hearing the word of God; we don't have to wait until the next time we see our BFF to share the Word.  There is now an app, [ParishWorld Mobile App] that begs for us to connect NOW and to pass the Word along, NOW.  As of today it is possible to walk together on the journey of developing faith.  As of today our faith is communal in a real sense.  We carry it in our hearts, our soul and our pocket and it radiates to our world through the ParishWorld Mobile App. 

Inspiration gets expressed NOW; prayer gets communicated to the one who needs it, NOW; prayer comes to the one who asks, NOW; the Sacred Scripture walks along with us and we share it as needed, NOW; the Holy Spirit just lit up my soul out of the blue.  I just have to tell you, NOW.

Yes, brethren, the world is now our parish.  The ParishWorld Mobile App does it.  Jesus just has to love this; He knows that this is the advent of a new time when it becomes all the more dynamic to "Go forth and baptize all nations" echoed by His mother's message from La Salette, "Well, my Children make this known to all my People." 

Come and discover the highest realities of the faith by carrying the material access to them in your pocket, all the easier therefore to walk, discover and stay in touch spiritually, constantly.

Amen.

THE WORLD THAT GOD MADE IS BEAUTIFUL AND GOOD

SEE WHAT GOD MADE?  

There are some experiences that we have in life that make us sit up and take notice.  Today was one of those days.  Something happened that brought a lot of things together for me, so I figured that because only God could do that for me, that you, my friends and family should hear about it.
You are all aware that some two years ago I decided that I would no longer shackle myself with a job outside the house.  I had just been blessed by the return of my health.  During the down time when I was thinking about a lot of things, is when I made the decision.  
Even before I was fully recovered, I began to look for work in the ethereal world of the Internet. I have shared some of my out of this world experiences with you. I have also shared the fact that through it all, I was blessed to find work doing translations for an honest company based in Europe.  It has been going on for nearly two years and I still help them and they like my work and my attitude.  That last part is because they don't "really" know me.  But they do give me good references and because of that I now have other translations from other agents and companies coming my way.  I never thought that God had any patience left in his bag, but He evidently has.  Not only that, He even gave me a little.  Now that, boys and girls, is a true miracle.  Now, today I finished a very demanding project for one of the newcomers into my life and in my down time after 4 very intense days I got to sharing my thoughts and emotions with Belle, my grace from God through the miracle of Holy Matrimony. Here's what we talked about: 
The project that sucked up so much of my life was a 35 page report from the person in charge of seeing to it that a sky train type metro ($500,000,000.00) will come to reality in Casablanca, Morocco.  What a lesson in management that is.  It is but one of the wonderful experiences that I have had over the last 20+ months.  I have gone to so many places in my mind that it is truly gratifying. It's cheaper than buying a ticket.  Heck, they even pay me to do it.   I have had to translate papers that ask the Dutch government to tighten up the standards regulating varietal cheeses.  Not just the cheese, but the labels too. Now, while we are in Holland, I have to tell you the story of the touring company that takes people for tours on the canals in Amsterdam.  I was on their boats for at least four hours.  How many of you have done that?  I will also now take bets from anyone who can prove knowledge of what the average summer temperature in the Algerian desert is.  I do!  I had to translate a "request for quote" from the Algerian government to the world to build a windmill farm to harness the energy of the winds in the desert there.  Oh, the wind there averages about 125 kilometers per hour (70 mph).  Lest I forget the average summer temperature is 45 degrees Celsius, that's around 115F.  Remember, I said average.  A few translations ago I was in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast, Africa)translating a do-gooder from Belgium who was there to teach people how to get more yield from their "back yard" victory gardens.  40 pages of this stuff...not for the people to read, for the governments of the world.  It was really nice, until the mosquitoes got the better of me, so I left.  Oh yeah, he mentioned the mosquitoes.  He had to, they kill a lot of people to whom they give malaria.  The other day I was in, of all places, Nogales, Mexico.  Some lady was emigrating from Nogales to Sweden, I think it was, and she needed her university transcript of records translated from the Nogales vernacular to English.  The agency sent it to me, figuring that if I ran into trouble I could just shout across the Rio Grande and get the answer.  Heck, I could see her house from here! I have a ton more, but one of the more interesting things I had to translate was a contract between a Belgian company that transports cattle on the hoof to places all around the Mediterranean and even to Eastern Europe and the Middle East.  Imagine, they do that for a living, and they seem to be doing very well at it...and in French to boot! Except that this time they got into a crunch and someone wanted to dispense with the French and stick with English.  I forget all the details, but they carried on quite a bit about the health of the animal at the head of the trip as against the same animal's health at the terminus.  Can you just figure out the hankie-pankie that lives in those transactions?
There is also human consolation that comes aross my pixilated reality.  There is the story of the person who got to be a medical doctor to live out her dream as a little girl.  She has a problem.  She is quite a distance away from being an "A" student.  I was able to follow her entire career from high school through final board exam.  I lived her whole educational experience through her grades and through the written evaluations that form part of the European report card.  The only reason I knew that she had not dropped out was that I had her entire file by my side...all 20 pages.  I suffered through the numbers that she was making. 
I shuddered at some of the slyly insulting comments of some of her teachers. She would come back and retake the course and pass it with a middle level grade while at the same time she was struggling somewhere else. I think, perhaps, that added to her own grit and courage came the love and dedication with which most of her teachers showered her.   Even in university she struggled although in university she never failed a course, but she kept her hours down so that she could manage her study time better. I have to admit that I shivered through the emotions that flowed through me during that project.  One night, just some 6 or 7 hours before my deadline I came across one comment on her final report for the year.  It was preceded by a passing grade at a very low percentile of the class performance as a whole. It said, "Remember that just because you are in a top notch school becoming a doctor is not guaranteed." True enough.  But I wanted to choke that person.  I was wishing I could go there and cut the handle off her brand new broom handle. I took an hour off and then got back to work. The little girl, by now a woman, got through it, came back and got what she had worked for. 

This is the life that God gives me these days.  That's my life, economics and emotions at the same time.  I thank God for it because He is giving me time to do what I love to do.  When I am not translating I'm over at His place schmoozing with His people, talking about Him, swapping stories from His book, eating from His table of Sacrifice and of course patting Mama on the back for doing such a great job.
I told you these things because I want you to know that I have not changed my mind about my first and last will and testament:  No Crying at MY Funeral!

WHY WE NEED PARENTS

This is a fairly long meditative reaction to a heartfelt email message that reached me today.  I decided not to send the typical short, sentimental, straight from the heart response because I did not have one.  What I had then, some eight hours ago, and still have now is what follows.  I am bold enough to place it on this blog, under this title because what I have in my heart and my brain belongs here, as far as I am concerned.  Join me, if you will.

Parents are something that we all have.  Some for a shorter time than others.  Some for a very long time.  The majority of us live with our parents for about 18 to 25 years before the separation takes place.  Some of us never get the experience of a long term separation from our parents.  
Some of us appreciate the presence and the dynamism of the relationship between us and them.  We get to try out behaviors on them and either rejoice or suffer from the consequences.  The house is a laboratory of sorts where we get socialized, spiritualized, characterized and several other "izes" that we all know about from experience.  All these things make life with our parents a rich experience...for the most part.
Parents too enjoy life in this laboratory.  They know that from about age 25 through age 55 or so, they will share their entire beings with from about 1 to 12 children, depending on religious, cultural, economical and other elements.  They also know one other thing.  The children that they bring into the world may grow old, but they will never cease to be "my little boy" or "my little girl."  That is perhaps the most difficult pill for most children to swallow.  For some, however, it turns out to be the salvation that they need to have happy and comfortable lives.  That brings me to Laurie.

Laurie is a 40 plus year old lady who still lives with her mother and father.  I know them fairly well.  I also respect them more than they have come to know.  Papa and Mama have answered the special call from God to be special parents to a special needs child.  They have accepted their vocation and the relationship that they have with Laurie deserves a higher adjective that just special...It is sacramental.  It is covenantal.  It defines the meaning of marriage and parenthood for the communion of saints who see it.  This is a family who lives in a Cathedral of Love under the wings of the Angels and in the presence of the Spirit.  
Every now and then the Blue Light Special Prayer signal goes out from the family and along with it comes the report of the last visit that was played out at Massachusetts General Hospital with regards to the physical health of the Special Laurie.  It's usually not too good.  We all hear it, say our prayers, assure Papa and Mama that we join them in heart and soul and life goes on.  It goes on for Laurie too, despite the fact that some of the news is scientifically devastating.  Papa has told me several times that the doctors still don't know how this wonderfully patient and happy person can continue to be so contented with life.  Indeed, they even wonder how she can continue living at the level of energy and health that she does.
WE know.  We know something that the doctors are not allowed to enter into the equation.  Laurie's head primary care doctor is none less than God Himself.  She, Papa and Mama talk to God every single day.  She, Papa and Mama sit and listen to what God has to tell them, every single day.  No wonder that when she walks away from a long review session with the army of doctors who know her and study her and strive to understand what keeps her going and how they can help her to continue, she must just sit there and wonder "What now?"  

Today, for instance, the long email from Mama explained that Laurie's lung function is diminishing in efficiency.  Of course, Laurie being Laurie, she throws them a curve and proves to them that her breathing is perfectly fine.  Hmmm.  I don't know the whole story, but there's something mysteriously similar to this going on with her kidneys too.  Not to fret, brothers and sisters, energetic life goes on.  But wait, what does the scientific team say about this situation with the lungs?  Let's check it out, according to Mama's version.
"Start Laurie on a drug called rapamycin..."  Not good.  Bad experience with this drug in the past.
"Get Laurie into an on-going trial for a new drug..." Not good.  What if she falls into the "placebo group?"  Hmmm.  Good question.
"Wait and see."  Yep.  Very scientific exercise.
Well, frankly, they don't call doctors practitioners for nothing.  They are professionals at practicing.  When they want a real answer, they ask your parents.  In this case, as in many others, that is the perfect place for the answer to lie.  Laurie, Papa and Mama went straight to God and to God's friends.  There's the one who knows.  He is the one who manages Laurie's kidneys.  He's also the one who keeps her breathing normally with diminishing lung capacity.  He's not willing to let her go.  He's got far too many important things for her to do.  Papa and Mama can attest to that.  Laurie can too.  Me too, but I'll die before I write some of the suggestions that I have.  Oh, I can write this one:  Laurie and her parents are going to cure everyone from wanting to cry at my funeral.  They're going to do it with the good example of what it means to be a Job family.  Or to be the family whose oil never runs out because they are caring for the prophet.  

By the way, no one ever said that this is easy.  No one ever said that being a child of God is easy.  God demands that we collaborate with Him to get things done.  So, Laurie, Papa and Mama live in a tight knit spiritually alert community collaborating with God in the job of keeping Laurie and themselves energetic in His presence.  Without God in that house, who knows what it would look like?  Two seventy year old parents with a 45 year old child and no God?  Don't even try to imagine it.  
Brothers and sisters, that's why we need parents.  That's why our children need parents, no matter how old they are.  
Remember why I put these thoughts here under this title: there is to be no crying at my funeral.  Why?  Because God has taken it easy on me for all these years.  He lets me be a grouch and get away with it.  What more can I ask for?  Don't cry for Papa and Mama of Laurie because when their job is done, God will take care of them.  Don't cry for Laurie because she is the sign of God's presence in our midst.  Let us honor her with our prayers so that she will never waver in her resolve to be a saint in God's eyes and ours.  Not just for her good, but for ours as well.  We ask this through Jesus, our Savior who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever.

SPARE ME YOUR FAKE PLANTS IN CHURCH - THEY ARE AN INSULT TO GOD

Read this and weep:

² 'Speak to the Israelites; say to them, "When any of you brings an offering to Yahweh, he can offer an animal either from the herd or from the flock.

³ "If his offering is to be a burnt offering from the herd, he must offer an unblemished male; he will offer it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, to make it acceptable to Yahweh.  (Lev. chapter 1, verses 2 and 3, and on and on for four more chapters.)      

I have written about this before: http://365newthoughtsperyear.blogspot.com/2010/12/fake-christmas-trees-yuk.html.  I have since had more thoughts about it and I am convinced that it is time that you should hear it again coming from a deeper part of me and in a slightly different context.
I am of the conviction that what we place in church, before the altar and around the community of the faithful is not "decoration."  It is a part of the sacrifice.  The plants that we offer to the Father who accepts our sacrifices should be the best, without blemish.  We should offer them from the deepest part of our adoring hearts to the Father who offers us His Son on the very altar before which we are placing our humble sacrifice.   I invite you to read the first chapters of Leviticus and appreciate the numerous types of sacrifice that are ennumerated there.  These different sacrifices cover the very same reasons why we pray and why we offer sacrifices.  We do it to atone for our sins, sins of all kinds.  We sacrifice to help others in prayer and in some tangible way.  Offering  flowering plants are a direct sacrifice from us that has repercussions on the community.  They make the environment more prayerful.  We offer sacrifice to thank God for all that He gives us.  For all these and many more reasons to sacrifice, we are bound to give nothing but the best, unblemished creature gifted to us by our Father Himself.   
I therefore present these humble thoughts to you.  Do not let anyone get away with "decorating" the worship space with imitations of God's personal gifts to us.  God's gifts are meant to be offered back to Him in prayer.  After all, we wouldn't want to imitate Cain, now, would we?  
When you read Leviticus you'll notice how often the words "... a smell pleasing to Yahweh" are repeated.   Now that excludes fake stuff.  We should all remember that.

DON'T CRY AT MARY'S FUNERAL, FOR SURE

DON'T ABANDON LIFE,
ENRICH IT!

 Let me greet you all in the Risen Lord.

I have been remiss in my exhortations to you.  It is because I am busy responding to the demands of a company for which I do some time consuming work. That's gainful work  
€ 'n $ and such :-) !  

Then, there's God's work. Stuff like a study of Genesis on Monday night, Acts on Wednesday night and on Tuesday night we have a gathering of those who have strayed and are coming back to the Mother of their youth.  there's more, but I won't bore you.
I have placed this here because it is somewhat related to my feeling that there should be no crying at Catholic funerals, least of all, not at mine.  
Enjoy Mary's poem and especially heed the advice in the lasat two lines.  Those of us who move on, and we all do, do so after spending a life of offering and giving and preparing and hoping.  Do us a favor.  Stash your handkerchief and get to work picking up where we have left off.  God will love you for it.

THE STARS OF THE SKY, THE GRAINS OF THE BEACH SAND

La foi naît de l'appel de Dieu. Personne ne peut prendre le crédit pour la foi  et la conversion.personnelles. Ce n'était pas Abraham qui a pris l'initiative de partir ou d'inventer une nouvelle façon de servir Dieu. Ni Dieu l'a-t-il inviter avec une proposition qu'il pouvait contester avec sa propre opinion. Dieu l'a appelé à l'impératif et c'est de la même manière que les prophètes et les saints glorieux ont été appelés.
C'est de cette façon que Dieu les a libérés. En conséquence du péché, tous les êtres humains naissent et vivent dans la terre étrangère du péché. La plénitude de notre réalité personnelle n'est pas fondée sur Dieu aussi longtemps que nous ne sommes pas en communion avec Lui. Nos religions et nos idéologies qui sont les produits de notre culture ne nous permettent pas de dépasser les limites d'un monde que nous faisons par et pour nous-mêmes, selon la mesure de nos propres ressources. Afin que nous puissions tirer pleinement conscience de notre appel, il est nécessaire que Dieu nous appelle et que nous acceptions l'invitation à sortir du cercle fatal.

La foi nous met au service de la volonté de Dieu, qui est de sauver l'humanité. Il est possible que pour un moment Dieu nous attire avec une faveur personnelle, mais sous peu, il nous insère dans ses projets à la fin de sauver le monde. Afin de suivre le Christ et faire partie de son peuple élu, il est nécessaire de croire aux promesses que Dieu a faites à son peuple. Dieu nous a prédestinés à être le levain et la lumière du monde.

La foi exige une rupture. Elle nous oblige à regarder de l'avant sans nostalgie de la chaleur et le confort du sein maternel. Les êtres humains se développent en surmontant «crise» après «crise» dans la vie. Ils quittent leur famille, vont travailler, se marient ... La foi nous donne la force de faire face à ces ruptures avec optimisme et nous amène au point où nous pouvons affronter de plus douloureuses. Ce processus nous permet d'entrer plus profondément dans le service de Dieu. La foi est le plus grand moyen par lequel les humains grandissent dans la maturité.

La foi d'Abraham nous enseigne la différence entre l'homme terrestre qui construit sa vie selon les normes de la sagesse humaine et croit qu'il sait où il va, et la personne de la foi qui cherche les signes de Dieu afin de voir où Dieu veut que la voie à suivre doit être. Pour toute une vie, l'homme de foi est un errant, un pèlerin cherchant une justice supérieure, la justice pure et une plus grande perfection que celle qui est le produit de confection purement humaine.

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FAITH –

Faith is born of a call from God.  No one can take the credit for personal faith and conversion.  It was not Abraham who took the initiative to leave or to invent a new way to serve God.  Neither did God invite him with a proposal that he could contest with his own opinion.  God called him in the imperative and this is the same way that the glorious prophets and saints were called.

It is in this way that God freed us.   As a consequence of sin, all humans are born and live in the foreign land of sin.  The fullness of our personal reality is not grounded in God for as long as we are not in communion with Him.  Our religions and our ideologies as products of our culture do not permit us to transcend the limits of a world that we make by and for ourselves according to the measure of our own resources.   In order for us to take full conscience of our call, it is necessary for God to call us and that we accept the invitation to escape the fatal circle.

Faith places us in the service of God’s will which is to save humanity.  It is possible that for a moment God attracts us with a personal favor, but then he inserts us into His specific projects to the end of saving the world.  In order to follow Christ and be a part of His Chosen People, it is necessary to believe in the promises that God made to His people.  God destined us to be the yeast and the light of the world.

Faith requires a breaking away.  It obliges us to look forward without yearning for the warmth and comfort of the womb.  Humans grow by overcoming “crisis” after “crisis” in life.  They leave their family, go to work, get married… Faith gives us the strength to confront these ruptures with optimism and brings us to the point where we can confront more painful ones.  This process allows us to enter more deeply into the service of God.  Faith is the greatest medium through which humans grow into maturity.

The Faith of Abraham teaches us the difference between earthly human who construct their lives according to the standards of human wisdom and believe that they know where they are going, and the person of faith who seeks the signs of god in order to see where God wills the path forward to be.  For an entire life, the person of faith is a wanderer,  a pilgrim seeking higher righteousness, purer justice and greater perfection than that which is the product of purely human confection.

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La fe nace de una llamada de Dios. No se puede tomar el crédito por la fe personal y la conversión. No fue Abraham quien tomó la iniciativa de salir de su tierra o de inventar una nueva manera de servir a Dios. Tampoco Dios lo invitó con una propuesta que podría disputar con su propia opinión. Dios lo llamó en el imperativo y es de la misma manera que los gloriosos profetas y los santos fueron llamados.

Es de esta manera que Dios nos liberó. Como consecuencia del pecado, todos los seres humanos nacen y viven en el país extranjero del pecado. La plenitud de nuestra realidad personal no se basa en Dios por el tiempo que no estamos en comunión con él. Nuestras religiones e ideologías como nuestros productos de nuestra cultura no nos permiten trascender los límites de un mundo que hacemos por y para nosotros mismos de acuerdo a la medida de nuestros propios recursos. Para que podamos tomar conciencia plena de nuestra llamada, es necesario que Dios nos llama y que aceptamos la invitación a salir del círculo fatal.

La fe nos pone al servicio de la voluntad de Dios que ha por fin de salvar a la humanidad. Es posible que por un momento que Dios nos atrae con un favor personal, pero luego nos inserta en sus proyectos específicos a fin de salvar al mundo. Con el fin de seguir a Cristo y ser una parte de su pueblo elegido, es necesario creer en las promesas que Dios hizo a su pueblo. Dios nos predestinó a ser la levadura y la luz del mundo.

La fe requiere una ruptura. Esto nos obliga a mirar hacia adelante sin anhelo de la calidez y el conforte del seno maternal. Los seres humanos crecen mediante la superación de "crisis" después de "crisis" en la vida. Dejan su familia, van a trabajar, se casan ... La fe nos da la fuerza para aguantar estas rupturas con optimismo y nos lleva al punto en que podemos enfrentar las más dolorosas. Este proceso nos permite entrar más profundamente en el servicio de Dios. La fe es el mejor medio a través del cual los seres humanos se convierten en su madurez.

La fe de Abraham nos enseña la diferencia entre los hombres terrenal que construyen sus vidas de acuerdo a los estándares de la sabiduría humana y creen que saben a dónde van, y la persona de fe que busca los signos de Dios con el fin de ver dónde Dios quiere indicar el rumbo a seguir.  Por toda una vida, la persona de fe es un errante, un peregrino que busca mayor justicia, justicia más pura y una mayor perfección de la que es el producto de confección meramente humana.