"Are You a Missionary for God or the Devil?"

The commentary is below the readings.

Reading 1
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17

Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and proclaimed the Christ to them.
With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.
For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice,
came out of many possessed people,
and many paralyzed or crippled people were cured.
There was great joy in that city.

Now when the apostles in Jerusalem
heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God,
they sent them Peter and John,
who went down and prayed for them,
that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
for it had not yet fallen upon any of them;
they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then they laid hands on them
and they received the Holy Spirit.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20

R. (1) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God, "How tremendous are your deeds!"
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
"Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you,
sing praise to your name!"
Come and see the works of God,
his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has changed the sea into dry land;
through the river they passed on foot;
therefore let us rejoice in him.
He rules by his might forever.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
what he has done for me.
Blessed be God who refused me not
my prayer or his kindness!
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading II
1 Pt 3:15-18

Beloved:
Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.
Always be ready to give an explanation
to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,
but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear,
so that, when you are maligned,
those who defame your good conduct in Christ
may themselves be put to shame.
For it is better to suffer for doing good,
if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.

For Christ also suffered for sins once,
the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous,
that he might lead you to God.
Put to death in the flesh,
he was brought to life in the Spirit.

Gospel
Jn 14:15-21

Jesus said to his disciples:
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,
because it neither sees nor knows him.
But you know him, because he remains with you,
and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father
and you are in me and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him."

Gospel

In this gospel, Jesus talks about how we can love him by keeping his commandments. He also says that in keeping his commandments, we will be loved by the Father and Jesus, and that Jesus will reveal himself.

Is Jesus proposing a deal? Is he suggesting that he will only love us if we obey the rules? Absolutely not! The idea that we can earn God's love is completely wrong and is a popular misconception among Christians. God does not hate US when we sin, but in sinning, we often begin to hate ourselves. We then think that the distance growing between us and God is because God is pulling away from us. He isn't. When we sin, WE pull away from God.

Unconditional Love

The point is, God loves us no matter what- even if we don't obey the commandments! After all, Jesus was praying for the people who sinned greatly against him. "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."¹ Jesus' love is not in response to how GOOD we are. It is free of charge no matter how bad we are!

When Jesus is mocked by the soldiers, he did not open his mouth. When they made fun of him and tested him while he was on the cross, he didn't tell them to "shut up!" On the contrary, Jesus' heart is broken when we sin.

God's Love Flowing Through Us

So if Jesus is not proposing a deal with us, then what does he mean by "whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I'll love him and reveal myself to him."? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."² God literally spoke his Word to Moses. "The gift of the commandments is the gift of God himself and his holy will. In making his will known, God reveals himself to his people."³ God is sharing himself with us through the commandments.

"In keeping the commandments, the Savior himself comes to love, in us, his Father, and our brethren."⁴ When God gave us the commandments, he gave us a piece of himself. When we keep the commandments, Jesus' love flows through us to our brothers, sisters, friends, family, to God the Father. In other words, the commandments allow us to participate in God's love. In following the commandments, we get to be Jesus. Is Jesus happy? I think so. If we follow the commandments, we'll be happy even if we are made to suffer. (2nd Reading).

The Invitation

The commandments are not rules here to spoil our fun. The commandments are INVITATIONS to enjoy the love of God. We need to hear that again- the commandments are INVITATIONS to enjoy the love of God. In faithfulness to the commandments, we can see who God is (God reveals himself as promised). Who is God? He is love.

Here is an example: Jesus commands us not to get divorced.⁴ Why? It's because Jesus is saying this: Even if you cheat on me (worship other Gods), even if you beat me up, and even if you are ashamed to say you know me⁵, I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU!

Jesus will never divorce us, so he doesn't want us to divorce each other. If we listen to this, we get to love like Jesus does (unconditionally). Can you see that Jesus' commandments are invitations to LOVE LIKE HE DOES? If so, you and I need to act like we believe it and live the commandments every day!

2nd Reading

The author says that we should "always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope." As Christians, our hope is God. The author of this reading goes on to say that we should "keep our consciences clear." In this week's gospel, Jesus tells us HOW to keep our consciences clear. All we need to do is follow his commandments and our consciences will be quite clear.

When we follow his commandments, God reveals himself to us. So, how can we give an explanation of our reason for hope? We must first obey the commandments. After all, how can we tell someone about God if we don't even know him? The less we obey, the less we know him. How can we share God's loving commandments with someone if we don't obey the commandments ourselves? We can't. You can't give someone something that you don't have. We can't explain our reason for hope, if we don't follow the commandments.

Empty-Handed

Let's look at what happens when we try to tell someone about God while disobeying the commandments. I know lots of people who were once Christians and have since left. But why did these brothers and sisters of ours leave the church? My ex-Christian friends have told me:

• One friend left (or stopped going to church) because a priest was very mean to her.
• One left Christianity because some so-called "Christians" told her that she should forget about her non-Christian parents because they are going to hell.⁶
• One left partly because his dad claimed to believe in Christ and yet he was convicted of a felony and went to prison (leaving the family with little hope)

This reading says that if we want to tell someone about our "reason for hope" we must "keep our consciences clear." In other words, it is impossible to bring others closer to Christ if we ourselves are far from him.


Missionaries

Someone recently told me that my job as a missionary,⁷ "was not the path for her". Well guess what? Everybody is a full-time missionary whether they know it or not! Either our faithfulness to God is drawing others to God, or our lack of faithfulness, is driving others AWAY from God. That means we are either missionaries for God, or missionaries for the Devil! When we obey God, we are missionaries for him. When we disobey God, we are missionaries for the devil. Just look at the above examples of how sinfulness drives others away from God.

Have our actions (whether good or bad) ever influenced our friends? I think it would be better if we keep our consciences clear.

What God Wants

Many people tell me that they feel like they wanna do something else for God besides going to work and Church, and occasionally doing charitable work or donating. It is good to have this desire. More important than this desire to do extra stuff, is that we understand that God wants us to first OBEY HIS COMMANDMENTS.

If we obey his commandments, we shall participate in his incredible, unconditional love. We shall get to know God better. If we truly try to obey his commandments, we will be so happy, fulfilled, and excited about God that nothing will be able to stop us from figuring out what else God wants us to do with our time. God will shows us very clearly what he wants us to do besides work, church, and occasional charity.

First things, first. We must accept the invitation to love and obey his commandments.

The Point

• God wants us to obey the commandments. Even if we sin and disobey the commandments, he still loves us.
• The commandments are commandments to love one another. So, a look at the commandments is a glance at how God loves us.
• When we obey the commandments, God and his love flows through us.
• Each commandment is an invitation and an opportunity to love the way God loves- unconditionally
• God wants us to share him and his love with everyone. We can ONLY do this if we first OBEY his commandments
• If we try to evangelize while disobeying the commandments, we will drive others from God and the Devil will use us to evangelize for THE DEVIL.
• We are missionaries. EVERYTHING that we do, is either bringing others to God or driving them away from God.
• If we want to do something for God, we must obey his commandments.

Real Life

One of my friend's friends killed himself during high school. In his suicide letter, he said that if just one person would have smiled at him or spoken to him on the day of his impending suicide, he wouldn't have done it. Never underestimate the power of a loving smile and the power of empathizing.

There was a boy who was going home from school one day when some fellow classmates knocked the books out of his hands. As he was picking up his books, another classmate came to help him. Soon thereafter, they became good friends. At graduation, the boy who had his books knocked out of his hands gave a speech. In his speech, he talked about what a great friend he had. This friend came to help him one day when some bullies knocked his books out of his hands. He went on to say that the reason he was carrying so many books that day was because he had planned to kill himself that day. He had cleaned out his locker because he didn't want to burden his family with the cleanup after his death. His loving friend unknowingly saved the boy's life.⁸

Jesus said, "I give you another command, love one another."

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1 Luke 23:34
2 John 1:1
3 Catechism of the Catholic Church 2059 & related to Ephesians 1:9-11
4 Mark 10:11-12
5 Peter was ashamed of being associated with Jesus in Matthew 26:69-75
6 This is my opinion of why she left the church. My friend might not agree with me
7 She said that "what you are doing is not the path for me"
8 This is how I remember the story, though I probably screwed up some parts

The Purpose of Your Life is......

The Mass readings are below the commentary.

This week’s liturgy is a true gem and it reminds me of the parable of the buried treasure in the field. A person finds the treasure, and with great joy, he then sells all that has so that he can buy the field with the treasure. In the Gospel, Jesus wants us to know the purpose of our lives. After we understand it well, we want to “sell it all” and do what Jesus wants.

The Ultimate Question We All Ask

I don’t care if you are a Hindu from Bangalor, India, a Muslim from Iran, or just a hillbilly Christian like me from Kentucky/Mexico. Everyone has at some point asked this question: What is the point? What is the point of my life? Why the heck am I here and what am I supposed to do with my life? Should we ask the magic 8-ball? Na, our Creator has the answer.

In this beautiful Gospel, God wants to tell us the answer to the most important question of our lives. ARE YOU READY?!!!!!!

Jesus describes “eternal life” in the Gospel. When he says “eternal” he is not talking about length, he is talking about quality. Eternal life is this- “that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent-Jesus Christ.”

God’s Plan for Us

What the heck does all of that mean? God is perfect and blessed. He is beautiful! In his plan of pure goodness, he created man to make man share in God’s own blessed life. God did this, not because he had to, but because he wanted to. This is a supreme act of love. First of all, God gives us life.

In our ignorance and weakness, we are scattered (divided) by sin, and God calls us back to him so that we can be united as a family of believers. God calls us back by sending his only Son to save and redeem us.¹ God is a perfectly loving person. He is SO loving, that he wants to share his perfect love with someone- me and you. We have screwed up our lives, but God has sent his Son to help us come back to God.

We have received that good news and so, Jesus tells us to “ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” ²

Again, Jesus is talking about the PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES. Those who know and love God are supposed to share the love of God with others. We are supposed to teach others to obey the commandments (Matthew 28:18-20)³. Then, Jesus makes a promise. I am going to be with you FOREVER. That’s why Jesus is such a good manager. Like any good manager, he goes beyond telling us what to do. Better than any manager, he STAYS with us forever.

AWESOME, that means that not only do you know the meaning and purpose of your life (to know and to love God), you have the most powerful person in the universe as your bodyguard and teacher! Yesssir! Awesome! Again, what is the purpose of our lives? Our purpose is to know and to love God. How do we love him? That’s easy, put his commandments into practice.⁴

How do we get to know God? There are many ways. The best way to get to know him is the same as the best way to love him- obey his commandments. Obeying is the best way to get to know him because in obeying the commandments, we become imitators of God and so, we get to know what his perfect love is like. We get to know GOD by honoring our parents, by telling the truth always, by being thankful (instead of envious) etc. The commandments give us a sneak preview of God’s perfect love. In other words, we get to know him better.

God is our creator and he is perfect, blessed, and holy. He wants us to experience the same love he experiences. We have already messed up our lives, and in order to help us live the perfect, blessed, holy life that he lives, he has sent his son to rescue us. Jesus asks us to obey his loving commandments and spread the good news of God’s love in order to fulfill his plan for us. God does us a loving service to tell us what we are supposed to do with our lives- we are to know him and to love him.

The Enemy

Jesus calls Satan the father of lies.⁵ Whatever God wants, Satan wants the opposite. God wants us to know, love and serve him⁶. In response, Satan wants to put a blindfold on us, he wants us to hate God, and he wants us to serve anything or anyone other than God.

We have an idea of God’s game plan- send Jesus to save us. Let’s look at the Devil’s game plan.

Commandments are For Tired, Miserable, Bored Unhappy Christians

The devil is extremely crafty, manipulative, and smart. He knows that the best way to get to know God is to follow his commandments. So he tries to get us to dislike the commandments. How does he do that? Well, he tells us that obeying the commandments is not fun. Satan tells us that following the commandments is boring and we will be unhappy. However, Satan does not talk to us audibly with his own voice. He uses our friends, media, books, internet etc. Here are examples:

• Jesus says, forgive one another. Donald Trump says, “get even” in his book The Art of the Comeback.

• Jesus says, whoever looks at a woman lustfully, has committed adultery in his heart. Hugh Heffner, the founder of the most popular pornography magazine ever “Playboy“, seems to think that what he is doing is some form of art. The question is, would I want my sisters and daughters in these magazines? Absolutely not, so why should I be looking at someone else’s sister/daughter in an impure way?

• Jesus says that you can’t serve God and money. Rapper “50 cent” says we should “Get Rich or Die Tryin’”

The Liar

The world that we live in, is in violent opposition to the love of our God, who has a loving plan for each of us beginning with the gift of life.

In the Gospel of John (8:31-44) Jesus was talking to Jews “who believed in him” He said, “you belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires. There is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar, and the father of lies.”⁷

First of all, Jesus is talking to those who “believe in him”. This is some tough criticism and he is giving it to people who already believe in him. Do I profess to believe in Jesus? I do. So Jesus is talking to me and you in this gospel! Jesus says that “you belong to the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires.” Ouch! The scary thing is that we often don’t even know that we are carrying out the devil’s desires. We already talked about this last week how in sinning we are being missionaries for the devil. We sin willingly, but we need to remember that when we sin, we are serving the enemy of our God. Our God loves us.

The Devil’s Counter-Attacking Plan

A powerful weapon the devil uses is lying. The father of lies tells us things like, “the baby in the womb is not a person.” We believe what he says (as he speaks through others, media, books, magazines, the internet)⁸ and go on to kill our own children. This is part of the reason why Jesus calls the Devil a “murderer from the beginning”. His lies are so powerful that they have enough influence to KILL. The central point of this discussion is that God is perfect and loving and he has purpose for our lives starting with the day of our birth. The devil knows how beautiful and generous this gift is from God. Naturally, he attacks LIFE just as any military commander would try to stop the main objectives of his enemy. God’s objective is to keep giving us life. The abortion of 50,000,000 American babies since Roe v Wade is the devil’s masterpiece of horror, anguish, pain and death. This is in contrast to God’s beautiful gift of life. The devil IS cunning isn‘t he?!!

Jesus calls himself the way, the truth and the life. Since the devil is opposite Jesus, he is the wrong way, the lie, and the death. Do you believe this is true?

We’ve got to recognize the voice of the Devil when we hear it, and we’ve got to turn away from him- refusing to do what HE wants us to do. How do we recognize the voice of the devil? Anything contrary to what the Bible says⁹ and what the church teaches is a lie and is exactly what the devil wants us to think.

ANYTHING contrary to what the Bible says and what the Catholic church teaches is a LIE and is exactly what the devil wants us to think.

The Attack on Sexuality

I once asked my brother, “why does the devil attack our sexuality so much?” Why is it that sin is knocking on my door through my sexuality? I told my brother that if the Devil concentrates his efforts on sexuality so much, then sexuality must be important to God. It makes better sense to me now. Sexuality is the means through which we accept God’s supreme gift. That gift is life and all of it’s beauty. Life is first necessary before we can actively know, serve, and love the Lord. The devil had me convinced for many years that sexuality is about entertainment and pleasure. What a LIE! This lie helps in his battle against God.

A Picture Of Satan

Imagine this image in your head. Jesus extends his hand. With his word, babies are created and they are floating towards a crowd of people. Jesus says, “here is life!“ The devil is in front of this crowd between Jesus and the crowd. The devil has a sword and uses it to chop off one of the baby’s heads. The devil has a large picture on his back and it is a picture of a man and woman having sex. Many of the people in the crowd are hypnotized by this image. Others are yelling, “we don’t want the babies, we don’t want the babies!”

After contemplating these thoughts, I became a little bit angry. I realized that the devil has duped me for a long time. He told me that sex was about having fun, not about having babies. This way, he got me to oppose the birth of children- God’s greatest blessing. I am angry at the devil and I want to fight him. I even felt like I was suiting up for a war against him. The truth is, we are ALL in this war whether we know it or not. Which side are YOU on?

The Point

• God is love and he wants us to experience his love. That’s the reason why he made us.
  
• God’s great gift to us is life. The purpose of our lives is to know, to love, and to serve God. This is our perfect response to his gift of life.
  
• The best way to know, love and serve God, is to follow the commandments. By doing this, we get to KNOW him, we express our LOVE of him, and we SERVE him.
• Jesus tells us to go out and spread the good news, but he also says that he is coming with us on our mission.
  
• The Devil does not want us to know the purpose of our lives. So, he lies to us through the television, books, friends, and other means.
  
• Since God’s great gift to us is life itself, the Devil is violently opposed to life. He attacks life through promiscuity, pornography, abortion, and contraception- anything it takes to stop life.

Real Life

This past week, my friend and I went to Washington D.C. to fight against the organization Planned Parenthood via a protest outside of their clinic. Planned Parenthood is responsible for over 100,000 abortions per year in the U.S. Remember that earlier, I quoted the Catechism which says that we are “scattered and divided by sin”. It’s true we are. But for a little while last Friday afternoon, I felt a real unity at the protest. I was with Baptists, Evangelicals and Christians of many denominations. We were united in one cause: to stop the killing of innocent children. In sin we are separated, but in doing God’s will we are united in love. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and there was beautiful green grass in front of that clinic of death. It was a warm day of about 75 degrees. My heart grew warmer as we joined an African American preacher in singing:

“There is power, power, wonder-working power, in the blood, of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the lamb”.

In the middle of our singing, a man came by and told us nicely to stop singing because we were disturbing some students. In retrospect, I am reminded that this war between God and the Devil is very real. That man probably wasn’t even aware whose side he was supporting.

There were only 50 of us outside of that clinic last Friday afternoon, but within 24 hours, the story had reached CNN, FOX news, and other agencies. Using 50 people¹⁰, God delivered his message to an audience perhaps in the millions. I believe Jesus when he says, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…and behold I AM WITH YOU UNTIL THE END OF THE AGE.” Jesus keeps his promises. If you believe that, lift your voice. At mass this Sunday when the Eucharistic minister says, “This is the Body of Christ” say AMEN! When Jesus said he would be with us to the end, he was serious.

Our God is an AWESOME God.

Reading 1
Acts 1:12-14

After Jesus had been taken up to heaven the apostles
returned to Jerusalem
from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
a sabbath day’s journey away.

When they entered the city
they went to the upper room where they were staying,
Peter and John and James and Andrew,
Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew,
James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot,
and Judas son of James.
All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,
together with some women,
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 27:1, 4, 7-8

R. (13) I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
or:
R. Alleluia.
One thing I ask of the LORD;
this I seek:
To dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD
and contemplate his temple.
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Hear, O Lord, the sound of my call;
have pity on me, and answer me.
Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading II
1 Pt 4:13-16

Beloved:
Rejoice to the extent that you share in the
sufferings of Christ,
so that when his glory is revealed
you may also rejoice exultantly.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
But let no one among you be made to suffer
as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as an intriguer.
But whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed
but glorify God because of the name.

Gospel
Jn 17:1-11a

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,
“Father, the hour has come.
Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,
just as you gave him authority over all people,
so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.
Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
I glorified you on earth
by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.
Now glorify me, Father, with you,
with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They belonged to you, and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,
because the words you gave to me I have given to them,
and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you,
and they have believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.
And now I will no longer be in the world,
but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.

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1- CCC 1 - The 1^st 2 paragraphs of this email are based on CCC 1 & 2 with direct quotes

2- Matthew 28:18-20

3- Also, see last week’s Mass Excitement entitled “Are you a missionary for God or the Devil?”

4- please read last week’s Mass Excitement #9 if you want to know how and why to obey the commandments.

5- John 8:44

6- Notice I include “to serve” here. To know and to love God perfectly, is to serve him.

7- John 8:31-44

8- Visit www.plannedparenthood.com where they call a baby a “pregnancy” which you can terminate and where they claim that there is no such thing as post-abortive trauma or that it is rare. Personally, everyone I’ve ever spoken to who has had an abortion has experienced significant emotional trauma afterwards.

9- the Bible must be read in context of the entire book. Otherwise, it will not make sense, will cause confusion, and may lead us to

10- I am sure there were many others who made this protest happen, yet did not attend.

Final note: This week’s message of the liturgy speaks of the purpose of our lives. In the 1^st reading, you can see that the apostles have understood the good news of God. They entered the city with joy and “devoted themselves to prayer”. In the second reading, God wants to remind us that after we hear the good news, and we act accordingly, we will suffer as Christians. Thanks be to God, we get to imitate Jesus in all that he does.

By the way, I encourage you (if you know how to draw or paint) to draw the image I described of the Jesus, the devil, and the crowd. Ask God what to do with his painting/drawing.

God the Teacher and His Teachings - #8 The only true teacher

This week’s liturgy speaks of who Jesus is, and how/why we should put our trust in him. It is a beautiful message of how he is the ONLY person who knows God completely and he is the only true teacher we have.

Reading 1- No Commentary here
Acts 6:1-7

As the number of disciples continued to grow,
the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews
because their widows
were being neglected in the daily distribution.
So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said,
“It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table.
Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men,
filled with the Spirit and wisdom,
whom we shall appoint to this task,
whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer
and to the ministry of the word.”
The proposal was acceptable to the whole community,
so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit,
also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas,
and Nicholas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism.
They presented these men to the apostles
who prayed and laid hands on them.
The word of God continued to spread,
and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly;
even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 33:1-2, 4-, 18-19

R. (22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading II
1 Pt 2:4-9

Beloved:
Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings
but chosen and precious in the sight of God,
and, like living stones,
let yourselves be built into a spiritual house
to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
For it says in Scripture:
Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion,
a cornerstone, chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame.
Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone, and
A stone that will make people stumble,
and a rock that will make them fall.
They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny.

You are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people of his own,
so that you may announce the praises” of him
who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

2nd Reading

The part that catches my attention most of all is “let yourselves be built into a spiritual house” with Jesus as the “cornerstone”. Jesus wants us (everyone) to be united with him as our loving leader.

Also, the author mentions “him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” This experience of being called out of darkness into the wonderful light is beautiful, and I will give more details in the “Real Life” section.

Gospel
Jn 14:1-12

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.
Where I am going you know the way.”
Thomas said to him,
“Master, we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, (I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him,
“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time
and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.
The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,
or else, believe because of the works themselves.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,
and will do greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father.”

Gospel

Jesus teaches us about himself in this Gospel. At first glance, it appears impossible to understand. But, as we look closer, we find that Jesus wants the disciples to know who he is. He says, you guys can “believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe because of the works themselves.” “The works”, means God’s works (his actions) tell us about who he is. That’s what “the works” means. If we look at what God does, we know better who he is.

Here is an example to better explain: I know you are a cardiovascular surgeon because you cut open people's chest cavities. Because I know you are a cardiovascular surgeon, I better understand why you cut open people's chest cavities. What you do tells me about who you are. Who you are helps me understand why you do what you do. Does that make sense?

So what did God the Father do to show us who he is? He sent his only beloved Son. He watched his only son get tortured, ridiculed, abandoned, rejected, and KILLED. He did this because he loves us and he wanted to offer his son as a sacrifice.

Most dad’s love their sons right? Yes they do! Jesus said, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.”¹ Since the Father loves the Son, it must have really hurt to watch pitiful, tiny, helpless men kill his ONLY Son. What does this tell us about the Father? He loves us SO, SO, SO, SO much that he would watch the murder of his only Son, knowing that at any moment that he could stop it from happening. It was one of the greatest, if not the greatest act of love EVER. The point is- God loves us. We can tell because of his actions (works). Does that make sense to you?

Jesus- Lord, God, and Teacher

Jesus says that if “you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. The Father is in me, and I am in the Father. The words I speak, I do not speak on my own. The Father who is in me is doing his works." This all means that Jesus knows everything the Father knows, and the Father knows everything that Jesus knows. It also means that Jesus is equal to the Father.

Let’s think about this for a moment. Does your professor know everything about Jesus? Does your favorite priest know everything about Jesus? Does your daddy know everything about Jesus? Of course not! Our minds are measurable and our brains are small (3 pounds). We can’t completely understand something immeasurable (God) with something measurable (our human minds).

God knows that in order to understand God COMPLETELY, you have to BE God. So he sent his only Son(who is God²). Jesus is the ONLY human who knows God COMPLETELY and therefore he is the best teacher and the only teacher. That is why he says, “no one comes to the Father except through me”. This is also why he calls himself “the way, the truth, and the life.” Once again, God shows us who he is by what he does. What did he do? He sent the best teacher possible and the ONLY teacher as a gift to us. God loves us! What did we do with this beautiful, loving, teacher? We killed him!⁴

Death of the Teacher

It makes complete sense doesn’t it? Take a look at Matthew 21:33-46 where Jesus talks about the parable of the tenants who killed the landowner’s son. We must think hard about how this relates to us and our lives. Are we the evil tenants who killed the Son? It’s time to change how we are responding to Jesus’ presence. Instead of killing him, let's love him. In other words, let's obey him.

Another point we need to ponder is this: because the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, the Father must have felt that spear which was thrust through Jesus’ heart. Maybe God the Father was also “cut to the heart” like in last week’s 1st reading⁵. God lets us share in his life including his suffering. Yes, God suffers too. After all, he did cry when Lazarus died and he did have nails driven through his hands.

This reminds me that God is not a thing or some cosmic force. He is a person who understands me and whom I should try to understand better. It just so happens that there is a guy who knows God completely and can teach me. Se llama Jesus (His name is Jesus).

Jesus, please teach me.

Catechism

I didn’t get what Jesus was saying in this Gospel until I opened up the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) paragraph 236. This book is a tremendous gift from the church and you’ll get more from reading it than you will from my writings. So get it and read it!

Want to know what the church teaches on:

• Divorce? Paragraph 160-1
• Drugs? 2291
• Homosexuality? 237
• The Trinity? 236 & elsewhere as well

Here is a link to the CCC online including glossary/index. http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/

The Point

• God is not some mystical force that is impossible to know about. He is a person.

• God is loving. We know that because he sent his ONLY son and although Jesus was innocent, God allowed his beloved son to be killed as a sacrifice because God loves us.

• God does not want to be hidden from us. He showed himself through a human teacher who walked on Earth- Jesus!

• God loves us so much that he sent us the ONLY teacher who knows him COMPLETELY- his son Jesus who is equal to God.

• We killed our loving teacher with our sins (after all, the sacrifice would have been unnecessary had we not sinned) and we still hurt him today by doing the wrong thing. Let's change for love of him who loves us immeasurably.

Real Life

In November of 2006, I went on a mission trip (my first ever) to minister to the poor people of Juarez, Mexico. I was living your average American life and thought to myself, "why not do some mission work?" because I had time off of work. Here is the most powerful incident that happened to me during my visit- I wrote about it the same day it all happened:

"So, we pulled up to the first house and it was a rotten, wood shack. The street outside was dirty and falling apart. The house was about 10 square feet at most and the neighborhood was the worst-looking one I have ever seen. Anyhow, I was not scared, but I was a little bit intimidated as I and Jim (another volunteer, age 60) walked up to the creeky, wooden gate which was falling apart. You had to slither your way through the gate because it would not open the whole way up and it was covered with rusty nails and was completely dangerous.
Jim and I squeezed in and were greeted by a very HAPPY, pleasant old lady. Her face was beaming with enthusiasm and joy as she saw us approaching. I had a huge bag over my shoulder full of vegetables and food.

She greeted us both in Spanish and I quietly smiled. "Passe" she said as she smiled again. I guess that means "come in" because I heard a lot of people say it to me today. She is one of the smallest ladies I have ever seen. She is very skinny, has white hair, dirty clothes, and a distorted face. One of her eyes looks like it has glaucoma. I was afraid of hugging her too hard because she looked about as frail as a dried up cracker.

The house was actually too small FOR HER! I had to duck to get in and once I got in this dark house, I had to duck in order to enter the "bedroom". THe house consisted of the "kitchen" as soon as you walk in and a bedroom. I can't remember what teh floor looked like, but it wasn't pretty. Once we ducked in, we were also greeted by another younger woman probably in her 30's. She looked much healthier than the older woman. She greeted us with a smile.
I could see in the tiny bedroom that there was a girl lying in bed. SHe was probably about 11 years old and she was taking a nap. She woke up and joined us, but she was not smiling. She looked sad.

Before I knew it, we all ducked into the tiny, dark, dirty bedroom and joined hands. Jim started to say a prayer in Spanish. All the while, the 2 women were praying along with him and I stood right across from the little girl.

The situation looked absolutely desperate to me. I dont know why the young girl was at the house, but it had occurred to me that she couldn't afford to go to middle school. Millions of thoughts and feelings began to run through my mind and my body:

• God will save these people

• this house is in terrible shape

• how do these people continue to live?
• who will save these people?
• how long will the old woman live?
• praise God, we are trying
• I am partly responsible for these people's poverty, because I have given VERY LITTLE to the poor since I turned 18.

As our hands were joined, we were united for a moment. We all were asking for the same things. We all wanted good health, enough food, happiness, and mercy for us all and I knew that God heard every word that we uttered and every thought running through our minds. I looked down at my shoes and I could see my own tear drops on them. At this point, the tears were streaming down my face. I felt so bad for teh little girl and the old woman. I was the only one crying I guess because it was my first time in one of their homes. I was afraid taht I would make the little girl even sadder if she saw me crying, but there was no stopping it at this point."

Okay, fast-forward to present day April 2008. I look back at this memory and can see quite clearly what happened to me on that day. God spoke to me while I was in Rumalda's house. He said, "Hey Chris, I love you. I love these poor people. I am love. Can you see that? Do you see the light that I am?" Yes, I saw the light that was God. 2 things were revealed to me:

• God is love. That is who he is.
• In the light, I glanced at myself and could see my own sinfulness. I could see the pettiness of my life. My life suddenly looked ridiculous. My desire for a flat-panel television looked ridiculous! But God did not show himself to me in a mean way. Truly, it was loving because he wants me to know the truth about him, my life, and the reality of this world.
  

In Sunday's second reading we are encouraged to "announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." The Lord has definitely given me reason to announce praises of him.

God is nice.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 John 15:9
in other words, to believe in the Trinity
2 John 14:9
4 Refer to Mass Excitement 7 for more on this
5 See Mass Excitement 7
6 look up the definition of the name Peter on the internet


Below is the an extended section. I want to keep the email short so that it won't be a burden to you. But if you have extra time, read below:

Saint Peter and the Papacy

In Matthew 16: 13-20, Jesus named Peter "Rock"⁶. His original name was Simon. It's because Peter was the only person who recognized Jesus for who he was that Jesus said he would build his church on Peter and give Peter the keys to heaven. Every man suffers from a big ego. So, before Peter had a chance to toot his horn, Jesus told him that “Blessed are you Simon, Son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.”

In other words, “very good Simon, but you didn’t figure this out with that 3 pound brain of yours. Rather, my Father revealed it to you.” This revelation from God and Peter’s confession of Jesus’ identity is so important to Jesus that he says, “upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.”

At first glance, it looks rather strange that Jesus would “give the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven” to Peter and allow him to “bind and loose” whatever he wishes just because he was the only person who knew Jesus’ identity. But, when you think about Jesus being the best teacher because he knows God COMPLETELY, it makes sense that Jesus would choose Peter as the rock to build his church on because Peter was the only guy who recognized Jesus for who he truly is.

This has very important implications for us. We should listen to what Peter says. In John 21:2, it says “there are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.”

Personally, I want to know what “other things” Jesus did. It just so happens that there were 11 apostles who knew Jesus well (11 because of Judas). Peter was the first pope, and the other apostles were the first bishops and priests of the church. Read the Catechism and you’ll find the other knowledge that God has passed to his church through his best friends on Earth and through continuous divine revelation.

We should love our Church, love our pope, love our bishops, and our sacred Tradition.

Cheers and Love!

Cut to the Heart- #7 ME - Repentance, Suffering, and the Holy Spirit

Reading 1
Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,
and they asked Peter and the other apostles,
“What are we to do, my brothers?”
Peter said to them,
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off,
whomever the Lord our God will call.”
He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,
“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
Those who accepted his message were baptized,
and about three thousand persons were added that day.


1st reading

Peter starts his speech with a party-pooping, record-scratching statement in which he says, “Jesus whom you crucified”. He is talking not only to the Jews, but to you and me. After all, Jesus suffered and was crucified because of ALL sin. That means that when I disrespected my parents, Jesus felt the lash of the whip across his back. With this and other sins, I crucified Jesus. Because Jesus said about his life, “no one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.”1 In other words, he volunteered and offered his hand to be crushed by the nail. He suffered for me because of my sins and the sins of everyone else. I am just as guilty as the guy who hammered the nails through Jesus’ hands. After all, Jesus looks at us both the same way. He said, “forgive them, they know now what they do.”2 He suffered it all because we sinned.

Just like I feel at this very moment, the Jews were “cut to the heart” and asked “what do we do?” We must repent and be baptized. Almost everyone reading this has been baptized already, so I won’t discuss that today. What does “repent” mean? To repent means “to change our hearts and minds towards God.”3 You can see repentance from a person’s actions. For example, I can see that you’ve repented because you act differently. Now, you hate sin, and are constantly fighting against your own sinfulness. Perfect repentance is when you have the real desire to quit ALL sin. Quitting all sin is not easy to achieve, but to repent perfectly like this is a choice we can ALL make. Turning away from sin is a door we can all walk through.

You can put away your hankies for now, because there is good news. First of all, we must be baptized. Then we need to truly want to quit sinning. Then, we can open ourselves to “the gift of the Holy Spirit” just as is promised in this reading. The main gift of the Holy Spirit is love.4 “God is love“5 and “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”6

Don’t be afraid if you are not perfectly repentant. You can still receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. However, the more perfect your repentance, the more open you will be to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Another powerful gift of the Holy Spirit is he makes us able to “love as God has loved us.”7 I can love the way God loves?? Wow! I don’t know if you have ever been aware of God’s love through a holy person, but I have, and it’s amazing. I’ve been around a holy person who only needed to look at me and I felt like it was Jesus looking at me. To love like that is a BEAUTIFUL gift from God and he offers it through the power of the Holy Spirit! Wow! Personally, I’ve been wanting to love like God loves for a while now and through this reading, I am reminded that he is willing to help me love the way he loves.

If you want to see what “loving like Jesus” looks like, click here or copy this to your browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QATH6yA75CQ

• We killed our beloved Jesus with our past sins and our present sins. It’s time to stop sinning and to make a decision today to quit sinning (to try our best to stop sinning)

• We must ask God to give us the gifts of the Holy Spirit NOW.

• God is ready to help us love just the way he does- it is an incredible gift.

• I can see why 3000 believers were added the day that Peter gave this talk.

Reading II
1 Pt 2:20b-25

Beloved:
If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good,
this is a grace before God.
For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.
He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.

When he was insulted, he returned no insult;
when he suffered, he did not threaten;
instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross,
so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.

For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

2nd Reading

"When you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God." When we are punished for doing what is good, it is a gift from God because we get to imitate Jesus. After all, no one was as perfectly good as Jesus, yet he was murdered. We have a chance to be like Jesus. Participating in the life of Christ is a gift from God. Most of us are not going to literally suffer crucifixion. However, there are many ways which God offers us the cross in our lives. Here is what a good conversation regarding suffering looks like: (with "Pat")

Pat: My feet hurt.
Jesus: I know my child, mine hurt on Calvary. Thanks be to God that I had feet!
Pat: Thank you Jesus. I wanna be like you.

Pat: My friends are mean to me.
Jesus: I know my child. My friends abandoned me at Gethsemane. They were ashamed to admit that we are friends. Thanks be to God that I had friends!
Pat: Thank you Jesus. I wanna be like you.

Pat: I don't like the government!
Jesus: I know my child. The governor sentenced me to death. Thanks be to God I lived for 33 years!
Pat: Thank you Jesus, I wanna be like you.

Pat: My lover is mean to me.
Jesus: I know, members of my church are hurting me now. Thanks be to God that there is a church!
Pat: Thank you Jesus. I want to be like you.

Here is how the Devil wants to talk to you (often through people, media, and sin)

Pat: My feet hurt.
Satan: Avoid this suffering, and go buy expensive shoes. Also, get a foot massage. Curse this suffering!

Pat: My friends are mean to me.
Satan: Let’s join together in complaining about these awful people. Curse this suffering!

Pat: I don’t like the government.
Satan: Curse this government. The government is causing you suffering. Curse this suffering!

Pat: My lover is mean to me.
Satan: Let’s join together in complaining about this person. Curse the suffering your lover causes you!

Next time your best friend complains about something, just yell "get behind me Satan!". I am kidding. Seriously though, can you see the difference between Satan’s attitude about suffering and Jesus’ attitude? In ALL suffering, we should give thanks to God. We must not listen to Satan who tries to call Jesus away from the cross by saying, "God, forbid Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you!"9 Satan wants us to run from our "mean families". He wants us to run from physical pain. He wants us to run away from difficult relationships. He wants us to run far from the cross. We must not run AWAY from all of these crosses! Rather, we must run TO the crosses and embrace them in the same way that Jesus did. "For this you have been called". *

In 1979, Fr. Richard Thomas said, "everyone wants to hear about sweet Jesus- sweet, beautiful Jesus. But no one wants to hear about suffering Jesus". Well his suffering is what makes him who he is. Because he loved us TO DEATH- a death with NAILS in his hands, a death in loneliness, a death of humiliation, a death in suffering because of obedience to God and God's loving plan.


Gospel
Jn 10:1-10

Jesus said:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Gospel

No commentary this week

The Point

• We must remember that each of our sins hurts Jesus terribly
• We must have the desire to quit ALL sinning and turn to God.
• We must ask God to give us the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that we can love like he loves us.
• We must accept the suffering that Jesus gives us and offer the suffering to God.
• We must give thanks in ALL circumstances.

Real Life

As I write this, I am in a church named Las Alas (the wings) which was founded by a beautiful priest named Fr. Richard Thomas. When he was younger, he prayed to the mother of God that she would help him live a life that would allow him to avoid purgatory. This prayer reminds me of Peter’s request in this Sunday’s liturgy. Fr Thomas had to turn away from sin so that he could receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He did receive those gifts. The girl in the video link above said that when she met Fr. Thomas, they hugged and she instantly felt a love like she had never felt before. (the type of love that ONLY comes from the gifts of the Holy Spirit). God keeps his promises.

More than one person was present at Fr. Thomas’ deathbed. They both have recounted the following: The 2 of them were at his bedside when his heart began to race. Then, Father Thomas had a focused stare at the corner of the room. A lady who was present asked him, “What’s happening? Is someone coming to get you? He did not answer. Then his heart stopped and she began to perform CPR on him. He woke up briefly and started laughing. Soon afterwards, he died.

Personally, I believe that Fr. Thomas’ prayer to Mary was answered and that angels, or Jesus himself came to get Father Thomas at his death. He was sick for at least 6 months prior to his death and his illness was unexplainable by doctors. Perhaps his suffering was supernatural and he was suffering on Earth rather than in purgatory. What really sticks out about this story now is this: After being “cut to the heart” Father wanted to turn away from sin. God gave him the gifts of the Holy Spirit in response to his prayer and repentance. God's going to do the same if you ask him. If you want to, you can pray a prayer like this now:

Lord, I am so sorry for my sins. I don't want to sin anymore. I need your help. I love you. Today, I give myself to you completely. If you want, you can give me the gifts of the Holy Spirit now. You made the universe, so I know you can do this. I love you.

¹ Luke 23:34
² John 10:18
³ NAB commentary on Acts 2:38
⁴ CCC 733
⁵ 1 John 4:8
⁶ Romans 5:5
⁷ CCC 735 & 1 John 4:11-12

^{8 Matthew 16:22}

*This writing about suffering is largely based on a talk that Fr Thomas gave

"The Best Known Bible Passage" #7 From April 6, 2008

This week features the most well-known passage of the Bible- John 3:16. It is an awesome message. We will discuss his love, hell, and God’s mercy. The only commentary is after the Gospel.


Reading 1Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9


Early in the morning Moses went up Mount Sinaias the LORD had commanded him,taking along the two stone tablets.Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with Moses thereand proclaimed his name, "LORD."Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out,"The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God,slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity."Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord,do come along in our company.This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins,and receive us as your own."


Responsorial PsalmDn 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56R. (52b) Glory and praise for ever!Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers,praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;And blessed is your holy and glorious name,praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.R. Glory and praise for ever!Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory,praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.R. Glory and praise for ever!Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom,praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.R. Glory and praise for ever!Blessed are you who look into the depthsfrom your throne upon the cherubim,praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.R. Glory and praise for ever!


Reading II2 Cor 13:11-13


Brothers and sisters, rejoice.Mend your ways, encourage one another,agree with one another, live in peace,and the God of love and peace will be with you.Greet one another with a holy kiss.All the holy ones greet you.The grace of the Lord Jesus Christand the love of Godand the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.


GospelJn 3:16-18


God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,so that everyone who believes in him might not perishbut might have eternal life.For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,but that the world might be saved through him.Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.


Gospel

God loved us so much that he sent his only Son so that if we believe in him we will not perish, but have eternal life. What does that mean? How is sending your son a sign of love?In order to answer these questions, we have to look at why God assumed human form (his only son). Why did he do that?

• God became flesh in order to rescue us.1 Think about your life for a moment. Have you committed serious sins? You probably have and I certainly have committed them as well. The worst part about these sins is that they hurt God. When you lie to someone, you are hurting that person, but even worse is the fact that you are offending and disobeying the God who created you and who loves you. So we have all screwed up. We need a savior. God recognized our terrible condition and sent his Son to rescue us.
  


• He came so that we might know how much he loves us. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is equivalent to the Father and they are one God. So it’s not like God sent a good friend of his down to us. He sent himself. He came down from heaven to walk the Earth with us! On your wedding day, do you want your best friend to be there? I do. At your deathbed, do you want your best friend to be there? Sure, why not? God wants to be there for us also, so he came to Earth to let us know that he loves us by being present with us-physically on Earth 2000 years ago, and physically now in the Eucharist.
  


• He came to be our role model. We have all heard that the best way to teach is by example. God walked the Earth and if we want to know how to live well, we only have to look at his life. Fortunately, his life was documented in great detail. What an opportunity we have to know in great detail how God lives and how he loves. We have a wonderful teacher. Jesus says, “love one another as I have loved you.”3 In other words, “you have seen how I love, all you have to do is copy me!” Pretty simple right? Because of his love for us, Jesus wanted to make it easy for us to understand him and how we should live.4

John 3:16 is the passage that we have seen at sporting events and it may be the most popular and best known verse of the Bible because it is so important. God shows that he loves us by giving his only son, so that we might not perish but have eternal life. If you look at the text above, you can see how loving it is of God to give his only Son and why God did it. He did it as a gift to us. The next part of the Gospel says that God “did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” We have just discussed how God sent his Son to save us. But why would anyone think that Jesus was sent to condemn us?

Chewing on Lead

When I was about 16 years old, I was hanging out with a friend of mine. Another kid from the neighborhood was with us. My friend and I had some lead pellets that were meant for an air rifle (BB gun). This other kid from the neighborhood “Ricky” grabbed one of the lead pellets and began to chew on it. I was very alarmed when he did that because the package said that “lead is a reproductive toxin and causes brain damage.” I said to Ricky, “you know that eating lead causes brain damage, don‘t you?” Then I told him to quit chewing on the lead. He got very defensive immediately. He said, “that’s not true”. Then Ricky told me that he chewed on lead all of the time. I felt sorry for him, but he seemed angry at me for bringing it up. I just wanted to warn him that he was hurting himself. I understand why Ricky was defensive. He had chewed on lead before and if he admitted that I was right, he had to admit the damage he had done to himself. It must have been upsetting to him. God also notices that we are “chewing on lead” when we sin. He knew 2000 years ago how in need we were, so he sent his only Son. Jesus came to baptize with “fire and water“ (Matt 3:11). The Holy Spirit is described as fire because of fire’s ability to change and to transform. Jesus wants to transform us, but he does this not to condemn us, but so that we can be saved. Jesus does not want us to sin because it damages not only our brains, but our souls. He came to save us, not to condemn us.

Here are some example scenarios in our lives today:

Me: I love my girlfriend and we are going to have sex.

Jesus: You are chewing on lead- please stop that!

Me: I am going to have an abortion. It is the right choice.

Jesus: You are chewing on lead- please stop that!

Me: My wife and I can’t get along, I want to get a divorce.

Jesus: You are chewing on lead- please stop that!

Me: I am rich! It’s time to live it up! Life is short, I wanna have as much fun as possible before I die! As for poor people, they need to get jobs!

Jesus: You are chewing on lead- please stop that!

God came to warn us and stop us from hurting ourselves. It’s painful to admit that we are wrong, but that’s the first step towards change.

Where is God?

My fellow missionaries and I often visit jail inmates. One common reason they give for not believing in God is that so many bad things have happened to them that they think that a good, loving God would not allow such things. In other words, God doesn’t exist because if he did, evil would not exist, nor go unpunished. Many of us have been hurt by rape, theft, murder, lies and other sins. WE WANT JUSTICE! In other words, we want wrong-doers to be punished! On the other hand, I often hear people say that if God was loving, there would be no hell. They ask, “How can God be good if there is a hell?”

Crazy Demands

Our demands of God are ridiculous when you think about it. On the one hand, we want punishment for wrong doers. On the other hand, we ARE the wrongdoers and we don’t want to be punished. How ridiculous we are! This reminds me of a child who wants to “have his cake and eat it”. It’s like the kid who wants to keep a dollar and also wants to spend it at the same time. In sin, we make these types of requests of God:

• Lord, I want unmarried sex with someone’s daughter, or son, but I don’t want responsibility


• 
  Lord, I want all the money I can get, but I don’t want to share.


• 
  Lord, I want people to be punished for wrongdoing, but don’t punish ME

Apparently, God is very patient with us, because if I were God, I would strike my creatures with lightning any time they made such stupid requests of me. But God does not strike us with lightning because of our sins (even though justice calls for it). He gives us chance after chance after chance in his infinite mercy. God “is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Pet 3:9) God “wills everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:4).

Since we know God, in all of his beauty, we are called to spread the good news of his love. Like a loving parent who warns his kids not to cross the street without looking both ways, Jesus warns us of the dangers of hell.6 Do you believe EVERYTHING that Jesus says? He believes that hell exists.5 Do you? Our knowledge of hell is a call to conversion. Since we know that hell exists, we are supposed to do something about it. Some people know that driving drunk kills people and increases the cost of auto insurance by thousands yet they drink and drive anyway. Are we going to ignore the consequences of our sins in the same way a drunken driver ignores reality? Not only should we listen to Jesus, but we should follow his example. He warned others about hell, and so should we. When we see our relatives, friends, and co-workers inching towards hell, we should try to help them and if we can, we should try to save them.

When you go on a commercial flight, the flight attendant says that if they lose cabin pressure, oxygen masks will emerge. They tell you to put your mask on first before helping others. If not, the whole plane would soon be full of unconscious people. Just the same, we cannot “save our friends” if we don’t first follow God’s loving commandments first.

The Point

• God came to Earth in order to rescue us, to show us how much he loves us, and to be the ultimate role model for us to follow. This proves that “God so loved the world”


• Even though it hurts like a dental appointment, God points out our mistakes because he loves us


• Our loving God is a God of justice. He lets us choose every day whether we wish to go to heaven or hell. It is up to us.


• In our weakness, we want wrongdoers to be punished yet, we don’t want to be punished ourselves.


• God is patient with us. He gives us many chances to go back to him after we sin terribly.


• Jesus believes in hell and we should as well.


• Since we know there is a hell, we must live in such a way to avoid hell. We should help others to live good lives as well.

Real Life

This week, I made a general confession. I did so because St. Francis De Sales recommends that we do it in his book Introduction to Devout Life. Also, I trust the people who recommended this book to me. A general confession means that you tell the priest every sin that you’ve ever committed. It was extremely painful to write. In fact, the day I wrote most of it, I felt horrible and terribly ashamed. I wanted to be invisible for just one day so that no one would see me and know how terrible of a sinner I am. The day that I CONFESSSED these sins to a priest was different. I did feel shame and I shed some tears, but I started to feel better as I spoke to him. He reminded me that at anytime during my terribly sinful life, God could have killed me if he wanted to. Yet, he did not. The priest showed me that in confessing and remembering all of these sins, I was reminded of how much mercy God has on me. God is so good to me. Afterwards, I bowed my head and received God’s forgiveness- again. I have experienced 2 confessions in my life that I will never forget. In the first one, God literally put his hand on my head (I could feel it yet could not see it). In the second one, which took place this past week, the priest put his hand on my head and again, I felt that mountain of sin lift off of my back to replaced by God’s infinite mercy and love. It felt good. Truly, God wants to pat us on our sinful heads and say that, “he so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.”God is beautiful.

Originally written around April 7, 2008 and was entitled "Jesus vs. Lead"

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1- 1 Jn 4:10, 4:14, 3:5

2- 1 Jn 4:9

3- Jn 15:12

4- The entire first section on why God became flesh is nothing I came up with on my own. It is paraphrased from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 457-460.

5- Hell is punishment and the worst part of hell is separation from God. (CCC 1035) When we sin, we make a statement to God. Namely, we are saying, “I don’t trust you.” We don’t trust that Gods knows how we should live. We don’t trust him when he offers us protection from sin through obedience. We don’t trust him and therefore, we reject him. Hell is nothing more than a permanent state of that rejection of God. The sinner, who does not trust God during his life, gets to live in this self-chosen state for eternity.

6- Mat 5:22, 29; 10:28; 13:42, 50; Mk 9:43-48