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Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary.
At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” Lk 19:1-10 Today, Jesus shows us the proper attitude towards wealth. Zacchaeus is the opposite of the Rich Young Man who went away sad because he had many possessions. Zacchaeus does whatever it takes to allow Christ to come to him, even climb a tree. Coming to Christ and believing and trusting Him, Zacchaeus, shows that the proper attitude towards wealth is to not allow it to control him. He shows the ability to have wealth and not be attached to his material possessions and gives a percentage of it to the poor. God is generous to us in love and mercy. We are alive and breathing right now because of Him. Everything we have comes from Him. We are nothing without Him. We must recognize God's love for us and share it with others. God can't be outdone in generosity-Fr. Ben Green Try to out do Him especially in the area of giving up material possessions and wealth. Today's challenge: Become poor in some area of your life-food, cell phone usage, video games, TV, sports, drink, favorite material thing. Be a servant, become a saint! #Christian YOLO Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary.
As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me!” Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.” Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.” He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God. When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God. Lk 18:35-43 As Jesus continues to heal people, today's Gospel reveals something unique about sight. First, it is a blessing that God has given us sight. It is more important that we understand we have a soul and a spiritual life, so we have eyes to see the invisible with God's grace. What do you think our eyes were meant to see? Did God give us eyesight to see the beautiful sunrise and sunset, the moon, stars, and ocean, the mountain tops, humans and their goodness? Yes! What do we spend our time looking at? A screen. Photo shopped images of people, texts that are mean, information that is more concerned about ratings and money than your soul, make believe movies, video games that kill. God wants our eyes to see Him as the poor blind beggar did on the side of the road, as the Savior of the world who deserves our attention every day. God wants us to realize that He loves us and nobody can bring us down because we are made in His image and likeness. He wants us to see His Son who gave His life and understands suffering, so that we have purpose for our suffering and someone who will be by our side through it all. He wants us to love who He created us to be and to know we have a purpose, to be come a saint right here right now. Don't allow the distractions of life and the great deceiver, the Devil, to take your life over but use the gift of faith to see God and all of His great works among you. Today's challenge: Close your eyes from your screen and think about all of the good things God has blessed you with. Stop allowing false images and lies on your screen to rule your life and your thinking. God gave us so much more! Wake each day and imagine Jesus asking you the same question He did to the beggar, “What do you want me to do for you?” Instead of telling God what you want all of the time (it is okay to do this), ask Jesus what He wants for you. Be a servant, become a saint! #Christian YOLO "Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,but whoever loses it will save it." Lk 17:26-3711/17/2017 Humbly submit your will to God (thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, someone who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise one in the field must not return to what was left behind. Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left.” They said to him in reply, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.” Lk 17:26-37 All of us are afraid to die, it's part of being human. Peter Kreeft says, "We are more afraid to die to self than we are to die in our bodies." All of us have tried to change. Change is one of the most difficult things to do. We cannot become a saint unless we change because we have inherited a fallen human nature. Jesus is telling us that if we only seek to improve and preserve our bodies we are missing the point. The point of this life God has given to us as a gift is to prepare our Spirits for eternal spiritual life. We are the only creation that has a body so that we can bring forth new life and love with our bodies. Our body and souls are interwoven so that each loving deed you do with your body helps your soul get to heaven. I would like to share two saints who have taught us how to become saints through loving deeds. First, one who wanted to be a missionary out in the world and take care of those in need but lived her short life in a convent, St. Therese of Lisieux. She struggled for a long time to understand how God wanted her to love. Finally, she learned that God wanted her to love in each "little way" or little act she did in her prayers and for those she lived with in her convent. Second, Blessed Mother Teresa spent most of her life with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India. As I was sitting in adoration reading her book on Monday it jumped right out at me, she says, "it is not how much we accomplish each day but how much love we put into each act that we do." Jesus doesn't have any World Series rings, Superbowl trophies, millions of dollars from acting in a blockbuster film, and He was not famous for being a great political leader. Why do so many people 2,000 years later still follow Him? Why is He so "popular"? First, He is God. When you encounter God, you are moved. Most importantly, He taught us how to love. God's love is the most powerful thing in the world! "Love one another as I have loved you". JN 13:34 Today's challenge: Love, do good deeds, stop entertaining yourself to death and get up and do something for someone out of love while you still have a body Be a servant, become a saint! #Christian YOLO Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary.
Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” Then he said to his disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. There will be those who will say to you, ‘Look, there he is,’ or ‘Look, here he is.’ Do not go off, do not run in pursuit. For just as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation.” LK 17:20-25 Jesus answers a question today that is always a heavy topic, when will God's Kingdom come. Jesus answers, "For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you." He also remarks, "But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation." Finally, in MT 20:28 Jesus says, "Lo, I am with you always to the end of the age." What does this mean? We can live our lives thinking about God in two ways. One, He is an old man really far away sitting on a cloud (not personal or present). Or two, which is what Jesus is teaching us today. He is present right now (Jesus speaking right to the Pharisees) and he promises He will be with us always. How do I know? The Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Spirit in all baptized people guiding the Church and us individually if you ask, in the sunrise and sunset, the mountains and oceans, the stars, moon, and sun. Most importantly, because He said so and I believe and trust Him. Jesus said He must suffer greatly predicting His passion. The Catholic Church had the end of the world pegged a long time ago. The world ended when Jesus died and resurrected on the cross conquering sin and death. We no longer have to live with Original Sin, the gates of heaven are open, we have the Holy Spirit in us, we have God's grace that Jesus set up while on earth, we have the Eucharist and confession, prayer, as we wait for the Second Coming. We are living in the end times with the power and opportunity to be holy each day. It lies within us. Take time to sit in silence and listen! Today's challenge: Stop living like God is so far away when He is right here with you always, it makes a huge difference in the way you view things and live your life! God is with us, wow! If you can wrap your mind around the idea that God is truly present at Mass and in Adoration, you will be at peace and never want to leave. Be a servant, become a saint! #Christian YOLO Humbly submit your will to God (thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary.
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” Lk 17:11-19 Today, Jesus shows us the again the relationship between faith and salvation, gratitude, and what can happen when we fall to the feet of Jesus and ask for His mercy. We are all lepers symbolically with sin. We have inherited a mangled and disfigured nature. We need God's mercy, none of us are different in this area of our lives. The sad thing is we treat others differently because they look different on the outside or they are mentally or physically disabled. There is no normal. (I can't wait to watch the new movie coming out called "Wonder") Every one of us is created out of God's love and has dignity. Every one of us is God's handiwork and His masterpiece. Be thankful for who you are and what God has blessed you with. Love yourself because you are made in God's image and likeness. Be the first to sit with a "foreigner" at lunch and befriend a person with a disability. This is who Jesus would be hanging out with. Today, fall to the feet of Jesus, ask for His mercy, come back to Him and thank Him for His forgiveness and cleansing you. Then, live in the joy of salvation now and in heaven. Today's challenge: Sit with someone that is not in your friendship group at lunch today. Fall at the feet of Jesus at the crucifix in your room at home and ask God for mercy and thank Him for the opportunity. Fight sin harder. Be a servant, become a saint! #Christian YOLO Humbly submit your will to God (thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary.
Jesus said to the Apostles: “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” Lk 17:7-10 Today, Jesus continues to answer the request of the disciples in yesterday's Gospel, "Increase our faith". He teaches us that our life is a gift and everything we have is because of the grace of God. Without God, human beings have nothing but sin and suffering. With God and His grace, we have hope and we can offer our suffering up to be purified. We can fight our disordered human nature and Satan's temptations. So, Jesus is teaching the disciples that when they fulfill the demands of being a follower of Christ they are doing what they are supposed to do. We can't add anything to God. He is complete in and of Himself. God's grace is a free gift. To "increase our faith" we must give all to God and recognize everything comes from Him. How different things would be if we could not be forgiven for our sins? The attitude of a servant is to be faithful and completely dependent on God's grace, love, and mercy. The attitude of a servant is to accept the taxing demands of a Christian disciple as our duty. This Gospel comes right after the disciples ask Him to "increase their faith". Do you have faith? We can't reason our way to heaven. We can't work our way to heaven. We can't buy our way to heaven. We must believe and be ready for the battle? If you are all in, be ready to be tested and to fight the Devil. God's grace never fails and His love is the most powerful thing in the world. God will always prevail. Submit and accept Him. Today's challenge: Trust God, completely renounce your will and give yourself totally to God and His will, fight and persevere. Totus Tuus-Totally Yours It is amazing what happens when you give your yes to God!!!!! Be a servant, become a saint! #Christian YOLO Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary.
Jesus said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.” And the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Lk 17:1-6 Jesus reminds us that there is a big difference between things that cause sin and people that cause sin. As I mentioned yesterday, there are many avenues for us to be tempted. Skipping Mass for sports or entertainment, cell phones, not praying, Snap chat and other forms of social media, video games, popularity, beauty, and wealth or material goods. These material things are not evil in and of themselves, but they are avenues that can cause us to sin or encourage us to cause others to sin. Jesus says, "Things that cause sin will inevitably occur," Jesus says, but "woe to the one through whom they occur." If someone is encouraging us not to go to Mass or won't take us. If people are encouraging us to play sports on the weekend and not go to Mass. If people we communicate with on our cell phones are putting others down, being mean, boasting, worrying about who is popular and who is not, who has the most money or things, who is the prettiest. If people are putting down prayer, faith, being yourself, and striving for holiness, "Be on your guard". If people are making fun of others in Snap chat. If we are playing video games or watching Netflix for long hours and not praying or creating unhealthy sleeping habits which make us not want to pray or go to Church, "Be on your guard". Those people who place popularity over God and others and hurt other people, "Be on your guard". Those who worry about their looks so much they may put others down or create a false identity for themselves and lower other's self-worth. Those who show off their material goods and woo them over others or make others feel bad because they don't have something, "Be on your guard". Jesus takes those who cause sin very serious, "It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea, than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard!" This may cause each one of us to feel guilty because we have done these things before. Jesus follows this harsh verse about those who cause sin with, "If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.” Jesus teaches us if someone has wronged us or tried to get us to sin, we must forgive them. Thank goodness, I am sure I tried to get someone to sin in my youth on many occasions. Today's challenge: Go against the grain, be a person that leads others to Christ instead of to sin. Forgive as God always forgives you. Put positive peer pressure on someone to do good and resist evil. Be a servant, become a saint! #Christian YOLO Humbly submit your will to God today (thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” MT 25:1-13 Today, Jesus warns us of the Second Coming of Christ, the Parousia. It can also be looked at as the end of our earthly life, a time we will be judged. Jesus teaches us that we must be prepared. The number one thing that business owners want from employees today is to show up every day and to show up on time. To be prepared for something, we must train ourselves. Once we have trained ourselves it becomes habit. Jesus has given us all we need to be prepared. First, He became Man, died for our sins, and rose from the dead. He restored our relationship with the Father. He became the new Adam. In doing so, He gave us baptism and the rest of the sacraments that give us the grace we need for the journey. We are called to be holy and have the means to do it through God's grace. We have an intellect, memory, and will to come to know God, serve Him, and then return to Him. We have the ability to fight Satan and grow in holiness. We can come to Jesus in the Eucharist every day. We can adore Him in the Blessed Sacrament. His mother, Mary is tirelessly working to bring souls to Jesus's most Sacred Heart. She is the mediatrix of grace. We must come to her in our daily rosary and ask her to bring us closer to her Son's Heart. When we fall in sin and separate ourselves from God by our own free choice, Jesus is waiting for us in confession. The second thing Jesus teaches us to be prepared is to love. We are not to keep this great gift to ourselves, but share it like God did with us. We must forgive others. Enter each room and ask how we can help. Go outside of our comfort zone and help those on the fringes of society in our communities. Jesus teaches us to be generous like God is with us. We are missionaries in our own homes. We can get caught worshiping God by reading our Bibles, saying our rosary, or kneeling before a crucifix to thank Jesus in our homes. We can put our screens down and enter any room to help others. We can become poor in some area of our life and sacrifice what we want for the good of another or to repay God and thank Him for all He has done for us, especially giving us life. Use the gift of time God has given us to love God and others.. Let us take this opportunity to prepare ourselves for the Second Coming by going to Mass, extra prayer, and offering up a fast or sacrifice. You could make yourself poor in some area of your life. There are many other ways to be poor, but most importantly follow the advice of Luke 21:36 "Be vigilant at all times and pray, that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man." After you have combated an area of your life that is leading you away from God, you will be strengthened for the journey. It takes a strong mind and will, but the rewards are eternal. How close do you want to get to Christ? How holy is too holy? Be a servant, become a saint! #Christian YOLO Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary.
Jesus said to his disciples: “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him. And he said to them, “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.” Lk 16:9-15 Jesus teaches us what is disgusting in the sight of God; putting our trust in earthly goods instead of completely trusting in Him. Mammon means "that which one trusts" according to the NAB Bible. The Pharisees loved money, we love sports and skip Mass to go to the Chiefs game, we worship our cell phones, we are mean to others on Snap chat, we love to play games on our tablets (not evil in and of itself, but if we don't pray or spend time helping others it becomes a distraction), we love to listen to music (not evil in and of itself, but we are being formed by some of the words and if we fall asleep listening to music and not praying it becomes harmful), we love to watch Netflix for hours (binging on anything is unhealthy and excludes God-how about we bing on God!). What did Jesus say to the Pharisees (us sometimes)? "You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts." God knows you better than you know yourself, He sees everything and knows your heart, your intentions. We can't hide the intentions of our hearts with God, maybe others, but not God. You are deceiving yourself. What is the intention of your heart? God above all because He gave us our very life as a gift out of love. God is complete in Himself, He doesn't need us. We can't add anything to Him by our accomplishments. He created us because He found love to be such a wonderful thing He wanted to share it. He wanted to share Himself with us. Our life is that gift of love, we must rise each day and give Him glory and thanksgiving for our breath, our life, and a Savior who died so we could get back to the Father who loves us so much. How can we start showing God we love Him back and thank Him for this great gift of life and His Son? Rise early in the morning to pray and read the Scriptures, putting on the armor of God. Recognize we need His mighty powers to fight Satan and our fallen human nature and to carry our daily crosses as His followers. After you have read the Truth and listened to Jesus speak to your heart in silence, make sure to go to Mass before you cheer on the Chiefs. On weekend sports tournaments, look up Mass times (CatholicMasstimes.org) so we can give glory to God that we are even able to compete and be healthy. Use our cell phones sparingly and what they are intended for instead of wasting hours on them. Put them down when we are driving recognizing life is too precious (This is tough). We will put Catholic apps and a Bible app to read and inspire us with quotes from the saints everyday to help us battle. We will build people up instead of tearing them down on Snap chat and stop labeling each other. We will put our tablets and video games down and pray and go to bed on time so we can function better the next day and put more effort into our homework and work. We will listen to Christian music to inspire us to keep up the good fight. When we watch Netflix we will realize the lies and trash that are in the shows filled with people not living the 10 commandments. We must realize our identity is in Jesus and start living with purpose and direction. Jesus is always waiting for you to come to Him, but Jesus is different than any religious founder. When you come to Him, He requires you make a choice. "You are either with me or against me". "You either gather with me or scatter". There is no such thing as lukewarm Christians, there is no fence to straddle. We are either with Jesus or we are against Him. He is Truth. He gives us eternal life. Convert your mind and heart accordingly! It's time to make decisions and it will not be easy! With God's grace anything is possible! Come to Him and He will give you rest! Today's challenge: Start allowing God to transform your life, He knows what He made you for. Read the Truth everyday to stay on task with eyes set on heaven. Stop pretending God won't know what you are doing in secret and start reconciling yourself in Him. Be a servant, become a saint! #Christian YOLO, 212 degrees |
AuthorMy name is Greg Goertz. I teach 7th and 8th grade Catholic Doctrine at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School in Wichita, KS. Archives
November 2017
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