Sound Familiar

Wednesday's gospel reading was from the book of Luke.  Luke 21:12-19 starts out by saying:

Jesus said to the crowd: "They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have led you before kings and governors because of my name."
 

Sound familiar?  Where do I start?

They will seize and persecute you...  Today, many Christians are afraid to proclaim their beliefs for fear of persecution. What I find frustrating is those who persecute us do so for the wrong reasons.

They will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons...  If I do not support a health care plan, because of religious beliefs, I will get a I government imposed tax.  While it is not prison, it is the next closest thing.

Today, more than ever, in my 41 years of life, I feel persecuted for my Christian beliefs.  I am sure that the persecution has always been there, but I notice it more now than ever.  I see the ten commandments being removed from government buildings, Rhode Island's governor has now claimed that it has a Holiday Tree and not a Christmas Tree.  When my wife went to an establishment to have our family Christmas card made, they did not have any that said Merry Christmas.(Needless to say, our Christmas cards did not come from that particular establishment)  Discrimination is the thought that comes to my mind...

I think many people think Christianity should be flowers and candy.  Christianity is supposed to be all loving and wonderful.  Many people read the stories of Jesus feeding 5,000 and they get that warm, fuzzy feeling.  They like the good samaritian story, again it gives the warm fuzzies.  They are wonderful stories of the goodness of God, and there are many more. 

One thing many do not understand is that being a Christian is hard, especially in today's world.  Now, don't get me wrong, we do not get nailed to a cross, or stoned, as they did in the past, but the persecution today is not real easy for many to understand.

However, there is good news!!  There is a great ending...

"You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.  By your perseverance you will secure your lives.
 

 I think today, more than ever, we need to be given the warning signs/consequences of being a Christian.  Knowing that we are going to be persecuted, might just help us prepare for those conversations in which we get confronted about our beliefs.  Remember, God want's your obedience not your sacrifice.  Knowing the consequences of being persecuted comes with the safety and protection of God, just excites me even more.

 

I am concerned

First, I would like to apologize for the length of time between blogs.  I am sure many of you are getting frustrated checking my site, and finding no change.  I know what it is like to check over and over to no avail.  I have been overwhelmed, lately, and I have had no real time to share my thoughts.

Second, I would like to wish all of you a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving holiday.  I hope you get to spend quality time with family and friends, and watch some good football games as well.  And now the topic of the week(should probably say month).

Today, I was reading one of my many blogs.  This one, titled the Deacon's Bench, has a copy of the message from Pope Benedict XVI that he shared with the youth in preparation for the upcoming World Youth Day, in Brazil, in July 2013.  The very beginning of the letter brings me great pause.

"Dear friends, open your eyes and look around you. So many young people no longer see any meaning in their lives."
 

Now I am not sure if I am in a funk, or just need a break from work, but I have had my eyes opened, recently, and I could not agree more with the above statement.  Many of our young people are looking for meaning in their lives.  More and more we hear of the drama and pressure teenagers go through and we look upon them in awe(and not the good kind).

Teenagers are violently beating up each other on camera, and posting the videos to YouTube.  We hear of the many teenagers that are overdosing on drugs and alcohol.  We have heard the horror stories of kids trying to commit suicide.  Or what about the children that are looking for someone to listen to them and they go to chat rooms on the Internet, instead.

What do you suppose is the reason for this violence?  Many would blame the parents, some the schools, some the television shows, some the video games, the list could go on and on.  I have a different approach I would like you to think about.  I wonder if it is because we have pushed Christ out of our culture.

There it is, Christ.  Ever since I was a child, it has been pounded into our heads that Christ is for church only, and today it is more prevent than ever.  With the separation of Church and State movement, Christ is shoved more and more out of our lives.  Schools cannot talk about it, unless it is a World Religions class, stores are being ostracized for playing religious Christmas Carols, our government is continually trying to infringe our right to practice and even our Church got a large amount of criticism for putting 3,315 crosses on our front lawn, for the number of abortions that take place, daily.  I truly believe that we have been misinformed as a society.  We have let those that scream the loudest change our thoughts and ideas.

The perfect quote to bring this home is as follows:

 "Isn't it ironic, that we give our prisoners a Bible, and not our children." anonymous

 

Is that the chicken egg scenario?

Pope Benedict continues his letter to our youth by saying:

"Go forth! Christ needs you too. Let yourselves be caught up and drawn along by His love. Be at the service of this immense love, so it can reach out to everyone, especially to those “far away”."
 

I think this statement says a lot.  Go forth young people and be allowed to draw God into your every day life.  Allow every second of your life be of service to God.  Reach out to those that are struggling and let them know your love and appreciation of God.  Stand up and be proud to know that God is in your life the moment you wake up, at meals, at work, in your dreams, every second.  Do it in a loving and kind way.  As my mother always said, "hate the sin, not the sinner."

I can speak from experience, that once I realized that God is willing to work in my life, if I let Him, He will do wondrous things.  Let's not be afraid to share God and all the wonders of His love with our children, even when it is difficult.  Let's give our children a chance to get to know God, for He is waiting for them.  

My Duty, My Salvation

I subscribe to many blogs.  Mostly priest, bishops, or religious, but I do have a few that are of non-secular kind, that make me laugh(my sister's).  I would imagine that most people that follow my blog realize it is more towards the spiritual, because that is what I mostly write about. And today is no different.

I am going to step out on a HUGE limb here and discuss religion and politics.  My goal is not to offend or anger, which seems to be the way it has gone, so close to the presidential election.  It is simply to explain my personal conversion/change of thinking.  It might seem that I am wandering, or skipping around, so I apologize if I confuse you.

Recently, I heard a speech from a friend of mine.  Fr. John Hollowell spoke at a Catholic Men's Conference titled, Lion's Breathing Fire.  Please go to his blog, www.on-this-rock.blogspot.com, and look for the the blog titled, It's Our Duty and Salvation.  It has totally changed my thinking, both in Mass participation, and my voting(bet he never thought of that).

Briefly, though, Fr. Hollowell, spoke of our duty and our salvation.  Maybe you have heard that line in Mass.  He does a great job explaining how something can be both a duty and salvation.  The one thing I took out of this is, as a father, it is my duty and salvation to get my children to Mass.  I will not lie, I go to Mass, every weekend, yet, I go on my schedule, so sometimes, I go alone.  NOT ANYMORE!!  It is my duty to get my children and wife to Mass so they can be saved. 

Fr. John also talks about the common excuses of not attending Mass.  In my instance, I was thinking about me and my schedule.  If my family schedule did not match, I went alone.  Some other excuses used were: I did not like the music, I do not like the priest, Mass is boring, I let my children decide(he went to town on this excuse).  Fr. John did not disagree with any of those things, with exception of the "children decide" excuse.  But the one thing he brought home to me is, "IT IS MY DUTY AND MY SALVATION!!!"  There are many duties in my job, that I do not like, but yet I still do them.  So the excuses given as to why we do not attend Mass cannot be argued with, but we cannot skip Mass because of it.

Now the political part.  I am sure we have all been taught the basic workings of Goverment.  For example, if I am going to run for political office, I share my thoughts and view points with my constituency, and if I am lucky to get elected, I now represent those that vote for me.  Pretty simple concept, but not sure it is an easy one, especially if my constituency and I have a different disblief. 

Let me give you an example.  One hot button topic in this political election is HHS.  This mandate goes against my beliefs.  However, what if it does not go against my constituency's beliefs.  What do I do now?  Well, before a lengthy conversation with my pastor, I would have voted along the lines of my constituency.  But now, after the aforementioned long talk, and listening to Fr. Hollowell discuss my Duty and Salvation, my thought process has changed.

My thought process has changed because now I am going to focus on my Duty and Salvation, which is what I should have done in the first place.  Everything seems easier now that I am focused on my Duty and my Salvation.  And I must say, what a huge relief.  There is a sort of calmness being obedient to God.  It certainly can take some of the "hard" out of a hard decision.  Now don't get me wrong, it is not all mums and roses.  Being obedient to God as my duty and salvation will mean coming across some struggles with the world beliefs, whatever those may be.  But putting complete and total faith in God, no matter how hard the struggle, He will get me through it.

I have been through a struggle, the last couple of weeks, because I was doing my duty.  The issue that has created this struggle comes up about every other week.  Just about the time I think I am through it, the struggle rises back to the surface.  It has gotten to the point that I have even thought, "God, why are you putting this on me, again?"  It has not been easy to overcome this struggle, but knowing it is my duty and salvation, has certainly made it easier to handle.

So I encourage you all, as you wake up in the morning and go throughout the day, to focus on your duty to God.  No matter the circumstances, the politico, the world we live in, focus on your duty to God.  For it is only God that can give you salvation.