ENCOUNTERING CHRIST ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS--PART FIVE

Saving Faith Verses Religion

There are two types of Catholics, those that are truly Catholic Christians and those that are merely religious worshippers. In other words, there are those who practice religion for whatever reason and then there are those who posses true faith. And believe me when I say there is a real difference.

Religion is humanities creation; faith is Gods gift. A religious person comes to Mass to momentarily ease a guilty conscience and check off a Sunday obligation; while faith comes to Mass to see Christ Jesus. Religion sees Jesus as a meal ticket; faith sees Jesus as God. Religion searches for physical needs to be met by performing religious rituals; while faith on the other hand see rituals as a means of communing with God and receiving grace. Religion sees the signs, but not what the signs point to. But again faith sees Christ Jesus. The Church has this syndrome; worship, hymns, prayers, rituals, sacraments, sermons, creeds, benedictions, and even scripture. But what should be exciting becomes a common place where one cannot see beyond all the commotion in order to see the Word of God made flesh and dwelling among us. Religion is focused on right ritual while faith is focused on a right relationship with God. Religion is caught up in words while faith uses those same words to abide with the object of the words, Christ Jesus. Religion becomes common and mundane, but faith is always fresh and seeks to commune with God.

People who are religious do one of two things; they either wear their religion on the outside with pride and arrogance, like the Pharisees before them where everything was literal and outward in appearance giving the impression that their lives were in order. The other religious type is the one who hides it. They are the ones that shock you when you find out that they attend church. These people have not made Christ Jesus the center of their lives and they will die in their religion. In John 6, Jesus made it perfectly clear that unless we consume all of Him as the very substance of life, one will die of eternal starvation. When one sees Christ Jesus as the primary substance of life and ingests His life, death, and resurrection as we ingest food to live on, then one has faith, not religion. You see, religion cannot survive death, but faith in Christ Jesus can. Religion will not come out victorious on the other side of trials and tribulations, but faith in Christ is the ultimate victory in any and all circumstances. Religion will meet death with fear and trembling, but faith will cry out, “To live is as Christ, to die is gain!”

“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” So asked St. Paul of the Corinthian Christians (1 Corinthians 10:16). It most certainly is! Yet the religious do not believe.

To those who merely attend Mass in order to check off another Sunday obligation cannot believe. For they, like countless other professing Christians who are not in full communion with the Church, see the elements as merely symbolic, meaningless pieces of bread and wine. But does their opinion mean they merely encounter the elements? In their places of worship it is true that the non-Catholic does indeed encounter nothing more than a mere symbol, but is that true within the confines Catholic Church? Certainly not! While non-Catholics and many professing Catholics fail to believe they are encountering the real Christ, His body, blood, soul and divinity under the appearance of bread and wine, doesn’t change the fact that they are indeed these things. They are merely carbon copies of their Pharisaic counterparts of old, who stood toe-to-toe, face-to-face, and nose-to-nose with Jesus, yet failed to accept or believe He was the Messiah.

Whoever comes forward to eat and drink from the Lords table without true faith and belief or fails to purify their soul of sin through the act of confession, reaps not blessing but condemnation. They are guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Those that do such a thing do not offer the first fruits of self-sacrifice after the manner in which Able offered the first fruits of his flock, become like Cain who offered something second rate and unacceptable to the Lord. In other words, they partake of the Lords table in an unworthy manner, thus eating and drinking judgment unto his or herself like their forefathers who partook unworthily in the early Church found themselves weak, sick, and some even died. Many are wrought with such things today for the very same reasons. The elements of bread and wine are truly the body and blood of the Lord. There is no symbolic intent in St. Paul’s words. In fact there is not a single instance recorded in all of scripture that testifies to anyone reaping the Lords judgment for having profaned a mere symbol (see 1 Corinthians 11:23-30). One cannot “drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s Table and the table of demons” (10:21).

Is all of this not true? Was there not one false disciple reclining at the table with the Lord at the Last Supper? There most certainly was! And until the proper moment in time had come he was unbeknownst by the other eleven. Judas Iscariot walked alongside the Lord for three years. He witnessed first hand all the miracles that Jesus worked among the sick, dieing, and even the dead and was even commissioned alongside the other eleven who were then sent out to preach the Gospel. He was with them when they received the power to cast out demons, heal the sick, cleanse lepers and raise the dead (see Matthew 10:5-14). Judas was even entrusted to be the keeper of the group’s finances. But despite all of that Jesus referred to him as being a devil (John 6:70) and the “son of perdition” (John 17:12), a term that St. Paul would later use to describe the Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:3). And he died after sharing in the bread and wine that Christ consecrated at the Last Supper.

Unfortunately there are many among us today, sitting at the Lord’s Table, who posses the same spirit that controlled the life of Judas Iscariot. But despite that fact and all the unbelief, the Eucharist is still in fact Christ Jesus coming to us veiled under the appearance of bread and wine.

So the question I propose is this: How do you partake of the meal that’s set before you? Do you come with mere religion checking off another Sunday obligation so that the bland taste of bread and the sweet taste of wine leave the taste of condemnation upon your tongue and then go home with one more religious quota satisfied which will soon be washed away with Sunday dinner? Or do you come in faith where the bland taste of the bread will become as sweet as milk and honey as your spirit is stirred reminding you of your sins and the Savior who took them unto Himself and suffered your punishment?

Have you ever wondered why Christ chose to utilized bread and wine to represent His body and blood? I know I did until the late Bishop Fulton Sheen eloquently explained the answer: “First of all, because no two substances in nature better symbolize unity than bread and wine. As bread is made from a multiplicity of grains of wheat, and wine is made from a multiplicity of grapes, so the many who believe are one in Christ. Second, no two substances in nature have to suffer more to become what they are than bread and wine. Wheat has to pass through the rigors of winter, be ground between the Calvary of a meal, and then subjected to purging fire before it can become bread. Grapes in their turn must be subjected to the Gethsemane of a wine press and have their life crushed from them to become wine. Thus do they symbolize the Passion and Sufferings of Christ, and the condition of Salvation, for our Lord said unless we die to ourselves we cannot live in Him. A third reason is that there are no two substances in nature, which have more traditionally nourished man than bread and wine. In bringing these elements to the altar, men are equivalently bringing themselves. When bread and wine are taken or consumed, they are changed into man’s body and blood. But when He took bread and wine, He changed them into Himself” (Life of Christ, Image Books, p.278).

In order for all of us to avoid the trap of falling into mere mundane religion, we need to heed the words of St. Francis De Sales: “From the beginning until the priest goes up to the altar make your preparation with him. This consists in placing yourself in the presence of God, recognizing your unworthiness, and asking pardon for your sins (and mean it from the depths of your heart). (2) From the time he goes up to the altar until the Gospel consider our Lord’s coming and His life in this world by a simple, general consideration. (3) From the Gospel until after the Creed consider our Saviors preaching and affirm that you are resolved to live and die faithful and obedient to His holy word and in union with the holy Catholic Church. (4) From the Gospel to the Our Father apply your heart to the mysteries of the Passion and Death of our Redeemer. They are actually and essentially represented in this Holy Sacrifice. Together with the priest and the rest of the people you will offer them to God the Father for His honor and for your own salvation. (5) From the Our Father to the communion strive to excite a thousand desires in your heart and ardently wish to be joined and united forever to our Savior in everlasting love. (6) From the communion to the end of Mass give thanks to Jesus Christ for His incarnation, life, passion, and death, and for the love He manifests in this Holy Sacrifice. Implore Him always to be merciful to you, your parents, friends, and the whole Church. Humble yourself with all your heart and devoutly receive the blessing our Lord gives you through the ministry of His minister” (Introduction To The Devout Life, Image Books, p. 104-105).

A true relationship with Christ is evidenced in the breaking of the bread and should result in a changed life and behavior. It should make us sensitive to our sins, our faults, and failures. It should make us see them in the light of the tremendous price Christ paid to secure our redemption. As we gather together with our brothers and sisters to celebrate the Eucharistic meal, we should be conscience of our oneness not only with those who partake of the elements with us, but with Christ Himself. The Eucharist is a family meal, and the Lord of the family desires that His children love one another and care for one another. That we should be one in Christ and that oneness should be evident in everything we say or do during Mass and after Mass when we step back out into the world even if others fail to recognize us as such.

I can imagine Cleopas and his friend standing in amazement, perhaps embracing in great joy, asking each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?” Their world had finally come together again. With their hearts still ablaze they set off at once for Jerusalem. It matter not that darkness had fallen across the land and traveling at night was extremely dangerous, the joy that Jesus had placed in their hearts through the hearing of His words and the breaking of bread made the danger seem trivial. They were determined to share with the other disciples what had transpired on the road to Emmaus. And that’s the type of attitude that we should have.

May The Peace Of Christ Be With You!

ENCONTERING CHRIST ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS—PART FOUR

The Heart Burning Experience

As the two-hour journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus was coming to a close, they approached the village at which time Jesus acted as if He was continuing on further. God has given the world the greatest and most perilous gift that one can receive—the gift of free will. This gift that has been bestowed upon each of us to either invite Christ into our hearts or allow Him to pass on is the same gift that is offered in the Book of Revelation where we find the Lord saying, “Those to whom I love I rebuke and discipline…here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me” (3:19-20).

This was the very situation in the Emmaus story. Jesus had been knocking on the two disciples hearts throughout the journey and now as He acted as if He was going further the two men needed to make a decision to either invite this stranger to stay with them or to allow Him to continue on His way. They elected to invite Him to stay.

The three entered a dwelling where a basic meal was quickly prepared. As the meal was placed upon the table the moment came for Jesus to disclose His true identity. How did He do it? “He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.” It was through the action of the breaking of the bread that their eyes were opened to the stranger’s true identity. It was an action they had no doubt seen before. They no doubt saw His hands—that they were different from when He had last broken bread before their eyes. They were the nail-pierced hands of the Savior of the world. But it was in the act of the breaking of the bread that resulted in their knowing Him in an instant. And then in another instant, He was gone.

Each time we come to the Lords table, we witness the intimate act of the breaking of the bread. It is through this simple act that God has chosen to open our eyes—the eyes of our mind and the eyes of our heart in order that we may understand what He has done for all of us.

Why did the two disciples not recognize Jesus on the road? Had they not heard Him teach, had they not witnessed the miracles worked by His hands, and had they not heard Him tell them all that as the Messiah He would suffer, die and on the third day rise again? They had indeed. But the two disciples could not recognize Jesus because they had the wrong expectations concerning the Messiah. They had human expectations for fulfilling a divine plan. They had expected Jesus would deliver Israel from the hands of her oppressors as a military and political Messiah. So Jesus had to come to them as a stranger in order to fill in the gaps of their misconceptions.

If the Lords first disciples, who were first hand witnesses, needed to observe the Eucharist in order to recognize the Savior of the world then how much more do we need it? We need it not only to open our eyes so we too can recognize Christ but also to serve as a reminder of what Christ Jesus endured to pay for our sins lest we become so preoccupied with our lives and activities that we fail to commune with Him. The Eucharist is a touching memorial that should fill our hearts with gratitude as we partake of it with other believers. It should bring to our minds those scenes of our Lords suffering portrayed in the Gospels. Christ desires that we remember how He died. He desires that we remember because everything we have as Catholic Christians centers in His death. However, this memorial is not simply the recalling of historical facts.

To Be Continued...

ENCOUNTERING CHRIST ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS--PART THREE

The Relevance Of Scripture

As the two disciples spoke of what transpired on the cross, Jesus took hold of their bewilderment and sorrow and gave them a heart filling experience. How? By pointing them unto God’s self-revelation in the scriptures. Luke tells us, “Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning Himself.”

Jesus gave the Emmaus travelers the greatest Old Testament exposition in history. Through His words the shadows and symbols of the Old Testament revelation began to come together. He reminded them that back at the fall of mankind, the apparently victorious Satan, in the form of a serpent, was told that the seed, the offspring of a woman “will crush your head, and you will strike His heel” (Genesis 3:15). And so the story was foretold of the cosmic struggle between life and death, of the pattern of death and resurrection according to Old Testament revelation. It was clearly visible in the life of Abraham when he was willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac, only to get him back again. In the preservation of Joseph so he could become the benefactor of his brothers who tried to destroy him. In the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt after having been saved from the angel of death through the sign of the blood of the Passover lamb. Jesus recalled His own teaching of how the Israelites escaped physical death in the wilderness from a plague of serpents when they looked trustingly to a great bronze serpent which Moses raised on a pole, pointing out that He too would be lifted up on the cross, “that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life in Him” (John 3:15).

Jesus no doubt took the now speechless disciples through the Suffering Servant of Jehovah passages in Isaiah and recounted how the nation of Israel was taken into exile and brought back again to rebuild Jerusalem as a symbol of the greater redemption through personal salvation through faith in Him. Throughout His discourse Jesus offered proof that He had fulfilled that, which had been prophesied over the centuries. That the Old Testament anticipations of His passion and triumph of life over death was proof that He was indeed the long awaited Messiah.

The two disciples couldn’t have possibly expected that the sharing of their problem with the stranger on the road to Emmaus would bring them toward a solution. But there was more to it than that. Christ wasn’t merely walking beside them to help them find a solution—He was in the problem itself. Jesus asked His two listeners, “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things?”

The problem for the disciples as it is with many in our time was making sense of the cross, how to accept it. Jesus helped them through that by showing them how the cross itself was the creative act of God. St. Paul would later write that, “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). The cross of shame and suffering had become the Cross of Redemption for all who would come to Christ in repentance and faith.

The most vital instrument used in the proclamation of the Gospel and evangelization is the use of scripture. As apologist Jeff Cavins once stated, “Catholics must proclaim the Word—what Christ says about our situation, what He is offering us, what He says about the Church and the beauty of the Church.” The underlying problem is however, “Many Catholics don’t know the bible. They don’t know it enough to talk about it. What kind of position does that put one in if we are supposed to be out there changing the world—proclaiming the good news?”

Another problem that arises over the scriptures is the fact that many Catholics that do read and know scripture have not studied apart from proving Catholic doctrine. They have not read scripture in the sense that Pope John Paul II recommended, and that is to read it and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to ones heart. To see what the Holy Spirit has to say to us as individuals.

The written Word of God is the one place we can definitely hear the voice of God. Therefore it is imperative that we pay close attention to the readings at Mass; that we give them our undivided attention. For it is through the proclamation of the Gospel reading that Jesus begins to intrude into our lives, probing our thoughts, for the purpose of blessing us and helping us grow. What matters here is how we respond. Do we, like the two disciples welcome His initiative and let Him minister to us? Do we want Him to keep talking and explaining what previously baffled us? Or do we merely desire that the Gospel proclamation be over because the things He reveals are too uncomfortable as He encroaches into our conscience?

Jesus rebuked Cleopas and his companion when He said, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” Perhaps the key word is “all.” It wasn’t that they hadn’t read or heard all that had been proclaimed by the prophets of old, but perhaps they had read or heard selectively like so many do today. The passages that spoke of a suffering servant didn’t fit with their expectations of the Messiah, just as many today cannot accept or follow a Messiah that calls us to suffering. Many have a tendency to skip over or ignore such biblical passages that reference to such a thing. If one truly opens his or her mind, spirit, and soul when given an exposition from the scriptures they will react positively, and in fact will want more.

To Be Continued…

ENCONTERING CHRIST ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS—PART TWO

A HEART FILLING EXPERIENCE

As the three men walked along Jesus asked the two disciples, “What are you discussing together as you walked along?” Quickly the men realized they were amongst someone who was willing to listen to their sorrows and troubles so they poured out their sad story.

How wonderfully kind and compassionate is our Lord. He could have very well become angry with these two men for their lack of faith in Him. After all hadn’t He said, “Unless a seed dies, it abides alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit?” (John 12:24). But no, Jesus doesn’t berate them but rather as someone once stated, “In His infinite courtesy, Jesus remembered the frailty of over-strained nerves and bewildered minds and came, not too suddenly or overwhelming upon them, but with gracious signs and tokens, and messages from one to the other.”

Cleopas (one of the two disciples) expressed surprise at the stranger’s inquiry so he asked: “Are you the only one living in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have happened there in these days?” Despite the note of incredulity in the voice of Cleopas, Jesus continues patiently and innocently asks, “What things?” To which they eagerly replied, “About Jesus of Nazareth.”

The two men then told the stranger that this Jesus “was a prophet, powerful in the word and deed before God and all the people.” Notice the use of the past tense, which strongly implies that He wasn’t relevant to the present or otherwise they wouldn’t have been in their downcast state of mind. Their experience concerning Jesus was in the past. The cross-had taken Him from them, and their minds hadn’t yet made sense of the changed situation, or adjusted to it. At the time the cross was just a great negative to them.

We’ve all heard exciting stories of what Jesus has done in the past—but what about the present? Too often we get fixated on all the bad that has occurred in our lives to the point that we forget that all of that is history. We must ask ourselves if Jesus is a present, bright reality in our lives today or is He something in the past? Do we recognize what He is doing in our lives; that he is walking beside or with us? Or is He just another stranger on the road?

Life has many distractions—hard work, routine, tiredness, and at times ill health, that can grind us down to the point where we carry on mechanically, never lifting our eyes or minds from the dust of the earthly road we travel. We thus become unaware of the glory and strength of His presence with us. When that occurs life then looses its meaning and leaves us washed out. But this story gives us hope.

Jesus is just as real among us today as He was 2,000 years ago on the road to Emmaus. He is the “unseen stranger” walking with us, listening to us, and if we are willing to listen for His voice, He will reveal Himself to us. He may not reveal Himself to us today as He did in the past. He won’t appear in a burning bush as He did with Moses or an audible voice in the middle of the night, as was the case with Samuel. We aren’t likely to receive a physical heavenly vision, as was the case with Isaiah. But nevertheless He still speaks to those who seek Him. Jesus speaks in the silence of the waiting spirit, forever impressing His will and call upon those who are willing to listen.

The voice of the Holy Spirit speaks to the inner shrine of the heart and it’s the same voice that called Peter, Andrew, James and John away from their fishing nets, Matthew from his tax booth, Zacchaeus out of a tree, and called out from heaven through a blinding light that knocked Paul from his horse. It’s the voice of Christ Himself perpetually calling all of us to “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord God Almighty” (Isaiah 52:11; Ezekiel 20:34, 41; 2 Samuel 7:14; 2 Corinthians 6:17-18).

Have you not heard His voice? If you profess to serve Christ and His Church, it is strange if you have not.

To Be Continued…

ENCOUNTERING CHRIST ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS—PART ONE

As I look toward the cross alongside thousands of others, I begin to notice that the crowds are breaking up and leaving. After I take one more glance at the cross of Christ I turn to leave but I am immediately confronted with two roads. I notice many are choosing the road to the left, but only a few are choosing the road to the right. As I approach these two roads I notice two men. The first one is dead and is lying beside the road to the left. But the other is alive and is pointing to the road on my right. To my amazement many are asking the dead man for directions. I thought to myself, “Why would anyone ask a dead man for directions when there is one who is alive?”

Every day we make decisions in life simply because we are creatures of variety. We choose what time we get up, what we wear, eat, and what we will do throughout the day. In fact there are many decisions that beg for our attention right now, but there is only one choice that you and I must consciously choose before it’s too late. And that’s to walk the “narrow road.” It is the road to the right, the road to righteous life. This road is one of decision, discipline, and desire. And like the road to Emmaus it will lead us to an encounter with Jesus, the one who is alive.


ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS:

It was late in the afternoon of the day of resurrection when two disciples were on their way to Emmaus, a little town about seven miles from Jerusalem. The two disciples were discouraged and depressed. The Master they had revered, loved, and followed, had been horribly put to death. A cruel death of the most degrading kind—crucifixion!

Only a week before, on Palm Sunday, the disciple’s hopes had risen to fever pitch when the excited crowds had hailed their Master as the long awaited-deliverer that would set them free from Roman occupation. But now their Master lay dead in a sealed tomb and their hopes were dashed; the dream was over.

Have you ever noticed that some of the saddest words in our language begin with the letter D? For example, there is disappointment, doubt, delusion, defeat, despair, and death. All of which can damper our hopes. Human hope is a fragile thing and when it withers its difficult to revive. Hopelessness is a disease of the human spirit that is desperately hard to cure. When you see someone you love and care for overtaken by illness, which goes on, and on, despair sets in. It almost becomes impossible to hope for recovery, to even be afraid to hope because of not being able to cope with another letdown.

Each of us have no doubt at times felt blind, distant, and even given up all hope. In fact there have probably even been times when we prayed and prayed and received absolutely no help, which resulted in our losing all hope. There were probably even times when we have prayed and our problems seemed to have only worsened. Maybe it was when we prayed for healing for another or ourselves but the sickness only got worse. During these times of despair doesn’t mean that God has left us alone. We only believe that He has since the problems in life have a way of blurring our vision, our understanding, our faith, and our hope. It makes us want to run away from our difficulties rather than stand and face them. But how fortunate we are that we have a God who not only comes looking for us, but also draws near and travels with us each step of the way and helps us to be able to clearly see again. Remember this: God will never abandon His children, but often His children abandon Him over disbelief.

There wasn’t really a reason for the two disciples to be in the state of mind that they were in other than disbelief. For you see, even though they had received the news of the morning, that Mary had found the grave of Jesus empty and had heard the claims of some of the other women that they had seen angels and had even met the risen Jesus, they did not believe those reports.

God accomplishes His greatest work through us by allowing our hopes and dreams to die, only to bring them back again in rather surprising and unique ways. Job lost his family and fortune, but they were eventually restored many times over. God blessed Abraham and Sarah with a son long after nature would have made that impossible. And the hopes of these two disciples had been dashed when Jesus died upon the cross. They did not realize at the time that the cross and all its horrors were a part of Gods sovereign plan to pave the way of salvation for all of humanity.

Many of us may not like our current surroundings or situations, or even the direction that society appears to be going or all the ungodliness that seems to plague the Church, but remember not all is lost. We merely need to wait upon the Lord to redeem our situations and restore our hope. We don’t need to focus on the negative when there are many wonderful things transpiring within our own lives and the Church that overrides all the negative aspects. We just need to stop long enough to take a serious look around.

As the weary disciples made their weary way toward Emmaus a stranger fell in alongside them. What had begun as a very depressing trip soon turned into one of the most wonderful walks in human history! We know this because the stranger was the risen Jesus. But somehow in the beginning they did not recognize Him. In fact Luke tells us “they were kept from recognizing Him.” It wasn’t by accident that they didn’t recognize who He was. No, they weren’t allowed to recognize Jesus for a reason. And the reason was so that they might be in the same position as we are 2,000 years later.

Many times we do not recognize Jesus when He suddenly appears in our midst. Sometimes He appears to us as a stranger who speaks the right words we need to hear for whatever ails us. Other times He may come to us in the form of a beggar, someone who’s hungry, or some other needy person. He may even come to us, as someone in trouble, someone whose marriage just went south, or someone who has lost a child, a spouse, or some other loved one. It may be that He comes to us through someone in need of friendship, a shoulder to cry on, or someone seeking Himself. How we respond during those times will determine our level of commitment unto Him. Do we dare deafen our ears and look the other way, forgetting the times He met our needs? Or do we respond as He did when He met the two blind men on the road to Jericho? These particular blind beggar’s cried out unto Him, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!” But the people commanded them to be silent. But that didn’t stop them they merely cried louder and more intense until the Master commanded they be brought before Him. Then He asked one very simple question, “What do you want Me to do for you?” To which they responded, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened” (Matthew 20:29-33).

We may be the only contact that many will ever have with Christ Jesus. I once heard it said, “There are five Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and us. Many will never read the first four, but all will read the last one.” Christ Jesus didn’t commission us to leave this world, or to sit idle in it, but to disciple it.

For far too long Christianity in America has sat idle living in her own little world. For decades the majority of professing Christians have been going in the direction they have desired instead of going in the direction that God desires. They have distorted the scriptures and cheapened the gospel in such a way that humanity has become riddled with confusion, which is why 1.37 million babies are murdered annually in America; why 40 million Americans indulge in Internet pornography; why divorce is rampant and 50 to 70% of all married people will commit adultery this year. It is also why 10,000 people will be murdered this year alone of which over 5,000 will be between the ages of 10 and 24. And it is also why over 30,000 people will see life as no longer worth living and commit suicide and why Americans are confused about the sanctity and institution of marriage being only between a man and a woman.

To barrow the words of Fr. Tom Forrest, I must also say: “If there were ever a time when sinners needed conversion, if there were ever a time when captives needed to be set free and mountains of pain and depression removed, if there were ever a time when the human race needed sanctification and salvation, if there were ever a time when the whole world needed to hear and follow Christ’s teachings on love, mercy, and forgiveness, that time is now!” Whose cry are you willing to hear? Whose eyes are you willing to open?

To Be Continued…

Escaping The Outer Darkness

Yesterday I went to confession at a different parish, one that's a little closer to home. The line was quite lengthy, but with several priests hearing confessions it moved quite quickly. Now it doesn't matter whether I make my confession face-to-face or in the box. It just happened to be the box when it came to be my turn. When I first entered there was light to show the way, but as I knelt the tiny room became engulfed in darkness.

Now there was nothing new in that experience with the exception of the fact that I noticed it was much darker than the confessional at my own parish. It was so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my eyes. It was a strange feeling to be in that type of darkness. But I thought how appropriate. It made me think how vital it is that we make regular confessions, more than once or twice a year. For it is from the outer darkness, the land of wailing and nashing of teeth that confession saves us from. Without it we would parish.

The Church teaches that Christ calls us “to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before Him, His call does not aim at outward works, “sackcloth and ashes,” fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance (see Joel 2:12-13; Isaiah 1:16-17; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18).

Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion unto God with our whole heart. It means an end to all intentional sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have been committing. But at the same time it entails that we desire a resolution to changing our life with hope in Gods mercy and trust in the help of His grace. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Father’s called animi cruciatus (affliction of the spirit) and compunctio cordis (repentance of the heart)” (CCC 1430-31).

Interior penance begins a life long journey of repentance and conversion. But too often we have a tendency to view that conversion in a manner that prevents one from excelling in the life of Christ. It is right to view it as something spread across our entire lives, but it isn’t right to view it as something that is in the distant future. Far too many look upon conversion in such a way that it leaves them in the same spot and in the same frame of mind, one that prevents any forward movement. Thus they begin to resemble more of a stagnating, mosquito infested pool of water, than one that continuously moves forward toward a Christ-like life. Repentance and conversion must begin with a frame of mind that seeks to make a true confession before the agents of God. Interior penance requires… “The sinner to endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with the lips, and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction. Among the penitents acts contrition must occupy first place. Contrition is “sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again” (CCC 1450-51). We must be willing to hear the voice of Christ when He said to the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). And to the sick man He found by the Bethesda pool, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (John 5:14).

The sacrament of reconciliation is not to be looked upon or used as a revolving door to momentarily relieve the conscience of guilt only to return and repeat the same sins again in habitual form. There is no forgiveness if there is no true sorrow and remorse for the sins one has committed. We all have sins that we struggle with. In fact we must face the fact that we may struggle with or be tempted to commit those sins until the day we die. But its how we look upon those times of temptation to a particular sin (or sins) that counts.

When temptation affords itself and we flee crying out to the Lord for strength, then we are on the right track. However, when those temptations rear their ugly head and we gaze upon them and embrace them as we would a long lost friend, then we are in trouble! Reconciling With God isn’t about keeping rules. It’s about freedom and new life. It’s about a heart filling experience. What Jesus did for His friend Lazarus He desires to do for you and I and that’s to give us new life.

In John 11, we find Jesus and His disciples traveling to Bethany near Jerusalem. Word had been sent that His friend Lazarus was sick and near death. Upon their arrival in Bethany He was met by Martha the sister of Lazarus. She was distraught over her brother’s death and said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said unto her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Now Martha knew that on the day of resurrection her brother would live. But Jesus wasn’t referring to the future but to the present. So He said unto her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” Then Jesus asked the million-dollar question, “Do you believe this?” Many say they believe. But if they possessed true belief they would be willing to come forth out of the grave of sin to new everlasting life.

Where The Grass is Always the Greenest

There are many things that I have learned over the past fifty years, the greatest being that the secret to our happiness on this earth is to serve God with the best of our ability and to do so with a thankful heart. For you see, far too often we neglect to become thankful for what we have because were too busy concentrating on what we don’t have or becoming envious of what others do have. In other words, believing that the grass is greener on the other side.When we believe “that the grass is greener on the other side,” we are only seeing what lies on the surface. Sometimes those whom we become envious of may appaer to have more money, a bigger or nicer house, or even a newer car. But what we fail to realize is that their lives are not perfect.

In many instances what we perceive to be real grass may in reality only be artificial turf, which is a man-made surface manufactured from synthetic materials to look like natural grass. The grass may look real but remember flowers cant grow in synthetic grass.When we become overly focused on someone elses grass we are ignoring all the negative aspects of someones life while downplaying everything positive in our own. We cant see whats good about our own grass because we are fixated on the weeds.

Now nobody likes weeds. Weeds are the bane of our existence. We do nothing, and weeds come up. We spray like crazy, and they come back. In fact weeds grow where other plants won’t because they are very sneaky. But regardless of how many weeds have sprang up in our field of life we only need to pull them up one more time and then get out the lawn seed, sprinkle liberally, and then use that forgotten watering can.

Believe it or not, there is a direct link between the choices we make and the things that happen to us. When we becomes willing to accept that, our outlook on life will become different. It’s called reaching a level of maturity. So the next time you're tempted to look at anothers grass, keep in mind that grass is always the greenest where it’s watered. And the best way to water our grass is to ask God to “grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change and the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference!”

Beware Of Those That Widen The Kingdom Gate

Many times I have come across those who have left the Catholic Church for a community they profess preaches the truth concerning salvation. They say we no longer need to confess our sins to a priest, that we have direct access to God through his Son Jesus Christ. That this direct access came about the moment Christ died on the cross and the temple veil was torn from top to bottom. All one needs to do is recite from the heart the sinners prayer, placing their trust in Jesus as their Lord and personal Savior and one is guaranteed entrance into heaven regardless of the lifestyle they lead.

Multitudes of Catholics have been enticed away from the Church over the past few decades with promises of riches or un-lost salvation. Someone who appeared to be knowledgeable of the scriptures led them away through their own ignorance of the Church’s true teachings. What they heard appeared simple in its context, but what they failed to realize is that Satan can use other professing Christians, pastor’s, or evangelists, as one of his instruments, in fact he has even used many bishops and priests in our own Church.

Many professing Christianity in this present age do not believe that what they hear; what they have been taught, is another gospel other than the gospel of Christ Jesus, yet in many Christian communities this is precisely the case. Jesus, St. Paul and the other apostles repeatedly warned that many would follow false teachers completely unaware that what they hear, what they digest into their soul, is nothing more than spiritual cyanide. And multitudes of professing Christians have done exactly what they have warned against; they have digested the devils poison and are being completely deceived. And more often than not someone who is held in high esteem by the people has introduced it. These individuals do so out of complete ignorance to the fact that the measure they advocate is subversive, that they are leading people away from the truth into plans that completely pervert all scriptural principles. They infuse into the minds of the people distorted truths concerning salvation, which in turn they pass along to others.

Many of the so-called evangelical preachers of today actually change the grace of God into a “license for immorality” (see Jude 4), by declaring to the people that there is such a thing as a carnal Christian. Here is the teaching of a well-known preacher who leads a very large Evangelical mega-church here in America, who also has a large television and radio ministry. “Sometimes out of ignorance or whatever it might be, they (professing Christians) attempt to gratify and meet those needs the same way they did before they were saved, and therefore, you cant tell a carnal believer from a lost man. That is, you can’t tell the cold from the carnal because the truth is; they’re both acting the same way. Now, one of them is in Christ and one of them isn’t. One of them is lost and the other one is in Christ. One of them knows about God and knows him in the experience of salvation; the other doesn’t know him at all” (Charles Stanley: “Spiritual Vs. Carnal—A study in 1 Corinthians, tape#8, PQ092). This teaching my friends is a diabolical lie birthed straight out of hell!

The Catholic Church, whose teachings are rooted not only in scripture, but also the traditions of the apostles and the teachings of the early Church fathers, has always maintained that salvation is a process. It is a past, present, and futuristic reality all at the same time, and that we are “saved by grace through faith.” So what is faith? Scripture tells us “faith is the realization of what is hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, and that what is visible came into being through the invisible” (Hebrews 11:1-3). In other words, as Catholic evangelist Ralph Martin states, “It is a way of knowing and seeing with our spiritual eyes invisible realities that are infinitely more important than the realities we can see with our biological eyes.”

Faith comes to us through the proclamation of the gospel: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Faith also comes by seeing or hearing of signs and wonders, which is the evidence that confirms the truth of the gospel message that derives from the workings of the Holy Spirit on the soul. As John Paul II stated, “The proclamation of the word of God has Christian conversion as its aim: a complete and sincere adherence to Christ and His gospel through faith. Conversion is a gift of God, a work of the blessed trinity. It is the Spirit who open’s people’s hearts so that they can believe in Christ and confess Him (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:3); of those who draw near to Him through faith Jesus says, ‘No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44; Redemptoris Missio no. 46).

Salvation comes through the grace of God. It is God’s free choice and gift that He imparts on undeserving humanity. For the only thing we deserve is death because of our sin. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). And contrary to the belief of many, Catholics are not saved by works alone: “If anyone says that man can be justified before God by his own works, whether done by his own natural powers or through the teaching of the law, without divine grace through Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. If any one says that divine grace through Christ Jesus is given for this only, that man may be able more easily to live justly and to merit eternal life, as if by free will without grace he is able to do both, though with hardship and difficulty, let him be anathema” (Council of Trent).

The gift of salvation that has been imparted unto us by God, like any other gift, can be accepted or rejected. Catholics believe that while God offers all men the grace to believe in him and to live a righteous life, every individual must choose for his or herself to accept the offer of his salvation. Each one of us has been created in the image and likeness of God. One of the attributes of that image and likeness is “free will,” which enables each of us to make the conscience choice to accept God’s saving grace or reject it outright. The gospel message makes it perfectly clear that all are invited to “repent” and become a follower of Christ Jesus. And it is our responsibility as Catholic Christians to ensure that all have an opportunity to hear the truth of the gospel. Now some people upon hearing the gospel message will accept and embrace it, while others will not.

The Church has always maintained that Christ calls us “to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before Him, His call does not aim at outward works, “sackcloth and ashes,” fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance (see Joel 2:12-13; Isaiah 1:16-17; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change ones life, with hope in Gods mercy and trust in the help of His grace. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Father’s called animi cruciatus (affliction of the spirit) and compunctio cordis (repentance of the heart)” (CCC 1430-31).

Many in our day will not accept what is taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, here I primarily speak of those not in full union with Christ’s Church, therefore the errors of the teaching of un-lost salvation must be demonstrated through the use of scripture. Scripture in and of its self testifies that such a teaching is false.

First turning to 2 Timothy St. Paul reveals, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (16-17). At the time of St. Paul’s writing his letter to Timothy wasn’t considered scripture, in fact none of the New Testament was available to the early Christians as it is to us today. The scriptures to which St. Paul referred, was the Old Testament.

Turning to the book of the Prophet Ezekiel we find that God makes it perfectly clear that one can loose his or her salvation. “When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness, which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die” (18:24).

Furthermore the prophet reveals, “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not my way, which is fair, and your ways, which are not fair? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies” (25-26).

Turning to the New Testament the Lord once again reveals that many fall away from their salvation (Luke 8:13; John 6:66; 1 Timothy 1:9). So it is plain that after initial salvation one must endure to the “end” in order to gain heaven and escape eternal damnation (Matthew 10:22; Hebrews 3:14; Revelation 2:10-11). Eternal life comes unto us when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and are baptized (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; 1 Peter 3:21). But there is another important aspect concerning eternal life that many are unaware of in our present day because of the false teaching of un-lost salvation. According to scripture eternal life is not guaranteed but “hoped” for (Titus 3:7), yet to be “reaped” (Galatians 6:8-9), in the age to come (Mark 10:30) for only those who persist in doing good (Romans 2:7) and do not grow weary and give up (Galatians 6:9).

St. Peter in his second epistle also makes it perfectly clear that salvation is something that can be lost; “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2:20-21).

Are the proponents of the un-lost salvation doctrine unaware of these passages? Of course not, they merely sidestep them by stating that anyone who turns away was never saved to begin with, but that’s just a cop-out. The truth cannot be changed and the Lord spoke one of those truths when he said, “The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away” (Matthew 8:13).

An interesting thing about the Lords words is the fact that no time constraint has been attached to “those who believe for a while.” In other words, they could believe four an hour, a day, a year, ten years, twenty or fifty years and still fall away. So we see those that charge the Catholic Church with preaching another gospel have unfortunately brought forth another gospel of their own, one of human origin. In other words, the accuser has become the guilty party.

Those that proclaim the gospel of un-lost salvation claim that it is by faith and faith alone that one is saved. That salvation comes through the recital of a prayer of faith, requiring no other action apart from faith on behalf of the individual. To backup their teaching they offer up such scripture passages as Galatians 3:11, 3:24; Romans 3:28, 10:9-10; Acts 13:30-31; John 3:16; 1 John 5:13; and Ephesians 2:8-9. But nowhere will one find the word “alone” associated with the word faith in any of these passages. To further argue their doctrinal points they may direct one to Romans 8, where St. Paul states, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, of sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we are killed all day long: we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter’ (Psalm 44:22). Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (35-39). No matter where we go in this life or the next we cannot escape the love and compassion that God has for His people. What a wonderful promise. However, there is nothing in this promise that states we cannot be separated from his salvation.

The bottom line is this; the gospel associated with the doctrine of eternal security has no biblical foundation and is one that would have you believe that: 1) Salvation begins in a moment’s time and is guaranteed to continue. 2) That there is no salvation maintenance on man’s part. God will keep you, hold you and has already sealed you by His Spirit at the point of salvation assuring an entrance into the kingdom of heaven. 3) That sin can never bring a Christian to his spiritual death, regardless of what sin is committed or false doctrine is believed. Eternal life is a gift that cannot be lost or returned and a present tense possession for the Christian, guaranteeing an entrance into God’s kingdom. 4) Reaching heaven for the Christian is absolutely certain just as though he has already been there for 10,000 years.

The Priceless Pearl

Many years ago, a geologist by the name of Dr. Williamson was doing some work in Tanzania. One day while driving in a remote area his four-wheel drive vehicle became stuck in the mud up to its axles. Pulling out his shovel, Dr. Williamson began the unpleasant task of digging the vehicle out. After digging for a while his shovel uncovered a pinkish colored stone of some sort. Since he was a geologist his curiosity was naturally peeked, so he picked up the stone and cleaned it off. The more mud he removed the more excited he became; he could hardly believe what he saw—the stone was a diamond. Finding any diamond in this manner would be exciting enough, but what Dr. Williamson found became known as the famous pink diamond of Tanzania. The stone today sits in the royal scepter of Great Britain and Dr. Williamson is known around the world for his find—as accidental as it may have been.

Everyday there are Catholics, who being unfamiliar with their faith, are lead away, enticed by what appears to be priceless jewels. Many of those who have been enticed to leave in recent years claim they have never heard the gospel proclaimed in the Catholic Church. But if they only understood, as Cardinal Avery Dulles once stated, “Who it is that is really speaking when the gospel is proclaimed from the pulpit, or who comes to them in Holy Communion, or who forgives their sins through the ministry of the priest in sacramental absolution, they could hardly feel as they do” (JPII And The New Evangelization, Ignatius Press; p. 37).

Jesus taught that, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:44-46).

Burying valuables in the ground may sound strange to us but it was common practice in the first century. Today we use banks but in those days there were no banks for the common people; only the wealthy had access to such institutions. I’m sure you have heard stories of people not trusting banks so they hide their money or other valuables under a mattress or somewhere else in their house. That’s exactly what people did in the first century. But instead of hiding it under a mattress they buried it in the ground.

In the second parable we find a merchant looking specifically for beautiful pearls. It was common practice in those days for entrepreneurs to look for pearls to sell and at the same time look for high quality pearls for themselves. Pearls were viewed in the first century in the way we view diamonds today. They were the most valuable gems in the world at that time. If you owned a pearl you owned a fortune. So it was quite common for people to invest in them.

The Jewish Talmud said, “Pearls are beyond price.” The Egyptians actually worshipped the pearl and the Romans copied that practice. When women wanted to show their wealth they put pearls in their hair. When a Roman emperor wanted to boast of his riches he would dissolve pearls in vinegar and then drink them in his wine, in much the same way a millionaire might light his cigar using a hundred-dollar bill. The scriptures also stress the value of pearls. Jesus stated in Matthew 7:6, that we are not to cast our pearls before the swine. In other words, “Don’t give something of such great value to a pig; it’s a foolish thing to do.” In Revelation 21, St. John describes heaven as having streets of gold and gates of pearl. Tremendously valuable!

Both of these parables teach us about the incomparable value of the Lord’s kingdom, the Church. The pearl is an especially appropriate figure for the Church; it is the only gem that cannot be improved on by man. Think about it! All other jewels have to be cut and polished by skillful craftsmen before they have value as gemstones. But the pearl is perfect when it is found. Cutting or polishing can’t improve it. In fact, one cut from a human hand and a pearl is worthless. This is why the pearl is an appropriate symbol for the Church.

The word “Church” (Latin ecclesia, from the Greek ek-ka-lein, to “call out of”) means convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people, usually for a religious purpose. Ekklesia is used frequently in the Greek Old Testament for the assembly of the Chosen People before God, above all for their assembly on Mount Sinai where Israel received the Law and was established by God as His holy people. By calling itself “Church,” the first community of Christian believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In the Church, God is “calling together” His people from all the ends of the earth. The equivalent Greek term Kyriake, from which the English word Church and the German Kirche are derived, means, “What belongs to the Lord.”

In Christian usage, the word “church” designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers. These three meanings are inseparable. “The Church” is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ’s Body (CCC 751-52).

The Roman Catholic Church is a divine institution, designed by a perfect God. Like the pearl any attempt on the part of man to change or alter the Church robs it of its perfection. Its not the Church of some man, but a Church whose builder and chief cornerstone is Christ Jesus. Christ is the head of the Church and therein lays its value.

God Uses The Insignificant

Throughout the scriptures we see that the duties assigned to a prophet or spokesman for God have always been two fold. First, they call Gods people to reform and repentance, they warn them to turn away from their evil ways. They understand God’s mercy and justice and the grave consequences of sin and rebellion. They know that repeated rejection of God’s commands will bring forth judgment either in this life or the life to come, therefore when they carry out their mission they are at times boisterous, bold, daring, audacious, forward, and impudent in their delivery. Their style of speech has a tendency to upset the religious mind; in fact one could say that the religious are upset by their mere presence. Their words are designed to offend the errant mind in order to expose the true condition of the heart. Therefore they speak with authority, power, and exactness.

The second part of their mission is to preach glad tidings to the meek; to bound up wounds and heal the brokenhearted; they preach deliverance to the captives and recovered sight to the spiritually blind; they open the prison doors to those who are bound and set at liberty those who are bruised. In other words they follow in the footsteps of the Lord. But it’s not an easy task to be a spokesman for God; for ones message is often rejected; one becomes ridiculed, chastised, persecuted, and in many cases those bold enough to speak on God’s behalf are labeled divisive or accused of having a root of bitterness against what man would consider to be the norm.

It has often been the case if not always the case that God’s spokesmen of old or even in more recent times never arose from the ranks of those who regarded themselves as the custodians of God’s law, who felt themselves most qualified to speak on his behalf. But God has apparently always felt it necessary to bypass those that the world considered mighty, wise, and noble for the unlearned. Don’t get me wrong God has and does use the great people of this world, but more often than not he uses the insignificant so that He may receive the glory rather than men or women. As St. Paul tells us, “You see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Corinthians 26-29).

Nowhere in the history of the Church will one find the fulfillment of St. Paul’s words more prevalent than in one Catherine Benicasa. Born in the city of Siena Italy in 1347, she became one of the greatest gifts that God has ever allowed the Church to possess. She was not an educated person, in fact some say she was “illiterate” but whether or not this was true I cannot say. But I can say she was a spiritual giant that possessed great communication skills and possessed a genuine love of Christ and his Church. She had a genuine love for the people of God and his ministers and possessed a genuine desire to see changes in the sinful lives of the members of Christ’s Church, both laity and clergy. She also possessed a great desire to see all come to obedience and submission to those in authority, but especially to the authority of the pope.

St. Catherine’s writings are unique, even bold. As one writer put it, “Even today, she has a way of shocking the reader into reality.” She was very direct in her letters, even to the point of breaking with polite convection in order to rebuke those who were walking in disobedience to Christ and his Church. Many times I have heard or read those that say one should not imitate St. Catharine’s style, that what she possessed was a unique calling from God. But I must say I agree with the latter but disagree with the former. St. Catharine’s life was indeed unique and cannot be duplicated for it was her life alone, but she also called for others to follow in the path that she had blazed when she stated, “We need someone to utter a ‘roar’ over the body of the Church, lusty enough to wake up the children within her.” She knew false teachers, prophets, and unfaithful laity would always hinder the Church down through the ages; that her mission must be carried on in order for the Church to maintain her outward purity. But far too many today are afraid to carry forth that mission. They are afraid of being alienated or rejected by friends, family, other Christians or the world at large, which is why we don’t find very many following in St. Catherine’s footsteps today. It’s a price that most find too high to pay.

Communicating with God

Communication is a vital part of any intimate relationship between two people. In fact one can say that it is the most important aspect in any relationship; for without communication there would be no friendship. Just as two friends enjoy each other’s company, the true friend of God will seek out His companionship with a burning desire to spend every available moment sharing with Him their most intimate thoughts and concerns. We call this prayer.

Many times I have heard people claim that their prayers are never answered; that God does not hear them. But God hears every prayer that is uttered. But our prayers can be rendered ineffective if we doubt or if we cherish the sin in our lives more than pursuing a right relationship with God. When we truly pursue a genuine intimate relationship with God we will begin to possess the type of faith that will bring our prayers out of the state of being ineffective to being able to move mountains. Jesus tells us, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:22-24).

So why do we doubt when we pray knowing that God has made such a promise and that He cannot tell a lie; because He is truth itself; He is not liable to change; because all His arrangements are just and holy. At one time or another we have all had friends that were not completely truthful with us at times, but according to scripture God is not like those friends: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19)

No man, woman, or child who has ever placed their trust in God has been abandoned. He that prays with confidence according to scripture obtains whatever he asks: “I say to you; if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you” (John 16:33).

“Who therefore,” asked St Augustine, “can fear that Christ Jesus, who is truth itself, can violate His promises to hear all who pray to Him? Who shall fear deception when truth promises?”

If we know that God is not like those who promise and do not afterwards fulfill their promise, either because in making them they intended to deceive or afterwards changed their mind, when we pray we need to “ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8).

Whenever we come to the Lord in prayer and ask with confidence favors that are conductive with our eternal salvation, God will hear our prayers. On the other hand if we seek those things that can be injurious to the soul, God cannot, will not, hear our prayers. In other words, if we ask God to accomplish anything that would be offensive to Him, the Lord will not hear our prayers because we would offend God by the very act of asking.

When we wish to receive aid from the Lord we must first remove every obstacle that may render us unworthy to be heard. For example: if we desire His strength to preserve us from relapsing into a certain sinful habit but we refuse to avoid the occasions or refuse to keep our distance from the person or thing that entices us to sin, God will not hear our prayer. For the scriptures state, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18). And, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).

May The Peace of Christ Be With You

True Genuine Faith

Maybe winter has been a difficult time for you and you hope things will be better in the spring. I am hear to tell you that things can always be better anytime of the year if we make the conscience decision to begin to walk with God in faith.

In the general use of the word, faith is to believe in something or someone. It is to be so confident in that person or thing so that one basis all their actions on what they believe. In other words, to have faith is to be fully convinced of the truthfulness and reliability in that which one believes.

In order to have faith in God, we must place a genuine trust and confidence in Him to the point that our entire life centers on Him. Every word we speak, every thought we possess, and every action we undertake will be based on the thoughts and actions of God, which are revealed unto us in scripture.

True faith comes from the heart. It is not merely possessing intellectual thoughts about God, it is spiritual. It reveals to the heart what one cannot see with the eye: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” And, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (2Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 11:1).

Hope is a condition of faith. It is “a positive unwavering expectation of good.” Hope is the anchor for the soul. It keeps us in a state where we can believe, but it is not in itself “faith.” But without hope there is nothing to place ones confidence in, which means there can be no faith.

In order to possess true faith we mustn’t allow ourselves to believe that faith is religion. There are countless numbers of professing Christians who believe that their religious ideas and doctrines, their traditions and ways of doing things that have been passed down to them for generations, is true faith. But faith is not mental assent. It is not agreeing with ones mind. According to the apostle James demons possess that kind of faith. They know and believe in God’s existence, even trembling at the thought of Him. But they have no love or confidence in Him nor will they be saved from the eternal wrath to come (2:19).

True faith is also not a way to manipulate God. It is not a power that we possess that allows us to make God do what we want when He would otherwise be unwilling to do what we ask. God is not an impersonal force that is activated by our positive words like so many today would have us believe. Faith is not magic and God isn’t a bellhop that waits patiently for our beck and call.

Again faith is not hope, but hope is good because it relates to the future. Many people have hope, anxiously waiting for results, but they lack the confidence and present assurance that true faith provides.
True faith is demonstrated by corresponding actions which is demonstrated through the lives of those who are commended for their faith in Hebrews 11:4-37. But a word of warning; it is possible to demonstrate actions, even religious or charitable ones, without real faith. These actions are dead works because they arise out of the heart in a selfish manner; it’s an effort to do nothing but win God’s approval.

True faith hears the voice of God and acts in obedience with a trusting heart. God speaks to us in various ways. The two most predominate ways are through His written word, the scriptures, and through the Holy Spirit who speaks through our conscience, the inner shrine of the heart. The voice that we hear pressing us toward a particular action is the same voice that called Peter, Andrew, James and John away from their fishing nets; Matthew from his tax booth; Zacchaeus out of a tree, and called out to Paul from heaven through a blinding light. Have you heard His voice? If you profess to serve Christ and His Church, it is strange if you have not.

True faith yield’s to God’s prompting and does whatever He asks. Take the man who was born blind in the gospel of John for example. The man was in need of healing so Jesus spat on the ground and made clay with His saliva, anointed his eyes with the clay, and then told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam and the man obeyed. By acting in obedience before he received healing he demonstrated the kind of faith that God required from him, which resulted in his healing. Had he not obeyed he would not have been healed.

What God asks from each of us is obedience, not perfection. But that doesn’t mean we should cherish the sin in our lives more than pursuing intimacy with God. Many times we have heard that we need to seek a personal relationship with God. But did you know that God seeks a personal relationship with us through friendship and intimacy as much as we desire one with Him? He does so because He is madly in love with us, and we should be madly in love with Him. God is not some cosmic force to be reckoned with, but a real person. He is a person who has feelings, one that loves and can be touched. When we come to understand that God loves us and the depth of that love, that He is willing to forgive us of all the wrongs we have committed, that He will never leave or forsake the one who desires to walk with Him, then we have found the road to intimacy with Him.

May The Peace of Christ Be With You

REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE

The most chilling aspect of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is the fate of Lot’s wife.

The sun arose in its usual manner the day God destroyed the sinful cities. As the morning hours sped onward, the angels that had been sent to warn Lot of the impending doom waited patiently, their hands held fast from the destructive mission while Lot and his family rushed toward safety in the city of Zoar. Within the confines of the city walls of Sodom, the people moved about like any other day. Farmers headed for their fields; people filled the marketplace buying and selling; children were laughing and screaming with joy in the streets and open spaces; life continued as normal, the people completely unaware of the impending danger that lay ahead. Within moments of Lot’s safe arrival in Zoar the sounds of life in the cities of the plain were silenced forever, serving as a grim reminder for those who walk in unrighteousness (see 2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7).

Jesus left us with a solemn warning against the awful state of unreadiness, which will dominate humanity at the time of His second coming: “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32). Lot’s wife left Sodom on the morning of its demise alongside her husband and two daughters, but she looked back against God’s explicit command, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest some evil over take me and I die,” and was struck dead in an instant, being turned into a pillar of salt (see Genesis 19:17,26).

What reason did she have for looking back? It doesn’t make any sense unless she was looking back with regret because she enjoyed the time she had spent there. It would seem as though she enjoyed her comfortable, godless lifestyle, surrounded by proud, haughty, and uncharitable people. She looked back with longing, she looked back to the city where she and her family ate, drank, bought, sold, planted and built, but she never concerned herself with the things of God. She had been saved from Sodom. But did she really want to be saved since she snatched damnation from the jaws of salvation? Lot’s wife serves as a solemn warning to this generation, a beacon to the Church. You see it wasn’t the faithfulness of Abraham that Christ commanded us to remember, but the unbelieving wife of Lot, whose soul was lost. So the Lord cries out, “Remember!” He admonishes us that we are in danger of forgetting. So He cries out louder, “Remember Lot’s wife!”

Lot’s wife had many privileges bestowed upon her. First, she was married into the only remaining family on earth that was still serving the one true God. Abraham, her uncle by marriage, was known as a “friend of God.” She was witness to the altars he erected and his worship unto God. She was privileged in learning about God, how to approach Him, and how to come to know Him. She was even privileged to have learned of Sodom and Gomorrah’s fate before hand, through the visitation of the two angels. And she knew that God would carryout what He said He would do. But none of that made any difference to her. She obviously never fully followed through with a commitment unto God. She was afforded the greatest opportunity one can receive. She was given the opportunity to believe, the chance to change her lifestyle, and the chance to be saved from destruction. But she squandered every opportunity and died without God.

How many have become like Lot’s wife? We really don’t know. Countless numbers attend Mass or other Christian services weekly and know who God is, what He has to offer, and how to accept that offer, but fail to act on what they know. They become like Lot’s wife, knowing the destruction that waits for the unrepentant soul at the hour of their death, but they still refuse to believe or to change. They believe they know what is best for their own lives. Who is responsible if we die and go to hell, God or ourselves? Contrary to the belief of many, people do go to hell and they are the ones responsible for their own fate. As individuals it is our responsibility to respond to God correctly and to do something about our lifestyles. Lot’s wife like everyone reading this had (or has) the privilege of turning to God at this very moment and being saved from the wrath to come!

Now let us look at what there is for us to learn from Lot’s wife. First, she possessed disbelief. She looked back because she didn’t believe that God would do what He said He would do. She thought He was bluffing. She was just like those today who say God is a loving God, a merciful God, and a gracious God that desires all to live with Him throughout eternity, which by the way is correct. But when they say, “therefore He will send no one to hell,” they are only partially correct. Again God sends no one to hell; man chooses to go there on his or her own accord. At the hour of ones death God will merely pass sentence on the judgment that the individual has already chosen for his or herself. Secondly, She had a problem with obedience. She, along with her family, had been commanded not to look back. But she did anyway.

In Luke 9, we find our Lord calling several individuals to follow Him, but each one had an excuse. The first one said, “Lord I will follow you wherever you go.” But when the Lord revealed He had no place on earth to call home, no place to lay His head, the individual walked away. The second one said unto Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” The Lord replied, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” But that was more than the individual could handle so he too walked away. A third man said unto Him, “Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go and bid my family farewell.” But the Lord replied, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (57-62).

Following the Lord is unconditional. He will not tolerate a half-hearted commitment. He will not tolerate anyone looking back at their past life, their lost lifestyle with fondness and longing. Anyone, regardless of status or association, can feign being a Christian and get away with it here on earth. Pretend Christians, like Lot’s wife, look over their shoulders with great desire for that sinful, godless lifestyle they once supposedly left behind. They are like those to whom St. Frances De Sales described, as ones who “go to confession with a tacit intention of returning to sin, since they are unwilling to avoid its occasions or use the means necessary for amendment of life.” They only “abstain from sin like sick men abstaining from melons. They don’t eat them solely because the doctor warns them that they’ll die if they do, but they begrudge giving them up, talk about them, would eat them if they could, want to smell them at least, and envy those who can eat them. In such a way weak, lazy penitents abstain regretfully for a while from sin. They would like very much to commit sins if they could do so without being damned. They speak about sin with a certain petulance and with liking it and think those who commit sins are at peace with themselves.” They are likened to the man that he describes as one who “has been set free from sin, but yet he is still entangled by affection for it. Although he is out of Egypt in effect he is still there in appetite and in his longing for the garlic and onions on which he once glutted himself. He is like a woman who detests her illicit love affairs but still likes to be courted and pursued. Alas, all such people are in great peril!”

The problem with pretend Christians is that they always have their eyes upon all the wrong things. They refuse to separate themselves from an ungodly world. They use no discernment in what material they read, what movies or television programs they view, what establishments they frequent or what company they keep, they are unconcerned in the types of conversations they engage in, how they dress, act, or walk and talk. They do not “endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they heap up for themselves teachers,” teachers who will tell them its okay to sin, for one cannot loose their salvation. So they “turn their ears away from the truth,” and are “turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4: 3-4).

Lot’s wife probably had everyone in her family fooled. They no doubt believed she was trusting in God to save her. She had everyone fooled but God. The problem with Lot’s wife is the same problem with many today. They attend Mass or some other Christian service, they try to live good moral lives, perhaps have even made a profession of faith, been baptized and confirmed, but have never truly given their heart to Christ Jesus. They may have the world fooled, even their friends and family, but they are living dangerously believing as St. Francis De Sales states, “Given to fasting thinks himself very devout if he fasts, although his heart may be filled with hatred. Much concerned with sobriety, he doesn’t dare to wet his tongue with wine or even water but wont hesitate to drink deep of his neighbors blood by detraction and calumny. Another man thinks himself devout because he daily recites a vast number of prayers, but after saying them he utters the most disagreeable, arrogant, and harmful words at home and among his neighbors. Another gladly takes a coin out of his purse and gives it to the poor, but he cannot extract kindness from his heart and forgive his enemies. Another forgives his enemies but never pays his creditors unless compelled to do so by force of law. All these men are usually considered to be devout, but they are by no means such. Saul’s servants searched for David in his house but Michol had put a statue on his bed, covered it with David’s clothes, and thus led them to think that it was David himself lying there sick and sleeping. In the same manner, many persons clothe themselves with certain outward actions connected with holy devotion and the world believes that they are truly devout and spiritual whereas they are in fact nothing but copies and phantoms of devotion.”

Lot’s wife proved what she truly was when she looked back to Sodom. Her physical body may have been out of Sodom, but her heart was still there. This is a picture of a religious person, a pretend Christian. They are the ones who have never turned over a new leaf, who have never been converted. Their physical bodies may go through the religious motions while sitting in the house of God, but their heart is far from Him. They may profess Christianity but there is a difference between professing Christianity and actually being a Christian, just as there is a great difference between lightning and a lightning bug. When one has truly found Christ, the desires for the old ways of life are gone and all things become new. One can never deceive God into thinking you are one of His children if you are not anymore than you could convince your neighbors you are one of theirs.

Many professing Christian’s walk, talk, dress, and act like the unsaved world and constantly seek reassurance from those that tell them they cannot loose their salvation. Anyone who must seek assurance from those who will guarantee their entrance into heaven while living like Lot’s wife, has placed something or someone higher than God on the throne of their heart. They are nothing more than a seed planted on stony ground. They once heard the word and received it with joy, “yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the world, immediately he stumbles” (Matthew 13:20-21).

The most interesting aspect of the aforementioned passage is the fact that Christ placed no limits on such turning away. It could be an hour, a day, a year, or fifty years. Satan can dupe anyone into believing they are in right standing with God when in fact they are doing his bidding and not God’s. A prime example would be the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees of Christ day.

It will never cease to amaze me why so many believe they can make a half-hearted commitment to Christ and still attain heaven especially in light of what is written: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). And: “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4).

Ponder this for a time…

WHEN DEATH COMES CALLING

One day three demons were arguing over how to best destroy Christians. The first demon said, “Let’s tell them there is no heaven. Take away their reward and they will collapse.” The second demon disagreed. He suggested, “Let’s tell them there is no hell. Take away their fear of punishment and they will go wild.” The third demon smiled and softly said, “No, my friends, there is a better way. Let’s just tell them there is no hurry.” They all laughed for they knew that would be the best weapon of all.

Today there are multitudes of people; even professing Christians that believe that time is on their side. They believe that someday they will turn their lives over to God, but that someday is not today.

Whenever I think about the time we have here on earth I cannot help but recall an ancient story I once heard about a slave who traveled with his master to Baghdad. During his visit he began walking through the busy streets until he found himself in the marketplace where he came face to face with Death in human form. Death, it is said, stared at him with such a piercing look that he became frightened. He interpreted the penetrating stare to mean that Death was planning to take his life so he quickly rushed back to his master’s side and explained to him all that had transpired and then requested permission to ride his camel to Samara, some fifteen hours away. There he believed he would be safe—Death would not know where to find him. When his master granted him permission he quickly departed Baghdad for Samara. A few hours later his master was walking through the marketplace where he saw Death in human form. He walked up to death and inquired, “Why did you look upon my slave with such a threatening look?” Death replied, “That wasn’t a threatening look, it was a look of surprise. You see, I have an appointment with him tonight in Samara, so I was surprised to see him here today in Baghdad.”

This little story demonstrates just how short our lives really are, that death can come to us at any moment and there’s nothing we can do to prevent it.

The problem with death is the fact that it almost always comes unexpectedly. Even when a doctor diagnoses that someone is about to die it still has a way of ambushing us. Death is always abrupt, even when one is somewhat prepared. The truth about death is that people just don’t realize how fragile their lives really are until it’s too late.

No one ever wakes up in the morning expecting to draw his or her last breath, but that is exactly what happens each and every day. With each sweep of the second hand, two people slip off into eternity. That equals to 7,200 people every hour and unbeknownst to all of us one of those seconds has our name on it. Make no mistake about it; every single day of the year people have tragic things happen to them. People who have no reason whatsoever to expect it—yet death comes calling.

Even now as I sit writing this I see the clock has passed 4:30 am. I am on the brink of another sunrise, but how do I know I will see it? I don’t. With death no next minute is guaranteed. Today is a new day, but tomorrow is still yet to come; and is still far away. There is still the possibility that tomorrow may not come, but even if it does, one day it will not.

It wasn’t long before I began to contemplate the day that death would come calling on me. When I began to think about that moment, my mind began to fill with questions. What will I have to show for my life? What will men and women say about me when I am gone? Who will truly mourn my passing besides my immediate family? What will God say when I stand before Him? Will His evaluation of my life greatly differ from my own?

Death is a subject surrounded by many unknown variables such as the uncertainty of an afterlife, which causes many people to become gripped with fear, which is quite understandable when one takes into account that for most death is a great mystery and one must face it alone. Even if family and friends surround one at the time of death, as was the case with my father, one still must face it alone, which makes the prospect of dying undoubtedly frightful, even terrifying for many. People become gripped with fear when they contemplate what it will feel like when they die. They wonder what will be waiting for them when the veil of death is finally lifted. They wonder if the afterlife (if there is one) will be as chaotic and painful as this life has been. People really don’t know what to expect when death comes calling, so they avoid the subject and continue to live as if death doesn’t know they exist.

But death does know that we exist and someday he will come calling on each us unless the Lord returns before that time. It is also certain that there is an afterlife. Christ pulled back the curtain that veils this life from the next through the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-31).

In the story of Lazarus and the Rich man Jesus reveals that the rich man was clothed in the finest purple garments that one could possess, a color normally reserved for royalty. That he lived in a large home with a gate that prevented the undesirables of this world from gaining entrance. One of those undesirables that he sought to keep out was a beggar by the name of Lazarus, who was covered with sores and daily laid at the rich mans gate in hopes of receiving some form of charity.

Daily as the rich man left his abode he past right by Lazarus but wouldn’t even give him a passing glance much less a handout. It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford it; this man had more wealth than he knew what to do with. He wasn’t like most of us who are only able to splurge once in awhile, he lived in opulence everyday. He possessed many servants and friends, he had bountiful food and a desire that everyone know just how wealthy he was. In other words he flaunted his lifestyle. Lazarus on the other hand, was a lonely man who possessed nothing but the clothing on his back. He had no food to eat or water to drink. He was an outcast of society that possessed no other friends than the dogs, whom were also outcasts that provided him comfort by licking his open sores. He longed to merely receive the crumbs that fell from the rich mans table to ease his hunger pains, but nothing was forthcoming.

Now there came a time in Lazarus’ life where his weak and diseased body could no longer sustain life. It was on that day that God sent His angels to the gate where Lazarus lay and carried him off to Abraham’s bosom. It was on that day that God ended all of Lazarus’ misery, suffering and pain. While his spirit rested in the arms of the great patriarch, his body lay lifeless at the rich man’s gate. There would be no elaborate funeral or memorial service; in fact there would be no proper burial. Lazarus’ body merely remained at the rich man’s gate until he ordered it removed.

After Lazarus was gone the rich man continued to live his life in his usual manner, eating and drinking and flaunting his wealth until the day that “death” came calling.

When the rich man died he was given one of the grandest funerals that money could buy. His family even hired the customary mourners to wail and lament away. They purchased the finest burial spices and an elaborate tomb. When it was time for the funeral nearly everyone in town turned out to deliver all the countless eulogies that recalled all of his great achievements. And then in the usual manner his body was placed in the tomb and the entrance was sealed. With the funeral over his family and friends gathered for one last meal in his honor. They gave one final toast to his achievements. But unbeknownst to them all was the fact that while they were enjoying all the food and drink and the other comforts that the rich man left them—he was in a state of misery, torment beyond imagination!

The rich man had lived as if he was never going to die. He was just like the other rich man that Jesus spoke of whose crops were so plentiful that he tore down his old barns to build new ones to store all his crops and goods. When his task was completed he said to his soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink and be merry.” But God had other ideas; He sent death to that mans home where upon death said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; so who will own all your possessions now?”

The rich man was surprised and shocked beyond belief that he found himself in a place of torment. There was no reason why he should be there. He had lived a good life and never hurt anyone. He had merely enjoyed life like everyone else. Now he was in a place of torment and to his amazement, still very much alive.

Countless numbers of people think of death as an end to life. But death is actually only an end to life, as we know it. Life actually begins at death regardless of where one ends up in eternity. Lazarus and the rich man demonstrate that in death everyone is still alive and retains their individual personalities and essential characters. In other words in eternity Lazarus was still Lazarus and the rich man was still the rich man.

We often speak of heaven as eternal life, a place where one retains their vision, hearing and feelings. We speak of heaven as being a place where we will recognize one another, speak to one another, and even think about those we left behind, but we always speak of hell as a dwelling place of the dead. But the dead in hell are very much alive and still retain those same conscience feelings one will possess in heaven. The only difference is that those in hell will reflect on all the times they could have changed their lifestyles had they only accepted God’s gift of salvation. They will plead for relief from their suffering, but those pleas will fall on deaf ears. They will think about the future and how the future will only bring more torment and suffering.

Hell is a place of personal suffering. It is a place where God’s wrath is poured out. It is a place where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies. It is a place of darkness and gloom; where weeping, wailing, and the gnashing of teeth is continuous. Hell is a real place, a place that Christ Jesus spoke of often. If hell doesn’t exist as so many want to claim, the Lord would have remained silent. He would not have described it so vividly. And contrary to the belief of many, it will not be a place where one will have a big party with their buddies.

The rich man realized at the hour of his death that his eternal destination provided no way out. His suffering was so great that his thoughts returned to his family. He thought about how they lived their lives as he had lived and was consumed with a burning desire that Lazarus be allowed to return to the earth so they could be warned in order that they could escape the place where he was now. But his request, his prayer, went unanswered.

Whenever I visit a cemetery and glance across the vastness of the eternal garden, I cannot help but wonder how many of those within the frame of my vision are experiencing the same fate as the rich man at that very moment. Such thoughts always bring a cold, terrifying chill, running down my spine.

The average man or woman does not perceive himself or herself as one in need of a savior. They do not believe that their lives are riddled with sin, sin that will prevent them from escaping the pains of eternal torment. They view themselves as basically good people, hardworking, honest, and friendly. Many of them believe that since they are not involved in the major vices such as sexual immorality, alcohol or drug abuse, they have reached the standard of goodness that is acceptable unto God. Unfortunately their standard of goodness doesn’t begin to compare with God’s standard.

Many people today view Christianity as a set of rules to be followed, but its far more than that. Christianity isn’t about following rules; it’s about falling in love with God. When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments they may have appeared to be a set of rules to be followed, but in actuality they serve as a yardstick to measure ones love toward the One whom has given us all life. Everything about the commandments of God is geared toward the love of God and neighbor. And I do believe when we all come to that understanding we will begin to not only see the necessary changes in our own lives, but in the world at large that will ultimately bring about everlasting life in eternity.

Today is the day that we need to cease placing our own priorities and selfish desires above our love of God and neighbor. Today is the day we need to look at the world around us and cease stealing, lying, and lusting after the things it has to offer by adhering to the words of Paul, who stated, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is Death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:5-8).

The most frightening word in that passage is enmity, which means to have or possess a bitter attitude or feelings of an enemy or of mutual enemies; hostility; antagonism. The word enmity denotes a strong, settled feeling of hatred, whether concealed, displayed, or latent. Hostility it is said is enmity expressed in active opposition. So we see that scripture clearly states to be carnally minded is to be completely at odds with God. And to be completely at odds with God brings about eternal death, not life.

Today is the day that we need to begin looking at our own lives before we look at the lives of others. And a good starting point would be to ask ourselves the questions that Billy Graham once suggested we ask: “What would Christ have me to do? What would He think about my amusements, recreation, books, companions, and television programs? Can I ask His blessing upon this particular thing? Could I ask Christ to go along with me to this particular event? Being omnipotent, He’ll be there anyway. The point is, should you?”

If we truly desire a real, everlasting relationship with Christ we will begin the aforementioned process and then humble ourselves before the throne of God and confess those sins, sins that He is more than willing to forgive. Do not fall into the trap of thinking as so many do, that God gives second chances, or fall into the trap that the demons have laid for you; thinking you have all the time in the world. We need to change now, for we may not have a tomorrow. As Paul stated to the church of Corinth, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

The decision you make today will not only determine the amount of love you have toward God, but towards neighbor and self as well. It will be the determining factor that God will use to determine where you desire to spend eternity. The choice you make today is yours and yours alone.

May The Peace Of Christ Be With You