Feast of St. Justin Martyr

The readings today got me to thinking about how foolish Christianity is if all we do is look around us.  The world always seems to be ready to fall apart.  God says “Focus on me.”

1Corinthians 1:18-24

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:  “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,   and the learning of the learned I will set aside.”

Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”

 
So, the point is, don’t pay so much attention to the world around you, and don’t make too much of your own talents. Remember that every breath you take, every movement you make, is a gift from God.

This is a good lesson to teach your kids, especially those graduating in the next two weeks.

Deadliest Catch

I am a devoted afficionado of the Deadliest Catch, having watched most of all the seasons.  But last week’s show has to top all of them.

What amazes me is how rough and tumble all those guys are, yet how much heart they also have, when you break through the crust.  On last week’s show, Captain Keith, who doesn’t take any **** from anyone.

(Three days later, I finish the post…)

Well this show had everything-a medical evacuation from a 100ft. boat bobbing in the Bering Sea, a storm-of-the-century Arctic hurricane which many on land didn’t survive, a captain pushing his boat to the limit to catch the crabs he’s paid for, and then limping into the lee of a barren island to wait out the storm on one engine through a trecherous passage between two islands.

Anyway, this is the best show on TV, bar none.  Secular TV that is…

Pentecost

Reflecting upon the upcoming feast day, my mind rested on how scared the apostles really were after the events of the passion…and how filled with the Holy Spirit they became at Pentecost.  Imagine being huddled up in a room, all these first saints and martyrs, along with the Blessed Mother.  Now she must have known something, after bearing a son out of ‘wedlock’, and spiriting him away at an angel’s request to escape Herod, being told that sorrow would pierce her heart, and then it coming true 30 years later.  Mary knew who Jesus was, but the apostles had not the slightest clue, yet.  Then Jesus spoke to them, and cleared all that up, gave them strength to keep up the good work he had started.  On Pentecost, the spirit came down, and enabled the apostles to go into the rest of the world and preach, giving them the strength-and courage-to go, as Jesus tells us in John, where you don’t want to go, preaching, spreading the Good News, and building the Church.  Jesus planted the seed, and watered it with His blood.  The apostles were the branches of the Vine, and the church grew quickly, despite Satan’s best efforts.

The meaning of the Ascension

So, as we celebrated yesterday, did Jesus just rise up on a cloud into heaven, the end?

I don’t think so at all.  In Mark’s version, when Jesus rose, two men suddenly appeared, and basically said to the apostles “What are you guys doing, standing there, and looking up into the sky??? Get out there and spread the Good News.”

The Ascension is an exhortation to us, we baptized Christians, to go out and tell the whole word about the exciting news-that Jesus died for all our sins, that he suffered for us, died for us, and conquered death, that he was resurrected.  The event of the resurrection was a bodily thing.  One of the accounts of Easter says that Jesus rose and ascended at the same time.  But most say he rose, appeared to his closest friends many times, for 40 days, and then ascended.

The event coming this Sunday, Pentecost, is when the apostles and followers of Jesus gained the courage to endure.  Christianity was kinda tough in those early days.  Persecuted by the Jews, the Christians were in hiding, behind locked doors.  They were afraid, yes, even Peter.  But Jesus promised them that when he ascended into heaven, he would send the Paraclete, an advocate to keep the truth intact, John 16:13.

And knowing the Truth, the apostles were set free, to go out into the whole world.  Now we are called to live Christian lives, for even if we preach the scriptures, unless we’re living them, our words will not be heard.

May God bless you.

Lilo and Stitch as a Metaphor for “Metanoia”

http://truthandcharity.net/jesus-at-the-movies-lilo-stitch-as-a-metanoia-metaphor/

 

This is a good start.  Enjoy.

I am back!!!

And happy to be back.  I’ll be forming a post or two in the next few days…and I’ll try to do a weekly reflection, at least.

Not abandoning,just changing

I have been called to move on from my current job, and therefore have accepted a new one, better money, more responsibility, etc.  This means better things for my family, more opportunity, and new horizons.  It also means that I might not be writing as much, especially in the short term.  I will try to keep this blog active, though.  And when the time approaches that my diocese starts their new diaconate class, I will be more likely to write.  Please keep me, and my family in your prayers.

God bless.