Less Hits

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I noticed that the number of hits to my blog have dropped dramatically after Easter Sunday. Leads me to think that peoples interest in the faith is at a peak during Lent, and as soon as Easter comes and goes, so does their interest in the faith. Kind of sad really…

It’s sort of like the world series or supper bowl, lots of non fans become fans during the big games. They look up the stats and follow all the games leading up to the big game but once the game is over they are back to their normal lives.

I can almost understand it with sports, all the hype surrounding it and all, but with my faith life, I just can’t understand it. But I am always trying to learn more and more about my faith, so I just have a hard time understanding people who do not. To me, my faith life is more important that any world series or supper bowl or word cup game, but it seems to me that more people are interested in that than in their faith. why is this, what makes people care more about a sporting event, that will have no bearing on their eternal life, than about their faith life, that will have a direct bearing on there after life?

This question has always bothered me, as a youth minister and catchiest I have dedicated my life to teach youth about their faith life. I always strive to keep myself active in the pursuit of knowledge concerning my faith life. And I always was amazed at how many of my young students knew more about a rock star or sports star than their own faith. Many knew the names of obscure reality TV stars but not the name of their local parish priest.

Amazing at best.

But I can not hold the youth responsible, I must look at the culture and parents. the culture we live in looks down upon faith, treats it almost as a illness to be cured. The schools can not or will not discuse faith and it’s impact on American society, all references to religion have been removed or watered down from our textbooks and teachers are encouraged, in the name of incisiveness, to exclude any discussion of faith and religion from the class room. And sad as this may sound, many parishes do the same, they have watered down the teachings of the Church to make them more acceptable to a modern secular society that does not want to be told that they have done wrong. They teach a dogma that is bubble gum theology made to make you feel warm and cozy with who you are, not calling you to become who God wants you to be. They have reduced the Ten Commandments to Ten Suggestions and the Beatitudes have become a mantra for the “Jesus loves you” cult that is growing in our faith.

Now before everyone flies off the handle, let me explain… Yes, Jesus loves you and me, and yes that message is important, but when it becomes the only message we are missing the point. Jesus loves me as I am, but He is still calling me to a greater version of myself, He is still challenging me to become what it is God is asking of me. If I just teach the “Jesus loves me” mantras than I am short changing the youth, I am committing a grave injustice to them. I would even go so far as to say I would be sinning. Jesus himself called people to a greater version of themselves, just think of the story of the rich young man and how Jesus called him to take the extra step to join Him. Yet the young man was not able to do so and left Jesus. Now if Jesus followed the whole “Jesus loves me mantra” He would have simple told the young man, follow me, come as you are, I love you and you don’t have to do a darn thing”. But Jesus did not say that, he said, “Give up all you have and than come and follow me”

17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! 24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. (Mark 10:17-25)

Compare: Matthew 19:16-30; Luke 18:18-30

We all are loved by Jesus just as we are, yet Jesus knows we can be more, we can be better and He calls us to this greatness. Yet all to often we are teaching our youth that all is good “Jesus loves you”. What an injustice to our youth, what a travesty of our responsibility!

The home life, often times, is no better. Parents, often times through no fault of their own, teach the same dogma, or teach nothing at all, feeling it is the Churches responsibility not theirs. I have had to deal with this mentality for over 20 years of ministry. It is frustrating at best and infuriating at worst. All to often parents will pull their child out of formation classes for sporting events or just wont send them because they have to be bothered to drive them and pick them up. The message we send out children is that “religion” and “faith” are nice, but truly not that important. I have has parents ask me it it was ok for their child to miss class because they go to church every Sunday and learn all they need at Mass, or better yet, parents telling me they don’t go to Church but that’s ok because their child attends religion class once a week.

My response to both is basically the same “So if you don’t attend football or baseball practice everyday do you expect to play in the game that week?” Why are we willing to sacrific
e for a sporting event yet not for our faith? Our faith life is not a series of check boxes, it is not a task to be preformed nor is it an event to attend. Our faith life is our pathway to salvation, it is our roadmap to eternity with God. Yet so many treat it as a burden or a task to check off their weekly to do list.

It saddens me to see the number of hits to my blog drop after Easter, not because its my blog and I want lots of hits, but because it shows me that interest in the faith has dropped, that people are not as curious as they were during Lent.

We need to keep our curiosity up, we need to hunger for information and thirst for knowledge. We need to treat our faith life as if our lives depended upon it, because it does!

God Bless

Paul

 

Basic Spiritual Workout: A Guide to Christian Growth for Catholic Youth

 

Hebrews 1:3“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved.

 

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Avoiding Hell…

Last week I was driving my nephew and his friend back home, my nephew lives with me and his friend had spent the night so he attended Mass with us. On the way home his friend said he was thinking about getting baptized in to the Faith. I was happy to hear that, I am always happy to hear anyone say they want to come home to the Catholic faith. And him being a 16 year old youth, I was even more so. But, as I always do, I asked him why, why did he want to enter the faith. His response was typical, when I die I don’t want to go to hell.

Good reason?

Some would say so, and sign them up, tell them Jesus loves you and don’t worry be happy. But not me.

Good reason?

No, not really, it is a reason, but not truly a good reason to become Catholic. Why would I say that, what makes me thing that avoiding Hell is not a good reason. Aren’t we all doing that, following the ten commandments, doing good, praying attending Mass all in an attempt to avoid hell? No, I’m not, not sure about you, but that is not my main point.

So if not to avoid hell, than why?

To attain Heaven!

Hmmm, you may be thinking I am just splitting hairs, that I am just stating the same thing, but using different words. But I am not, the two are exact opposites of each other, directly opposed to each other.

Lets look at the first statement:

“When I die I don’t want to go to Hell”

At the very basic level, the statement is harmless. Very noble ambition. My response to him was “but do you know what the Church teaches?” “Are you willing to follow her teachings?”/ Both questions invoked a look of confusion, a look that said it all, a look that said “Wait, I have to do something, I have to follow rules?” a look that said “I thought saying I was Catholic was enough, I thought Jesus loved me”.

The quest to avoid hell is a quest of negativeness, a quest of avoidance.  It looks at life as a series of task designed to avoid rather than engage. Consider the youth or co-worker who does their best to not do their work. Often times we say of them “If only they would put as much effort in to doing the work as they did in trying not to do the work…” Well, the same holds true for the way we chose to interact with our faith. Do we interact in a negative or positive way. Do we look at our faith and Church as positive or negative? Do we consider ourselves playing offense or defense?

How we choose to enter in to the faith will shape how we live out our faith.

By choosing to enter in to the faith with a negative statement will ensure that your faith journey will be one of a series of negative events. We do project our feelings on to our reality. With the negative outlook on the faith we will see the faith tinted through the lenses of our eyes. The tint will darken all we see and feel. Our faith will be one of darkness one of shadows and hidden corners lurking about to trip us up.

We are called to search for heaven and in doing so we will naturally avoid hell. Jesus talked more about the Kingdom of heaven more that he did about the depths of hell. Jesus gave us the positive message of the Beatitudes to follow, a message the has its goal Heaven. The Catholic faith is an uplifting positive faith, not one that is a heavy weight to hold us down, nor one that uses the darkens of hell as her message.

My Nephews friend was looking at the Church as a way to avoid and not as a way to obtain.

I can avoid debt or I can obtain wealth. The simple fact that I avoid debt does not automatically mean I will obtain wealth, but to obtain true wealth I must avoid debt. The same logic can be applied to the two seemingly similar statements “Avoid Hell” and “Obtain Heaven”. I can do all the things to avoid hell, yet still not enter in to the Kingdom. recall the story of the young rich man who asked Jesus what he must do to follow him.

17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

Mark 10:17-22

The rich man was trying to avoid hell, not obtain heaven. He was willing to avoid all the pitfalls, but unwilling to seek the kingdom.

Are you avoiding or seeking?

Is your faith positive or negative?

Are you entering in to a relationship that is seeking truth or a relationship avoiding it?

God Bless

Paul

Bible Verse of the Day….

Deuteronomy 7:9“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved.

 

Redistribution of wealth

The Obama platform, the one he ran on and the one he is implementing from his seat of power is one of redistribution; wealth is taken from one and given to others in the name of fairness, equality and compassion. The concept that many fell is a biblical one, that somehow being a Catholic we are called to a social justice that requires us to giveaway all we have worked for, to redistribute our wealth to make it equal.

President Obama did not create this concept, nor is he the first to try to implement it, but he is the first to gain such ground support for it, his first 50 days President Obama has done more to attach individual freedoms than any other president I have lived through, and I would venture to guess than any other president in history.

How did I go from wealth redistribution to personal freedom, easy, they are one in the same, The United States of America was founded on very simple principals one being the pursuit of happiness. Notice it is the pursuit not the guarantee of happiness.

We are afforded the opportunity, regardless of sex, race or any other discrimination, to pursue happiness, to make a life for ourselves and to live it in peace. We are not, nor should we be, guaranteed any of this.

The concept of equality is noble and one worth pursuing, but equality is not something that should be taken from one and given to others, but rather it is something that should be offered to all equally. In this great nation of ours we have come down a long road towards equality, we have just elected our first African American President, we are a nation that believes in equality and practices it. Now individuals may not, but that is there personal freedom to choose not to, we cannot and should not regulate equality, but rather we need to educate it.

We are a nation that gives more than any other in history, we are a people who acknowledge our mistakes and strive to correct them, and we celebrate our achievements and work to repeat them. We champion the cause of freedom around the world. Yet to some equality eludes them, they always seem to be on the edge of it, never truly embracing it, or it embracing them.

The question that comes from all this is Are we responsible, as a nation, to hand out equality, to take from the few to give to others? Is it biblical, do we have a Catholic responsibility to do so?  If I make a hundred thousand dollars per year, should I be forced by government redistribution policies to give part of my wealth to others? The simple answer, no, we are not required to redistribute wealth. We are called to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we are not forced to. The government has not moral ground to stand on concerning wealth redistribution, the concept is, in my opinion, one designed to create class warfare and create a social elite who control the poor through government handouts. The idea of wealth redistribution also kills the charitable donations, with the redistribution of wealth many feel no need to donate to the needy, the government has done that for us, or attempts too.

We, as a community of the faithful, have a responsibility to care for the needs of others as this passage tells us:

Acts 4:32-35

The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.
With great power the apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
There was no needy person among them,
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.

Notice the wording, according the needs of each; this does not indicate that the wealth was distributed equally, but rather to the needs of each. Our ability to pursue equality must be protected, each and every human must have equal access to happiness and we as Catholics have a responsibility and moral obligation to care for those among us, but it must be a choice, our act of love cannot be forced. Just as God allows us to love him or not, we must also have the choice of loving our neighbors or not, forced wealth redistribution is not a choice, and in some ways is an immoral act, we are removing from both the receiver and would be giver the freedom to choose.

President Obama’s platform is one of control not one of personal freedoms, we need to pray for him and all in government to not take our personal freedoms away.

May God continue to Bless America and protect her.

Take the Poll

Paul

 

What think you?

Today I am taking a poll, respond below, and than to know what I thing follow the link after the poll

What I think

 

What is your Value?

What gives use value? Is it our jobs, family or maybe it’s what we own? Could it be our homes our cars or is it how we dress? Maybe it comes from who we know, where we hang out or what we wear. What gives us value? What makes us Human, what makes us different than other animals? Is it because we walk on two legs, having the use of the thumb or that we can speak? Is it our ability to think?

It’s a hard question to respond to, think about it for a few seconds, really what gives you value, it is because others value you, is it because you have a family, a husband or wife a  child or two? Is it the social clubs you belong to?

Is the value of humanity based on human thinking, do we set our own value? If we do, than on what bases do we set it? Is the value of the human different today than it was 100 years ago, or even different than what it will be 100 years from now? What is the standard we use to judge the value of humanity?

Who sets the standard, and who decides our value? Is it something we can move up or down on based on certain conditions, like say the amount of money I make or the type of people I choose to hang out with? Is it a set standard or a sliding scale based on skin color or education? Can we purchase more value by attending the right schools or living in the right neighborhood?

Are we born in to a certain value, does one person hold more value that another? Are we stuck our whole life with a certain value regardless of what we do or become? Is life meant to be lived out with only so much value?

You may think I am just rambling on here, but I am not, I have a point to make…

Hitler decided that the Jews were of no value, that they were less human than the rest; The German government enacted a law stating this.  This law allowed them to kill millions of Jews, allowed them to kill what they stated where not really human after all, they were just a subset of humanity, not fully human.

If it is humanity that gives humanity its value, that Hitler had all the rights in the world to do as he saw fit. If might is right, than Hitler was might there for he was right.

If we, as humans, decide the value of other humans than we can determine if they are worthy of life, and if we have that power, than abortion is within our rights, we can decide who lives and who dies, we assign the value.

With this thought process we as humans determine the value of others; we control the lives of others. We have the power of life and death in our fingertips. What a power to have. One that I am not glad I have.

Our value is not given to us by other humans; our value is not something to purchase or work for. Our value is a gift from God; it is God’s love that gives us value, nothing more nothing less. It matters not if we are loved here on earth, it is the love of God that gives my life value, gives the unborn life value and the Jew of the Holocaust value. If this is not true, if God’s love is not our value, than it is just a subjective value we have, one that can change day to day. God’s love is objective, not subjective we do not earn his love, we just receive his love.

If this is not true, if God’s love is not our value than we are no different than any other animal on this earth, we are of no more value than a fish or a dog. And if this is true, than we can live like them, and feel no shame. We can kill our own kind for survival, the fish eat other fish for food, Wild dogs will kill other wild dogs if they infringe on their territory. We as humans should be able to do the same, with no remorse, if it is true that we establish our own value, if Gods love gives us no value, than we should be able to do as we please.

If we look to the outside world for our value, we will never find one that is satisfying; we will always be searching for the missing link. We will always base our value on what others think, what others expect or want. When in truth our value is from God, and only from God, His love for us is the only value that matters. And with this knowledge we are set free, we will no longer feel the need to find our value in the possessions we own, or the people we know or the things we want. We will be satisfied in the fact that we know Gods love for us, and in that we find value.

The current state of humanity is one based on external value; we are searching the physical world for our value, a value that the soul will reject. It is within the spiritual world that we will find value, it is within Gods love. The more Humanity looks outside for value the more we will tolerate abortion, embryonic stem cell research and so called mercy killings. If we can determine the value of a human life, based on the world’s value system, than a life is only worth what we as a society state it is worth.

So is an unborn baby worth $5000.00 in spare parts? Is mercy killing grandpa or grandma ok if it saves the family a little stress? Are we not better than the rabbit that will eat their own if they sense danger?

Our value system is one of pure secular values, one established not on God’s love, but one on worldly possessions. We base our value on what others think, what others expect and want, we look to the outside to see what we do not have, and strive to get it. Weather it is a physical thing such as a car or house, or an emotional thing such as acceptance from others. And we are willing to go to any extremes to achieve this worldly value, even to the extreme of rejecting the love of God in the process.

So where do you get your value?

Paul

 

Salvation is offered freely

…He replied and said to him,
“Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
“You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At that statement, his face fell,
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions….(Mk 10:17-27)

 

Jesus gave the young man a condition for salvation, he was to sell everything, then follow him but the young man was not willing to do so. We do the very same, we are unwilling to give up all we have for Christ, we hang on to your possessions, we treasure them, and display them as meaningful things, yet in reality they are nothing, for only what God offers us is meaningful.

 

What are our possessions, what makes up our treasures? Not only the trinkets and collectables we have, things we purchase with money, but also our attitudes, our outlook on life and our human relations. Anything that blocks our way to God, anything that we hold up can be a treasure we have that is greater then God.

 

Humans have the ability to create false gods out of anything. Look around you, and see what we hold on to. Bitterness, anger, resentment and selfishness, all are possessions and all can be gods. Money, collectables or even people can replace God.

 

Are we willing to let them all go for the one true God?

 

How do we rid ourselves of such possessions? How do we give it all away? The objects we have can go to the Salvation Army or St. Vincent DePaul, but who wants our bitterness, anger, resentment and selfishness? Jesus does, he asks for them daily, upon the cross, and we, as Catholics, can offer them to him through the sacrament of reconciliation.

 

Jesus tell the young man to give all he has to the poor, but what poor? Whom does he speak of? Jesus is speaking not only of the monetary poor but also the spiritually poor, those who lack faith. We are called not only to lift the poor out of poverty, but to also to bring them closer to God.

 

The call to follow Jesus is a call to change; we must leave behind our old life, and forge a new one. We must walk the path that is harder, more challenging and dangerous. The life of ease is not the life of a Christian.

 

Jesus called that young man to salvation, offered it freely to him, if he was willing to put in the work. Jesus did not run after him, and beg him to return, did not negotiate with him for easier terms, Jesus told him what he must do, and he chose not to.

 

We all have to choose our path, Jesus offers us the one true way, a light to follow and gives us instructions to help us along the way, but it is our decision, our choice to follow or not. Jesus will never take away the gift of salvation, it will always be there, but so will the conditions.

 

God offers us eternal salvation, a place at the table, gave us his son’s life as the doorway into heaven, but the road is not easy. The Gospel went on to say:

 

“Then who can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said,
“For men it is impossible, but not for God.
All things are possible for God.”

 

God, in his compassion for us fallen beings, gives us sinners hope, for anything is possible with God. So even that young man can enter the kingdom, if it is Gods will.

 

So why try to follow, God will let you in anyway… The grace of God is for him to decide, we are held to the rules of this earth, and the rules that God himself has place upon us. Jesus tells us to give away all we have, to give up our possessions and follow him. We are to become poor in possessions but rich in faith.

 

It is a dangerous thing to assume the mind of God.   

 

 

“Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
“You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At that statement, his face fell,
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

 

 

Salvation is offered freely, yet we must work at it, we must sow the seeds, and pick the crops. The work is hard, but Jesus tells us that he will make our yolk light, if we follow him.

 

So do you go away sad or do you rejoice in the love of Christ? Do you toil and work all day, or recline and wait for new terms? Christ calls you, invites you in to the fold, but he does not re-negotiate the conditions, the gift is offered, salvation is yours to have, but are you willing to do the work for it?

 

Paul