FOUND INNOCENT!

The big news of the day was the Casey Anthony jury finding her NOT GUILTY of the murder or even manslaughter of her two year old daugher, Caylee nearly 4 years ago. As a parent, the thought of any parent who murders their own innocent child is revolting and we, as the public are always wanting to seek vindication for those children who are needlessly taken from us. The finding guilty of a specific party provides closure for our souls in knowing that there will be a price to be paid for the taking of a beautiful child's life.

But not in this case. As for now, the prime suspect, her mother has been found innocent by a jury of her peers and there are a couple of things that we should remember as Catholics, and as Americans. First of all, as much as anyone followed the trial, I would assume that many of us had already found Casey Anthony guilty based on the media reports and also through the following of the trial and the evidence that we heard on the cable news outlets. As much as we have heard, we did not hear the entire pool of evidence that the 12 jurors heard and we don't know what the made them decide (all 12) that she was innocent. The prosecution may have severely blundered the case, the defense may have had a stronger appeal, but whatever the case be, we must remember that in our country, once a jury of your peers find you innocent in a court of law, you cannot be tried again and be placed in Double Jeopardy. None of us like the idea of this because we feel that someone has "gotten off the hook" in the killing of a young, beautiful little girl. That is the American view, but it must be countered with the Catholic view.

As Catholics and as Christians, we believe also that nobody is ever completely able to hide their deeds from our God as all we do as humans will be laid bare before him, good and bad. Casey Anthony along with all of us will stand before our God at the end of our lives and will have our entire lives replayed before us; good and bad, public and secret events and at that time, we will receve the due reward for our works. Now this doesn't hold a lot of value for the majority of Americans and Western folks because we want to see justice carried out swiftly and correctly. If you kill, we want to see you killed, and in this case most people would have wanted to see it as painful and torturous as humanly possible.

Though the majority of readers may not agree, it is spiritually true that behind this heinous evil, whether Casey was the perpetrator or not, there is a human...a very sick, person that still has a soul and is still in need of redemption. This is the beauty of the Grace of God, that nobody is beyond the reach of his love and his grace. Caylee Anthony's physical life ended much too early, but we should all be comforted to know that her eternal life continued in the arms of Christ. As for the one who took her earthly life, we may never know that person but we should continue to pray for the redemption of their eternal souls that they may find Christ before their days finally come to an end.

At least that is the way I see it.

"I AM LEAVING THE PRIESTHOOD"

As I sit in my hotel room in Dallas on a business trip, one of the things that I wanted to take time to do is to post a new entry to my blog since it has been several months since my last posting. There are many things that I wanted to write about, then as I was outside enjoying my pipe, thumbing through my TWITTER feeds, I saw the headline "FR. JOHN CORAPI LEAVING PRIESTHOOD" http://bit.ly/lZEa3b. I must admit that my heart did sink abit when I read the tweet as I have been awaiting some news since I learned of his temporary removal from priestly duties. For those of you who may not know Father Corapi, there are many videos on YouTube you can watch, including his conversion story. This is a man who lived in the world, and lived a life all about him, until God saved him and from that point he went to Seminary and became a priest, but not just any priest. This is a man who many considered to be at the forefront of the Catholic Church. He has the powerful delivery of a Charismatic pastor, yet for years has set forth the true and faithful teaching of the Church....until a couple of months ago.

What happened at that point is that he had been accused of some inappropriate actions toward one of his employees. At that point, his order and the Bishop pulled him from public ministry until the investigation has been completed and the truth could be found. Now no process is perfect and I can understand that after the scandals of the past 10 years in the Church, there is an increased and potentially overstepping of some boundaries that have been set in place. There are some, like former "Father" Corapi who complain that in the new system, the Priest is judged too soon to be guilty and if they are not, then there are reputations that are irreparably broken and tarnished and I can see that. But I see other things in this situation.

Several months ago I finished a biography on St. Pio of Pietrelcina. If you are not familiar with this Saint, I would highly recommend that you do some reading on this man and his life. Early in his life, St. Pio was given the Stigmata by our Lord and for years there were many Bishops, and others in authority that did all they could to keep St. Pio out of ministry. Many claimed that he was a fraud, possessed by demons, a charlatan and many conspired against him even taking it to the Pope to have him sent to a remote monastery away from the public. St. Pio knew what he was going through was not fair. He knew it was an attack, but he reacted in quite a different way than what we see with Fr. Corapi...he accepted it. Padre Pio realized that when he took his vows as a friar, he submitted himself to his order and he was not about to raise up because his rights were being violated, or because people didn't understand him. He accepted the fact that he may spend the rest of his life in a remote monastery and he was willing to accept that. That, unfortunately is not what I see or hear in Father Corapi's statement.

I came Home to the Catholic Church after spending the majority of my life in the Charismatic/Nondenominational church and I grew up with the fall of Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker and all the rest. I remember Jimmy Swaggart leaving the Assembly of God denomination because "his ministry could not survive without him" (my paraphrase). This arrogance always bothered me and it bothers me now with Father Corapi. When you are ordained a Priest, you are ordained a Priest forever and that will not change. What I see and hear is not about submission and humility at all, but rather self defense and egotism. This is at stark contrast to the experience of St. Pio which I described earlier. Father Corapi would be well to learn that God is his vindication and that he has committed himself to submission of his superiors....even if they are in the wrong and even if he never spoke in public again....EVER.

This saddens me, but it doesn't shake me. When I came into the Church I remember one of my good Catholic Friends told me "Beware the cult of Personality." So I now tell my Catholic friends the same. Father Corapi is a person with a huge personality. He spoke and taught the truths of the Church, but now he has left...but the Church remains and so does her teachings. My faith is not in any Priest, but in Christ and the Church he established. I pray for Father Corapi that he may find his way, but in the meantime, I will remain with The Church.

Jesus and the House of Bread

So have you ever heard of Jesus and the House of Bread? Probably not. It truly sounds like a parable that was in one of the gnostic gospels, but actually it wasn't. It was in the Bible, yours and mine....sort of.

In this Christmas season we all pay attention to the Birth of Christ, but do we realize how much symbolism was actually contained in Our Lord's birth? If you take a close look, you will see that not one event went to waste...it all had meaning, even the place of Christ's birth.

In the Prophet Micah we read:

"But you Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is of old, from ancient times." Micah 5:1.

What was the significance of Bethlehem? I think to fully understand the significance, you must first parallel the books of Genesis and John. I don't want to take a whole lot of time on this one issue, so I will just give a 30,000 ft view for now. In Genesis we read of God creating the world as we know it and through one man and one reason, the entire human race was polluted with sin through the disobedience of Eve then Adam. How did this occur? Through the eating of the forbidden fruit.

In John 1 we see a huge parallel to Genesis as the two books even open with the same verbiage: "In the beginning...." What is going on in the Gospel of John is the beginning of the "re-creation". What man lost in the fall, God is restoring through His one and only Son. As the woman (Eve) introduced sin to the world, the new Eve (Mary) restores the Grace of God to creation. And just as sin was introduced to mankind through the eating of the forbidden fruit, so our redemption comes through the eating of a new fruit...the Fruit of Mary's womb: Jesus.

Now if you are a non Catholic Christian reading this, right now you are a little taken aback, but I encourage you to continue reading and following my train of thought. This thought is not just mine and something that I pulled out of my ears, but rather this has been the teaching of the Christian Church until the time of the Reformation.

Any person doing any search on on any search engine can do a search for "meaning of Bethlehem" or "translation of Bethlehem" and you will come up with a quite amazing translation. Any guesses? Bueller? Anyone? The meaning of Bethlehem is "House of Bread". So imagine this. Our Lord Christ is born in the House of Bread and is further more lade to rest in a manger: a feeding trough. The symbolism here can be mind numbing because from the very birth of Christ we see a precursor to the Eucharist and Christ being our Spiritual food.

Taking this into consideration even builds a stronger meaning for John 6 where Jesus tells his disciples that His Body is real food and His Blood is real drink and it's fulfillment at the Last Supper. Remember, Jesus takes the bread, breaks it and He then tells his disciples: "This is my Body..." We can again see this prefigured all the way through the Old Testament, especially in the Passover. The plan of The Father throughout time has been for us to draw spiritual nourishment through the mystery of the Eucharist. Also notice that as man fell through eating the fruit off the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we are saved through eating the fruit of another tree. The tree this time however was a Cross to which the fruit was nailed.

As we move through this Christmas season, draw close to Christ...draw your nourishment from him. He is the Bread of Life.

Original Sin...Is it Real? What is it?

I want to begin by saying that there are so many inflections and intonations that are lost in email, so please do not read anything that I may write as harsh, as that is not at all in my heart. As I briefly mentioned in my previous email I have been in the Catholic Church for 6 years now and came from a previous life in a non denominational/charismatic/Pentecostal background. The story of how I arrived where I am is much to long, boring and not the reason I write, however, I do feel it is important to place my writings into proper context. Until the time that I became a Catholic, I really was unable to piece together my theology as there is very little theological framework in the nondenominational churches and so many things come from "personal revelation" to the pastor. It really wasn't until I came to the Church that I was able to piece together Theology and get answers to so many questions that I have had for years.

I noticed a week or so ago that you had posted a question on Adam and Eve and the historical authenticity of the account in Genesis. After that you posted another question regarding Original Sin. I briefly looked over the posts, however I have little time to sift through hundreds of comments (as I have a full time job with a wife and 3 adopted daughters) so please forgive me if this is repetitive in nature with some of your other comments.

The creation account was one of the first issues that I had to deal with upon my arrival as my entire life I had been taught a literal seven day creation cycle. This theory, quite honestly, does cannot be squared with scientific evidence, and I now hold to an old earth theory: millions of years. I do think that science and religion can both work together as is exemplified by this quote from Pope John Paul II: "Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes." So in short, do I believe that the Creation account is literal, word for word? Probably not. There are many reasons that I hold to this but one of the main reasons is that to understand the creation account, you must understand how Hebrew history was written. I am not a student of Hebrew history, but I do know that their history was not written linear as our western history is written and as we are used to reading. Their history was written in much more of an elliptical method, to explain concepts and ideas rather than to delineate events when and where they happened. Having said that, I do believe that as the story may not be literal in all its details, we as humans did descend from one woman and one man. Now whether their real names were Adam and Eve....doubtful.

"A God we can understand is not a God we can worship". We do not know why God created man, but we know that he created man to be with Him and we don't know why God chose the methods that He chose. We read in Genesis that God breathed life, his very spirit into that first man. Therefore Adam, while not Deity, carried the life and spirit of God within him. But there is something more that God gave Adam: the freedom to choose. My belief is that while God wanted to be with man and created him for that reason, God also wanted man to CHOOSE to be with Him. He did not want humanity to be pre-programmed robots to do his will. When Adam and Eve (for lack of a better term) chose to disobey the directions given, it was not just disobedience that occurred, the took the option to willingly violate the covenant that was made between their Creator and themselves; The Creator that literally breathed his own life and spirit into them. What happened at this point was something more than we can understand. I believe that there was a basic spiritual connection between Creator and created in a way that we do not and cannot understand and the rebellion in which they partook severed that connection.

What we know about God is that He is Spirit: all powerful, all loving, all caring yet pure and holy. His very essence cannot inhabit the same space as rebellion and what we would call sin. At the point that Adam and Eve disobeyed the Almighty, they "fell out of Grace" with God. What we know from that point on is that just like humanity passes down hereditary illnesses, we also pass down spiritual illnesses and from that point on, all humanity would be born with a spirit that was wounded and broken....not turned toward God. This doesn't mean, as Calvinism would teach in the doctrine of Total Depravity, that mankind is evil, but that our souls are stained with what we would call "Original Sin". Original Sin, you see is not something that we have, as sin cannot be measured or weighed. Rather, Original Sin is something that we are born WITHOUT. It was explained to me that it is much like a baby born without eyesight laying in the nursery. When the doctor comes in and checks on the baby, it is determined that a simple salve would return the eyesight to the child. And through the mystical sacrament of Baptism, this is what occurs to us as Christians. Baptism is not just a symbol, but in a very real, spiritual sense, that water washes returns us into Grace with our Creator and opens our spirits to his calling.

For millennia through the Old Testament what we see is that God took that original covenant that he made with Adam and Eve (through the shedding of the animal to clothe their nakedness) and slowly expanded it from a couple to a family (Noah and his family), to a tribe (Abraham and Sarah) and finally to a nation ( King David). Throughout this time we see God setting up the guidelines by which he could have a people that belonged to him, which he has wanted from the beginning of time. He has always wanted a people that could be His, without spot or blemish but unfortunately, these people were unable to live up to His standards; and this was part of His plan. He knew His creation from the inside out and He knew they would fail miserably over and over and over again.

I read your quote about how the Incarnation was the most beautiful story of all time....or something to that effect and I would agree with you. When you consider that God (which is inconceivable to us) placed Himself in the form of a man, Christ Jesus, that is almost too much. But to go even further to say that this Man who was very God Himself, would take upon himself the very punishment that was due all humanity for our failure to keep the Law, that is almost unfathomable......ah but by faith.

What really is the Bible anyway?

There has never been a more controversial book written in the history of the planet. To some it is holy, to others it is simply a book of fairy tales and stories that the world would be better without: The Bible. It has also sold more copies than any other book in history and probably a large percentage of homes have at least one copy, or at least a portion of it in them.

In the light of the news this week that Westboro Baptist Church is taking their court case all the way to the US Supreme Court, I thought it would be an appropriate time to talk about what the Bible ACTUALLY is---and what it is not. And what about all these cliches that Christians throw around? What does it all actually mean?

Let's get some definitions out of the way at first. What is meant my "The Word of God"? Did God actually write it? The Sacred Scripture was written by men, but by men that were inspired by the Holy Spirit. What we as Christians believe is that God, through His Holy Spirit directed these men on what to write. Why written? Throughout all history, religions have been passed down by two means: oral traditions and written Scriptures. The two have worked together to bring the fullness of faith to His people.

First, let's look at the historical background of Scripture. The Bible is divided into two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is a history of the Jewish people and how God revealed Himself to them over several thousand years, from the beginning of time until the time that the Hebrews were returned to the Promised Land after their exile. Right off, what many people fail to recognize is that to fully understand the Old Testament you must correctly understand Hebrew literary style and Jewish History. When you look at this, what you find is that the Old Testament was not written in a Western mind's eye and there is tons of symbolism in the Old Testament; therefore, it cannot be taken literally: word for word. As an example: Was the earth created in 7/24 hour days? I don't think so. Hebrew history was written in very much an elliptical method, to describe concepts and ideas, not definite periods of time. So I personally side with a very old earth science. Millions of years? Billions? It is all within possibility. In our current western culture we are so used to writings that describe things in a literal chronological time period and this is not the case with the Old Testament.


So what is the purpose of the Old Testament? As Christians, we believe that there are numerous purposes, but the primary purpose to the Old Testament is that is draws a picture for us--a structure so to speak. Through the Torah, we can see the order in which God wanted to set for His people, a people that were to be set apart for Him. He knew, however that these people would never be able to live up to the standards he set. We can see how God hates sin and how it must be purged from our lives. The Old Testament is not just a historical book, however...it is a foreshadowing of things to come--most importantly the coming of the Messiah when the Law of God would be brought to completion.

The validity of the Old Testament is held by the Jewish faith and lasted throughout the centuries and into the time Christ. The Tanach is broken down into two parts: Torah--The Law and Nevi'im--The Prophets all of which are almost identical to what Christians call the "Old Testament". During the time of Christ, this was Scripture, and is referred to multiple times in the New Testament.

What is very interesting about the New Testament is several things. First of all it is the history of the Christian Church and it appropriately begins with the birth of Christ. Secondly, there is very little that is actually devoted to the life of Christ and if you read through what Christ actually taught, we will see that Christ never did actually write anything personally and neither did he command anything to be written. What is also interesting is that he never did denounce the Tanach, nor did he say it was invalid. It was several years after his ascension when the apostles began to write of his teachings and we believe that the earliest writings of the New Testament began somewhere around 55A.D. with the book of Mark being the first book. As Christianity was spreading throughout the known world, the Apostles of the Church would send written letters to the fledgling Christian Churches to instruct them in their new found faith. these letters were meant to build their faith under severe persecution, to correct errors in doctrine and to teach the leaders of the local Churches. Over the next several years, there were many books that had been written, including many of which which we don't have or recognize as "inspired". The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary, The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Truth, The Gospel of Philip and several other are most of them. But what happened to them? Why weren't they included?

From the time of the ascension of Christ until the late 4th Century (approximately 400 years) there was NO "Bible". Teachings were taken from the Old Testament and also from these smatterings of writings. It wasn't until 393 A.D that the Council of Hippo declared which of these books were actually inspired, and the decision was repeated in 397A.D. and 419A.D. at the Councils of Carthage. At that point of history, it is of important note that there was only one Christian Church in existence: The Catholic Church. Under the leading of the Holy Spirit these men determined the books that would be included in Holy Scripture. It is also interesting to note that the Old Testament that was canonized included 6 additional books in the Old Testament: 1&2 Macabbees, Sirach, Judith, Tobit, Wisdom and Baruch. These books along with portions of Daniel and Esther were removed after the Reformation. Why?--that is another long story.

One important point to make here is that though Scripture does refer to valid historical events, it is not to be taken as a sole historical book. And conversely, it is not to be looked at as a sole source of historical events. There is so much more out there from valid historical and Church source that allow us to frame Scripture in context and history.

"Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ"--St. Jerome

As Christians, however we do believe that Scripture is more than text. There is life to us as Christians in Scripture. It should be read, absorbed and lived. There is something very special that transfers to us from the reading of what God has to say to us.

So what does all that mean to us today? What it means is that the Bible is a "family book". It is a book that is designed to speak to the people of God and to inspire faith and to draw us closer to God. Unfortunately, many Christians today have taken this book and have used it as a sword to the world. They put it on poster boards and bumper stickers as if the simple quoting of these verses to non believers as a magic formula will automatically change their minds and draw them to Christ. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. If I were to give a word of wisdom to Christians, I would say one thing: Don't quote Scripture to non believers. Why? The majority of the time, for people that are not Christians, Scripture is useless; it means nothing to them. Yet we quote it as if we know more than them and are superior to them. At the same time you are quoting Scripture, you are lying on your expense reports, cheating on your wife and beating your kids. Living your life in the manner of Christ and showing ALL PEOPLE the love and respect of Christ will do so much more for anyone than trying to preach Bible verses at them. As with any rule, there are exceptions and there are times when Scripture is appropriate..and for those times, you should always be ready and willing to use it, but always with love and respect.

Can Women actually be ordained as Priests?

A FaceBook friend sent me this question earlier wanting to know my take on the issue on women priests based on this article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100927/us_time/08599202151900

So there are a couple of questions in this. CAN women be validly ordained as Priests in the Catholic Church? If the answer is NO, is that discriminatory?

Let's talk about the first question. To fully understand the stance of the Catholic Church on ordination of women, you must first understand the Old Testament. The Church fully believes that the New Testament Christian Church in the first Century was fully founded as a completion to the Old Testament, not a "re-do" or a "start-over".

All through the Old Testament we see God's requirements for the Hebrew priests. They were ALWAYS to be men. There were women judges, and prophets, but the priests were always to be men. Why? because the Old Testament priests were precursors, or shadows of Christ, the Man. Once Christ came and fulfilled the Old Testament, He added the power to the priesthood that it lacked previously. When he chose his Apostles, notice that he did not choose women, but chose men. There are numerous reasons for that, but none of them are discriminatory. The Father's plans for the Church was that these men, these Priests are to stand "en persona Christi" or in the person of Christ to us as the Body of Christ. As Christ was a man, then the Catholic Church, in conjunction with the first Century Christian Church has stated: "Only a baptised man can validly receive Sacred Ordination".

What needs to be mentioned at this point is that as Catholics, we believe that when Christ appointed Peter to be the first head of the Church that anointing that was given him has been continually passed down to each Pope thereafter, and in return, to the Bishops that he ordains, and therefore to the Priests that are ordained by the Bishops.

There are always schismatic groups inside the Church that are pushing for many things, but the fact of the matter is that if a Bishop "ordains" a woman as a priest, that is NOT a licit ordination and it is NOT sanctioned by the Church. No matter how much that person wants it to be valid, or no matter how good the intent, this person is not in line with the teaching of the Church and is not a priest, but in name only. These people that push for ordination of women in the Church are doing so for personal gain, ignoring the laws that God has laid down throughout history, from the beginning of time.

The Catholic Church hasn't just arbitrarily made this rule to discriminate, but has done this in conjunction with the entire Church history. Those who disagree to that extent with this teaching could, I am sure find some church out there that would fit what they believe is right and they could be "ordained" in that church. However, as a Catholic, I am tired of people from outside the Church, who have no stake or faith telling the Church how to run ourselves. We are not a political organization, nor a company, we are The Church of Jesus Christ and we under the guidance of the Holy Spirit lead the Church as Christ directs.

Now, the second question. Is this discriminatory? I would like to point out that throughout current history the Catholic Church has done more for the liberation and freedom of women throughout the world than any other world religion. We have 3 women that have been named as Doctors of the Church: Catherine of Sienna, Teresa of Avila and St. Teresa of Lisieux. We honor Mary, the mother of Christ for the role that she chose to take, we have stood against women held in slavery and tried to free women that are imprisoned in sexual trade. We don't force women to wear clothes that cover them from head to toe and believe that they have God given roles in our world. They can be Presidents, Senators, mayors, governors, doctors, lawyers, broadcast journalists and farbeit...even mothers. In addition, there is a great attack by the Enemy on the Church, and that attack sometimes comes from within. This area of attack is specifically to degrade the roles that God has set in place that differentiate men and women. We have equality under God as Children of God, but clearly defined roles as shown not only in the physical world, but also in the spiritual world as well. Just as men cannot bear children, women cannot be priests.

I fully believe that the two main reasons that people find the Catholic Church "discriminatory" are 1) we stand against artificial contraception and 2) we don't believe that women can be priests. They can be nuns, and they can have great effect on our society as the examples I listed above but they have separate roles.

So in closing, no, the Catholic Church will not ever change it's mind on the ordination of women, though schismatic groups may press and threaten. Leave it they will, but the Catholic priesthood will forever an always be reserved only for men.

What is the point?

Christianity--2000 years old. What is the point? Is there really one?

It is my opinion that a large portion of western Christianity, especially in the United States has forgotten the point. Now, granted, they wouldn't believe me, or even accept this statement, but they have. You can only make this statement if you take a panoramic view of the Christianity from before it's inception to present.

Presently,What I see in a large chunk of Evangelical Christianity, is that they have noble intentions, but many lack in substance. Having been out of the Evangelical circle for almost 9 years, I have lost personal touch, but it is not that hard to keep in the loop by flipping on any host of cable channels to see churches local and nationwide reaching out with their own message of the gospel and the majority of the time, what I see deeply saddens me. In a way to outreach, houses of worship have transformed themselves into what seems more to appear to be a nightclub than a church. Crosses have been removed, altars are gone and no more kneelers. They have been replaced by wide screen monitors, smoke machines, high tech lighting systems and cappuccino bars in the lobby. I understand the reasoning behind this is to make church more comfortable for those who are not-christian and unchurched. Believe it or not, I have seen some churches that are beginning to meet in bars and adult establishments that are closed on Sunday morning. They are wanting to get people in so they can hear the gospel and know Christ and this is a noble goal, but where has the sacred and holy gone? Communion is on a whim many times, not being celebrated but once a month or once a quarter! Where is the reverence and awe for our God who created the universe by His very word and more than that gave us His only Son as a Sacrifice for our sins? Has the Christian faith broken down so far that we must resort to entertainment to draw people in? Have we forgotten that it is the Holy Spirit that draws men to himself?

Once inside the service one hears uplifting, modern music that excites you and you feel glad to be there. For a short moment of time, you might forget all that you came in with and focus on the worship service at hand. After this, you might hear a very uplifting message, although that might also vary. Many messages out there portray our faith as some type of life preserver that will save you from this world that you are mired in. "Have faith...." because it is God's will for you to have a good, blessed life. It is God's will for you to have a good job, a good marriage, a good spouse and for your life to be full and for you to live it at it's fullest! GOD WANTS TO BLESS YOU!

Does any of this sound familiar?

How does this explain Christians who live with continual suffering in their life? Do they not have enough faith? Are they living in sin? Or could it be that God has actually ordained this suffering for this point in their life...is that a feasible option? I have come to the conclusion that God has higher priorities for us than our happiness and well being. His plan for our lives move well beyond that; and I don't necessarily mean Heaven. In many cases Western Christianity has lost sight of the point of Christianity. Christianity is not just a philosophy, or a series of beliefs. It is not even acknowledging the supremecy of Christ and that he did die on the cross. The Gospels clearly state that there will be some that cry our "Lord, Lord...." and he will reply to them that He never knew them. What does this mean to us?

Our Christianity began before Christ, in Judaism and the Law. God had placed the Law into place as a way for people to move forward past their disobedience into a right relationship with Him. The only problem is that it was completely impossible for anyone to do that. The law was written on stone and it had no life in it. Paul stated very clearly that the Law was given to us to show our inadequacies and that we weren't able to meet the very high standards that God had set for us. So, man was doomed from the beginning as we had been given an unreachable standard. And therefore man must die...and be eternally separated from his Creator. But God had a greater plan. His plan was in His son, "the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father". Through Christ who maintained an inseparable nature of 1oo% God and 1oo% man, the Father allowed this Messiah to take upon himself the punishment that was due all mankind. This is the Christian mystery. As Christ was in His perfect form, co-existent God and man, is the desire that the Father has for us...to be able to exist with Him in perfect unity. And the humanity that Christ was bore upon himself the sins of the world.

More than that, the eternal God that Christ was, means that the sacrifice that Christ made for us is eternal and ongoing...it never stops..it never ends, as he is "one in being with the Father". In this we have the wonderful mystery and Sacrament of the Holy Mass. THERE IS NO GREATER FORM OF WORSHIP EVER, EVER, EVER, THAN THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST, PERIOD! There is nothing that we can do to supercede that. It is simply beyond amazing even more that by the Grace of God and Our Lord Jesus that he has ordained that we are able to participate in that Sacrifice with him, in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. In Holy Communion, we are taking into ourselves the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord, just as he said in John 6. This is a mystery too big for us to understand, bigger than all of us. But the intention of our Christian walk is for us to be transformed into the image of Christ. WE HAVE TO CHANGE. We have to lay EVERY area of our lives down at the foot of our Lord, with nothing to spare. This is our Christian Faith, not just belief, but transformation.

I heard it said one time that we practice dying every day of our life. Every day we must look at our lives and ask our Lord what we must rid ourselves of that would bring us closer to him and change us more into His image. There will be one final day that we will die and this should be the ultimate form of sacrifice to us. That is the time that we will give to God everything we have...our very soul into his arms.

I don't believe that we have to make people WANT to come to church. We don't have to draw them in with programs or balloons, or coffee bars. The fact of the matter is we draw people in the way of St. Francis: "Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words". The rest is not up to us, as much as we would like it to be. Our Christian worship should ALWAYS be centered around what has redeemed us, the precious Sacrifice of Our Lord. This is what saves us! This is what unites us to God himself!

So as we move into the weekend, remember the point....remember what we are all about and to Whom we belong...it is not about feelings, it is about transformation.