Category Archives: Thoughts

This has been on my mind a lot lately. 

“I remember an African preacher who visited a church I used to attend in Northern Virginia.  He insisted that through God’s grace he had performed innumerable healings.  When one of the assistant pastors looked at him a bit doubtfully, he pointed to the Bible and said, “Young man, there is a big difference between you and me.  You see this book right here?  We believe it.”  (What’s so great about Christianity by Dinesh D’Souza p9) 

I’m afraid that I am like the assistant pastor.  Throughout my life I have wondered what the world would be like if I lived like St Paul or St Peter or any of the early Christians.  The dedication and zeal to living the Gospel like them requires more than I have given in my life.  Totally believing – to the point that we could perform miracles like the Apostles!  Totally believing with the faith of a mustard seed. 

Lord, help me to believe with that same zeal of St Paul, St Peter and the early Christians. 

Jesus’ Mission Statement

Here is the Gospel from today, Sunday January 24, 2016:
He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Today at mass, Fr Jay stated that this passage was Jesus’ Mission Statement. He also said that this is every Christian’s Mission Statement. How true!

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

How do we measure up to our Mission Statement?

It was the third Sunday in September, 2014.  I proclaimed the Gospel, preached my homily at the 10:00 mass and sat down.  As I was sitting there reflecting, I realized that my homilies are very Catholic social justice orientated.  I thought about it and also realized that I was doing very little to live the same Gospel I was preaching to others.
That was a little unnerving to say the least. But it was true. I realized that I needed to do something about it.

That week I started by writing to all my legislators asking their support for a bill that was in Congress. I have continued a dialogue with one of my legislators on issues that support Catholic Social Teaching. I also realized that I needed to allocate some of our giving to help the truly poor of the world and made a donation to Food for the Poor. We are so blessed here in the United States that we give little thought to the parts of the world that really need the basics to support life. I ask God to help to live the Gospel first by my actions.

I do not know where this path will lead or what tasks God will ask me do, but I ask God to help me and guide me on my earthly journey so that I help those in the greatest need of the basic necessities to live.