The “Breaking of the Bread” and humble service go hand in hand….God is fully present in both actions….Found in the ordinary, which transforms into the extraordinary

Today is Holy Thursday and tonight at Mass we commemorate the founding of the Catholic Priesthood……You will notice that Jesus commemorates this very important day with an act of humble service…”Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist”…..This act clearly was symbolic and meant to teach us all - That in order to love God, we must love others, by how we live….There are many things to note about the importance of this event…Allow me to bring up a few…While Jesus us trying to teach Peter and the rest about what it means to serve others, as well as show them that in the “Breaking of the Bread” we are all fortified to live the life of the Gospel…His 12 friends were absolutely clueless!……”Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”……Why do I bring this up? - To throw stones at these men? - NO…..I bring this up because Jesus knew that they would eventually “get it”…He was patient with them…A lesson for us all….We must be patient with each other….Getting back to the washing of the feet….A very common act, no fanfare, yet so important….This morning I read a reflection from one of my heroes…Fr Walter Ciszek SJ…He was a Jesuit priest who spent 20 + years in prison in the former Soviet Union….This is what Fr Ciszek said about what it means to be a priest and what to means to live out our Catholic faith in real time….”There were no startling conversations, no miracles performed, no sensational prayer sessions testifying to the work of the Holy Spirit, no pomp, no splendor in our religious services”……What Fr Ciszek is trying to teach us is…God is found in the ordinary….Like how Jesus washed the feet of his friends…God is found in humble service - This is the root of what it means to be Catholic, whether one is a priest or sitting in the pews - We learn this at Mass this evening….We “eat the Bread of Life”…And then we are fortified to “go forth” to serve each other….As Fr Ciszek put it…..”no pomp, no splendor”….But through the giving of our self to each other in humble service….Like the first disciples…Our eyes open…Eventually!

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”

How do we find God?…A question asked for centuries…How do we see Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament…Another very good question…..A person could be a stone cold atheist who honestly with an open heart is searching for the Truth…That person will find God…Another way…When we extend a hand to serve others….That same person, a stone cold atheist, when he or she extends a hand to help others - Something will happen deep inside of them...Because when we serve the broken, the poor and the lost…We serve Jesus himself…When we do that consistently…Our eyes open……India is a very complex country…The last time I checked, two of the top five richest people in the world are from India…And while that is true, a large percentage of the population live in dire poverty…..On given day while I was in Kolkata, the sisters were taking handicapped children to a Science Museum in the city…This was a place that only the rich would or could go…But Mother Teresa's sisters give these handicapped children the best they can and so that day we took them to a place only the elite of Kolkata got to enjoy…So picture this: A group of Catholic nuns in a city comprised of mostly Hindu and Muslim people with a bunch of American, Canadian, South American and European volunteers in addition to around 50 severely handicapped children, all coming from the bottom rung of Indian society - We are all together on a line with the wealthy and elite of the city….I was tasked to carry this 12 year old boy…His body was twisted...As I carried this kid I watched the eyes of “polite society” look at us in absolute disbelief - Stunned!…..As Fr Ciszek said…..”no pomp, no splendor in our religious services”….But while there was no pomp and no splendor in what we did that day…I know this..Jesus was with us on that line!…..And his Holy Spirit could tangibly be felt by everyone who saw what was going on….Jesus was a regular man - A carpenter…He walked among us and still walks among us…If you sincerely want to find God….Serve others….And you surely will find him!

“I give you a new commandment, says the Lord: love one another as I have loved you.”

Tonight at Mass we will witness not only the founding of the Catholic Priesthood but an act of humble service, the washing of the feet of 12 men in front of the altar….This gesture, while symbolic serves as a reminder to us all…..Our faith is not an “academic pursuit”…Its to be lived out in the ordinary day to day lives of our families and neighbors….To do this we must be fortified by the “Breaking of Beard”…Something else we will witness tonight at Mass…Because with the founding of the Catholic Priesthood, comes with it the ability for us to consume Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament….And when we consume the Eucharist in a state of grace…Our eyes open and our hands become instruments of God, quick to serve a broken world….As Fr Ciszak went on to say in the reflection I read this morning….”It did not make getting up in the morning to face another day of rough and wind-whipped work any easier, or the work itself any less exhausting, but it added a dimension of expiation and sacrifice to our lives beyond the sheer necessity of survival and enduring one more day…It added a Sacramental element to the labor and sufferings of the day”……The “Breaking of the Bread” and humble service go hand in hand….God is fully present in both actions….Found in the ordinary, which transforms into the extraordinary

We do not have to have all the answers - But know this - God has the answers….Stay the course - Full Steam Ahead

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Matthew that the hour of Jesus’s betrayal is drawing near…..”One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.”……What drove Judas to do what he did?….That is the question I want to explore…..Judas saw all the miracles, he witnessed the crowds…How could he do what he did?…..To answer this question, I think we have to get some historical context first….The Jewish people at the time when Jesus walked among them were under the yoke of the Roman Empire….People were looking for a King to free them from Roman occupation….Then here comes this Carpenter from Nazareth….People liked what he had to say…He spoke Truth to power…He was fearless…But the problem was, he did not “fit the mold” of the King they were looking for…Jesus said very clearly…”My Kingdom is not of this world”…The Jewish people were looking for a King to wield a sword not to enter Jerusalem on a humble donkey…I believe this reality was at the heart of Judas’s betrayal…It was not the fact that he did not like Jesus…He simply lost faith in Jesus’s method of freeing the Jewish people…..Now the question for us to answer…How about us? - Do we trust in the method laid out for us by Christ? ….Jesus did not write a book, he founded a Church….And the Church, while each and every member in it is flawed, the teachings of the Church are perfect…Let’s stop right there…Do you believe what I just said?….If you don’t….Pray!!!….Jesus tells us….”Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”…..God loves us and He will never refuse us this request…Simply ask in the words you know - Praying does not have to be fancy - Talk to God like you would a friend……..God will show you that the fullness of Truth is found in the one Church that Jesus founded…..God’s ways are not our ways…I say that because to the secular mind, the teachings of the Catholic Church do not make sense…..And this is why we must ask the Lord to provide us with grace.

“For your sake I bear insult, and shame covers my face. I have become an outcast to my brothers, a stranger to my mother's sons, because zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.”

This may sound strange to some but one of the greatest revelations of my enter life can be boiled down to this sentence…”My way does not work”…..Allow me to explain…I tried to live life under “my terms” as a young man…And it did not work…In my early twenties, by God’s grace I “put down” doing it “my way” and slowing the Lord took me by the hand and showed me “his way”…I am still on that journey……I have also come to understand the wisdom contained in Catholic teaching….Think about this for a moment…For 2000 years Catholic teaching has withstood the test of time….A life built upon it is a life that not only bears fruit but one that will last for the long haul….But this is a grace to believe that…How does one receive such a grace?…..”Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”……..I remember the day of my wedding - September 8th - The Feast Day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary…Here I am 43 years old, I am not a rich man and I am about to get married…I was fully committed to living a Catholic life and that meant being open to life, which means not using contraception…..Let’s stop right here….People reading this right now are saying - You are crazy!……No - Remember what I just wrote….Believing and living as a Catholic is a grace….Allow me to continue….As I sat in the back of the Church…I thought to myself…How am I going to do this?….Fast forward, I now have five children…My wife and I lost three children due to mis-carriages…We live in a small house…I drive a 21 year old car…..But through it all….My family wants for nothing!…All my children go to Catholic school…They are happy and everything they need has been provided by God - Everything!…..Now if you were to “calculate” how this “makes sense”…You will not get your answer…But if you rely on God and his grace….It not only works out but it makes perfect sense!…Everything comes down to grace…We must ask for it…God is Our Father and like all good fathers, he loves us and will always provide…We must learn to “trust the process”….God did not write a book, he established a Church…We can not separate Jesus, the head from the Church, which is the body…To believe that once again is a grace…Ask for it - And it will be given to you!

“For the LORD hears the poor and his own who are in bonds he spurns not"

Today in the Gospel read at Mass, we hear how Judas gave up on Jesus…How he “thought” there was a better way…That the “method” that Jesus proposed would not work…..In many ways, we all are no different…God’s way is the only way but that way many times “does not make sense”….Its in those moments, when we grope in darkness, that we must believe all the more…….We do not have to have all the answers - But know this - God has the answers….Stay the course - Full Steam Ahead

No matter who you are…No matter how gifted you may be…God can do more with your life then you can

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St John a conversation between St Peter and Jesus…I love the character of St Peter…He is so human….”Simon Peter said to him, "Master, where are you going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later." Peter said to him, "Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times”…… One can say to themselves, why would Jesus pick such a man to be the first Pope?…Someone who was uneducated, who spoke without thinking a lot and denied Jesus three times when he needed him the most…Why would God pick such a man?…Two reasons come to mind…Peter had heart and Peter was humble….These are the kind of people God can use….We live in a hyper-completive world, which values many things that God does not value…God sees the human heart…He sees us in a way the world does not see us…He sees what we are capable of…Within the human soul there are what St Teresa of Avila called “caverns”…Deep pockets which only God can see…We do not even know they exist…But they are very clear to God….Within those “caverns” rests our potential….This is why we must trust God to shape us…If we do - If we give God free rein over our life…God will lead us into the “caverns of our soul” and its there that we will do things we could never have believed possible…This is what happened with St Peter, who was just a humble uneducated fisherman…But God did not see him that way…Peter had heart and Peter surrendered himself fully to the will of God…With all his mistakes and all his flaws, look what God was able to do with this simple man!…Do you somehow think you are any different?…The possibilities are endless…. If only we surrender

“For you are my hope, O LORD; my trust, O God, from my youth. On you I depend from birth; from my mother's womb you are my strength.”

I grew up in a working class family….I have an average intellect but worked hard……One can say I was an “over-achiever”….But when you come right down to it…I am a very “common person” who comes from common Southern Italian stock….I say that because I look back at my life and can not believe where God has taken me…..All because I said YES…Many people reading this are FAR more gifted then me…I say that because it is simply true….On one of my trips to India, Mother Teresa’s sisters connected me with a priest who served some very poor tribal people who came into Kolkata from the country side. My parish priest from New Jersey was financing them and I was visiting their Church one given day by motorcycle………As I was riding across a bridge on the back of a motorcycle in the heart of India, for a moment I said to myself………”How did this happen - How am I here doing this?”…It was almost like looking at myself through the lens of a dream - How could this possibly be me!?!……But it was very real and it was me…Why do I bring this up?…Are you any different than me?….In many ways, I would bet you are infinitely more gifted than me…Smarter, stronger, have more resources, etc…Just think what God can do with you?…It all comes down to a YES….Give your consent to God!….Fr Raniero Cantalamessa is the current preacher to the papal household in Rome…He is a very famous man….Before he was asked to do that job, he was a professor in Rome…His life was very good…One day he had a dream that he was on the back of a chariot and he had the reins of the horses in his hands and Jesus was standing next to him…But as he was standing there with Jesus next to him, he would not “turn over the reins” of the horses to him…The dream was implying to Fr Raniero that he was completely in control of his life - Even though he was a priest - He had not surrender his will……..This reality bothered him.....So the very next day, he resigned from his job and goes into St Peter’s square…..No one was in the square and he starts screaming at the top of his lungs below the papal apartment of Pope John Paul II…”Courage Holy Father - Courage”…Believe it or not…As irony would have it - The Pope heard him and was like…..”Who is this mad man?”…And when he heard it was the famous professor Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, who just resigned from a very prestigious job and is now screaming like a crazy person - ”Courage Holy Father - Courage”…The Pope said, “This is the man who needs to be the preacher to the papal household”…That is a true story…And Fr Raniero has this job to this very day……What am I trying to communicate to you?…….We must surrender…God is looking for people with heart…These are the people God can use…Do you have heart?…I bet you do!

“My mouth shall declare your justice, day by day your salvation. O God, you have taught me from my youth, and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds”

Today at Mass we are told about how St Peter makes a bold claim..Only to fail…But that was not the end of the story…Peter asked the Lord for forgiveness and then came back stronger than ever…Peter did not have “the best resume” but St Peter had heart!…This is why God choose him to be the first Pope…What about you?….Within each of us, there is unseen potential…God sees this even if you may not….The only thing standing in the way of us realizing that potential, is our reluctance to “turn over the reins” of our life to God….No matter who you are…No matter how gifted you may be…God can do more with your life then you can

We have to “make room” for the Holy Sprit in our lives before we can be filled by it…The more we “pour out” our life, the more God can fill us with himself…The closer we are to God in union with him…The more he can use us…Ultimately satisfying the deepest need that exists within us all…That is how the “calculus of God” works

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St John how a woman “wastes” costly perfume by pouring it on the feet of Jesus and drying his feet with her hair…”Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil”……Scripture tells us that this perfume was worth an entire years wages….This was an extravagant gift…And “people being people” - They complained and grumbled about what Mary had done….Why would Mary do this?….Was this simply an over reaction or frankly a waste?……Mary understood who was standing in front of her…Jesus is God and when one steps back and thinks about what Christ endured and sacrificed for us, no gift is too extravagant….A life lived for God and others is not only a beautiful way to live but it is the only way to live…Its time to pay it forward!…But before that happens, we must come to “see” as Mary did…She did not give ”what was left over”, she gave everything she had…And so must we

“I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.”

Far too many people view a life dedicated to God as “a waste”…I have even heard this among Catholics…They “think” somehow a person, whether a nun, a priest or frankly a pious lay person is “missing out”….Nothing could be further from the truth!…..Deep within each person is a desire for God…Until we satisfy this “thirst” for God, which is in each and everyone of us…We will NEVER be fully satisfied….The closer one unites himself / herself to God, the more fulfilled that person will be…Still don’t believe me?…….I have communicated in the past in these reflections that I did not get married until I was 43 years old….In my early twenties, I fully committed myself to living a Catholic life and being that I was single, that meant no sex before marriage….Finding a woman who saw the world like I did was no small task but God is faithful and he brought me my wife, whom I view to this very day as a treasure!…So back to my story…I remember when I turned forty I was still single and was at a childhood friend’s home celebrating his fortieth birthday.…I was siting next to his sister, who was trying to convince me that the life I had chosen was “a waste”…She was not trying to be mean, she was sincerely concerned for me….”Joe - You are missing out”…..Looking back on that conversation, I say to myself…”Missing out on what?”…..Now I do not want to throw stones at my friend’s sister, she meant well, however she simply does not understand nor has she encountered the Lord in a meaningful way….I think I can say that because if she did, she would not had said what she said…..Each of us was were created by God, to live for God and be with God for all eternity….The closer we get to God, the more fulfilled we will be….I have seen this in real time…Trust me!…If you have ever met a sincerely holy person in your life…Yes - Such people do exist - You will see what I am talking about….They are the most joyful, fulfilled people that walk this earth…Why would you not want that for yourself?…It is within your grasp!…This is why the example of Mary “wasting” all her expense perfume to anoint the feet of Jesus was not a “waste”…A life fully committed to the Lord, whether one is single, married or a consecrated religious is the best life one can lead - And you can led it!…Don’t believe the hype!….Jesus tells us point blank - “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly”……Still don’t believe me? - Look for yourself…Seeing is believing

“I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”

Today St John tells us in the Gospel from Mass about how a simple woman gave an extraordinary gift to God…We too can give such a gift - By giving of our very life, lived out in service to God and others….Each of us, believe it or not is called to “pour ourselves out”…This idea goes completely against the message of our materialistic and consumer culture, which “programs us” from the time we are young until the time we die….The more we “empty ourself” for God and others, the more room we make for the Holy Spirit to dwell within us…..Catholics pray novenas to the Holy Spirit and Christians call on the Holy Spirit…This is all well and good, but what we sometimes forget is, we have to “make room” for the Holy Sprit in our lives before we can be filled by it…The more we “pour out” our life, the more God can fill us with himself…The closer we are to God in union with him…The more he can use us…Ultimately satisfying the deepest need that exists within us all…That is how the “calculus of God” works

Dare to be great and God will accomplish great things through you….But only if we empty ourself and drink of the bitter cup…”The Cross” stares us in the face…”Stare it down” and march forward!

Today is Palm Sunday, Holy Week begins…We read in the Gospel from St Luke how Jesus is abandoned, tried by a kangaroo court, convicted and killed…In reading this narrative this morning, one can see human nature on full display…In 2000 years nothing has changed…But what also has not changed is the path laid out for us by the man who showed us the way…We must embrace the Cross!…There is no other way…And if we do, our life will speak…This is within the grasp of each of us…The second readings at Mass from St Paul also lays out the “blueprint”, which must propel us forward…

“Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

If you are not familiar with this passage…Read it again!…..This is who Jesus was, summed up in a few lines…And this is who we must become….Simple…Humble….Obedient….And a servant to all…This is the Cross…This is the path to life. In reading the Gospel today, something about St Peter also jumped out at me…I love St Peter, he is a strong man, he puts his “foot in his mouth” a lot…But he has the best of intentions…He also admits when he is wrong and never quits!…There is an exchange between St Peter and Jesus that I want to bring to your attention....……"Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers." He said to him, "Lord, I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you." But he replied, "I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day, you will deny three times that you know me”……..St Peter had the best of intentions, but his big mistake was relied upon his own strengthen…A lesson is to be learned here for all of us!…We must rely on grace and not on our self…..And when we do….Great things will happen…Great things!…As we all know…St Peter fails Jesus, but that was not the end of the story…St Peter repents…And he fulfills what he was called to do from the very beginning…”Once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers”

“I will proclaim your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you: "You who fear the LORD, praise him; all you descendants of Jacob, give glory to him; revere him, all you descendants of Israel!"

Holy Week has begun…Jesus enters Jerusalem as a king and he exits as a criminal…A great lesson can be learned from this week…..The week begins with cheers…”Hosanna”…And the week ends with “Crucify him”…..What can we learn from this?…..We must live for an audience of one!…..The only opinion that matters is God’s opinion….This brings us right back to St Paul in the second reading from Mass….When we embrace “the Cross”…No other opinion matters…And when we do that…..We will accomplish the task at hand……

“The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; and I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.”

Dare to be great and God will accomplish great things through you….But only if we empty ourself and drink of the bitter cup…”The Cross” stares us in the face…”Stare it down” and march forward!

”In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity”

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading we hear from the Prophet Ezekiel. We are told of a time when a man brings everyone together…One mind…One heart….One family…Reading this passage brought me such joy because our world today is so divided…Only in God can such unity exist among diversity….

“Thus says the Lord GOD: I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to which they have come, and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land. I will make them one nation upon the land, in the mountains of Israel, and there shall be one prince for them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms. No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols, their abominations, and all their transgressions. I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy, and cleanse them so that they may be my people and I may be their God. My servant David shall be prince over them, and there shall be one shepherd for them all; they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees. They shall live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their fathers lived; they shall live on it forever, they, and their children, and their children’s children, with my servant David their prince forever. I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD, who make Israel holy, when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.”

“Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.”

Each of us were created in a unique and unrepeatable way….However, what we have in common is we were all created by God - Our common Father…There is nothing wrong with being “different” but when we forget that we were created by God, for God and to be with God for all eternity - Something breaks deep within the individual as well as in society…That is the source of all our division!….A lot of “lip service” is given to the word “tolerance” today…But in the end it is just “lip service”….Our world pretends to respect differences - A lot of virtue signaling is projected but under it is hatred and power driven authoritarianism….A dictatorship of relativism prevails today and secular humanism is the new religion of our age…….At the heart of this “new religion” and the “god” it created is a new “commandment”….“There is no objective right and wrong”…And because this dogma exists, there is no unity…..In Catholic teaching, there is an understanding that all of us are different, yet we were all made by the same God….This is the only way to navigate the issue of societal fragmentation, which we face today as a people…”In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity”…Our world today has forget “the essentials”…And that is why we are fragmented….But fear not…..The man whom the Prophet Ezekiel told us about in the first reading from Mass today has come and walked the earth…The “seeds” of unity have been planted deep within the soil….One day from those seeds, we will see the fruit promised to us…Until that day, we must hold fast to a rock solid foundation and build upon it....From that foundation true tolerance and unity will flourish…Because without a strong foundation, a structure will collapse but as long as we build upon a solid foundation, our “House” will remain…..”In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity”

“Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, proclaim it on distant isles, and say: He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together, he guards them as a shepherd his flock.”

God is very real…And if we care to “look”…We will see just how real he is

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St John the words of Jesus spoken to those who do not believe in him….Let’s examine those words for a moment…”If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father”….Even the greatest miracles witnessed by humanity can not change the human heart…And if you want to look at 2000 years of Catholic history…If we look at the lives of the saints and all the countless miracles that have occurred in real time…Mankind still persists in turning his back on God and the Church….Jesus addresses this reality when addressing the Pharisees today in the Gospel…He is basically saying to them…”Look what I have done - You don’t like what I say - OK - Simply look at my actions”…But they want none of it!…Why?…Because they do not want to change…….”Nice words” cannot change people - Miracles witnessed cannot change people….Only we can change ourself with the help of grace, which is always there…..When we stand before God and He shows us our life…We will see very clearly all the opportunities he presented to us….Its for us to seize these opportunities now!….Because they are there!…Leave nothing on the table!

“Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life”

Some times when God presents us with something to do, we hesitate but then we are given another opportunity to “turn back” and take care of what we neglected to do…We see this in St Peter..He denies our Lord only to come through in the end…God works through our mistakes and allows us to reflect on them…Second chances always present themselves…Its for us to seize them!…..Years ago I was serving with Mother Teresa’s sisters in the Home for the Dying and Destitute in Kolkata…A man came in from the street…..He was emaciated......He looked like someone who just got out of a concentration camp…..His skin was full of dry scales because of his time on the street….And his feet were especially in bad shape…When men like that came into the home, Mother Teresa’s sisters would put oil on their skin…One of the nuns asked me to do that to this man…This man was filthy!!!!!…And I did not want to do it…While I do not speak Bengali, the language of Kolkata, this man could see very clearly that I did not want to help him…But he continued to ask me with gestures…He was in great discomfort…After refusing to help him, I changed my mind and placed the oil on his feet…When I did that the man began to cry…And I felt deeply ashamed of myself…Looking back…The Lord gave me a second chance…He did not “give up on me”…And when the second chance came around, I took it…I invite you to do the same…God never gives up on us!

“In my distress I called upon the LORD and cried out to my God; From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears”

St John reminds us in his Gospel today that we need to stop looking for “miracles”….Miracles don’t change hearts…We change our own heart by choice - One step at a time - One choice at a time…We must make this choice - And know this - This "choice" presents itself each and everyday…..God did not leave us orphans!…He gives us everything we need…He presents us with opportunities each and everyday.......Take them!…Putting one foot in front of the other will get us to our desired destination…But it’s up to us to take the required steps - No one can do that for you!…..God is very real…And if we care to “look”…We will see just how real he is