Look not on our sins but on the Faith of Your Church

One of the phrases said each week at Mass, after the Our Father is, "Look not on our sins but the faith of Your Church." As these words leave the priest's mouth, I feel like I can hear a pin drop...even over the coughs and crys from the wee ones at Mass. I am caught off guard. I think to myself, "Wait. What did he just say? Petitioning our God not to look on OUR sins but on the faith of HIS Church!"

Living in such an individualized time and place, this goes aginst my gut. "But MY sins aren't the 'little' ones Lord!" Lust, greed, pride, the misuse of my Irish temper(for there is even a proper place for that..somewhere, hence my soapbox!). I could go on but that is not where the focus is right now. The focus (thank God) is on the faith of His Church. I find balance here. As I said before, the problem with the church is that it is full of people. Broken people. There is an acknowledgement of OUR sins as individuals and as a community. But the gaze of God is on the faith of His church. Oh, this is why I am called to participate at Mass. Because, I can't go it alone. Otherwise, I am back to the whole "our sins" part of the equasion. Left to my own devices, there's no tellin' where I'll end up. Of course going to church every Sunday won't do it alone either but that's no excuse not to go. Not to mention the fact that not going is a motal sin. Ahhh, mortal sin and venial sin. That's another blog post for another day!

The faith of His Church. Infant baptism makes sense here. Why would we not want our babies to be brought into this faith? Sure, there is a time when they must acknowledge it for their own but why would we deny the little ones such a gift? Our faith, our salvation isn't a one-time thing but an on going process that started at Calvary and continues on in our sanctification. "God ain't done with me yet!"

Not much more to say here but I am sure glad to be in HIS church. And as the old saying goes, "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." Our Lord is the beholder.

Religion: A source of division?

The following was an article I read online. These aren't my words (as if I could write like this!). I just thought it was a great article!


"I was taken aback recently when an old friend of mine argued the position that religion is a major divisive force in the world. In light of recent events, he argues that religion is virtually the only thing that is dividing people in Kashmir and the Middle East, just as it was religion that divided Ireland, not to mention Iran and Iraq."

To read more from this article, go to
www.lifeissues.net/writers/mcm/mcm_43religiondivision.html

The Passive/Agressive Evil

"The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see the final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice."

— from the Preface to The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

Nice quote. Is the "greatest evil" done by the passive/aggressive? By the subtle? Or is evil itself subtle? Does it always look like "nine - eleven" terrorism? Surely those were evil acts! Nowadays we are afraid to even mention the word. The word offends, even judges. But unfortunately, it is real...it is very real. We find it in politics/government, schools, businesses,marriages, even churches. Yes, we find it within ourselves. Maybe that's why these institutions appear corrupt. From what Merton calles the "false self". That's a whole other blog entry!

1 John 1:8 "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."

So, there is good news here and bad news. Bad news, we are in fact sinners...which means we must wrestle with evil within ourselves, to work on removing the log in our own eye. This is a lifelong process. I doubt we will have much time to be concerned with the splinter in our brother's eye. Turns out, his splinter is his own log also. But ahh, the good news, He is faithful and just and will forgive us if we but only ask. Vs. 9 says He will "purify us from all unrighteousness."

When I was on the Applachian Trail, I remember the bliss of a hot shower after being out on the trail for a week, smelling like roadkill. Nothing to bathe in but rain and a pond here and there. Sweet purgatory. After all that is what it is isn't it? The difference, being a "purging", a purifying "yet so as by fire". (1 Cor 3 :15). My guess, a painful process. Unfortunately, purgatory appears misunderstood by Protestants and Catholics alike. Purgatory...this too is another blog entry!

Ok Murph, off your soapbox. All of this to say sin can appear neat and clean, even attractive. If we would only ask for God's Irish Spring and become "clean as a whistle"!

Pax Christi,
Murph

Show Me The Money!!!

This is just what we need people! Hey, I'm not complaining in terms of getting more dough back from Uncle Sam, BUT...

We all need to tighten our belts. From the feds to little Jimmy who makes 25 bucks a week on his paper route. Let's face it, times are tough! I think part of the problem today is that we have such high standards of living. We need to head in a direction that will allow the grampas out there to stop sayin, "When I was your age..."

After all, they have a point. They were lucky to have ONE car in the driveway. Steak was a luxury. And your own bedroom...much less with an Xbox 360, home entertainment center, your own phone line...no, wait I forgot, kids have their own cell phones today.

Will we, as Americans step down from such "royalty"? Not to be a skeptic but I doubt it. But I think most would agree--we NEED to. I admit, I feel the pull of the Joneses. But then I come back to reality and realize that there is not enough Prozac in the world to keep the Joneses happy. "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?" And gaining the whole world? That's to heavy anyway!

Gospel Reading for today...

Mt 25:31-46
The Sheep and the Goats. Every time I read this, I am reminded of Kieth Green's song, "The Sheep and the Goats". It still moves me today.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’


Those on His right, the ones who clothed, cared, fed, visited these "brothers of the king". They served (unaware)as seving the king himself. Oh, to be able to see the face of Jesus in everyone we meet. The prisoners, the homeless, the rich, the poor, believers and nonbelievers, gay, straight, black, white and on and on. Why is it so hard to do this? Isn't it easier to send "missionaries" to do it for us? After all, that's what we pay them for right? Which are we, sheep or goats? It is too easy to be surrounded in the "safety" of our "Christian circles". But as Lewis says about Aslan, "He is anything but safe!"

OK, off my soapbox.

"Then he will say to those on his left,
‘Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked and you gave me no clothing,
ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’
Then they will answer and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?’
He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life.”

The sin of omission. Yeah, I'm guilty. Not beating myself up here but today's Gospel is pretty clear on the difference on what we do and don't do. Sola Fide doesn't seem to work here. Sola, alone. As if we are saved by faith alone. As if our salvation has nothing to do with "works". Works without faith is dead. Faith without works...well, what kind of faith is that. Can we earn our way to heaven? No. Do we have a ticket though for just believing? Even the demons believe and shrudder. I know there are many divisions especially between Catholics and Protestants on what it means to be "saved". That's a bummer really.

Getting on another rabbit trail. There I go again. The soapbox!

Christ calls us to action, a living faith, an active faith. Not to be bench warmers. Not to be "goats". But to be sheep, His sheep. Let us be thankful today for the Good Shepherd and in that thanks serve one another as if we are doing it to the Lord.

God bless and have a great week.

For you Super Mario nerds...and one for Indian Jones fans

David, Bathsheba, and Uriah

I find today's reading troubling. And yet, somehow reminds me that even the greatest of kings can fall. See http://www.usccb.org/nab/020108.shtml. 2 Samuel passage.

Ok. David is called a man after God's own heart. He wrote many of the Psalms. Killed Goliath with a stone's throw (let's see Dice K do that one!), humbly served his king (Saul) even with Saul's threat of killing David, loved his son even with his rebellious ways...face it, he was a man's man. If we could only be half the man David was!

Yet, today's reading alarms us when "the man after God's own heart" falls in adultery with the woman he noticed from his roof top, Bathsheba. She was very beautiful in appearance the scripture notes. She gets pregnant and loses her husband to the front lines of war. David covers up his affair by sending in Uriah to die in battle.

Adultery, murder. Two of the "biggies". (Maybe mortal and venial sins start to make sense here!). How does such a man fall? This becomes humbling to us as Christians. There is a saying, "Be careful when standing at the top of Everest. A step in any direction is a step down." No matter how "good" we are. No matter how much integrity, how much strength, courage. We can fall. There but the Grace of God go I.

I think us men in the church should take note of David's fall. Lust kills. Not only us but others. For those of us who might struggle with this sin, be not afraid. Because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 Jn 4:4

Pax Christi