At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. God tests us to draw us closer to him. The devil tempts us to draw us away from God.
From the time of the baptism until his death on the cross, Jesus is led by the Spirit. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. Moses and Elijah fasted forty days and forty nights as part of their preparation for what God had in store for them.
Here the number forty has another significance. During the forty years in the desert, the Israelites proved that they were not true sons of God by their frequent sinful rebellions and grumblings. Jesus as the Son of God gives us the example of how a true son of God is to live in the midst of temptations.
Do you see the power of fasting and prayer in dealing with temptations?The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread."
The devil picks up on the word of God to Jesus after his baptism: "You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
The focus of the devil’s temptation is to satisfy self rather than be faithful and depend upon God to care for you. Do you see the similarity with the temptation in the Garden of Eden? He said in reply, "It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."
Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 in response. Jesus knows that he is the Son of God, beloved of the Father. He doesn’t have to use his own power to prove this. Rather, he chooses to be obedient to the Father’s will in all things, even in the time of physical hunger.
Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone." Jesus answered him, "Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test."
Again the focus of the temptation is questioning whether Jesus is the Son of God and trusts in God. Like Jesus the devil too quotes the scriptures (Ps 91:11-12). Jesus responds as a true Son of God but stating that he does not have to put God to the test as the Israelites did in the desert, complaining against him for not providing food and drink. A creature does not test the Lord. The Lord tests the creature.
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve." The first lie is that the devil can’t give all the kingdoms of the world. He has no power or authority. The second lie is that he is not God, who alone deserves worship. Jesus unmasks the devil for who he is—a creature subject to God, but who is separated from God eternally.
In a sense, Jesus is laughing at the devil when he says, "Get away."
Jesus proves himself as a true Son of God, who is obedient to the Father, unlike Adam and the Israelites. "All have one common purpose: to divert Jesus from his mission, to distract him from the purpose for which he came on earth; to replace the Father’s plan with a different one. In Baptism, the Father had indicated to Christ the way of the obedient Servant who saves with humility and suffering. Satan proposes to him the way of glory and triumph, the way that everyone then expected of the Messiah."
"Today also, the whole effort of the devil is to divert man from the purpose for which he is in the world, which is to know, love and serve God in this life to enjoy him later in the next; to distract him. But Satan is astute; he does not appear as a person with horns and the smell of sulfur. It would be too easy to recognize him. He makes use of good things leading them to excess, absolutizing them and making them idols. Money is a good thing, as is pleasure, sex, eating, drinking. However, if they become the most important thing in life, they are no longer means but become destructive for the soul and often also for the body."

Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him. What lesson can we derive from our reflections on this passage?
How should we respond in times of temptations and in times of test?
          What was the role of the Spirit during the temptations?

Tomorrow we enter into the penitential season of Lent once more. We begin our yearly

pilgrimage journey to the celebration of the Pascal mysteries of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Often in the past we have made sacrifices by giving up such things as coffee,
smoking, alcohol, TV, etc. But we couldn't wait for the end of Lent to return to these practices. Is that the real purpose of the Lenten season? I would suggest another approach to the 40 day experience. I would suggest that we zero in on one or two areas of sin in our life, with the intent of eliminating these from our life and not returning to them after Easter. If Lent involves a spiritual transformation, what is more fruitful giving up coffee for seven weeks and then returning to it or giving up sin and not returning to it? Our sin is what Jesus died for! It is our sin that Jesus is asking us to die to.

"If we have received good from the hand of the Lord, why should we not endure evil?" These words were spoken by Job in the Old Testament in the midst of tragedies and physical sufferings. Job may have been remembering another passage which said: "On the day of prosperity do not forget affliction, and on the day of affliction do not forget prosperity." Reflecting on these two passages St Gregory the Great commented: "For if a man receives God’s gifts, but forgets his affliction, he can fall through his own excessive joy. On the other hand, when a man is bruised by scourges, but is not at all consoled by the thought of the blessings he has been fortunate to receive, he is completely cast down." Both blessings and sufferings are part of life. It is easy for us to rejoice in our blessings but to forget them in times of difficulties. What sustained Jesus in his moments of difficulties was the words and actions of the Father at the time of his Baptism in the Jordan. "You are my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Remember God's many blessings in the times of our sufferings.

"We all have our secrets: thoughts, memories, feelings that we keep to ourselves. Often we

think, 'If people knew what I feel or think, they would not love me.' These carefully kept secrets can do us much harm. They can make us feel guilty or ashamed and may lead us to self-rejection, depression, and even suicidal thoughts and actions One of the most important things we can do with our secrets is to share them in a safe place, with people we trust." (Henri Nouwen) What is one of those safe places? The Sacrament of Reconciliation! Under the seal of confession your revealed, damaging secret is revealed to be kept secret forever. What a paradox! You are set free from living in the darkness with this past sin and your secret is forgiven and forgotten by the priest and by God. It is sealed in the loving mercy of God. How magnificent and magnanimous is our God to us! God knows your secrets but invites you to publicly confess them. In this way, you will live freely in the light of his presence and not in the shadow of fear, shame and guilt.

"Hear me declare with boldness, I am a Christian." (St. Polycarp) Even at the very end of his life, as he was facing death by fire, St Polycarp declared his identity in Christ. How public is our identity as a Christian? In today's culture it is not popular to be so public and as time goes on it may get even worse. Our faith, like a light, cannot be hidden, but must be evident. Always remember the words of Jesus: the one who does not acknowledge me before others, I will not acknowledge before my Father. We are not called to flaunt our faith in Jesus, but we are called not to hide it. We may never be threatened with death. But we will have many opportunities to stand firm in our identity as a Christian in other ways, from avoiding gossiping to not causing scandal by our words and actions, from treating others with justice to going beyond to serve those in need, from speaking the truth in love to confronting the moral evils around us. Jesus never said it would be easy to be his disciple.

"The Christian has learned to read all things with eyes informed by Easter, with the eyes of the risen Lord." (Pope Francis) What does he mean? Before Easter there was the darkness of sin and guilt. Humanity was in a state of bondage without hope. Life was a drudgery and death was an existence in nothingness. The death and resurrection of Jesus has drastically and forever changed that world view. The new vision, which Jesus has given those who believe and accept his gift of salvation, is one of freedom and peace. Because of Jesus, life is worth living since communion with God, the inner longing of our heart, is possible now and eternally. For death is not the feared, final end of existence, but a transitional moment in our journey from life on earth to life in heaven. Through the eyes of the risen Jesus, we see one another, not with distorted vision, biased by our hurts and pains, by our fears, but as brothers and sisters in the Lord. Easter makes us radically different because we become a new creation, now alive in Christ. As we enter into the upcoming Lenten journey, we need to set our eyes on the prize of Easter, becoming a new creation in the risen Christ.

."The best penance is to have patience with the sorrows God permits. A very good penance is to dedicate oneself to fulfill the duties of everyday with exactitude and to study and work with all our strength." (St. Peter Damian) Many of us will be looking for things to do for Lent which begins in a week. How about working on patience: patience with ourselves and with others.? We have no control over the daily circumstances of our life, especially the little things that can annoy us. But we do have control how we respond to them. We can allow them to become stumbling rocks or climbing rocks on our path to holiness. The same is true with our encounters with others. We cannot control what they will say or do to us. But we can overcome the perceived sting with patience and love or we can allow that word or action to be a knife to our heart, opening up the wound of anger and non forgiveness or the wound of talking negatively about the person. Two roads lie before us. One leads to the light and life of holiness; the other, to the darkness and death of sin.

INFORMATION:
I will be doing a Lenten Retreat at Lumen Christi Retreat Center in Houma, La.
It will begin the evening of March 31, 2017 and conclude April 2 at noon.
The Theme is "I THIRST".
If you are interested in further information, contact Lumen Christi at
985-868-1523 or htdiocese@lumenchristi.
Feel free to tell others about this retreat.
Thanks.  Bishop

"To be able to enjoy fully the many good things the world has to offer, we must be detached from them. To be detached does not mean to be indifferent or uninterested. It means to be non-possessive. Life is a gift to be grateful for and not a property to cling to. A non-possessive life is a free life. But such freedom is only possible when we have a deep sense of belonging. To whom then do we belong? We belong to God, and the God to whom we belong has sent us into the world to proclaim in his Name that all of creation is created in and by love and calls us to gratitude and joy. That is what the 'detached' life is all about. It is a life in which we are free to offer praise and thanksgiving." (Henri Nouwen) To possess has been a root of sin in our life since Adam and Eve. They desired to possess the knowledge of good and evil for themselves, rather depend on the Lord to teach them. All is a gift from God and not a needed possession on our part. How often we ruin relationships through possession of the other rather than accepting the other in love! Detachment is not abandonment or neglect but freeing the other, whom we love, to be themselves even without me. This detachment is at heart of love and life and is part of the mystery of both.

A brother came to visit Abba Macarius the Egyptian and

said to him: “Abba, give me a word, that I may be saved.”
So the old man said: “Go to the cemetery and abuse the
dead.” The brother went there and abused them, throwing
stones at them. He returned and told the old man about it.
The elder said: “Did they not speak to you?” He replied:
“No.” The old man then said: “Go back tomorrow and
praise them.” So the brother went there and praised them,
calling them apostles, saints and righteous. He returned to
the old man and said: “I went and praised them.” The old
man replied: “Did they not respond?” The brother said:
“No.” The old man finally said: “See how you insulted them
and they did not reply; and how you praised them and still they did not speak. If you wish to be saved, you must do the same and become like a dead person. Like them, take no account of either scorn or praise, and you will be saved.” (Unknown) An interesting view of dealing with one
of the seven deadly sins. It may have been the sin of the
Lucifer. It is surely a struggle in our life. Don't worry what
people think or say about or to you. Only what God thinks
and says is of value. We are who we are in the eyes of
God, nothing more, nothing less. To think thus is humility
and truth; to think otherwise is pride and sin.

“There is within us a fundamental dis-ease, an unquenchable fire that renders us incapable, in this life, of ever coming to full peace. This desire lies at the center of our lives, in the marrow of our bones, and in the deep recesses of the soul. At the heart of all great literature, poetry, art, philosophy, psychology, and religion lies the naming and analyzing of this desire. Spirituality is, ultimately, about what we do with that desire. What we do with our longings, both in terms of handling the pain and the hope they bring us, that is our spirituality . . . Augustine says: ‘You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.’ Spirituality is about what we do with our unrest.” (Ronald Rolheiser) What is it that you deeply long for? If it is not God, then our longing will never be fulfilled. We will want more and more and remain still incomplete. But once we realize that nothing and no one other than God can bring us true and lasting happiness, then we will be on the right journey. To stay there is not easy because the Law of sin within us will continue to claw at our heart to return to our old ways. But once we taste the good wine of God's love would we want to go back to the cheap wine?

"Often we want to be somewhere other than where we are, or even to be someone other than who we are. We tend to compare ourselves constantly with others and wonder why we are not as rich, as intelligent, as simple, as generous, or as saintly as they are. Such comparisons make us feel guilty, ashamed, or jealous. It is very important to realize that our vocation is hidden in where we are and who we are. We are unique human beings, each with a call to realize in life what nobody else can, and to realize it in the concrete context of the here and now. We will never find our vocations by trying to figure out whether we are better or worse than others. We are good enough to do what we are called to do. Be yourself!" (Henri Nouwen) To not accept ourselves is not to accept our true identity, the person God sees us to be. God made us in his image and likeness with certain traits and gifts. There is no other person like us. We are unique in his eyes. When we try to be other than we are, we reject what God sees. If we want to change anything or become other than we are, the only area we need to confront is sin and its impact in our life. All other aspects of our life can potentially grow, but for this to happen, sin needs to be less and less. Be fully whom you are meant to be, a work in progress, a saint in the making, not looking at others but looking at God.

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them." (Thomas Merton) True love wants the best for the other for the sake of the other, not for my sake. Selfish love does not accept the other as the other is. Without acceptance of the other with their strengths and weaknesses there can not be life-giving love. God loves us as we are here and now. He sees our weaknesses but is not blocked by them. For he knows that true love and acceptance will free us to change, while non- acceptance makes us defensive and nonresponsive. The love shown to us by God is the love we must give to others for us to truly love.

"Consolation is a beautiful word. It means 'to be' (con-) 'with the lonely one' (solus). To offer consolation is one of the most important ways to care. Life is so full of pain, sadness, and loneliness that we often wonder what we can do to alleviate the immense suffering we see. We can and must offer consolation....To console does not mean to take away the pain but rather to be there and say, 'You are not alone, I am with you. Together we can carry the burden. Don't be afraid. I am here.' That is consolation. We all need to give it as well as to receive it." (Henri Nouwen) It is hard at times for us to just to be intentionally with another in their pain. We want to fix it or say something to take away the pain. For the most part we can't. What the person needs is our presence, walking with and sharing in the pain of the other. Mary gave us the perfect example, consoling Christ as she stood under the cross. She said nothing. Her presence spoke volumes to Jesus. Her love spoke to him. Watch for those divine appointment moments in your life provided by God for you to just be there with one who is suffering. "What you did to the least, you did to me."

"We can't be seated Christians, nor status quo Christians, nor stationary Christians. We must be courageous Christians who are on the move, always taking up the journey to seek the Lord’s face. Our Identity card as Christians is the fact we are made in the image of God. If we don’t take up the journey, we will never get to know the face of God. This isn't easy, because taking up the journey means letting go of many securities, many opinions about what God’s image is like, and to seek it. It means, in other words, to let God and life put us to the test. It means taking a risk, for only in this way can we manage to know the face of God, the image of God: to take up the journey”. (Pope Francis) What a daily challenge: seeking the face of Jesus! The journey involves letting go our pre-conceptions and fears and totally surrender ourselves to God's plan at this moment of our lives. Where do we find the face of Jesus? In myself and in each person we encounter, since we are each made in his image! That is why Jesus emphasized the love of the other as he has loved us. That is why Jesus stressed what we did or did not do for the least, we did or did not do for him. The challenge is to find Jesus in each person whom Jesus loves and that is everyone.

Homily: Sixth Sunday of the Year A

In the first reading, the prophet reminds us that God has given us free will to choose life or death, good or evil, lasting fire or life-giving water. Our choice can be based on self-gratification or on our love of God, either trusting in our self or trusting in the Lord. God doesn’t cause us to act unjustly or gives us license to sin. Instead, he gives us the grace to know right from wrong, through the gift of wisdom.

If we choose God’s ways because of his grace, God will confirm our choice. This is eternal life with him where we will find life-giving water. If we choose to satisfy ourselves in spite of God’s command and in spite of his grace, God will also confirm our choice. This is the second death, eternal alienation from the Good which is God himself; this is the lasting fire.

Many people feel that freedom equates to a license to do anything they want because it makes them happy for the moment. Rather, true freedom is to choose what will be beneficial to our eternal happiness. Our eternal happiness will be in relationship with God. Our eternal unhappiness will be not to be in relationship with God. So choose life or choose death: that’s the message of the first reading.

In the second reading Paul tells us that God gives us not only the freedom of choice, but also the gift of spiritual wisdom to make the right choice. Human wisdom enables us to see things through our human eyes and limited experience. Spiritual wisdom enables us to see reality from God’s perspective and not from only ours. Human wisdom is limited to what we can see and hear with our senses. Divine wisdom is described by Paul thus: "What eye has not seen and ear has not heard, what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him."

The Psalmist states that the beginning of this wisdom is the fear of the Lord which is a sense of wonder and awe of God that results in love. This may be what led St. Ignatius of Loyola say: "It is not hard to obey when we love the one whom we obey."

What God sees is not colored by dark glasses, is not less than 20 x 20 vision. What he sees is the truth that will set us free and lead us to eternal union with him. God has given us the spiritual wisdom in Baptism. But like all gifts from God, we need to stir it into flame through praying for a greater release of the gift and exercising it. Seeking the Lord and his ways is to act on what he helps us to see from his perspective.

The focus of the Gospel picks up from the first reading. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to holiness, holiness that is not based on law and obligation, but on love and relationship. Jesus says we must go beyond the letter of the law to the deeper meaning of the law, to the will of God for us.

The religious leaders of his day stressed the external observances of the law but did not look at the internal attitude of the heart. Jesus uses two examples: murder and adultery. Both are wrong. But there is more to both than the actual killing of a person or the act of adultery. What is our attitude towards another? How do we treat the other? How do we respect the other? The anger that Jesus refers to is not something passing but that anger that roots itself in our heart and memory, where we refuse to forgive the person for the perceived harm done to us. That seething anger can lead to other sins against the other, such as speaking badly about him, wishing him evil, etc. These sins are just as evil as that of actually killing that person.

The same is true with adultery. There is sin when we lust after another in our thoughts, through our eyes and in our heart. There is sin when we view pornography or self-gratify sexually. Whatever is contrary to the proper use of the sexual gift in the context of marriage, where true love and union is the end, becomes sinful.

Jesus reminds us that we are called not to a minimal living or legalistic living but a radical living. Holiness is radical. Holiness is love lived out in our relationship to God and others. To grow in holiness is to grow in love; to grow in love is to grow in holiness. To love as God loves is to be holy as God is holy. This is to choose life, to choose good, to choose the life-giving water, with the gift of wisdom guiding us.

"It is not hard to obey when we love the one whom we obey."(St Ignatius of Loyola) This was the witness Jesus gives us in his total obedience to the Father even to the death on the cross: his great love of the Father. Where there is love obedience is not a burden. Without love obedience is a forced obligation which stirs up rebellion and resentment. Though God gave the people of Israel the two great Commandments--the love of God and the love of others--they failed to obey the Lord because their love was superficial at most. But those who fell in love with God embraced his plan in their lives. Is this the root of our own struggles? Is our difficulty in surrendering to the Lord in obedience to his will due to the fact we don't trust and love him enough? Love smoothes the way to obedience, to do the will of the other: whether the other is God, parents or spouse.

Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. The law and the prophets stand for the whole of the Old Testament. Jesus came to fulfill the Mosaic Law and the OT prophesies. The New Covenant includes and concludes the Old Covenant; it both perfects it and transforms it.
Jesus’ teaching does not reject the old law and the prophets; instead, it illumines the meaning God intended the OT ultimately to have.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. The righteousness that Jesus is talking about is that holiness which is based on love and not following the rules out of obligation. The scribes and Pharisees were seeking righteousness through strict observance of every detail of the many laws imposed by tradition and interpretation. Jesus is calling his followers to do all out of love of God and love of others.
"You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment;

and whoever says to his brother, 'Raqa,' will be answerable to the Sanhedrin; and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Jesus begins a series of contrasting ways the righteousness of the religious leaders and the righteousness of his disciples will be different. He underscores his own authority as the Son of God, as the new Moses and Lawgiver.
Not only is murder wrong but so is the anger that seeks revenge and other unloving hurtful words towards a child of God.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.
How often do we celebrate Mass with non-forgiveness in our heart! How can our offering be acceptable to God with such a block within us. We need to forgive in our heart so that God may forgive us.
"You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin,
cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
Adultery is a serious sin. But so is the lust of our heart and eyes and the lingering impure thoughts of our mind.
"It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you,

whoever divorces his wife - unless the marriage is unlawful - causes her to commit adultery,

and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
In another area, Jesus said that divorce was permitted in the Old Law because of the hardness of heart of the people. But that is not God’s plan and purpose for a marriage that is sealed before him."Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one."
Jesus forbids oath swearing for private purposes. Many times we name God as part of our swearing. This is against the Second Commandment.
We should speak the truth at all times.
                   How do we relate our life against these actions? Where do we fall short? What needs    
                   to be done to bring about the righteousness which Jesus seeks in the lives of his disciples?

“As two pieces of wax fused together make one, so he who receives Holy Communion is so

united with Christ that Christ is in him and he is in Christ” (St. Cyril of Alexandria). What a
mystery! The Son of God and a struggling sinner united in the sharing of his divine life. This is true because of God's grace and mercy. In Baptism God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, united my human life, a gift, with his divine life, a greater gift. But because of the Law of sin within me, I separate myself from that divine life. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation Jesus reunites me with his divine life once more. It is in this shared life, which I do not deserve, that Jesus deepens in our time of intimate Eucharistic union. He draws me into this deeper intimacy so that I will desire him above all things which could separate me from him. As we live consciously in this union, we will make the choices that will never separate me from him again. That is why many of the Saints longed for the Eucharist.

"We often confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn't approve of betrayal, violence, hatred, suspicion, and all other expressions of evil, because they all contradict the love God wants to instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God's love. Evil does not belong to God. God's unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. It is important for us to hold on to the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do. That truth will help us to return to God's ever-present love." (Henri Nouwen) It is hard for us to comprehend God's unconditional love. We have no other experience of such love outside of God. It sounds too good to be true. It is our human limitations to his love which is the problem. We have equated love with something to earn. We have allowed our past sinful life to make us feel unworthy of his love. We are afraid of love because, as someone has said, "Love hurts." None of this is true love. God's love frees us to be fully who we are meant to be. Receiving God's love stirs in us a desire to love in return. Such is our true identity: to be loved and to love. Say yes to God's unconditional love and you will be saying yes to God with love.

"Ask Christ to help you become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ's example, I forgive my

persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as fruitful rain." (St Paul Miki) Who among us does not want to be happy? But where is true and lasting happiness found? In our relationship with the person who is the source of happiness, Jesus Christ! Happiness is a fruit of this relationship. If we are in union with him, we choose to do what pleases him, to follow his example. The more we reflect his love, his forgiveness, his obedience, the happier we will be, even in the midst of suffering. This has been the witness of the countless martyrs over the centuries. They were not seeking death. They were seeking life forever in him who is the source of life. In him they rejoiced; in him they found peace and love. If we want authentic and enduring happiness turn to the Lord in the embrace of loving friendship.

"The Scriptures are shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning and deep enough for theologians to swim in without ever reaching the bottom...Ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ."-( St. Jerome) Do we immerse ourselves in God's Word as much as we immerse ourselves in other endeavors? How attentive do we listen to the scriptures proclaimed in Mass? Sometimes our excuse is that we don't understand. If this is so, then ask the Holy Spirit to give you the gift of understanding. It is a fact that we can read or hear the same passage many times over and find deeper meaning than before. Not only are we to read the scriptures but more importantly we need to pray with the Word of God. This means to talk to God about what you read and apply his Word to your life here and now. St Paul reminds us: "All Scripture, having been divinely inspired, is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in justice so that the man of God may be perfect, having been trained for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

To be a Christian is to be a public person. Many people are public or in the public eye but their Christianity is hidden. Some people feel that one’s faith is a private matter. But that’s not what Jesus is saying in today’s readings. Just as a light is to be seen and not hidden, so one’s faith in and commitment to Jesus must be obvious and clear. Our faith–light is not just for oneself, it is to illumine the darkness, to bring the truth of the Gospel to those in darkness. The same is true with salt. It is to make a difference. If it doesn’t then it is to be thrown away.

The reason why the world is in the shape it is in is because we, Christians, have failed to be light and salt. We have failed to allow the faith-life and commitment to Jesus to be uppermost in our life. We are not to flaunt our faith in Jesus like one blinds another with a bright spotlight. Rather, we are to show forth the truth of Gospel love and life in our life.

In other words, is our faith primary or secondary?

Salt gives flavor to food which could otherwise be bland. The Christian disciple is to give meaning to a life which could be cold and empty, meaningless and seen as drudgery. How? First of all, Jesus must be real for me and his teachings are truly the foundation of my life. Secondly, I am called to so live my faith openly that I can encourage others to experience the same power of the Gospel. By bringing the truth and life of the Gospel into my daily world, I enhance the life of the world. Instead of hate and revenge, non-forgiveness and selfishness, I am to bring the power of love. Will I be laughed at or ignored? Possibly. But the bitterness and emptiness of a life outside of God needs the power of faith and love.

The problem is that sometimes we are not convinced that it would make a difference. There is a story about a preacher who went about in a town proclaiming, "Repent. Repent." At first, some people listened to him. After awhile, only a little boy followed him. Then one day the boy asked the preacher why he continued to preach the same message when no one was listening. The man said: "Son, if I stop preaching, I will not hear the message." We may never know the difference our fidelity to being a public disciple of Jesus Christ will make.

Salt is salt all the time, not sometimes. Light is light all the time or darkness ensues.

Another problem is fear to be tested by others or to find out that my faith is really weak. We have to recall what Chesterton once said: "It is not that Christianity has failed, it is just not tested." I wonder if we were tested for our faith would we falter or persevere? People throughout the 2000 years of Christianity have been tested, some failed, many suffered death.

Sometime ago a family suffered the death of a child, who had an incurable disease since birth. In fact, they have three children and two have this affliction. It is a slow, deteriorating disease. They saw the daughter struggle for life, going into seizures and coming out. Throughout this human ordeal, their faith in the resurrection, their faith in Jesus sustained them. In turn they became an inspiration to many others.

They didn’t do anything extraordinary. They just practiced openly and lived publically what they believed. They let their light shine and became a point of flavoring for others.

"Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are

being tested." (Heb 2:18) in becoming man the Son of God took on our nature. Except for sin, Jesus embraced the gamut of the human experience but more intensely. Who among us has cried out to the Father to the point of sweating drops of blood? Who among us has endured the cruelties of his suffering and death totally innocent of any wrongdoing, except for being true to who he was? Yes, we suffer rejection and betrayal by others, but Jesus was betrayed, denied and abandoned by men he intimately discipled and befriended. What anguish that must have cost him! Being the Son of God did not lessen his experience, but showed the depth of his love for us in all his sufferings. His example is given to us, not to belittle our sufferings, but to allow us to unite our struggles to his, so that we may have the strength to endure and be victorious with and in him.

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                                              SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2017
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"To look back is helpful, and indeed necessary, to purify our memory; but to be fixated on the past, lingering over the memory of wrongs done and endured, and judging in merely human terms, can paralyze us and prevent us from living in the present. The word of God encourages us to draw strength from memory and to recall the good things the Lord has given us. But it also asks us to leave the past behind in order to follow Jesus today and to live a new life in him." (Pope Francis) I am reminded of Lot's wife in the Book of Genesis. Though delivered by God from the destruction of Sodom, she looked back with longing. As a result, she was frozen in that past. We see the same situation in the chosen people's journey through the desert. Many kept longing for their life in Egypt rather than to live in the Lord in the present. They died in the desert and never saw the Promised Land. How often we do the same. We live in the past and not in the present moment. We let our past control us. We fail to remember the words of God through the Prophet Isaiah: "Remember not the past. See I am doing something new. Do you not perceive it?" Learn from the past but live in the present. That is all we have.