Sunday, November 18, 2012

I am passing along a message from my cousin, via my Aunt.  These are not my words, I want to make that clear up front.  God bless you all!

A Post-Election Homily

This is from a friend whose daughter is in St. Elizabeth parish in Atlanta .  After preaching this homily this past Sunday, he received a standing ovation.  
God bless, Mary
 
I want to begin today by thanking those of you who went out on Tuesday and voted for the sacredness of human life. Just as the widow’s deed in our 1 st reading will never be forgotten as long as the Scriptures are read, be assured that no righteous deed that we ever undertake will be forgotten by Almighty God.
 
This past Wednesday, the day after the election, I received a message on my phone at the parish office, from a gentleman who didn’t identify himself by name but who said he was a parishioner. And in this message, this gentleman ranted for several minutes about Tuesday’s election results. And here were the first words out of his mouth, “You lost Father; you lost!” Well, the first thing I want to say about Tuesday night’s election results is that I didn’t lose. On Tuesday night our entire country lost!
 
Now, having said that, I know that there are several of you who have just decided to tune me out, or you’re now burning up with anger at me because of what I just said and you can’t wait to give me a piece of your mind. But let me say two things in this regard. Number one, I am a priest of Jesus Christ, not because of any merit of my own, not because I’m any better than anyone else.  God probably chose me because I am nothing and He wants to make something out of me.  But I have been anointed and consecrated by God to preach His truth. And so, you can tune me out, but be warned, you do so at your eternal peril.
 
Second, if you’re angry because you read into my words that this homily is going to be about one elected official that you probably voted for, you’re wrong. What I have to say today goes far beyond just one elected official. What I have to say is about the over all trend that was put on display in Tuesday’s election results.
 
Did you know, for instance, that on Tuesday several states voted by popular majority to legalize the recreational use of marijuana? Did you know that a plan to legalize physician assisted suicide was barely rejected in Massachusetts ? Did you know that for the first time in our country’s history several states, by popular vote, chose to legalize gay marriage? Did you know that two of these states are run by “Catholic” governors who actively encouraged their constituents to vote in favor of same sex unions? Did you know that in Florida , a ban on tax payers funding of abortion was rejected by the people? Add to all of this the fact that some who were elected in Tuesday’s elections are pathological liars, people who have been exposed in their lies numerous times. Apparently, a majority of Americans now condone lying, or perhaps worse, for them the lie has become the truth, evil has become good. Now can you begin to see the trend?
 
In the days after the elections all the talking heads in the media have been trying to explain how this all happened. But not one person in the mainstream media has gotten it right. You see, these election results are not about one party’s marketing advantage over another. Ultimately, they’re not about the appeal of one person over another, nor are they about one party being more up-to-date while the other is behind times. What we saw on Tuesday night IS about the moral decline of our nation.
 
Tuesday’s voting results are a mere confirmation of a choice that a majority in this country made, some as far back as 50 years ago, to reject God and to embrace evil in one form or another! And who’s to blame for this choice? Well, ultimately, each individual is responsible for his or her choices. Those who chose to vote with evil are to blame for their own choices, and they’ll have to answer to God for the way they voted. But the reality is I don’t think any of us can take ourselves completely off the hook on this one. Why? Because one of the worst contributing factors to the moral decline of our country has been the lukewarmness that has plagued the Catholic Church for years all the way from the Bishops down to the people in the pews. Pope St. Pius X once said that “All evil in the world is due to lukewarm Catholics.” Think about that for a second, “All evil in the world is due to lukewarm Catholics.”
 
Well, I have to be honest with you. I’ve seen this lukewarmness in every church parish at which I’ve served. But you know where else I see this lukewarmness? I see it when I look in the mirror; I see it in myself. And if we’re honest with ourselves I think all of us would see one or more area of lukewarmness in our own spiritual lives.
 
My brothers and sisters, each one of us has a moral obligation to do all that we can to try to reverse the moral decline of our nation. And the first place that we have to begin is within ourselves. We have to begin by responding to that vocation which is common to all of us, what the Church calls the universal call to holiness, the call from Jesus to each one of us to become a saint!
 
In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul says, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” How many of us, each day, tremble as we strive for holiness?! How many of us live with a lively fear of hell, a place that is real and a place where souls go for all eternity?! Or have we instead accepted mediocrity in our spiritual lives? “Oh, I’m too busy to pray Lord; I just don’t have the time… I’m too tired to pray; I’ll get to it tomorrow... Oh, I don’t like that teaching of the Church, I am not going to do that, who do they think they are coming up with this stuff... Well, I think I’ve done enough for God; what more do I have to do for Him…”
 
In one of His parables Jesus poses an important question that we would all do well to ask ourselves. “Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?” Well, what cost is Jesus talking about?  He’s not giving construction advice to builders and contractors. The context of that Gospel is the cost of discipleship, what it costs to be a saint, ultimately what it costs us get to Heaven. But all too often we act as if that cost is cheap! “Well, I go to Mass on most Sundays. I’m a good person; I haven’t murdered anybody. Of course I’m going to Heaven!”
 
Jesus dealt with this kind of cheap discipleship in the Gospels when He said, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven .” On the day of judgment many will say to Jesus, “Well, didn’t we go to Mass fairly often on Sundays and didn’t we put some money in the collection basket? Didn’t we accept at least some of the Church’s teachings? Besides, as I said before, I’m a good person; I didn’t murder anybody.” Then Jesus will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me you evildoers!”
 
My brothers and sisters, in ordinary times lukewarmness in our approach to salvation is deadly. But we are not entering into ordinary times. We are not moving forward into ordinary times. There is a great battle brewing; in fact this battle is already upon us, a battle in our country between good and evil and I can feel this battle in the very marrow in my bones. If we are not striving for holiness with every fiber of our being we will not have what it takes to pay the cost of discipleship, we will not have what it takes to get to Heaven! As Jesus says near the end of Matthew’s Gospel, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now and never will be. And if those days had not been shortened, no one would be saved…no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”
 
It’s clear from the trends that we see in Tuesday’s election results that people of faith in this country are going to be attacked relentlessly over and over again by one wave of evil after another. And so we must be sure that we have included these attacks in our calculations. A lukewarm faith will never survive the attacks of an army of evil that is Legion. We must become saints! And do not wait for tomorrow to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for tomorrow may be too late. Today let us resolve to root out all sin from our lives! Today let us resolves to remove all evil from our hearts! Today let us double our efforts at prayers! Today let us pray that Mary, the Mother of God, our Mother, will once again crush the head of Satan, and intercede for us the grace of perseverance!
 
Today, let us resolve to take up our cross and be a disciple of Jesus Christ! Christ, who in the words of the Servant of God Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, “will restore within us moral indignation, Who will make us hate evil with a passionate intensity, and love goodness to a point where we can drink death like water!”
 
The final message that I received from that gentleman’s call on Wednesday was that I need to stop preaching the way I do. I need to stop telling people how they ought to live their lives, what teachings of the Church they need to follow. “ If he wants to support gay marriage I just need to shut up and give him a choice.” Well, sir in answer to your request I give you a choice: You can either come here to this Catholic Church and listen to the Word of God and to the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church or you can leave and go somewhere else!
 

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

The Real Mitt Romney - 1



For the next few blog posts I am going to tell some stories about Mitt Romney.  Everyone talks about how stiff he is and how he doesn’t share anything about himself.  Jesus told us that the one seeking recognition of his good deeds is the one who will have no reward from the Father.  I admire a humble man.
Whether you love him, hate him, or don't know how you feel, these stories will make YOU feel good!  


That story begins in the aftermath of the wildfires that engulfed San Diego in the fall of 2007, consuming dozens of homes in Reed Fisher’s neighborhood and nearly his own.

Fisher told CBS News the fire did burn a hole through a fence and caught the corner of his house.

While the house was being repaired Fisher got a call from a fellow Mormon, one of his son’s friends, offering help. It was Matt Romney, one of Mitt Romney’s five sons.

When asked what he said, Fisher said, “We would like to come help. We would like to come do something. And I said, ‘Matt, I wish you could, but almost everything has been cleaned up.’ But he pressed me, and I said, ‘Well, there is this one thing. And I don’t know if the insurance is going to cover it. There is a big tree stump in my front yard. They took the tree down, the tree was torched in the fire. But the stump was still there.’ So Matt insisted, he said, ‘We would like to bring a couple of guys and do some service at your house.’”

On that day, Fisher said he ran out to get some breakfast for the volunteers. Fisher said, “As I drove down to my house, there are four men working in the hole there, … and one of them is running for President of the United States of America.”

That man was Romney. When his son told him about the service project, he had asked if he could help.

“He had dirt under his fingernails,” Fisher said. “He was the first one down the hole. He’s the first one with the power saw. He’s doing the hardest work of any of us.”

Can you imagine driving up to your house and a Presidential candidate is helping to dig a stump out of your yard?  

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Today is 09.11.12 - WHY would anyone who LOVES America vote for Obama in 2012


Today is a sacred day in American history, 2,976 people died in America on 09.01.01. A total of 2,740 American citizens died that day. They were murdered by radical Muslim terrorists. 
I've been watching Twitter, and the news feeds today. An agreement was made to suspend the campaign advertising on 09.11. The first Tweet sent out by @BarackObama today was a request for people to volunteer for his Presidential campaign. That was his priority today, 09.11.12.
@MittRomney sent out this statement, "On this most somber day, America is united under God in its quest for peace and freedom at home and across the world." He also said, " In remembrance, let us recall what the flag symbolizes & the many who have sacrificed so that we may fly it proudly" and linked to this video, "Raise the Flag" http://mi.tt/OE1rNF

Which is more Presidential, the one begging for volunteers and advertising on a solemn day, or the one who pays tribute to what this day really stands for? 
In 2011 Obama declared "September 11th is a day of service". No, September 11th is a day of mourning and remembrance. It is a day we honor the victims who died and we should dedicate ourselves to fighting anyone who threatens our country and our way of life. We should re-dedicate ourselves to fighting for freedom! 
Obama has proclaimed that Middle-East Muslims are our friends and takes credit for the "Arab Spring". Obama has proclaimed that there are a large number of Muslims in the US so we could be considered a Muslim Nation. On April 6, 2009, he announced in Turkey that "We do not consider ourselves a Christian Nation". I say speak for yourself, at least 76% of Americans consider themselves Christian, .06% consider themselves Muslim.i
Obama backs the Muslim Brotherhood, he is working around Congress to give them $1.5 Billion in aid from OUR tax dollars. The Muslim Brotherhood is crucifying opponents of their new President. Christians are in serious trouble in Egypt. The Quran in Sura 9:29 commands Muslims to wage war against Christians and subjugate them. They hate US!
The radical Muslims in the Middle East ARE NOT our friends, Obama, they are our enemies. They HATE us and everything we stand for. Their Quran says to kill, enslave, or tax Christians and others who will not convert to Islam. They hate, harass, attack, and murder, women, homosexuals, and handicapped people.
Obama wants the U.S. does not believe in American Exceptionalism, he doesn't believe that we should be stronger, wealthier, healthier, and more influential than other countries. He wants America to have LESS power to shape world events. He has used the term "leading from behind", which means LOSING!
Today, on the 11th Anniversary of 9/11, Obama's radical Muslim friends stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. They ripped the U.S. Flag down and flew the al-Qaeda flag.
Today, Mobs set fire to the U.S. consulate in Benghazi Libya. The attackers, hardliners waving black banners, they too tore down the U.S. Flag, murdered one American and wounded another!
Iran is developing nuclear weapons and threatening Israel! 
Mexico arrested a member of a-Qaeda. How long till he would have crossed our border? Obama won't secure tour borders and is suing states who try. What would this terrorist have done when he got here?
We are once again under attack by radical Muslims, these people Obama say are "our" friends. They are emboldened after seeing how Obama has weakened our country during his "reign" and I'm sure they watched that fiasco in Charlotte last week. Obama can consider them his friends, I consider them enemies. 
Is this the man you want in the White House, one who believes our enemies are our friends?
Today, Obama told Benjamin Netanyahu he doesn't have time to see him while he is in the U.S. in a couple of weeks. They are about to go to WAR over there. I say if you are PRESIDENT, get your ASS back to Washington D.C., and ACT like the PRESIDENT!  That is your job, not campaigning. Israel has been our great ally. While Obama has bowed to, and kissed the rings of our enemies, he ignores our greatest allies, Israel, Great Britain and Australia. 
The United States of America can't survive four (4) more years of Obama. 
So now the BIG question,… WHY would anyone who LOVES America, vote for Obama in 2012?

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

May Day


Historically, May 1st is designated May Day, and has been a celebration of spring in the United States.  It is a day of celebration brought to American by our European ancestors. The flowers and trees are blooming, the air is warm and fragrant, the grass is green, now is the time to share May baskets with neighbors and friends.  I remember it fondly, as a child we would make May baskets, go to a friend or neighbor’s house, sit it in front of the door, ring the bell or knock, run and hide to watch them get their surprise basket of goodies and try to guess who had left it for them.  It was lots of fun.

On May Day 2012, the Barack Obama Administration published a proclamation stating that May 1st is now Loyalty Day, a day we reflect on “the American spirit of loyalty and the sacrifices that so many have made for our Nation”.  “On Loyalty Day, we rededicate ourselves to the common good, to the cornerstones of liberty, equality, and justice, and to the unending pursuit of a more perfect Union.”

What are they talking about?  What do we celebrate on Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Independence Day?  What do we celebrate EVERY day!  We celebrate the American spirit, we celebrate the people who have made the sacrifices to make this country great. We celebrate the personal sacrifices and successes of our fellow Americans.  We celebrate the free market system and capitalism because it has made us the richest, most charitable, most envied country in the world.

We celebrate the Founding Fathers who provided us the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Don’t ruin my happy, innocent memories of May Day, by turning it into something political, don’t tell me to “rededicate myself to the common good”, I work for the common good every day.  Don’t ruin my May Day memories by telling me we need a more perfect Union.  Our Union may be imperfect, but it is the best in the world, and less government will make it even better.

For me, every day is Loyalty Day, because I am a loyal American citizen, and I will continue to fight to keep the nation I love each day for the rest of my life.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Wildfire Near Franktown, CO

I was checking the web today and realized my friends in Franktown, CO were being threatened by a wildfire.  I hadn't been paying attention, the last one I heard about was in Boulder.  Anyway, I started watching the news online, and finally called Kristi.  She had left work early to get home and pack up some things.  She said she didn't care about clothes, she just wanted to pictures and important papers, and the dogs, of course.  She said she saw  fire trucks, firefighters and people were loading up their horses, pets and personal items onto trailers, and into campers, trucks and cars.

I am hoping she calls me later to let me know all is good, but I did just here an update on web radio, and it sounds like they have the fire contained, the winds are dying down, and they are letting people go home.  

Thank goodness.




 Photo courtesy of:  (850 KOA / Joyce Jefferson)

I Fell Off the Blogging Wagon

I fell off the blogging wagon for a while.  I have been busy, I moved back to Nebraska (hallelujah), I stayed with friends for three months, finally decided to rent a small one bedroom apartment in Omaha, stored most of my things, and moved enough into the apartment to be comfortable.  My goal is to be out of the apartment and into a house/condo by the end of the year.  Anyway, I have unpacked boxes piled up in the corners of rooms, but I have my fabulous bed to sleep in, some clothes to wear, a passable kitchen, a comfortable living room, and a place to work, so I am good.  I am grateful to all of my friends and family who have been so supportive.  I do hate having to go to the laundromat, that was bad planning on my part.

So, I have been looking for a job and starting my own business.  Today, I was offered a temporary position, three months I think, so I can sock some money away and stop using my savings to live.  In the meantime, I will take the last steps to getting my business going, so perhaps by the time the job is over, I will be up and running.  It would be so great to be so busy I don't have to work for a corporation again, we'll see.

I will share more information about the business soon, I want to have everything confirmed first. 

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Night at the Wax Museum

Wow, what a cute show!  It was not the story of the museum closing and the wax figures come to life, it was much different than that!  I really enjoyed the show, and the music, it was the best Young People's Theater show I have seen at St. Charles Community College.

There were lots of old jokes, kind of campy, but the kids put a new spin on things and kept it fresh.  The girls who played the little old ladies were really, really good.  You could almost believe they were in their 80's rather than in their teens.

Troyer was a great little ladies man, which ladies want nothing to do with, really funny!  Lizzie Borden was also a funny, funny character.

Good job kids!