DEAR FRIENDS –
TODAY’S BLOG MARKS THE BEGINNING OF THE THIRD-YEAR (CYCLE “A”) I
HAVE BEEN SHARING IN “A CATHOLIC DEACON’S PERSPECTIVE.” AS I WROTE IN THE PAST, MY HOPE IS
THAT IT GIVES YOU A DEEPER INSIGHT INTO YOUR JOURNEY WITH THE LORD. JUST
AS IN THE LAST TWO YEARS “B” AND “C“ BLOG SUBMISSIONS HAVE REMAINED ON THIS
SITE TO REVIEW OR COMPARE, YEAR “A” WILL BE ADDED FOR THE SAME REASON. OUR
PRIMARY GOSPEL PROVIDER FOR YEAR “A” IS ST. MATTHEW.
PLEASE KNOW THAT YOU REMAIN IN MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS AS WE
TRAVEL A PATH TO FOLLOW JESUS TO HIS PROMISE OF EVERLASTING LIFE FOR THOSE WHO
ARE FAITHFUL TO HIS TRUTH OF LOVE, MERCY AND FORGIVENESS.
GOD BLESS,
DEACON JIM MERLE
Prepare The Way of The
Lord!
In Remembrance of
Jesus’ Birth, Death And Resurrection;
In Preparation of His
Second Coming; And
For Each Day We
Interact with Him in Thought, Word, Deed And Sacramentally!
If truth be known, I am more of a
procrastinator than one who has properly prepared for every contingency (thus
the lateness in getting this blog out on time prior to the First Sunday of
Advent). My wife will tell you that it
is due to my lack of organization because I like to touch papers more than once
and, therefore, fall behind. In my
defense, it is not that I purposefully wait, it is that I need to winnow down
what I am doing to make sure I have all the bases covered that I understand and
want to share with others. Having an
active mind with a multitude of matter running through it causes more angst in
my planning to provide a finished product.
Or my standard excuse: I was ordained to say yes and my wife supports me
by helping me to balance what I need to do versus what I think I should do.
Rather than taking up space on how to
improve my faults, let us focus on how we need to prepare for the way of the
Lord this Advent in our daily interaction which brings us to look at all the
ways we can see Jesus in our lives.
Thinking about Jesus often and daily should
be easy if we are fully initiated and practicing our Catholic faith. We are considered part of His family whether we
were baptized, reconciled, made your first communion and were confirmed in our
childhood years or as an adult. This is
especially true if we are practicing by attending Mass on Sundays, Holy Days, receiving
the Sacraments and praying regularly.
Unfortunately, as much as we strive to
do all the things listed above, the rest of our life that is not directly connected
with the Catholic Church often takes us in different directions. We allow the world and its promises of giving
us a better life to often take precedence and either through commission or
omission of sins we tend to turn away from our relationship with God. Sometimes it is for a short while and we are
able to push the negativity away and resume walking our path of
faithfulness. Other times seem to last
longer and doubt begins to cloud our thought processes so we stray to the point
of not practicing at all or rarely.
This is what Jesus is talking about in
St. Matthew’s Gospel when He says: “…be prepared for at an hour you do not
expect, the Son of Man will come.” St.
Paul in his Letter to the Romans supports this when he writes: …put on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”
Though we still remember that Jesus
humbled Himself to become human to teach us the ways of the Lord, suffered and
died on the cross for our sins and was risen from the dead to open the Gates of
Heaven for us, we put it away as a side issue that has happened. We forget that without believing in these
choices of Jesus to be obedient to the Father’s will, we would not be eligible
for the eternal life God promised to us if we remain faithful to His plan for
us.
When this belief fades, so does our
preparation for being in sync with what we need to do to receive eternal
life. God’s promise of us being in the
Kingdom of Heaven with Him forever is based on us being proactive in our thoughts,
words and deeds on a daily basis; not when it seems convenient. We need to pray consistently throughout the
day to ensure we are following the Lord’s ways on our faith journey. We need to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy
Days of Obligation not just because we are called to keep the Sabbath, but
because we can be renewed by receiving Eucharist when we are forgiven by God
through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
It is through consistent nourishment
of practicing our faith as fully initiated Catholics that not only do we remain
faithful, but that we begin to better understand why God created us out of His
love to be with Him forever in Heaven.
Let us take this first week of Advent
to look at areas where we need to strengthen our resolve to be faithful to God
in our life journey. This should include why He came to us 2000 years ago, why
He will come to us again at the end of time to judge us and also why it is
necessary and good to trust in a faith of selflessness so that all will see
God’s light shine for all who believe and want to follow the ways of the Lord.
Reading 1: Isaiah 2: 1-5
Reading 2: Romans 13: 11-14
Gospel: Matthew 24: 37-44
No comments:
Post a Comment