Love one another

Love one another as I have loved you... this was the focus of the homily given at Church today.  The readings from today touch upon the first and second commandments.  The Gospel centers on a story where a lawyer asks Jesus what is the greatest Commandments?  Jesus answer was to repeat the first two commandments.  The second being the focus of the homily.  The priest made an interesting point about how in today's world almost everything we use technology wise requires us to use an access code whether it be our phones, computers, key vobs to our buildings etc... the same applies how we get into heaven.... we need an access code... and our code is Love.  How we get to heaven is by loving one another.  But he was quick to point out that the definition and our understanding of what love is in our society is often skewed.  And if its any testimony to this last night I was watching Rihanna's latest video "we found love" a video which supposedly depicts her and Chris Browns' relationship and the fallout they had.  And if what is depicted in the video is the modern world's understanding of what love is then we're in serious trouble and so our the kids.  No, love is unconditional and the priest had an interesting way of relating this to what Jesus said on the fatal night of the last supper when he said to his disciples "I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you"  What this means is unconditionally.   The priest relayed this directly to the crucifixion and this is what Jesus meant.  The cross is both vertical and horizontal, we can't be one dimensional when it comes to our lives and how we live them or how we treat others.  This in a way is also how the cross goes from being a symbol of fear, death and destruction to being the Christian symbol of Love and Victory, Love in it's greatest sense. God demonstrates how we are to love one another through the cross by giving completely of our selves by not withholding for our personal gratification or selfishness.  And let's face it often times we are selfish quite often without meaning to be or even realizing that our actions can be hurtful to others.  And the people we often hurt are the ones living right under our roof.  A simple application of this principle even boils down to a subject I often rant about whether on Bloggin B or amongst friends and co-workers is how people even treat each other out in public especially on the road.  The way people carry on in their cars on a day to day basis is disgusting.  The lack of respect for a fellow human being is abysmal. People cutting each other off, running red lights intentionally when their is heavy traffic, cutting off pedestrians because you don't want to slow down.  I can't tell you how many times I have nearly been hit because someone is trying to beat another car or is busy worrying about the latest text, Facebook or twitter message they got.  And this is apparent even in the Mississauga news for anyone who follows it.  Even the amount of pedestrians killed in Mississauga (I think its been almost 7) over the last few weeks just crossing the street says something about the lack of respect we have for the rights of other people to even have life.  When we are so caught up in ourselves that we fail to respect the rights of a person driving beside us to life because they are in our way says we have lost our way. But it doesn't stop here it goes from the work place to our school yards to our homes.  People are very quick to say do unto others but how often do we follow this principal.  Do you love your neighbor or do you sit there silently when someone like Jamie Hubley is mocked to death.  I know I am guilty of this many times figuratively.  But it goes beyond standing up for someone who is hurting, it goes beyond respecting the rights of others.  Loving your neighbor unconditionally means forgiving as well as giving your all to them.  Its what God did on the cross for us and it is what is expected of each of us and what we should expect from ourselves and each other.

An opinion

The Gospel reading from last Sunday (Mt 16:13-20) has always been a point of contention for many people.  It is a hard hitting statement of faith.  The story centers on the time when  Jesus asks the disciples "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 

The answers given are various and full of different opinions.  Much like the approach that people have today, Jesus is viewed as an opinion.  Some people believe he was a nice guy.  Others think He is a Prophet.  Some believe He was a fable. Some people believe He was a heretic.  To some He is The Truth the living Son of God.  In many ways Jesus is still looked upon as someone to have an opinion about.  But there are those who hold a very different belief, a belief which often the world has a hard time grasping.  Catholics believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  They also believe that the Catholic Church which this reading further touches upon was founded by Jesus Christ and was entrusted to Saint Peter in the Papal Office.  There are many people who have difficulty with this and it mainly boils down to misunderstanding what these scripture passages mean.  It is also one of the many reasons why there is so much division between Christians and even Catholics.  Today you still will hear all kinds of arguing on why the Catholic Church should ordain woman, change its teachings on sexuality, and allow divorce amongst other things.  What people often do not understand is that the Church proclaims that Jesus is Truth.  What this means to Catholics is that all the teachings that come from Jesus are true for all time periods.  As Catholics we believe that Jesus is the Eternal Truth unchanging and unchangeable.  This essentially means that because a particular opinion or world view is popular today that doesn't change what is fundamentally true.  In the eyes of the Catholic Faith Jesus' teachings are not opinions and I think that is where the most confusion about what the Catholic Faith is comes in.  This is why the Church cannot change its teachings because according to the premise of whose message they are proclaiming it is unchangeable.  So are the laws and traditions that Jesus established in His Church unchangeable.  It is no different than trying to change the name of a monkey.  The name or way of understanding what to call the monkey may evolve but the fundamental element of what the monkey is does not change.  And it can't be changed.  It is the same with the Church. 

Be persistent

So this week at Mass the reading was rather interesting. It's not your typical story of Jesus that we're accustom to. In the Gospel reading (Mt 15:21-28) there is a woman pestering the disciples and Jesus is blatantly ignoring her. Not your typical image of the loving, caring, savior Jesus that we are familiar with. It isn't till the woman makes a bold declaration of faith that Jesus actually turns to her and as per her request heals her daughter who was being tormented by demons.

I myself had never really thought about this all that much but after listening to the Priest's Homily and looking at this reading it dawned upon me that there are some things that we really have to pester the Man for. Many people have the notion that God doesn't answer prayers and this can be quite true. There are many prayers or things we request from God throughout our life that we don't seem to be blessed with. They may not be what's best for us either though. And that's why many people firmly believe that God doesn't answer prayers. But this passage from the Gospel got me thinking that there are somethings we have to consistently ask the Lord for. This may also just be one reason that we don't get what we want.

I remember one time a friend said to me 'that there are some blessings that we are just given,some blessings that we don't receive and then there are some blessings that we must ask for'. And I think that's what the main context of this reading.. that just like in life we have to be persistent with the Lord and have a firm faith that He will give us those things that we need.

I need it

Sunday morning... taking em to Church
So being the Catholic that I am I attend Mass on Sundays. Today the Priest made
a few interesting points during his homily. He discussed a bit about the commercial
demands made upon people in the modern world and the need to constantly be caught
up in the latest trends, gizmos, and gadgets. While touching upon the ever relevant
need to have the better car, the bigger house and newest i-phone he brought home
a good point relating to how we use our time, talents and finances.

'Do we have our priorities straight?' is basically what he was getting at.
Pointing out that the world we live in there are so many excesses (something I
have often pondered myself on occasion) in terms of things we have which we don't
really need. For example when you may be just getting by and putting enough
food on the table but you have a hundred dollar phone plan, a $100 VIP movie package
on your tv plan, and you upgrade your cell phone and mp3 every 6 months ....
then you have to work two jobs leaving the family at home on a frequent basis then
there may be a need to re-evaluate what is priority in life. None of the above is actually
going to make your family or your life happier for that matter.
Sorry it won't. In some ways it divides families more than it unites them.

Many people also live their lives in excess worry about their financial situation without
realizing that they can easily make a big difference by prioritizing what is really
important and distinguishing between needs and wants. And the pressures coming
from the outside world, media etc... have a big influence on this which little people are
easily lured into because we love the temporary joy that getting something new brings
us. But there really is never enough is there?

And that's why myself, even though it is nice to enjoy toys and extras in our lives,
I have always made it a priority to make sure that my home life is about people in it
first. Our family is really the most important thing at the end of the day... ask those
who have lost all their family through bad choice, excess desires for material wealth
and you're commonly going to find that they aren't so nice and happy people.
Your health, happiness and loved ones are the best things going for you...
well in this world anyways.