Today's Readings - http://usccb.org/bible/readings/120511.cfm
These day's everyone is so busy preparing for Christmas...putting up decorations...buying
gifts...wrapping them...it can be a strenuous task. Sometimes, we get so busy,
that we forget to prepare our hearts and keep our focus on what Christmas
really is. During advent, the Church holds Parish-wide Sacrament of Reconciliation,
and if you are watching EWTN, they always emphasize to prepare the way for the
Lord. Perhaps, the best way to prepare for the Lord's coming is a clean and
contrite heart. A heart that is in line with Jesus opens up the doors for
everything else...such as charity, forgiveness...and all the other virtues.
Last week, for some strange reason, I was googling about Purgatory. And
thanks to my wife, she showed me a series of episodes about Purgatory in the
WomenOfGrace website. It was very informative and I learned a lot. I found very
striking detailed information from Padre Pio and St. Faustina. In the show they
said, that on average, a holy man/woman…I repeat a holy man or woman commits
sin on average, seven times a day!...seven times a day! Imagine that?!? Seven
times! So how much more, we, that are not holy…imagine how many sins we can
commit a day?!? This is why going to confession more often than not is the most
important thing to do to purify our soul. Nowadays, I take note of my sins, so
as not to forget them. And no! I won’t tell you where I write them :).
What shocks me is that after I have gone to confession just last week, I have
written down 8 sins after that! This maybe sins of the past that the Holy
Spirit has reminded me or something that I just committed, we can never be too complacent about our sins, even the smallest one, for it says in the bible that we will be held accountable for everything that we have done . The point of it
really is that nothing unclean can come to the presence of God, for God is all
holy, pure and divine. I would imagine that even if your soul made it with even
a smallest trace of attachment to sin that the soul would dis-integrate (that
is my sci-fi mind working there…:)). Tip: Ask for
the intercession of Padre Pio and ask for his help for you to remember all your
sins and to make a good confession.
The First Reading of today from Isaiah, specifically says “Here is your God, He comes with vindication;
With divine recompense He comes to save you.” and “A highway will be there,
called the holy way; No one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it. No lion will be there, nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.”. Take note of the word “vindication”. Yes, our God is all loving and merciful, but at the same time, He cannot stand sin, even the smallest trace of it. In order for us to come to His presence we have to come to our senses that we have sinned, and that it’s “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault!”(I love the new translations, though I still stumble during mass). Then let the healing of the Blood of the Lamb take over your soul, and when it’s cleaned, ask the Holy Spirit to dwell on you so that nothing else may occupy your soul.
called the holy way; No one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it. No lion will be there, nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.”. Take note of the word “vindication”. Yes, our God is all loving and merciful, but at the same time, He cannot stand sin, even the smallest trace of it. In order for us to come to His presence we have to come to our senses that we have sinned, and that it’s “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault!”(I love the new translations, though I still stumble during mass). Then let the healing of the Blood of the Lamb take over your soul, and when it’s cleaned, ask the Holy Spirit to dwell on you so that nothing else may occupy your soul.
In the past, I have treated Jesus more like a Roomba…you know that automatic
vacuum cleaner (forgive me Jesus, I’m trying to make a point here). I make a
mess, and I expect Jesus to clean it up for me…automatically. That is how lousy
my relationship was with Jesus. And having woken up by the Holy Spirit, I was
horrified by it. Have you ever observed how effective Roomba really is? It
doesn’t really cover everything, especially if there is something blocking its
way or if there’s dirt in the corner. What I learned is that, yes, my Jesus in
His loving mercy does forgive my sin, but it will take an effort for me to
remove the blocks and reach the corners so that Jesus can truly purify me and remove any attachments to sin. This
would mean establishing ways to avoid anything that would lead me to sin,
reading the Bible and truly appreciating the Word of God, loving my wife and my
children, my neighbors, my extended family, praying more often, praying more
often and praying more like you've never prayed before.
In the Gospel today at Luke Chapter 5, look at how the paralyzed person got healed.
It took a tremendous effort for him to get to Jesus. At first, they could not
find a way to reach Jesus but in the end they found a way to get to Him. So
there it is, there were blockages in his path to Jesus in the same manner that
there are blockages in our life to truly experience Jesus, but just as the
paralyzed man persevered in getting to Jesus with the help of others, we too
must make an effort to remove the blockages in our lives (and you know and I
know what is blocking Jesus from truly making a deep impact in your lives), and
if the task becomes difficult, implore the help of other people, and I mean men
and women that seeks the face of Jesus to help you. Those people who help the
paralyzed man are there are also seeking Jesus, because they were there to
listen to His words.
So what do you think? Good stuff here?
God loves you.
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