Blindness

Most of us are able to see (maybe not very well, but enough to get by) and are lucky enough not to know what it’s like to be blind. We get to see the smiling faces of our parents, friends, or children. We get to see the beauty of God’s creation. Blindness steals this from us. Similarly, the beauty of this life can be stolen from us if we suffer from spiritual blindness. Maybe we can see God’s creation, but we haven’t really SEEN it.

Recently, I heard someone speak about our knowledge of God using two Spanish words—conocer and saber. I am by no means bilingual, but these two words speak to two different things. Conocer is to know someone. Saber is to know something. Do we know (saber) God? Or do we KNOW (conocer) God? If we only know (saber) God, it’s time to get our vision checked and repaired.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Ever heard the saying, “You can never have too much of a good thing”? Well, that’s not true. Sorry. It’s actually a pretty easy trap to fall into. The Gospel this Sunday is the famous story of the rich man whom Jesus told to sell of his belongings. Jesus went on to say how difficult it is for the rich to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

We have varying degrees of monetary riches; however, we all have a wealth of riches that can seem like great things, but can still lead us away from God—social media, friends, sports, school, food, and yes, money too. If we’re not careful, our priorities can get out of order and something that was good has now replaced God, which is not good. If you’re allowing your happiness to be determined by something that can be lost or taken away, you’re putting it in the wrong place.

Love and Marriage

Getting married is one of the most awesome things you can do (so sayeth the guy who has only been married for a few months). All kidding aside, it really is. God laid out four possible vocations, and each of them are equally awesome, but let’s face it, most of us will be called to the vocation of marriage. The Gospel this weekend spoke about the permanence of marriage—a covenant between husband, wife, and God. However, whether we’re called to marriage or not, this pertains to all of us. Confused? Let me explain.

Christ is the groom, and the Church is the bride. Christ sacrificed Himself for us, and we’re called to serve Him—much like a marriage. It’s a circle of giving. Also like a marriage, we can try to break, violate, or divorce ourselves through our actions. Just like wedges shouldn’t be driven into a marriage between spouses, we also should not divorce (or separate) ourselves from Christ.

Cut It Off

We’d all look a little funny if we actually cut off the things that “cause” us to sin. The Gospel reading this Sunday is one we all know very well, but what’s always interesting to me is that a hand (or computer, bottle of alcohol, etc.) doesn’t actually cause us to sin. It’s the tool that we use to sin. The causes to sin are internal, and much more difficult to remove. Concupiscence is our inherent inclination to sin. Until we redirect our focus from the temporary to the eternal, this inclination is always going to get the better of us. Sure, we can cut off our hand or get rid of our phone (pick your poison), but we’d find another way. We can’t control our desire to sin until we realize that the “rules” are for love and from love, and cutting out the temptations are a way of saying, “I love you,” back to God.

I'm #1!

I think the whole concept of the first shall be last and the last shall be first is kind of interesting in society where we are constantly told that we need to be first. We need to be #1. Whether it’s in school or on the football field (have you ever been to a high school game in this state?), second place is just the first loser.

But really, we don’t even need to look any further than a typical Sunday Mass. Everyone wants to be the first for Communion so that they can head out. And this is also a great example of how the last shall be first, since they are the only ones who have actually fully attended Mass (in case you didn’t know, that final blessing is a big deal). It’s important that we take a step back and truly look beyond the temporary and seek what is eternal (God).

Pick Up That Cross

Being Catholic isn’t easy. If anyone says it is, they either lied to you… or they aren’t very good Catholics. It’s a daily struggle where we’re called to deny ourselves and our desires in favor of God and His desires for our lives. This can seem burdensome if we don’t truly understand our relationship with Him. If we don’t understand that living our lives a certain way is in service to Him, then all those things we “get to do” for Him seem more like things we “can’t do” or “have to do.” These can seem like crosses to bear, but in reality, the greater crosses come from truly following God… Yikes.

Following God might mean losing some friends or changing your weekend plans. It might mean changing some habits or dating someone else (or no one). And it definitely means refocusing Sundays towards Mass. But isn’t that worth pleasing God?

Can You Hear Me Now?

In elementary school, I loved whenever the hearing test people would show up. I always got super excited because I knew I had such good hearing that they would always tell me how impressed they were. Despite years of having the volume way up on my headphones and car radio, it’s still pretty decent. There is a difference between hearing and listening though.

Hearing is what we do when we have Netflix on in the background while doing other stuff. We hear the noise and the conversations, but we’re not actually listening. Listening means we actually have to receive the message into our brains and think. We can hear our parents tell us to do something, but listening would mean not spacing out. This Sunday’s Gospel touched on this perfectly and is applicable to the Mass itself. Are you simply hearing God’s Word, the homily, and the prayers? Or are you actually listening to them?