Gospel, Homily and Coffee

My niece and her husband are first time parents.  And like many first time parents, they post and send a lot of photos, though they are not as “exuberant” as some. So little William is around 8 weeks old, probably one of the cutest baby ever along with his 3 year old cousin but I may be slightly biased.  He is developing right along, hitting all his milestones. The big excitement will be when the walking starts. Over past 3 weeks and this week, we have been within the great teaching of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount.   The first part of this teaching was the beatitudes; those beautiful, tweetable, incredibly powerful statements that talk of a God the Father who is there for us; so that we will give our Trust to the Father. Then we heard about being the salt of the earth, the light of the world, another teaching about the heights of humanity we can achieve with God. Then the last week and this week we got into the law; and although it sounds a bit harsh ...

I just want to be clear here...it is great to "Think" on Jesus.  We have to!  However, the ego tends to creep in, and so we have to make sure that how "I" think of Jesus does not become the ONLY way of thinking of Jesus, and that "I" am right and "you" are wrong. This applies across the board...I have experienced people who have made Jesus so sweet, that he is rendered powerless to instill change.  I have experienced people who have made Jesus so strict, that is  loses all compassion. This applies to almost anything we humans do.  Salvation is to be free of the tyranny of our ego, so that we can be open to love; God's love and love of others.

Discernment--it requires a long view.  When I see a cloud, the changes and movement are not so clear.  When a change of view takes place, a long view, the movement of God becomes clear. Wait, watch, discern.  

Despite what people may claim; Christianity is truly, utterly positive about humanity. We are created good and that goodness is never ever lost.   We may diminish it, or bury it, but it can never ever truly be lost, because God is Good and God alone is our source of being. Salvation is the freedom to live out our inherent goodness; to be able to express it and grow in it.  Salvation is to live as Good people, who love. God’s grace that comes to us in the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ, is to empower us to act and be those Good people that we are created to be. Our part...act on that grace. Now, that is a moving target.  How we use God’s grace it and how we can manifest our goodness will grow and change;  we must adapt to our lives. This means we must accept change. This is what I sense Jesus is teaching us in the gospel.   Think about our lives, and how they have already changed.   The things, activities, practices, ideas th...