Our All Saints Blog

Believe and See

A little girl came up to me all excited about her upcoming trip to see her cousins.  The excitement in her eyes brought back memories of my cousins…and how we used to fight like cats and dogs!  I know why she loves (and misses) them so much.  It’s because she never sees them.  That’s the difference!  In my case, I always saw them.  In her case, she never sees them. You know the saying, “Distance makes the heart grow fonder.”  This saying is as deceptive as it is well intended.  I can’t imagine a wife ever telling her husband, “Leave for a few months so that you can grow fonder of me!” Instead of growing fonder he may become fodder for the beasts. 

Has anyone ever said to you: “I don’t need to go to Mass.  I pray at home.” Really?  I don’t believe it.  Again, it might be very well intended but I know it is very deceptive. 

Jesus is truly man.  He does everything we do.  He breathes like us, sleeps like us, walks like us and talks like us.  So of course, his neighbors and childhood friends would never think twice about Him.  After all, He does everything we do.  But when it comes to everything, Jesus seems to do it a little better than we do.  It’s true!  When He spoke, He spoke in his native tongue, like everyone else.  But unlike everyone else, He put certain words together that no one else had ever dreamed of putting together.  For example, He said, “Love your enemy.”  Love and enemy had never gone together.  And even today, it is held by many to be a symptom of wishful thinking.  Again, the Lord said: “Blessed are the poor.”  Blessed and poor had never gone together.  Who in the world would ever say that?  Well, the Lord did, and He was poor. 

Most of us would never believe such things, unless we saw it with our own eyes.  Thank God the Lord “believed” such things.  His “belief” made it possible to realize such things, which allowed all of us to see it with their own eyes!

Believing in something makes all things possible to see. 

Jesus, the true God and true Man, brings out the best in all of us. Just believe and see.

What Would You Do?

What would you do?  What would you do to save the life of your daughter or son?  I know what I would do.   I would do whatever it takes to save their life. I know it. 

But not really…and thank God for it!

If I was in a hot air balloon with my friends and a hole suddenly appeared and we were losing altitude.  Yes, I would do whatever it took to save my life BUT… I would not throw one of my friends overboard.  I would not do what goes against my beliefs and my God.  If God wants me to die, then so be it.  I won’t give up, but just like another life, I will not throw overboard my principles, morals, values and dignity in order to extend it.  I will treat my principles as if they were another human life because they are worthy of my life and death. 

Jairus would do whatever it took to save his daughter’s life, but he would not sell his soul.    He would give his heart for his baby girl but we would not rip the heart out of his neighbor’s little girl.  He wouldn’t do that, even if it was humanly possible.  He would do what he could as long as it respected the Lord, his dignity, his values, his morals, his principles.  For this reason, he turned to Jesus. 

When we turn to the Lord we get closer to the Lord.  It doesn’t mean we’ve given up or given in.  It means we won’t play God.

Jairus was ready to do whatever it took to save his daughter’s life.  But he was not going to sell his soul.  The Lord was ready to do whatever it took to save us, but not if it meant betraying His Father.  The Apostles were ready to do whatever it took to save their life, but not if it meant betraying their Lord. 

The Catholic Church has been fighting for affordable health care for centuries.  It is ready to do whatever it takes for every single American to have it, but not at the expense of a single human life, and not at the expense of cheapening human life.  We believe in the sanctity and dignity of every single human being:  born and unborn.  This is a principle that is very much worth fighting for.  This is a principle that we are very much ready to die for.