Value. This Old House (2022-07-31, Sunday-18)

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 2022-07-31 –18^th    Sunday 

Title:  Value. This Old House.

 ● ● Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23 ● ● Psalm   ● ●●   Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11  ● Luke 12:13-21 ● ●

 

[__00__]   “Preface regarding 1^st reading and the word ‘vanity / vapor ”

Sometimes - what we think about what is going to make us rich, what is going to make us wealthy?  One way to make a lot of money is to come up also with a new hardware or software or technology thing that people will use. Now there's, in addition to the word hardware, you know, what hardware is like hardware is the plastic, the metal the screws in your phone, and the software is the coating and the apps inside the phone? Well, there's a third thing, or term I heard years ago called “vaporware”. The word “vapor” means steam or something you really cannot hold or touch. To say something is “vaporware” means it is only an idea – in someone’s mind or on somebody's drawing board. vaporware.

Vapor = vanity. In the 1^st reading. we are warned against vanity. “Vanity of vanities, all things are vanity”.  The word vanity could be translated as “vapor”  All things are vapor.  What we have is going to disintegrate ultimately. And Jesus is cautioning us by the parable about putting our trust in vapor, in this that don't really last He wants us to put our trust in what things that last.

So one of the things that we believe really last for example, is a house or the barn of the parable….

 

[__01__]  THE BROADCAST MESSAGE.   This Sunday’s parable tells of about a man tearing down 1 barn (storehouse), so as to build a new barn. Sounds like demolition, home improvement with hammers, nails, power-drills, and 2 x 4’s, sheetrock, & paintbrushes.

Though this construction project is neither video-recorded for HGTV nor for an extreme makeover TV show, the project is part of Jesus’ “broadcast” and message of a parable about what is really important in life. God > money.

          Before there were so many improvement TV shows, there was 1 in particular that is still around called --- “This Old House…”

 [__02__]  THE BUILDER’S METHOD.      [T-O-H]  is about the recovery and restoration an some older or historic house and its rooms and kitchens, attic, garage bedrooms, etc.

One of the ways “This Old House” and other programs create drama, is that a problem is discovered such as a leaky pipe, or a defective roof, or a beehive in the attic, or something that makes everybody wonder, should we even be doing this project digging in the ground painting these walls? Is it worth it? Will we get our money's worth? Maybe we should have left this old house alone, should we bother to do a makeover on This Old House?

 

[__03__]  THE BUYER’S MINDSET.     

The person who owns such and old house is the “buyer” or owner. As the buyer, he or she may has a certain mentality or mindset.  Do you have this mindset – that your value as a person is linked to the value of your home or some other material thing? “Do I own the house or does the house own me?”

Are you caught up in the care and value of your own apartment or home, whether you're renting an apartment or owning a home, you have yourself personally invested in a place where you live. And even if you don't feel invested or connected to your home, maybe there's something else material or physical which you cherish or treasure.

____ being in a particular school, ____ working in a particular job, ____ going to a particular store, ___ driving a particular car.  Taking care of material things is GOOD – by extension, we are taking care of other people too. In Genesis 1, God made Adam and Eve and you and me stewards of the whole earth.

With all that in mind. Are you ever worried about not having enough or perhaps getting yourself just a bit more to make yourself more comfortable? I like being comfortable.

Comfort is good. But sometimes comfort can become an idol. Sometimes we idolize it. And sometimes we choose comfort rather than choosing God or God's Word.

In this regard, you and I might become like the man of the parable, who wants to build larger store houses (barns) because he has so much grain such a bountiful wheat harvest. Because with wheat, you can make bread and as you know, at least in the English idiom, bread is everyday slang for money, dollars, cents. 

The man is very concerned about bread and what's in his wallet.

The Gospel reminds us that money is not our goal, but that receiving God's mercy is.

[__04__]  THE BONUS MONEY.     

One incident from my own life reminded me of my own concern for what was in my wallet or bank account. And, because of “money”, I was building a larger barn in my mind.

After college and before I was in the seminary, I changed from 1 employer / job to another. And partly I changed jobs because I was going to earn more money. I was going to get a higher salary. There were other benefits to the new job but the higher pay was motivation # 1.

When giving me the job, my boss boss told me that the company gave out annual bonuses to all the employees based on how well the company did and based on how well I did. Even better!

I was also told what my minimum bonus would be.  A few months later, my co workers were happy because the company had done very well.  Thus, I could – in my mind – build larger barns, focusing on more money. Also, since the company had done well, I came to expect more than the minimum bonus promised. If the company did well, I should get more than “minimum” right?

However, this  was not realistic. And I knew it. Because in the first several months of this job, I didn't really fit in well. My performance was poor. At the time of my “evaluation”, I was told by my boss -  “FERRY, you are getting your minimum bonus. Let’s see what happens next year.”

Those were the words of my boss, I was feeling an emotion similar to the man in the parable, who wants his brother to share the inheritance with him.

I was looking around at my co workers thinking I should be getting more than the “minimum” bonus money.

That's how I felt in the moment immediately. Looking later, I could see that my job was in jeopardy.

My boss, rather than penalizing me, was actually trying to protect and preserve my position which was worth more than an immediate bonus.

[][] I was not “saved or kept on as an employee for the exact same reason as I was hired. By some standard, I had fallen short. But the reason we stay committed to someone or something is not simply based on what’s happening right now or the history leading up to this moment.

We believe – for example – in the sanctity of life at all stages because of what is possible. In fact we are always growing and changing.

You are not the sum total of your bank account, or physical attributes,  or talents.  You are also not the sum total of your sinfulness, errors, faults. We may fear that because of our sins we are diminished or devalued. The Gospel is the exact opposite. “"For scarce for a just man will one die: yet perhaps for a good man some one would dare to die. But God commendeth his charity towards us: because when as yet we were sinners according to the time. Christ died for us. " (Romans 5:7-9)”

God’s mercy is greater than any of our sins.  [][]

There was an inherent there was an inherent value in me as a person that was not measured in monetary and a monetary bonus or dollar amount.

That's also true of you.

You have a monetary you have a value beyond money or beyond anything material. The Gospel urges us not simply to think about the immediate value in our bank account, or even the current level of our strength and talents. Rather, the Lord wants us to put our faith in Him so that He can remake us each day. Thus, you will be rich in what matters to God.  [END]

Addendum:

Catholic Catechism, n. 1723, Section on "Dignity / Christian Blessing"

1723 The [Beatitudes of Matthew speak of our desire to be blessed / happy and they confront] us with decisive moral choices. [The Beatitudes invite] us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement - however beneficial it may be - such as science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love:

All bow down before wealth. Wealth is that to which the multitude of men pay an instinctive homage. They measure happiness by wealth; and by wealth they measure respectability. . . . It is a homage resulting from a profound faith . . . that with wealth he may do all things. Wealth is one idol of the day and notoriety is a second. . . . Notoriety, or the making of a noise in the world - it may be called "newspaper fame" - has come to be considered a great good in itself, and a ground of veneration. (John Henry Cardinal Newman, "Saintliness the Standard of Christian Principle," in Discourses to Mixed Congregations (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1906) V, 89-90.)

Abraham / Lord's Prayer (2022-07-24, Sunday-17)

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2022-07-24 –17^th    Sunday  &  

Title: Abraham / Lord’s Prayer

● ● Genesis 18:    ● ● Psalm   ● ●●     ● Luke 11:1-13 ● ●

[__01__]     Are you familiar, do you recall the events surrounding Noah's Ark?  (Book- Genesis).

In the episode of the ark which was a BOAT - God caused rain to fall for 40 days.  So much water and rainfall was there that Noah had to build, to construct a boat in which he and his family could survive and float over the floodwaters, and live.

Noah and his family were regarded by God as the virtuous and the good people. Thus, they survived the flood. The whole episode was to teach Noah and his family that there would be consequences for sinfulness and for breaking God's law and that the guilty would be punished.

The Noah’s Ark incident also demonstrated God’s concern for the innocent, for the good people,  to spare the innocent, and to punish only the guilty.

 

[__02__]      This Sunday, we’re not reading about Noah’s Ark but about a different example of God's judgment and wrath upon the guilty and upon the earth, and specifically the city of Sodom.

          Still there is a similarity between what could happen to Abraham's people whom he knew and Sodom, and what had already happened to Noah’s his people in the flood.

Abraham doesn't actually live in the city of Sodom, but he knows people there, his cousin – named Lot - lives there. And Abraham has heard that God is very displeased with the immorality, the depravity of the people there and that God is going to destroy the city, in a way similar to what happened to the people who died in the flood.

But, unlike the flood incident, someone comes along in this case to plead the case and beg for mercy for the wrongdoers. This is Abraham.

 

[__03__]    Abraham, like a good defense lawyer intervenes, like an attorney or advocate is looking for a way to avoid destruction and punishment for the people of Sodom.

And it's also important to note that before we point fingers or blame Sodom or the people there or anyone else, for all the problems in the world, that we recall that sinfulness is not just for the law breakers of the population and Saddam, but that we are all in some ways, law breakers, we have all broken God's law, we have all transgressed the commandments, we are all sinners in need of redemption.

. Original Sin affects 100% of the population, we are all affected by original sin.

That's why we all need baptism, we all need the sacraments of Penance and Reconciliation. We need the sacraments of communion, all the sacraments to be connected to God. Abraham, like a good lawyer is looking for a reason, a precedent to liberate and free the people of Sodom from punishment that he knows is coming.

So thus begins Abraham's negotiation. Abraham negotiates versus to God, if there were 50 innocent people in the city of Sodom, would you spare the city? God clicks [OK] = 50.

Abraham reduces his number to 45; God clicks [OK] = 45.

Abraham drops down finally to the number 10. God clicks [OK] = 10.

Why is this episode part of the good news of our  salvation?

Because in the next chapter of the book of Genesis, the city of Sodom is destroyed. So does this mean that Abraham's negotiation did not work?

 

[__04__]     What's the good news here? What's good here is that we do learn something about God's heart in the process through Abraham's appeal

___1^st . DO NOT LOSE HOPE ___

There's always hope for the guilty person for the evil doer simply because the evil doer may be in contact with or has the example of good people in his or her life. Perhaps I am the guilty person. I am the evil doer. I need good people around me to influence me to witness to me to bring me back. This is Abraham's message to you or me as the wrongdoer that it’s worth it to save you or me as the  sinner, simply because of good people around the sinner, it's worth it to save you, the sinner simply because of the good people around us.

Abraham wasn't just trying to save the good people to get them out of the city, so the bad people could be destroyed, Abraham wanted to save everybody. So there's always hope for the guilty person. For the wrongdoer to be rehabilitated. Do not lose hope. You might be the wrongdoer. You may know somebody who's a wrongdoer. I don't want you or anyone you know to lose hope, simply because they have done some wrong. There are always good people who can help. God also is eager to forgive our sins. Don't lose hope.

___2^nd. PRAYER BUYS TIME ___

We like to buy time we have many time saving devices in our lives, we have tablets, we have computers, we have smartwatches. We have things that make our life more efficient, buying time. And Abraham is also engaging in this prayer, this conversation with God and showing us that prayer, far from being a waste of time actually postpones God's wrath. Prayer buys time, sitting in prayer before God buys you time. So if you're worried about reacting to somebody who has maybe caused you some anger, some frustration, pray first, buy some time. So first, don't lose hope. Prayer buys time.

 

[__05__] ___3^rd. ABRAHAM’S PRAYER predicts JC’S PASSION AND DEATH ___

     Abraham has a special relationship with God that puts him in a place to take action and speak up.

          So, when we see the innocent “captured”, we expect – for example -- the government to do something such as to …

·       Exchange a prisoner here in the U.S. for an American prisoner overseas

·       Pay the ransom

·       Launch a rescue operation with the Navy SEALS.

The Good News of our salvation is that Jesus our Savior does all of these and more. He is the lamb led to the slaughter who opens not his mouth. He is the prisoner who is given in exchange for you and for me. He pays the ransom with his life. And, he does much of this in the dark while some of his disciples and either deserted him or denied him.

Also, Jesus undertakes this RETURN of himself as the prisoner, the RANSOM, and RESCUE to save the innocent but to save the guilty, to to save the soul of the sinner. That’s you. That’s me.

 

[__06__]  God’s mercy is greater than our sins.

          And, our negotiations continue each time we pray the “Our Father ” is more powerful than that of Abraham, and also reminds that we have a father in heaven who does not forget us, and who wants us each day to remember that even if are alone and abandoned in this world, the Holy Spirit is our advocate, our negotiator to find peace here and a place in heaven.

          Yes, we are called to patience as a virtue. Forgiveness of another person does not mean that we are agreeing with what the other person has done or is doing.

          Abraham is not necessarily asking for forgiveness or approval for Sodom, but only that they be given more time to repent. Perhaps, this is all we can ask for, for ourselves and for others.  We trust and hope in Jesus’ patient regard for us, even when we trespass against him.

          And, a reminder that we are all connected as one body in Christ and called to pray for each other.

[__END__]    

Martha. Mary. Missionary Appeal (2022-07-17)

2022-07-10 – 16^th Sunday  &

Title: Martha / Mary

Or Click here for video of Saturday 5:30 pm Mass which includes the message of SisterHelen starting at time mark = 12:45.

● ● Genesis 18:1-10a ● ● Psalm 15  ● ●● Colossians 1:24-28  ● Luke 10:38-42 ● ●

[_01_]  This Gospel is about overturning of the regular norms of society.

It is not about “busy” vs. “non busy”. Mary represents the disciple who is going against the norm, against the tide.

So, the actual message is congruent with Jesus other congregating with tax collectors, prostitutes and the reprobates mentioned in Psalm 15.

I am also one of these reprobates in need of repentance, healing, God’s mercy… (are you?)

  This Gospel reminds us of our own called to be disciples. And Jesus is reaching out to us and asking us all to choose the better part in our lives. But he is also the guide for us to choose what is best at all times. We're pleased to welcome Sister Helen Murage and Sister Mercy Mwangi

Sister Helen will be speaking to us this evening for the missionary appeal of the propagation of the faith. They are both from the Sisters of Mary Immaculate of Nyeri in Kenya and there is more information about the sisters and about the appeal in the bulletin for you to take home as well.

Or Click here for video of Saturday 5:30 pm Mass which includes the message of SisterHelen starting at time mark = 12:45.

Good Samaritan. Law. Location (2022-07-10, Sunday - 15)

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2022-07-10 – 15^th Sunday  &  Title: Good Samaritan. Law. Location

 ● ● Deuteronomy 30:10-14 ● ● Psalm 69  ● ●● Colossians 1:15-20 ● Luke 10:25-37 ● ●

 

[_01_]  The Gospel this Sunday is the parable of the Good Samaritan.

This is an example of a Good-Samaritan episode in which I received the goodness of the Samaritan in my life.

Once upon a time … many years ago, I was driving back to New Jersey from my college campus in Pennsylvania when our car, vehicle, broke down. I was with a friend. It was just the 2 of us. This was so long ago that the car was a Datsun.

          “Datsun” is now Nissan.

For some unexplained reason that Datsun/Nissan left us stalled by the side of the road on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76). It was dark. It was after Dark at sunset, after our final exams in December and we were going home for Christmas.

This was so long ago that neither of us had a mobile phone or cell phone to call for help. And, while we did have AAA roadside assistance, we had no way to call AAA directly.

And all we could do was hope that someone coming along would help us would assist us. I'm sure that a Pennsylvania State Trooper would have come along to assist us but we were eager to get going. So, we took matters into our own hands – and arms …and waved our hands and arms from the road shoulder to flag down another driver. Do not try this at home.

Being young and rather foolish. We went outside the car in the dark into the shoulder of the road and waved to passing drivers to help us. Then someone stopped, a driver whom we did not know. We got into his car together, my friend and I and he drove us to a mechanic to a service station so that AAA and a tow truck could be called and the tow truck than with the tow truck, we went back to the car got the car took it to a mechanic.

We actually had to stay overnight at a motel while our car was being fixed…the next morning we were on our way.

It was not a big deal to fix the car, but somebody first had to pick us up at the side of the road.

This was 1984, almost 40 years ago, it was not unusual in those days to rely on and trust, perhaps trust a bit more in the kindness of a stranger, of a “Good Samaritan”.

Who was our 1984 Good Samaritan?

 [_02_]   I remember a few details about his appearance and age.  In any case, our “driver / Samaritan” was a well dressed in business attire, jacket and tie, He was older than we were. Perhaps we would have appeared to be have been his college- age children. In any case, he took us in he made us his own.

Our driver/Samaritan took a risk, he chose to pull over to the side of the road judging that we were legitimately young people in just needed to lift, just needed a ride.

And by risking himself, he gave up something of value. But he could have kept driving he could have kept going. There were dozens of cars that passed us by on the side of the road,

I myself have driven by many people stalled by the side of the road.

 

[_03_]  The Good Samaritan parable is about the danger of discipleship, of following the Commandments.

I’d like to discuss this risk in two aspects of this they boast over the letter L. One is the example in terms of the LAW and the commandments And, the other is in terms of the LOCATION and the community.

 

[_04_]   1^st. The Law. It is notable that Jesus has this discussion about true neighborliness and being a neighbor with a scholar of the law, someone who knows the commandments very well.

Also, Jesus includes in the parable 2 religious and “legal / Commandment” leaders in his example:  the priest and the Levite.

Why does it go down this way? One biblical explanation as to why the priest and Levite did not help is that they believe that the man was in fact deceased, it was already he'd already died. And for them in their position, touching a corpse or a dead person would have left them ritually unclean, and unable to serve at the temple

Then again, Jesus relates that they were not on their way to the temple. Because they if they were on their way to the temple, they would have been going up the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. But Jesus specifies carefully that they were coming down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. In other words, they were leaving the Temple, they're finished. In any case, they did not stop to help.

In a commentary on the Good Samaritan based on his own pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King wrote this about the possible danger of a crime or violence in such a dark and threatening road with a  reputation for danger.

MLK: “it's possible that the priest and Levite looked over that man on the road and wondered if the robbers were still around. The robbers who hurt that man were still around, or maybe the priests of the league I felt that the man on the ground was really faking it. That he was acting like he had been hurt in order to lure them in and trap them and make them captive. I think we've all seen that movie, that scene where somebody's lying on the ground pretending to be heard. And then he jumps up and does his does his thing. So the first question, the first question the priest is asking, and the Levite asked is, if I stop, if I help this beaten man, what will happen to me? I've asked that question. If I stop and help this beaten man, what will happen to me but Martin Luther King, Jr. writes, but the Good Samaritan asks a different question, if I do not help, what will happen to him?”

 

[_04.01_]   What will happen to you or to me if you or I become a Good Samaritan?

Have you ever faced a situation in which you resisted extending yourself or speaking up to do the right thing or say the right thing? Because you wonder what would happen to you, I have resisted in this way.

And this isn't necessarily because I didn't pull my car over to the side of the road.

REPUTATION -- But for example, what about just speaking up to say what's right in a situation where you might be the only one, to speak up and say what's right or to defend somebody's reputation when everybody else is tearing the other person down? It's so much easier to leave that person by the side of the road, it's hard to be the Good Samaritan in conversation to protect someone's reputation.

[_04.02_]   SANCTITY OF LIFE -- Or what about speaking about the sanctity of all human life, the truthfulness to protect all human life from conception to natural death. We live in a time of many laws and enforcement of laws in our own state of New Jersey that do not respect the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. These laws suggest that the choice to end a pregnancy is one of autonomous rights. It is true that there are women expecting children in oppressive and terrible circumstances who may be abandoned by a partner, by a spouse by a boyfriend by a family. What is the Good Samaritan response in such a situation, I testify the Good Samaritan responses to recognize that there are two persons by the side of the road in such a situation. It's both the mother and the child in need of assistance.

Moreover, protection of life also includes protection of children in many circumstances, in foster care, in our own homes, schools.

This is a call to us, even if all of the other cars are by speeding by

The Good Samaritan parable is told to remind us of the law, the law of love. So that's the law part.

[_05_]   2^nd. LOCATION

The Good Samaritan parable is also told us to remind us of a location, the location Jesus told this parable to those who are well aware of the dramatic element and the dramatic change of location between Jerusalem and Jericho, and also the dramatic cultural change between the Jewish and the Samaritan people.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is both a geographic and a demographic message, which suggests division and divide the city of Jericho.

In fact, at 258 m or 846 feet below sea level, located adjacent to the Dead Sea is today the city with the lowest point it's the city at the lowest point below sea level of any other city in the world, lower than any other city, any other inhabited city in the world.  (Jericho is not only lower than Death Valley, California….but also has people living there. No one lives in Death Valley).

So…  the geography – the low point – is part of the message here. If you were on your way from the hight point of Jerusalem to low point of Jericho, that is a journey from light to darkness you were going from the top to the bottom, you were going from safety to danger.

Jesus Himself, as the Incarnation of God, also comes to us at our lowest point, first being born a child and also at the lowest by suffering and dying for our sins. Jesus is the Good Samaritan. You and I are person at the side of the road, par excellence.

The parable of the Good Samaritan reminds us of Jesus's love for us and our call to recognize that helping a neighbor might involve helping someone who will ask us to leave our own comfort zone. But doing so will help us to build a new community. Based on the final question between the scholar of the law and our Savior, the final question, who the final question about of the three the priests, the Levite and the Samaritan who was neighbor to the robbers victim and the Levite and the scholar says the one who treated him with mercy. And Jesus says to the scholar and to you, the scholars of the law, as well go and do likewise.

 

[_fin_]   

Discipleship (2022-07-03, Sunday - 14)

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2022-07-03 – 14th Sunday,

 ●  Isaiah 66:10-14c ●Psalm 66 ●     Galatians 6:14-18  ●      ●     ● Luke 10:1-12, 17-20  ●

 [_01_]          Recently, I was  speaking some friends and we – the adults -- were reminiscing  about the United States bicentennial year of 1976 and the many celebratations that happened that year. If you are old enough to remember, the  200^th  anniversary of signing of the Declaration of Independence and 200^th anniversary of  start  of the revolutionary war  against Great Britain  was a major public and also private anniversary celebration.

          One of my friends told of the story of how she and her family felt “left out of the celebration”. They weren’t actually left out…but they were disconnected because they had moved outside the United States in 1975, the year before the Bicentennial.

          And, so  she told this story…you would think that when we were being required to move – as children – from our home in New York to go to France – that we we would be sad about missing our friends – our mission our school – or having to learn a new language – or missing our grandparents, etc ….

          What she remembers about the moment was that she and her sisters and family were sad and distressed because they were not going to be in the United States for July 4, 1976.

          And, so when that day came… she and her family got some food and drinks and sandwiches and picnic basket together and they went to to a park in the city of Paris where they put their decorations, their  RED WHITE BLUE … I’m not sure if they had hot dogs or hamburgers…

          And, they even had some fireworkrs  or sparklers to mark the occasion.

 

          Telling the story, now, my friend tells the story not with sadness but just with irony and acknowledgement that she and her family seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, trying to pull off an American celebration of an American holiday in a French city and French park.

          At the time, it seemed that they were not equipped or properly arranged to celebrate the 1976 Bicentennial of the United States in the middle of Paris. No one was paying attention to them. No one seemed interested in what they were doing.

 

[that in 1975, she and her family moved to a suburb of Paris, to France and ]

 

[_02_]    Have you ever had an experience such as this where you could not make it to the party or celebration that everyone else was attending, perhaps you could not make it to a family reunion, or a wedding …

          Or, even the significant event of being present when a loved one dies and is buried.

          Isn’t it meaningful when we can be there in the flesh for significant life and death events?

 

[_03_]    In the Gospel, Jesus was giving encouragement to his disciples and to you and me at the moments when we might feel we do not have the equipment or support or logistics necessary to follow through or to be identified as a disciple.

          Has it ever happeed to you that you felt called to do something, but felt simultaneously that you lacked the logistics or logic or resources to complete the task – has this not, e.g., been your experience if you are –

-        Parent of a child

-        Teacher or coach

-        Adult or spouse trying to take care of a family member or spouse or friend who is in failing health.

We may feel that we lack what we need.

          Jesus is urging us at this very moment to focus on him and his grace and mercy –

          “Go on your way; behold I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.”  (Luke 10:____)

          Perhaps, my friend and her family – trying to celebrate the American Bicentennial in Paris also felt that they were without their regular resources.

          By the way, I would say that their “USA Bicentennial on international soil” simply makes the day for their family more memorable, something to rejoice in, something to remember that they faced it together.

They were no less “American” because they were in France.

         

[_04_]    [Life / Death]  C.S. Lewis, the British Christian writer, made some observations after the death of his beloved wife, that what he missed most about her was not manifested – necessarily – in his HOME, or at their favorite restaurant. He did not miss his wife any more or less in any particular place.

          He wrote that where he missed his wife – his spouse – was in his body.  That was the place where he felt her absence the most.

          It is safe to say that the “place ” where a mother or father or grandparent feels the loss of a child who has died is in their body. Because the child was and remains so much a part of them.

          It’s called LABOR pain for a reason … ‘cause it’s really hard to bring a child into this world.

          To lose a child is to lose a part of yourself.

          C.S. Lewis then also goes on to observe that HEAVEN then is not a place, not simply a place of luxury. Sometimes, we think of HEAVEN as a place of LUXURY – e.g., there is DARK CHOCOLATE in heaven. Or, my favorite illusion is that there is GOLF COURSES with a view of the ocean are in heaven.

          Neither dark chocolate nor golf with a view of the ocean are in heaven. Sorry to disappoint you.

          Heaven is not simply a restoration or recovery of what we used to have.

          The analogy I would use is this… imagine you are re-united with a friend you have not seen in some time – someone you have not seen in so long that you did not even recognize her or him.

          Heaven is about having everything but also recognizing that we are nothing without God.

          This is alos the reason that the 72 disciples who return to Jesus are rejoicing. They are rejoicing and joyful because they have conquered evil. And, we might also rejoice when we have done the right thing, when we have cared for our loved ones, when we have been honest and upright in difficult circumstances.

          On the other hand, Jesus is saying what we shall truly rejoice in is our connection to him, that we are united to him, even if we are disconnected from others, our names are written in heaven along with his and that we need not fear being sent out as one of his disciples, or finding ourselves in what may seems to the wrong place at the wrong time.

          Living as disciples, we are called to ask God to guide us so that might make every time and place give him glory, celebrate his the anniversary of his existence and our true freedom as his children.