Embedded Files
2 Maccabees 13:1-26 As Antiochus Eupator and Lysias prepared to attack Jerusalem, the true character of Menelaus was finally revealed, and consequently he was executed by the king. Judas had great concern that those recently returned to the true practice of the Jewish traditions might regress to their pagan practices if the city were to fall. Supported by the prayers of his faithful fellow Jews. he engaged the approaching Syrians and beat them back. Upon learning of a revolt in Antioch, the king and Lysias negotiated a generous peace and retreated. Again, the power of God and the prayerful trust in him saved the Jews from defeat.
Wisdom 15:1-6 The author knows that God’s love for his people is unconditional; even when Israel sinned or fell into idolatry, God was always ready to forgive and to restore the covenant with them. God’s permanent fidelity even in the face of their infidelity helped move the people to repentance.
Ch 15:5 A chaste mind and heart is an indispensable disposition to be identified with God’s will and hence to have an intimate friendship with him. In addition to the grace of God, an individual must habitually struggle to banish the first sparks of impurity in mind or desire. Every sin involves consent of the will; therefore, as long as there is resistance of the will to impure thoughts and desires, personal sin is either nonexistent or mitigated. (CCC 2520)
Ch 15:10-19 The author made light again of the lifeless and worthless idols formed out of clay.
Ch 16:1-29 The final four chapters of this book contrast the punishments in the form of plagues heaped upon the Egyptians with God’s kind and merciful treatment of his Chosen People. Egypt, however, is never named in these chapters, which lends evidence to the possibility that this book was written or compiled in Alexandria under Egyptian rule. These accounts also go beyond the events narrated in Exodus in order to draw lessons that are valid for all times and places. These brief commentaries on historical events demonstrate how God’s wisdom, as expressed both in his justice and in his mercy, ultimately prevails.
Ch 16:1-4 Thou didst provide quails to eat: This refers to the miraculous appearance of quail during the Israelites’ sojourn in the desert after complaining of having nothing to eat but manna day after day (cf. Nm 11:10-32)
Ch 16:5-14 This is an allusion to the plagues of locusts in Egypt and the serpents that attacked the Israelites in the desert. On the latter occasion, God had Moses make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole so those who gazed upon it might be healed. The bronze serpent was not an idol; rather, it was a symbol of salvation. The fact that it was “lifted up” in order to save the people makes it a type of the Crucifixion of Christ (TYPOLOGY!!). (CCC 2130)
Ch 16:15-29 The inspired author juxtaposes particular plagues suffered by the Egyptians with corresponding miracles that benefited the Israelites. Hail rained down upon the Egyptians, resulting in destruction and death, whereas manna rained down upon the fleeing Israelites, providing them with life-giving nutrition.
(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)
You might already know this, but there are THREE DAYS left in the Old Testament (not including Proverbs)
PHENOMENAL!!
You know sometimes we have the Book of Proverbs and sometimes it’s one of those you have to re-read
We had three today that were really remarkable and worth commenting on
Proverbs 25:15, “With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.”
If you’ve ever seen the movie “Shawshank Redemption” you know the theme of PRESSURE AND TIME (you MUST see this movie if you have not!! 🤯)
PRESSURE AND TIME is all that Andy Dufresne needed to get from a place of slavery
PRESSURE AND TIME is all that Andy Dufresne needed to get away from a place of imprisonment
PRESSURE AND TIME is all that Andy Dufresne needed to get away from a place of being caught
TO A PLACE OF FREEDOM
PRESSURE AND TIME
And that’s basically what Proverbs is saying today
“With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.”
There’s that sense of being able to say there is such a thing as PRESSURE OVER TIME that can accomplish great things
Here we are in DAY 310 and THIS is PRESSURE OVER TIME
Day 1 might not have been a blow your socks off kind of day
Or even 90 Days journeying through the prophets may not have been inspiring every single moment
BUT…
PRESSURE OVER TIME
AND BEING PATIENT
AND ALLOWING GOD’S WORD TO BRING HIS WILL TO FULFILLMENT IN YOUR LIFE
IS REMARKABLE
Proverbs 25:16, “If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you be sated with it and vomit it.”
That makes sense!!
Fr. Mike’s parents (and mine) would always say that his eyes were bigger than his stomach
When you go to a buffet you load up on all this incredible looking food and there’s just so much of it
AND YET…
There’s something to be said for KNOWING WHEN TO QUIT
There’s something to be said for KNOWING WHEN TO STOP
There's something to be said for KNOWING WHEN ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Not only when it comes to food
BUT…
When it comes to even OTHER GOOD THINGS
We heard it in the Book of Wisdom today and have talked about it before
In the Book of Wisdom it talks about all these GOOD THINGS surrounding us
People make GODS out of them
People make IDOLS out of them
People entrust their HEARTS, their LIVES, their SECURITY, their PROTECTION, and their FUTURE to these IDOLS that are images of human beings
They are images of God’s creation
Animals
Even things that are not attractive or things that you would not even desire
You might even make gods out of crocodiles
Or gods out of snakes
Or flies
Remember when we went through the gods that the Lord God defeated in Egypt to set his people free, there were gods of pestilence, gods of cows, gods of flies, gods of snakes, etc.
And you realize that here we are STOOPING SO LOW so as to be willing to worship something that has NO POWER
NO ABILITY
And not even any NOBILITY
That’s a unique thing
Not only does it have NO ABILITY
But it has NO NOBILITY
How often is that the case for us?
How many times in our lives have we treated certain things or even people as a place of god in our lives?
We don’t make gods, typically, out of BAD THINGS
We take GOOD THINGS and make them into ULTIMATE THINGS
We take GOOD THINGS and make them into God’s CHIEF RIVALS FOR OUR HEARTS
What is God’s chief rival for MY heart?
In your heart, probably it’s not an image carved in stone or out of wood or out of clay like it’s talked about in Wisdom of Solomon today
BUT…
It is most likely SOMETHING
How do we identify it?
“Who or what is God’s CHIEF RIVAL for my heart?”
“Who or what is God’s CHIEF RIVAL for my time?”
Because we realize that our relationship with God is the kind of relationship that DOES NOT TOLERATE RIVALS
As we know this, we know that marriages are the kind of relationship that DO NOT TOLERATE RIVALS
A husband and wife are married to each other and to have someone of interest, or someone on the side, or another person COMPETING for one’s heart DOES NOT amount to a healthy relationship or marriage
Same thing is true when it comes to our relationship with the Lord
This relationship with God himself DOES NOT TOLERATE ANY RIVALS
We can have other people in our lives, yes
We can have other things we do in our lives, of course
BUT…
Nothing that would CONTEST
Nothing that would be FIGHTING FOR or be considered as a RIVAL for God
So how do we identify this?
The question you can ask yourself is, “If there is anything where it came to this thing or God, and this thing might have a shot, this thing might win a couple times out of ten. If that’s the case, that thing might be a RIVAL FOR GOD, FOR MY HEART.”
So in this nape of the neck we have sports
It’s kind of a big god
Sports becomes that CHIEF RIVAL FOR GOD (thankfully not if you’re a Washington Redskins fan...we’ve been awful for more than 30 years 🤪)
There are families who have tournaments on the weekend so can’t make it to Mass
Ok they’ve just identified their idol
They’ve just identified God’s CHIEF RIVAL for their families’ ETERNAL SOUL
Think about that
It’s remarkable
Let’s take hockey for example
There are incredible hockey players in Minnesota and have gone to do incredible things
The number of players who have done that, however, is SO MINISCULE
You cannot bank on the idea that if you go to all these tournaments, practices, and hockey camps, you’re going to have an all-star hockey player
That doesn’t happen
Those people that it DOES happen for, ask the question, “Is it worth it?”
There was a young man who came into the Catholic Church when Fr. Mike was working at a university in Minnesota
He played hockey for the university
He scored the winning goal in double overtime for the National Championship in the Frozen Four
He went on to play pro hockey after that
Fr. Mike called him the next day after the championship and congratulated him
The kid was humble and said, “It was really cool...but NOTHING is going to compare with the first time I get to receive Jesus in the Eucharist when I become Catholic.”
Fr. Mike was like, “DUDE!! You need to tell that to EVERY SINGLE ICEMITE, every MITE, all the people playing, all these leagues, and spending all this money, and skipping Mass all these Sundays just to go to hockey.”
Now, a bunch of years later, Kyle will say the same thing
“That goal was a great moment, but it’s not even in my top 10. My top 1 is the first time I got to receive Jesus in the Eucharist at Mass. Second is when I got to marry my wife. The third is my child...etc.”
That goal is no longer even in the Top 10
In fact, Fr. Mike doesn’t even know if he has any Top 10 moments related to hockey
AND YET…
Here we are and we are willing to let our sport, our job, our hobbies, become God’s CHIEF RIVALS FOR OUR LIVES AND FOR OUR HEARTS
Like the Book of Wisdom would say, “It seems to me to be foolish…”
That’s the little sermon for today
BUT…
FR. MIKE IS PRAYING FOR YOU
PRAY FOR FR. MIKE
PRAY FOR EACH OTHER
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise. Thank you so much. Thank you for your Word. Thank you for this day. Thank you for constantly bringing us back again and again that you might remind us that you not only love us, not only that you are interested in us, but in the most mysterious way you have a destiny for us. You have a destination you want us to reach that you have in some ways we can maybe say a plan. That plan, that hope, that desire, that will that you have for us is that we live forever with you, that we live this life with you and that we live forever with you. Help us to say yes to your will today. Help us to say yes to this destiny for our Eternity. And we make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse