Good Friday

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

Today billions of Christians throughout the world are supposed to be commemorating the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.  However, due to the exaggerated policies of governments and Church officials, Good Friday is not the same.  Most people are forced to be at home and watch "services" on television or social media.  This faux attempt at worship is troubling. While live streaming and television are good to promote the faith and aid those who cannot attend Mass, to force everyone to rely on it is disturbing and unfortunate.  It encourages spiritual sloth.  Worship in Christianity has to be physical and communal. Let me be clear. This is not an attempt to disgrace or shame anyone. It is just a collective sigh of disappointment exhibited by many Christians of all denominations.  As a former atheist, faith is something that I have grown to love.  It was not easy, but it happened. To see our bishops, priests, religious and laity encourage the closing of churches and suspension of the Sacraments hurts a lot.

It makes me and many others wonder what faith exists on earth?  We all know that we are flesh and flesh is weak.  We will get sick, get hurt, get killed, etc. No one is Superman or the Brightburn character. No one is Hulk or Thanos.  Even Jesus faces the pains and weaknesses of the body. He was human in all things except sin. However, we must understand that while we are subject to nature and its qualms, this does not mean God will not protect anyone doing His will.  It is just not rational to think that Jesus would allow His Eucharistic presence to become a conduit for disease. It is just not rational to think that Jesus would allow contagion to spread during His Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  This is just absurd to think.  Nevertheless, there are some who literally believe this can happen despite absolutely no evidence of it in history.  A year after the onset of this pandemic and we still have no science showing the mass or Sacraments as conduits for the spread of Covid 10 coronavirus.  Once again, Jesus is abandoned by His alleged disciples today. Jesus is an often misunderstood person in history.  

Christ Jesus, the prophesied Messiah came not as a warrior of politics, but of love.  As an atheist, Good Friday was a hard concept for me to understand.  As I get older, I grow in its meaning.  At first, it seems like a bunch of superstitions.  Christians worship a man who died on a Cross - big deal right?  What is so important about this?

Many Catholic parishes and other Protestant sects have processions reenacting the Stations of the Cross or "Via Crucis" as it is called in Latin.  These are the events that took place as Jesus carried the Cross eventually meeting death at Golgotha.  Christians and Popes have described this act as an "act of love."  How is carrying a cross in a humiliating and painful way eventually leading to death by an "act of love?"  Why would God use this to redeem the world?  Is God crazy or a masochist?  Any true atheist or skeptic curious about the Christian faith would ask these and more.  Death entered the world due to the sin of Adam and Eve (Romans 5:14).  It is via death that Christ brings life and grace to all (Hebrews 2:5-18).

Love hurts most of the time.  How many times have we had a lover who we tried to impress with flowers, chocolates, and what not only for it to go sour later on?  Love is so good but can be bad, we often think.  Love hurts.  We give so much to a person and that person may not give as much back, if anything at all.  John 3:16 is often quoted and is perhaps the most quoted passage from the Bible.  It says to the effect that God loves the world so much that He sent His only son.

God sent His son Jesus for all of humanity.  This is the greatest love of all (John 15:13).  This act makes no sense to those who are limited in reasoning.

For Christ to lay down His life for all of us shows the extent to which God will go through in order to show that He seriously loves each one of us.  Jesus is willing to go through hell, so to speak, in order to show that we are loved and never abandoned.  This spoke volumes to me as an atheist.  Other gods or conceptions of gods that man has used to define the one reality of God present these beings as egoistic, limited, and unconcerned about the affairs of men.  In many instances, people were sacrificed for these conceptual gods. With Jesus, He becomes the sacrifice for man recalling how Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac his son after getting the command from God (Genesis 22).  Even philosopher Kierkegaard regarded this command and act as a "suspension of the ethical."   

However, Abraham was about to do this act out of love and faith.  Naturally, God was not going to allow him to kill his only son.  He was merely testing him to show that Abraham was not tainted by the rituals of paganism in his time which called for human sacrifices.  This story is also a foreshadowing of God sending His own Son to be the sacrificial lamb.  It is a preparation for love personified in the person of Christ giving His life for all of us.

We know Jesus was betrayed by Judas with a kiss.  A kiss is most likely the universal symbol of love and affection.  We use this physical symbol to show love to our parents, other relatives, friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, husbands/wives, and even people we have just met.  It is a simple gesture that is quick and sends the message that we are close to the recipient.  The kiss of Judas has an interesting context here.  It is a kiss of betrayal and hypocrisy.  Here we see two kinds of love presented: genuine agape love and selfish love.  Jesus is giving His life for all, including Judas.  Judas is giving "love" via a kiss but only for his own ulterior motives which are 30 pieces of silver.

In today's world, we see so many broken relationships.  Love is given conditions in order to function in society.  Many of us look for looks instead of hearts.  Our partners have to look a certain way, act a certain way, or have a certain amount in order for us to consider even meeting or dating.  It has gone even more bizarre with the promotion of same-sex unions which completely negates the psychological and biological function of courtship in the natural world.  Love is being twisted to serve the self instead of others.  This is what I call the "Judas effect."  Today we often love in order to get something in return.  Love becomes a stock bond in which we gamble to see what we gain and what losses we cut.  Marriages dissolve because of financial reasons or changes in personal desires - again selfish motives.  Calls for "marriage equality" are pushed down our throats in the name of love that cannot give of itself via reproduction and that promotes unions only of the sake of seeking rights to a partner's assets - again selfish motives.  It is no wonder why so many couples break up and so many marriages go down the path of divorce and why love and marriage have become a circus for the egotistical.  Our society has lost the love Christ preached and presented today on Good Friday over 2,000 years ago.

Christ gave Himself for us without condition.  He died for each one of us as we are.  Jesus did not care how we looked, what we had, who we associate with or who we are deep down.  Jesus died on the Cross because we are part of God's family and He loves us.  He is our brother and God the Father is our Father.  Good Friday should remind us of this.  We should not go to Good Friday liturgies and just go through the routines of the rites without adsorbing their meanings.  The events of today have so much wisdom for us to grow as human beings, not only in grace and spiritually, but also psychologically and socially with one another.

Jesus is the "just man" foreshadowed by Plato in his Republic (Book 2, 361e, 362a), "...the just man will have to endure the lash, the rack, chains, the branding-iron in his eyes, and finally, after every extremity of suffering, he will be crucified."  He is the model for all humanity to follow.  We all want love and want to love.  Jesus is the only one who can show us how through His Word and example.  God is indeed love (1 John 4:8).   We should return the favor by loving Him unconditionally. This Lent and Holy Week has been filled with a deep spiritual meaning.  Covid-19 Coronavirus has shown the world that man is not in charge. Science is not in charge. Government is not in charge. Not even religion is in charge.  Perhaps Covid-19 was meant to bring humanity to its knees to remind the species that there is a God and He will not have much more of its nonsense.  Let us reflect on this Good Friday what it means to love God and suffer; yes, suffer.  Many do not like the word, but it is part of Christianity.  So a Christian can attempt to hide from a silly virus, but life will come with something else for him or her to suffer.  This is why we must reflect on suffering and why it matters in the Christian life.     

I ask the Lord to bless you via my relic of the True Cross.  Behold the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world!

       

Baptism of the Lord - Jesus Leads by Example

Today is the Baptism of the Lord.  The festive Christmas season is officially over and we begin to enter into the ministry of Christ as He preached and worked miracles.  There are two options for the first reading from Isaiah. The first option reading from Isaiah tells us that God's servant or His chosen one is someone He is pleased with.  This person will have God's spirit and will bring forth justice to the nations.  He will do so in peace and quiet, not "crying out, not shouting." This is of course referring to Jesus who is the Messiah. 

Despite Jesus being a great speaker, He remained silent on some occasions (Matthew 26:63, Matthew 27:12-14).  This "silence" would be heard loud and clear throughout time as the faith spread throughout the world.  Silence is key in our spiritual lives.  It is in silence that we hear God speak to us. This is why I often stress that people be silent in the church. There should not be any talking in the church unless there is an emergency or an important message must be vocalized.  The church should be quiet as we sit or kneel before the Lord in the tabernacle.  The second option tells us that God is the one who gives us to drink and to eat.  He is the one that comforts us and takes on our burden. This again is referring to Christ who provides for us and helps us with our burdens (Matthew 11:28).  As this reading tells us, we must seek Him while He may be found.  Our time to seek salvation in Christ is limited. He gives us ample time to reform ourselves into the image of God.

The responsorial Psalm responds to the first reading with the words that God will bless His people. Peace is something we all look for in the world and in life. Unfortunately, it is not easy to come by. Today we see war, genocide, terrorism, etc.  It seems to be rampant; no end in sight. However, God is the one who gives us peace (Psalm 29:11, 1 Corinthians 14:33).  This is the peace we truly need now dring this alleged covid-19 coronavirus which has taken the lives of many around the world.  Despite several vaccines in existence, the virus continues to spread and has even mutated to become more contagious and virile. We truly need some peace during these trying times. Let me not get into the situation with the election in the United States and the horrendous domestic terrorism against the Us Capitol building. God will give us peace. However, we must ask for it. God respects our free will.

As with the first reading, we also have two options with the second.  The first option is from Acts and shows how Peter, the first Pope took leadership and spoke to the gathered in the house of Cornelius. Peter reminds us that God is not prejudiced.  He shows no partiality, as the text states.  God opens Himself to all people because we are all His children. This message must be told today more than ever where there are so many claims of discrimination, prejudice, sexism, and racism.  Everything is being seen in the kaleidoscope of race and alleged privilege.  This is not what God is about. We are all His children and that makes us brothers and sisters regardless of how we look. The second option tells us that believing in Christ is important.  In Christ, we see the Father (John 14:9-11). Christ is the link between humanity and God; between the creature and the Creator.

Finally, in the Gospel, we read about John the Baptist telling everyone gathered that one is coming after him who is mightier and who he is unworthy to loosen his straps on his sandals. He was of course referring to Jesus who happened to approach and seek Baptism. Why would Christ ask to be Baptized?  He has no sin yet sought it. There are many answers to this but the one that stands out to me the most is that He wanted to be part of us. By getting Baptized, Jesus gave us a "demo" of how to start the spiritual life. His Baptism opened up the doors of grace to the primitive Sacrament John used with simple water.  When Jesus entered the river Jordan, His presence sanctified the waters.  As with the Wedding at Cana, the water in the jars was just water until Jesus got involved. John's Baptism was just a simple bath until Jesus came along and transformed it into an initiation rite that removes Original Sin and restores our relationship with God which was harmed at the fall of man. In this year of St. Joseph, we should reflect on our own baptism. We should think about what took place and the effects of this important Sacrament on our lives.  

Readings:  The Baptism of the Lord | USCCB

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Good Friday Reflection: Jesus Abandoned Again

 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

Today billions of Christians throughout the world are supposed to be commemorating the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.  However, due to the exaggerated policies of governments and Church official, Good Friday is not the same.  The people are forced to be at home and watch "services" on television or social media.  This faux attempt at worship is troubling. While live streaming and television is good to promote the faith and aid those who cannot attend Mass, to force everyone to rely on it is disturbing and unfortunately.  It encourages spiritual sloth.  Worship in Christianity has to be physical and communal. Let me be clear. This is not an attempt to disgrace or shame anyone. It is just a collective sigh of disappointment exhibited by many Christians of all denominations.  As a former atheist, faith is something that I have grown to love.  It was not easy, but it happened. To see our bishops, priests, religious and laity encourage the closing of churches and suspension of the Sacraments hurts a lot.

It makes me and many others wonder what faith exists on earth?  We all know that we are flesh and flesh is weak.  We will get sick, get hurt, get killed etc. No one is Superman or the Brightburn character. No one is Hulk or Thanos.  Even Jesus faces the pains and weaknesses of the body. He was human in all things except sin. However, we must understand that while we are subject to nature and its qualms, this does not mean God will not protect anyone doing His will.  It is just not rational to think that Jesus would allow His Eucharistic presence to become a conduit for disease. It is just not rational to think that Jesus would allow a contagion to spread during His Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  This is just absurd to think.  Nevertheless, there are some who literally believe this can happen despite absolutely no evidence of it in history.  Once again, Jesus is abandoned by His alleged disciples today. Jesus is an often misunderstood person in history.  

Christ Jesus, the prophesied Messiah came not as a warrior of politics, but of love.  As an atheist, Good Friday was a hard concept for me to understand.  As I get older, I grow in its meaning.  At first, it seems like a bunch of superstition.  Christians worship a man who died on a Cross - big deal right?  What is so important about this?

Many Catholic parishes and other Protestant sects have processions reenacting the Stations of the Cross or "Via Crucis" as it is called in Latin.  These are the events that took place as Jesus carried the Cross eventually meeting death at Golgotha.  Christians and Popes have described this act as an "act of love."  How is carrying a cross in a humiliating and painful way eventually leading to death be an "act of love?"  Why would God use this to redeem the world?  Is God crazy or a masochist?  Any true atheist or skeptic curious about the Christian faith would ask these and more.  Death entered the world due to the sin of Adam and Eve (Romans 5:14).  It is via death that Christ brings life and grace to all (Hebrews 2:5-18).

Love hurts most of the time.  How many times have we had a lover who we tried to impress with flowers, chocolates and what not only for it to go sour later on?  Love is so good but can be bad, we often think.  Love hurts.  We give so much to a person and that person may not give as much back, if anything at all.  John 3:16 is often quoted and is perhaps the most quoted passage from the Bible.  It says to the effect that God loves the world so much that He sent His only son.

God sent His son Jesus for all of humanity.  This is the greatest love of all (John 15:13).  This act makes no sense to those who are limited in reasoning.

For Christ to lay down His life for all of us shows the extent to which God will go through in order to show that He seriously loves each one of us.  Jesus is willing to go through hell, so to speak, in order to show that we are loved and never abandoned.  This spoke volumes to me as an atheist.  Other gods or conceptions of gods that man has used to define the one reality of God present these beings as egoistic, limited and unconcerned of the affairs of men.  In many instances, people were sacrificed for these conceptual gods. With Jesus, He becomes the sacrifice for man recalling how Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac his son after getting the command from God (Genesis 22).  Even philosopher Kierkegaard regarded this command and act as a "suspension of the ethical."   

However, Abraham was about to do this act out of love and faith.  Naturally, God was not going to allow him to kill his only son.  He was merely testing him to show that Abraham was not tainted by the rituals of paganism in his time which called for human sacrifices.  This story is also a foreshadowing of God sending His own Son to be the sacrificial lamb.  It is a preparation for love personified in the person of Christ giving His life for all of us.

We know Jesus was betrayed by Judas with a kiss.  A kiss is most likely the universal symbol for love and affection.  We use this physical symbol to show love to our parents, other relatives, friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, husbands/wives, and even people we have just met.  It is a simple gesture that is quick and sends the message that we are close to the recipient.  The kiss of Judas has an interesting context here.  It is a kiss of betrayal and hypocrisy.  Here we see two kinds of love presented: genuine agape love, and selfish love.  Jesus is giving His life for all, including Judas.  Judas is giving "love" via a kiss but only for his own ulterior motives which are 30 pieces of silver.

In today's world, we see so many broken relationships.  Love is given conditions in order to function in society.  Many of us look for looks instead of hearts.  Our partners have to look a certain way, act a certain way, or have a certain amount in order for us to consider even meeting or dating.  It has gone even more bizarre with the promotion of same-sex unions which completely negates the psychological and biological function of courtship in the natural world.  Love is being twisted to serve the self instead of others.  This is what I call the "Judas effect."  Today we often love in order to get something in return.  Love becomes a stock bond which we gamble to see what we gain and what losses we cut.  Marriages dissolve because of financial reasons or changes in personal desires - again selfish motives.  Calls for "marriage equality" are pushed down our throats in the name of love that cannot give of itself via reproduction and that promotes unions only of the sake of seeking rights to a partner's assets - again selfish motives.  It is no wonder why so many couples break up and so many marriages go down the path of divorce and why love and marriage have become a circus for the egotistical.  Our society has lost the love Christ preached and presented today on Good Friday over 2,000 years ago.

Christ gave Himself for us without condition.  He died for each one of us as we are.  Jesus did not care how we looked, what we had, who we associate with or who we are deep down.  Jesus died on the Cross because we are part of God's family and He loves us.  He is our brother and God the Father is our Father.  Good Friday should remind us of this.  We should not go to Good Friday liturgies and just go through the routines of the rites without adsorbing their meanings.  The events of today have so much wisdom for us to grow as human beings, not only in grace and spiritually, but also psychologically and socially with one another.

Jesus is the "just man" foreshadowed by Plato in his Republic (Book 2, 361e, 362a), "...the just man will have to endure the lash, the rack, chains, the branding-iron in his eyes, and finally, after every extremity of suffering, he will be crucified."  He is the model for all humanity to follow.  We all want love and want to love.  Jesus is the only one who can show us how through His Word and example.  God is indeed love (1 John 4:8).   We should return the favor by loving Him unconditionally. This Lent and Holy Week has been filled with a deep spiritual meaning.  Covid-19 Coronavirus has shown the world that man is not in charge. Science is not in charge. Government is not in charge. Not even religion is in charge.  Perhaps Covid-19 was meant to bring humanity to its knees to remind the species that there is a God and He will not have much more of its nonsense.  Let us reflect on this Good Friday what it means to love God and suffer; yes, suffer.  Many do not like the word, but it is part of Christianity.  So a Christian can attempt to hide from a silly virus, but life will come with something else for him or her to suffer.  This is why we must reflect on suffering and why it matters in the Christian life.     

I ask the Lord to bless you via my relic of the True Cross.  Behold the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world!

       

Good Friday: The Passion of Christ

 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

Today billions of Christians throughout the world are commemorating the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.  Christ Jesus, the prophesied Messiah came not as a warrior of politics, but of love.  As an atheist, Good Friday was a hard concept for me to understand.  As I get older, I grow in its meaning.  At first, it seems like a bunch of superstition.  Christians worship a man who died on a Cross - big deal right?  What is so important about this?

Many Catholic parishes and other Protestant sects have processions reenacting the Stations of the Cross or "Via Crucis" as it is called in Latin.  These are the events that took place as Jesus carried the Cross eventually meeting death at Golgotha.  Christians and Popes have described this act as an "act of love."  How is carrying a cross in a humiliating and painful way eventually leading to death be an "act of love?"  Why would God use this to redeem the world?  Is God crazy or a masochist?  Any true atheist or skeptic curious about the Christian faith would ask these and more.  Death entered the world due to the sin of Adam and Eve (Romans 5:14).  It is via death that Christ brings life and grace to all (Hebrews 2:5-18).

Love hurts most of the time.  How many times have we had a lover who we tried to impress with flowers, chocolates and what not only for it to go sour later on?  Love is so good but can be bad, we often think.  Love hurts.  We give so much to a person and that person may not give as much back if anything at all.  John 3:16 is often quoted and is perhaps the most quoted passage from the Bible.  It says to the effect that God loves the world so much that He sent His only son.

God sent His son Jesus for all of humanity.  This is the greatest love of all (John 15:13).  This act makes no sense to those who are limited in reasoning.

For Christ to lay down His life for all of us shows the extent to which God will go through in order to show that He seriously loves each one of us.  Jesus is willing to go through hell, so to speak, in order to show that we are loved and never abandoned.  This spoke volumes to me as an atheist.  Other gods or conceptions of gods that man has used to define the one reality of God present these beings as egoistic, limited and unconcerned of the affairs of men.  In many instances, people were sacrificed for these conceptual gods. With Jesus, He becomes the sacrifice for man recalling how Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac his son after getting the command from God (Genesis 22).  Even philosopher Kierkegaard regarded this command and act as a "suspension of the ethical." 

However, Abraham was about to do this act out of love and faith.  Naturally, God was not going to allow him to kill his only son.  He was merely testing him to show that Abraham was not tainted by the rituals of paganism in his time which called for human sacrifices.  This story is also a foreshadowing of God sending His own Son to be the sacrificial lamb.  It is a preparation for love personified in the person of Christ giving His life for all of us.

We know Jesus was betrayed by Judas with a kiss.  A kiss is most likely the universal symbol for love and affection.  We use this physical symbol to show love to our parents, other relatives, friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, husbands/wives, and even people we have just met.  It is a simple gesture that is quick and sends the message that we are close to the recipient.  The kiss of Judas has an interesting context here.  It is a kiss of betrayal and hypocrisy.  Here we see two kinds of love presented: genuine agape love, and selfish love.  Jesus is giving His life for all, including Judas.  Judas is giving "love" via a kiss but only for his own ulterior motives which are 30 pieces of silver.

In today's world, we see so many broken relationships.  Love is given conditions in order to function in society.  Many of us look for looks instead of hearts.  Our partners have to look a certain way, act a certain way, or have a certain amount in order for us to consider even meeting or dating.  It has gone even more bizarre with the promotion of same-sex unions which completely negates the psychological and biological function of courtship in the natural world.  Love is being twisted to serve the self instead of others.  This is what I call the "Judas effect."  Today we often love in order to get something in return.  Love becomes a stock bond which we gamble to see what we gain and what losses we cut.  Marriages dissolve because of financial reasons or changes in personal desires - again selfish motives.  Calls for "marriage equality" are pushed down our throats in the name of love that cannot give of itself via reproduction and that promotes unions only of the sake of seeking rights to a partner's assets - again selfish motives.  It is no wonder why so many couples break up and so many marriages go down the path of divorce and why love and marriage have become a circus for the egotistical.  Our society has lost the love Christ preached and presented today on Good Friday over 2,000 years ago.

Christ gave Himself for us without condition.  He died for each one of us as we are.  Jesus did not care how we looked, what we had, who we associate with or who we are deep down.  Jesus died on the Cross because we are part of God's family and He loves us.  He is our brother and God the Father is our Father.  Good Friday should remind us of this.  We should not go to Good Friday liturgies and just go through the routines of the rites without adsorbing their meanings.  The events of today have so much wisdom for us to grow as human beings, not only in grace and spiritually, but also psychologically and socially with one another.

Jesus is the "just man" foreshadowed by Plato in his Republic (Book 2, 361e, 362a), "...the just man will have to endure the lash, the rack, chains, the branding-iron in his eyes, and finally, after every extremity of suffering, he will be crucified."  He is the model for all humanity to follow.  We all want love and want to love.  Jesus is the only one who can show us how through His Word and example.  God is indeed love (1 John 4:8).  He is merciful.  Recently, the world lost Dr. Stephen Hawking, a man who claimed to be an atheist and called the after life a superstition. After his death, some condemned him to hell.  We cannot know who goes to hell.  We cannot know what goes on in the mind and heart of an atheist as he or she dies.  Jesus on the Cross forgave the "Good Theif" or St. Dismus who asked for forgiveness. Jesus told him that he would joinHim in paradise.  Similarly, those who mocked Christ as He hung on the Cross; those who rejected Him are representative of those who reject God and mock Him.  Christ still loves them. Christ still loves atheists and agnostics.  He said to forgive them for they know not what they do. Jesus pleads for them to His Father.  Not even the atheist is barred from salvation.  Today, Good Friday should remind us of this and how God loves us all so much.   

God became man born of a humble Virgin and suffered and died for us.  He paid the piper, so to speak on our behalf.  He nailed our sins, problems, stresses to the cross and took it on His person.  Let us take this day to reflect deeply.on this act of love.  No other religion has this.  Some atheists love to promote the refuted Christ myth hypothesis.  They claim that Christ never existed and is an amalgamation of other deities from mythology. This is far from the truth and has been refuted by the consensus of scholars. Even atheist scholars accept the fact that Jesus was a historical figure. Jesus is unique. We can tell He was no myth.  Other religions have gods who use man as their footstool.  They do not care for man.  In Christ, we see a God who loves His people. A God who treats His people as if they were His God.  What Superior Being becomes man, suffers at the hands of man for man?  This idea is foreign to mythology.  This is why Christ truly existed.  The passion we read about is not a made up story. This really happened andtranscends time and place.  Let us reflect on God's suffering in Jesus Christ.  Let us vow to change by nailing our sins to the Cross, dying with Christ and wait for Him to cause our bodies to rise.         

Baptism of the Lord - Jesus Sets An Example

Today is the Baptism of the Lord. There are two options for the first reading from Isaiah. The first option reading from Isaiah tells us that God's servant or His chosense one is someone He is pleased with.  This person will have God's spirit and will bring forth justice to the nations.  He will do so in peace and quiet, not "crying out, not shouting." This is of course referring to Jesus who is the Messiah. 

Despite Jesus being a great speaker, He remained silent on some occasions (Matthew 26:63, Matthew 27:12-14).  This "silence" would be heard loud and clear throughout time as the faith spread throughout the word.  Silence is key in our spiritual lives.  It is in silence that we hear God speak to us. The second option tells us that God is the one who gives us to drink and to eat.  He is the one that comforts us and takes on our burden. This again is referring to Christ who provides for us and helps us with our burdens (Matthew 11:28).  As this reading tells us, we must seek Him while He may be found.  Our time to seek salvation in Christ is limited. He gives us ample time to reform ourselves into the image of God.

The responsorial Psalm responds to the first reading with the words that God will bless His people.  Peace is something we all look for in the world and in life. Unfortunately, it is not easy to come by. Today we see war, genocide, terrorism etc.  It seems to be rampant; no end in sight. However, God is the one who gives us peace (Psalm 29:11, 1 Corinthians 14:33).  However, we must ask for it. God respects our free will.

As with the first reading, we also have two options with the second.  The first option is from Acts and shows how Peter, the first Pope took leadership and spoke to the gathered in the house of Cornelius. Peter reminds us that God is not prejudice.  He shows no partiality, as the text states.  God opens Himself to all people because we are all His children. The second option tells us that believing in Christ is important.  In Christ we see the Father (John 14:9-11). Christ is the link between humanity and God; between the creature and the Creator.

Finally in the Gospel we read about John the Baptist telling everyone gathered that one is coming after him who is mightier and who he is unworthy to loosen his straps on his sandals. He was of course referring to Jesus who happened to approach and seek Baptism. Why would Christ ask to be Baptized?  He has no sin yet sought it. There are many answers to this but the one that stands out to me the most is that He wanted to be part of us. By getting Baptized, Jesus gave us a "demo" of how to start the spiritual life. His Baptism opened up the doors of grace to the primitive Sacrament John used with simple water. As with the Wedding at Cana, the water in the jars was just water until Jesus got involved. John's Baptism was just a simple bath until Jesus came along and transformed it into an initiation rite that removes Original Sin and restores our relationship with God which was harmed at the fall of man.  In this year of Mercy, we should reflect on our own baptism. We should think about what took place and the effects of this important Sacrament on our lives.  

Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011016.cfm

Reflection - Good Friday & Suffering

 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

Today billions of Christians throughout the world are commemorating the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.  Christ Jesus, the prophesied Messiah came not as a warrior of politics, but of love.  As an atheist, Good Friday was a hard concept for me to understand.  As I get older, I grow in its meaning.  At first, it seems like a bunch of superstition.  Christians worship a man who died on a Cross - big deal, right?  What is so important about this?

Many Catholic parishes and other Protestant sects have processions reenacting the Stations of the Cross or "Via Crucis" as it is called in Latin.  These are the events that took place as Jesus carried the Cross eventually meeting death at Golgotha.  Christians and Popes have described this act as an "act of love."  How is carrying a wooden cross in a humiliating and painful way eventually leading to death be an "act of love?"  Why would God use this to redeem the world?  Is God crazy or a masochist?  Any true atheist or skeptic curious about the Christian faith would ask these and more.  Death entered the world due to the sin of Adam and Eve (Romans 5:14).  It is via death that Christ brings life and grace to all (Hebrews 2:5-18).

Love Hurts Badly
Love hurts most of the time.  How many times have we had a lover who we tried to impress with flowers, chocolates, looks and what not only for it to go sour later on?  Love is so good but can be bad, we often think.  Love hurts.  We give so much to a person and that person may not give as much back; if anything at all.  John 3:16 is often quoted and is perhaps the most quoted passage from the Bible.  It says to the effect that God loves the world so much that He sent His only son.

A God who Loves Humanity Literally To Death
God sent His son Jesus for all of humanity.  This is the greatest love of all (John 15:13).  This act makes no sense to those who are limited in reasoning.

For Christ to lay down His life for all of us shows the extent to which God will go through in order to show that He seriously loves each one of us.  Jesus is willing to go "through hell," so to speak, in order to show that we are loved and never abandoned.  This spoke volumes to me as an atheist.  Other gods or conceptions of gods that man has used to define the one reality of God present these beings as egoistic, limited and unconcerned with the affairs of men.  In many instances, people were sacrificed to these conceptual gods. With Jesus, He becomes the sacrifice for man recalling how Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac his son after getting the command from God (Genesis 22).  Even philosopher Kierkegaard regarded this command and act as a "suspension of the ethical" in his "Fear and Trembling" writing.  Abraham was about to do this act out of love and faith.  Naturally, God was not going to allow him to kill his only son.  He was merely testing him to show that Abraham was not tainted by the rituals of paganism in his time which called for human sacrifices.  This story is also a foreshadowing of God sending His own Son to be the sacrificial lamb.  It is a preparation for love personified in the person of Christ giving His life for all of us.

We know Jesus was betrayed by Judas with a kiss.  A kiss is most likely the universal symbol for love and affection.  We use this physical symbol to show love to our parents, other relatives, friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, husbands/wives, and even people we have just met.  It is a simple gesture that is quick and sends the message that we are close to the recipient.  The kiss of Judas has an interesting context here.  It is a kiss of betrayal and hypocrisy.  Here we see two kinds of love presented: genuine agape love and selfish love.  Jesus is giving His life for all, including Judas.  Judas is giving "love" via a kiss but only for his own ulterior motives which are 30 pieces of silver.

In today's world, we see so many broken relationships.  Love is given conditions in order to function in society.  Many of us look for looks instead of hearts.  Our partners have to look a certain way, act a certain way, or have a certain amount in order for us to consider even meeting or dating.  It has gone even more bizarre with the promotion of same-sex unions which completely negates the psychological and biological function of courtship in the natural world.  Love is being twisted to serve the self instead of others.  This is what I call the "Judas effect."  Today we often love in order to get something in return.  Love becomes a stock-bond which we gamble to see what we gain and what losses we cut.  Marriages dissolve because of financial reasons or changes in personal desires - again selfish motives.  Calls for "marriage equality" are pushed down our throats in the name of love that cannot give of itself via reproduction and that promotes unions only for the sake of seeking rights to a partner's assets - again selfish motives.  It is no wonder why so many couples break up and so many marriages go down the path of divorce and why love and marriage have become a circus for the egotistical.  Our society has lost the love Christ preached and presented today on Good Friday over 2,000 years ago.

Christ gave Himself for us without condition.  He died for each one of us as we are.  Jesus did not care how we looked, what we had, who we associate with or who we are deep down.  Jesus died on the Cross because we are part of God's family and He loves us.  He is our brother and God the Father is our Father.  Good Friday should remind us of this.  We should not go to Good Friday liturgies and just go through the routines of the rites without absorbing their meanings.  The events of today have so much wisdom for us to grow as human beings, not only in grace and spiritually, but also psychologically and socially with one another.

Jesus is the "just man" foreshadowed by Plato in his Republic (Book 2, 361e, 362a), "...the just man will have to endure the lash, the rack, chains, the branding-iron in his eyes, and finally, after every extremity of suffering, he will be crucified."  He is the model for all humanity to follow.  We all want love and want to love.  Jesus is the only one who can show us how through His Word and example.  God is indeed love (1 John 4:8).  We are all called to carry our own Cross and suffer (Luke 9:23). Today we hear of Christians being martyred by ISIS and other terrorist groups who claim to be followers of God. Just recently, over 140 Christian students were massacred in Kenya.  These events sound scary, but these martyrs are now with Christ.  Their suffering and deaths were not in vain (1 Peter 5:10). They did not fear those who kill the body, but the one who can destroy the soul (Matthew 10:28). We too may be called to die for Christ. Our life is in Christ and even if we lose our physical lives here on Earth, we gain our true life with God (Philippians 1:21).

Why Suffering?
Suffering is the ultimate challenge an organism can face. This sensation which is body physical and psychological makes us stronger (Romans 5:3-5).  It conditions us to prepare for anything.  I am sure as a child you were told not to touch a hot stove but did it anyway. The sensation of pain from the hot stove connected to your memory in such a way that you will never touch a hot stove again. Suffering "wakes us up," so to speak. By suffering, we realize our role in this world. We are not gods, nor immortal. Suffering reminds us of this.  Many times, suffering may cause doubt. We begin to think that God has abandoned or is a cold hearted absentee landlord.  This is far from the truth. When we suffer we should rejoice. I know this may sound crazy, especially to atheists, but there is truth to this statement.  When God allows us to suffer, this should tell us that God knows we will not break under pressure (James 1:2-4).

God knows that we are able to handle this suffer and will not allow us to suffer anything we cannot handle (1 Corinthians 10:13).  When we suffer, we share in the suffering of Christ on the cross (1 Peter 4:12-19).  This is why you probably hear so many times the "Catholic mantra" of "offer it up."  Our suffering may seem like a lot.  It may hurt physically, emotionally and psychologically, but it is nothing compared to the great joy we will experience when we are one with God (Romans 8:18).  We all have to suffer, there is no way around this (Luke 14:27, 2 Timothy 3:12).  This is because Satan and the blinds he has over this world cause hostility between humanity and God, but our war is really against this evil being (Ephesians 6:12).  We should not be discouraged.  Suffering will come once we begin to follow Christ.  This suffering prepares us for God by removing the impurities in our lives so that we can be beautiful pieces of precious metals (1 Peter 1:7, Zechariah 13:9). God will accompany us as we join Jesus carrying the cross (Isaiah 43:2). We cannot reach Easter Sunday or the Resurrection without first going through the Agony in the Garden, and Good Friday.        
 

 

Baptism of the Lord Reflection

Today is the Baptism of the Lord. There are two options for the first reading from Isaiah. The first option reading from Isaiah tells us that God's servant or His chosense one is someone He is pleased with.  This person will have God's spirit and will bring forth justice to the nations.  He will do so in peace and quiet, not "crying out, not shouting." This is of course referring to Jesus who is the Messiah.

Despite Jesus being a great speaker, He remained silent on some occasions (Matthew 26:63, Matthew 27:12-14).  This "silence" would be heard loud and clear throughout time as the faith spread throughout the word.  Silence is key in our spiritual lives.  It is in silence that we hear God speak to us. The second option tells us that God is the one who gives us to drink and to eat.  He is the one that comforts us and takes on our burden. This again is referring to Christ who provides for us and helps us with our burdens (Matthew 11:28).  As this reading tells us, we must seek Him while He may be found.  Our time to seek salvation in Christ is limited. He gives us ample time to reform ourselves into the image of God.

The responsorial Psalm responds to the first reading with the words that God will bless His people.  Peace is something we all look for in the world and in life. Unfortunately, it is not easy to come by. Today we see war, genocide, terrorism etc.  It seems to be rampant; no end in sight. However, God is the one who gives us peace.  However, we must ask for it. God respects our free will.

 
As with the first reading, we also have two options with the second.  The first option is from Acts and shows how Peter, the first Pope took leadership and spoke to the gathered in the house of Cornelius. Peter reminds us that God is not prejudice.  He shows no partiality, as the text states.  God opens Himself to all people because we are all His children. The second option tells us that believing in Christ is important.  In Christ we see the Father (John 14:9-11). Christ is the link between humanity and God; between the creature and the Creator.

Finally in the Gospel we read about John the Baptist telling everyone gathered that one is coming after him who is mightier and who he is unworthy to loosen his straps on his sandals. He was of course referring to Jesus who happened to approach and seek Baptism. Why would Christ ask to be Baptized?  He has no sin yet sought it. There are many answers to this but the one that stands out to me the most is that He wanted to be part of us. By getting Baptized, Jesus gave us a "demo" of how to start the spiritual life. His Baptism opened up the doors of grace to the primitive Sacrament John used with simple water. As with the Wedding at Cana, the water in the jars was just water until Jesus got involved. John's Baptism was just a simple bath until Jesus came along and transformed it into an initiation rite that removes Original Sin and restores our relationship with God which was harmed at the fall of man.




Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011115.cfm

Reflection - Good Friday

 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

Today billions of Christians throughout the world are commemorating the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.  Christ Jesus, the prophesied Messiah came not as a warrior of politics, but of love.  As an atheist, Good Friday was a hard concept for me to understand.  As I get older, I grow in its meaning.  At first, it seems like a bunch of superstition.  Christians worship a man who died on a Cross - big deal right?  What is so important about this?

Many Catholic parishes and other Protestant sects have processions reenacting the Stations of the Cross or "Via Crucis" as it is called in Latin.  These are the events that took place as Jesus carried the Cross eventually meeting death at Golgotha.  Christians and Popes have described this act as an "act of love."  How is carrying a cross in a humiliating and painful way eventually leading to death be an "act of love?"  Why would God use this to redeem the world?  Is God crazy or a masochist?  Any true atheist or skeptic curious about the Christian faith would ask these and more.  Death entered the world due to the sin of Adam and Eve (Romans 5:14).  It is via death that Christ brings life and grace to all (Hebrews 2:5-18).

Love hurts most of the time.  How many times have we had a lover who we tried to impress with flowers, chocolates and what not only for it to go sour later on?  Love is so good but can be bad, we often think.  Love hurts.  We give so much to a person and that person may not give as much back, if anything at all.  John 3:16 is often quoted and is perhaps the most quoted passage from the Bible.  It says to the effect that God loves the world so much that He sent His only son.

God sent His son Jesus for all of humanity.  This is the greatest love of all (John 15:13).  This act makes no sense to those who are limited in reasoning.

For Christ to lay down His life for all of us shows the extent to which God will go through in order to show that He seriously loves each one of us.  Jesus is willing to go through hell, so to speak, in order to show that we are loved and never abandoned.  This spoke volumes to me as an atheist.  Other gods or conceptions of gods that man has used to define the one reality of God present these beings as egoistic, limited and unconcerned of the affairs of men.  In many instances, people were sacrificed for these conceptual gods. With Jesus, He becomes the sacrifice for man recalling how Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac his son after getting the command from God (Genesis 22).  Even philosopher Kierkegaard regarded this command and act as a "suspension of the ethical."   

However, Abraham was about to do this act out of love and faith.  Naturally, God was not going to allow him to kill his only son.  He was merely testing him to show that Abraham was not tainted by the rituals of paganism in his time which called for human sacrifices.  This story is also a foreshadowing of God sending His own Son to be the sacrificial lamb.  It is a preparation for love personified in the person of Christ giving His life for all of us.

We know Jesus was betrayed by Judas with a kiss.  A kiss is most likely the universal symbol for love and affection.  We use this physical symbol to show love to our parents, other relatives, friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, husbands/wives, and even people we have just met.  It is a simple gesture that is quick and sends the message that we are close to the recipient.  The kiss of Judas has an interesting context here.  It is a kiss of betrayal and hypocrisy.  Here we see two kinds of love presented: genuine agape love, and selfish love.  Jesus is giving His life for all, including Judas.  Judas is giving "love" via a kiss but only for his own ulterior motives which are 30 pieces of silver.

In today's world, we see so many broken relationships.  Love is given conditions in order to function in society.  Many of us look for looks instead of hearts.  Our partners have to look a certain way, act a certain way, or have a certain amount in order for us to consider even meeting or dating.  It has gone even more bizarre with the promotion of same-sex unions which completely negates the psychological and biological function of courtship in the natural world.  Love is being twisted to serve the self instead of others.  This is what I call the "Judas effect."  Today we often love in order to get something in return.  Love becomes a stock bond which we gamble to see what we gain and what losses we cut.  Marriages dissolve because of financial reasons or changes in personal desires - again selfish motives.  Calls for "marriage equality" are pushed down our throats in the name of love that cannot give of itself via reproduction and that promotes unions only of the sake of seeking rights to a partner's assets - again selfish motives.  It is no wonder why so many couples break up and so many marriages go down the path of divorce and why love and marriage have become a circus for the egotistical.  Our society has lost the love Christ preached and presented today on Good Friday over 2,000 years ago.

Christ gave Himself for us without condition.  He died for each one of us as we are.  Jesus did not care how we looked, what we had, who we associate with or who we are deep down.  Jesus died on the Cross because we are part of God's family and He loves us.  He is our brother and God the Father is our Father.  Good Friday should remind us of this.  We should not go to Good Friday liturgies and just go through the routines of the rites without adsorbing their meanings.  The events of today have so much wisdom for us to grow as human beings, not only in grace and spiritually, but also psychologically and socially with one another.

Jesus is the "just man" foreshadowed by Plato in his Republic (Book 2, 361e, 362a), "...the just man will have to endure the lash, the rack, chains, the branding-iron in his eyes, and finally, after every extremity of suffering, he will be crucified."  He is the model for all humanity to follow.  We all want love and want to love.  Jesus is the only one who can show us how through His Word and example.  God is indeed love (1 John 4:8).