It’s good you’re sitting down. Since I don’t have kids, I was floored by the Disney Kingdom’s ticket price for three days. Two adults (over 10-years-old, parents are getting younger every day) along with two children under ten years costs – ready for this? $1056.00. Now remember that you haven’t flown there yet, you have eaten yet and you haven’t slept yet.

“Wow, what a great vacation, Dad,” says the 9-year-old kid to his 10-year-old father. (Dads: you’d have to be 10 to fork out that amount!)

“But it’s magical,” says the kid who’s paying $20.00 less than the parents.

Ezekiel writes, “I will resume them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. (Like writing a check for close to $4,000.00 for three days to see a castle lit at night.) He continues, “I will pasture my sheep; I will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy shepherding them rightly.”

Magic, Mystery, and Myth

On Thanksgiving Day at Christ King parish, I used a nice alteration, “magic, mystery, and myth.” It sums up our Christian faith on this ending Church season with “Christ as King” and the advent of his new life beginning next week.

If you want those three M’s to grow and mature in your life, then skip that Florida trip and immerse yourself in our incredible Christian faith. There’s no mercy or forgiveness at Disneyland, only tears at the end of the month when you see the bill and your two kids who forgot about the trip.

St. Paul gives us faith’s progression, “Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ; then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

I attended a Disney seminar years ago about how “Disney does it.” The employees aren’t called that but are called “cast members.” Everything you see, feel and hear has been carefully crafted for your $1,056.00 enjoyment. What I’ll never forget is the plan for your second visit. First time around, you’re overwhelmed by everything you see. Your second visit (probably increased from $1,056.00) is programmed. The speaker said, “You’ve seen the magic castle, but you didn’t see its decorated sides or looked down to see the additional trimmings a first timer would miss. Your third visit to Disneyland is built in as well with new surprises and excitements to make a fourth visit possible.

Match that with the Church’s 2,000-year-old ritual that invites us to see and hear, touch and embrace new messages from ancient messages each time at Mass. (So, who’s copying whom?)

Magic, myth and mystery, we’ve got it all folks, hands down.

Matthew writes to us about those plaguing times of human life that call for a response from us. It’s an endearing smile to a naked person who lost her husband or a child, a friend who thirsts for more knowledge of God, that hungry person who wants to eat the good out of good people, the ill who need a visit and a prayer and those people imprisoned by their own selfishness, addiction or not knowing how to love.

Jesus says, “He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Let’s see Walt top that one?!

Disneyland will take you for a ride
but the Catholic Church invites you to enjoy the ride of your life

Disneyland will take you for a ride but the Catholic Church invites you to enjoy the ride of your life, because it is your life’s ride. (Oh, come on, you knew I was going to include that!) The 23rd Psalm saves us, “Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, for years to come.”

The Kingdom of God with Christ as King is gathered here today. The Disney kingdom is thousands of miles away and also that amount in dollars.

$1,056.00? You’ve got to be kidding. God wants and demands of us the whole amount, our complete lives. Try putting a price tag on that!

Books by Fr. Joe Jagodensky, SDS. All available on Amazon.com
“Soulful Muse,”
inspirational reflections on the Catholic Church and U.S. culture
“Living Faith’s Mysteries,”
inspirational reflections on the Christian seasons
of Advent/Christmas & Lent/Easter – a great seasonal gift
“Spiritual Wonderings and Wanderings,”
inspirational reflections on the Catholic Church and U.S. culture
“Letters From My Cats,”
a collection of letters written by my cats over twenty years
“Bowling Through Life’s Stages with a Christian perspective,”
Bowling as a metaphor for religion and growing up