“Living the Mystery”

Posted on April 7, 2019 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” (Gospel of St. John)

Jesus-and-woman(whispering) I have a secret to tell you. “Publisher Clearing House” gave me their winning numbers. If you have a pen handy, you may wish to…

If anyone begins a sentence saying, “I have a secret to tell you,” please kindly smile and quickly walk away. If you tell a secret then it is no longer a secret. And I love it when they end by telling you, “Please don’t tell anyone.” When they just did.

Secret is our word but the churchy word is “mystery.” I even say it every time I have Mass, “The mystery of our faith.”

Unknown, undecided, unresolved, unsettled, unsure, unascertained. Sound like your life? Here’s some more, “riddle, enigma, conundrum.” And, if you’re into mystery stories, “Whodunit?”

“Why am I still alive?” asks the eighty-nine old as though “Father” has the answer. “What’s my major?” ponders the twenty-year old after a parental investment of over $180,000 in tuition.

Jesus writes not once but twice in the sand of the adulterous woman with how many outstretched arms tightly holding their-soon-to-released stones.

There are many guesses about what Jesus wrote if you look online but none are answers. That’s what makes it so beautiful and so full of faith. I don’t care what Jesus wrote back then. He wrote it for them. If it was about forgiveness then it’s still a message for me as well but it remains unknown; or that churchy word, “mystery.”

As Lent draws to a close, try to define what the words “faith” and “trust” mean to you. If you can even half-heartedly answer them then you have immersed yourself into this wonderful world of mystery.

“Living the mystery, not solving it”

My new answer when people ask me, “How are you doing?” is to say, “I’ll tell you tomorrow.” Because tomorrow I’ll know more about the yesterday that I lived. That’s living the mystery, not solving it.

Your son is arrested for drugs and your daughter changes religion. The immediate question you ask both of them is, “Why?” Wrong question. Always, through your conversations uncover the “Who” question. “Who are you?” It sounds psychological, and it is, but it is also the full of the faith stuff. It is the most asked question of Jesus and he never answered them. His life is a mystery to be unfolded as much as the bread and wine we take today that becomes Him, so we may be a little more like him.

Asking ourselves the “Why” question is the most convenient question due to its laziness. It’s an endless circular cycle of blaming everything and everyone other than…who? The “Who” question simply asks in any immediate situation, “Who are you?” “Who have you become” and “Who do you wish to become?” I think that’s called creation and recreation – and examined during every Lent of our lives.

Faith and trust. Two bold words that lead us deeper into the mystery of our lives. Always understanding a little more closely our lives and the life in God. The “Who” of our lives is absolutely a personal journey but it is each time honored and celebrated as family, as a community of faith. Who transforms the bread and wine into the Body of Christ? We all do. My hand is not a magic wand. It is the feeble, struggling and sometime successful efforts of our collective faith and trust that empowers me to give you the Bread of Life.

The “Why” and “Who” thing should be reversed. When you unearth your “Who,” you may receive glimpses of your “Why;” of what you’ve done to life and what life’s done to you. I deliberately used the verb “unearth” because this is spiritual stuff, folks. It is each of us and it is always more than us.

What did Jesus write in the sand? Great question for trivia games but very lame for living our lives. What does Jesus write in the sandbox of your life? How can Jesus stop you from asking about the “Why’s” and lay bare before you the “Who’s” of who we each are. Now we’re talking and sincerely living mystery.

(Whispering) Now, if you have your pens ready the winning numbers are…but don’t tell anyone.

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“God’s Crazy Love,” formerly “Prodigal Son”

Posted on March 31, 2019 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

Jesus takes out his violin and does a “Henny Youngman” impression to strongly convey to us the crazy love that God has for us. I know you’re not supposed to laugh during a gospel reading but there are plenty of opportunities. All the parentheses are laugh tracks.

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.
What! No Mom, Divorced, Deceased?
The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’
There is no share for the youngest since all the property legally goes to the eldest.
So he divided his property between them.
Dad’s first loving mistake, or is it?
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country
Two miles away, just to be safe.
and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
Never defined, but don’t forget this part.
After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country,
A politican of either stripe.
and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
Pigs!
He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
Pigs! Jewish! Together? (Pause for laughter.) And, he’s still waiting to be waited on.
When he came to his senses,
Hunger has a way of doing that.
he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
It’s only been two days…but still.
I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’
“Practice makes perfect.” Practice your speech again and again. Now try it in front of a mirror no matter how unconvincing you are.
So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
Dad doesn’t wait for him to complete his contrived speech. Was he truly sorry?
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
Well, okay, he got part of it out, but still.
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf
“And no pig!”
and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
Dad ignores hearing about his “wild living” and its unknown details and does what only a Loving God and insightful dad would do.
“Meanwhile,
Here’s the cool part of the story, that I love.
the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
A  Donna Summer mix with a bit of Mariah Cariah.
So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in.
These two kids only move when necessary.
So his father went out and pleaded with him.
Dad, again, initiates the contact.
But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
If he, indeed, has any friends!
But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes
Stop reading! “Prostitutes!” Who said anything about the ‘ladies of the night’ in this story? Where’s his mind?
comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
Dad’s thinking, “Yada, yada, yada…you boys sure like to talk about yourselves a lot. Just get it out and let’s move on.”
“‘My son,’
You dumb turkey.
the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
Minus half!
But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

And so ends one of the greatest stories of God’s limitless wisdom, forgiveness and hope coupled with our foolish and whimsical self-imposed errors. God’s undying love, like a father’s devotion, far outweighs our thoughtless and dopey sins. Cue the rock group, “Queen’s” song, “Crazy Little Called Love.”

Jesus tells us a joke about a a serious matter. The last joke is the title of this parable. “The Prodigal Son” for centuries has been mis-titled. The son is not the subject, he’s a character as we all are in this life’s journey. God is the star and author of this parable. It ought to be rightly titled, “God Crazy Love for All of Us.”

Are we able to laugh all the way to God’s forgiveness and reunion?

index Enjoy Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”

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Lent: Sin or Hope? It’s Both?

Posted on March 24, 2019 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

keeping-a-holy-lentFinally, we can stop singing, “Oh, the weather outside is frightful” and begin singing the old Lesley Gore song, “Sunshine, lollipops, rainbows and everything…”

I guess it’s planned that way – begin Lent in darkness and concludes with rays of light. Sin/Hope, the two staples of all of our lives. I always feel sorry for those folks who live in Arizona or Florida. Lent begins and ends attending Mass wearing shorts and golf shoes. Midwest folks know the transition because we can both feel it in our bones and in our souls. Weather is full of awe for us as is our faith. But it’s not rules and regulations that gathers us each week but the wonder that is found in the Trinity and the Blessed Mother.

Confession and contrition is not the braunschweiger sandwich we ate that Friday in Lent, but it’s the twenty-one-year-old who says, “Been that, done that,” or “Same old, same old.” That apathy applies to eighty-one years old as well.

A burning bush that does not burn out. Its flame continues because it did not originate or end with us. I have a friend who needs a gas valve to ignite his family’s fireplace on a cold or damp night. It sounds trite, but God’s given us this marvelous gift of life to be breathed and shared with others. I remember an Alexian Village resident who told me that he’s lost more friends than he has now. His fire is slowly extinguishes. There is no fruit growing on his tree. I’d love to hear a confession, not about that braunschweiger sandwich but admitting that someone’s lost their path in life. The awe of God escapes them, for whatever reason. Isn’t that the expression, “Burned out?” A priest friend told me about that expression, “He may want to light the candle first in order for it to go out.” Awe surrounds us each day which can only connect us to the awe of God. The cowboy who shyly says to his girlfriend with his legs twitching each other, “Aw, shucks Mame.” That’s the awe of God. That’s a burning bush burning brightly that nothing in this life ever can water down.

It’s the awe of a cancer patient who loves and lives life as best she can. She dies at forty-two but writes a book, published posthumously to her two young daughters whom she will never see graduate from grade school, get married or to hug her grandchildren. That’s awe. She uses one of my favorite words, “juxtaposition.” It’s between the two supposed absolutes in this conflicted life of ours (which really isn’t that conflicted). “Two things placed closely together with contrasting effect,” says the dictionary. You want a definition of God’s awe? Here are hers.

To her daughters she wrote, “You will understand that nothing lasts forever, no pain, or joy. You will understand that joy cannot exist without sadness. Relief cannot exist without pain. Compassion cannot exist without cruelty. Courage cannot exist without fear. Hope cannot exist without despair. Wisdom cannot exist without suffering. Gratitude cannot exist without desperation. Paradoxes abound in this life. The living is an exercise in navigating within them.”

As these sunlit days now lengthen, how can you hit a home run with our Lenten journey? How can you respond to this great faith of ours in your thoughts, words and especially in your deeds? Let’s slide into home plate and encounter ever more deeply the love God has for us and the awe that draws us to God. As Billy Joel rightly sang, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” but it is definitely our job to keep that God-created fire burning.

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Lent: “Those Who Help Form Us”

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

“Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.” Luke 9

Giovanni_Gerolamo_Savoldo_005Jesus had his. Moses and Elijah. Who are yours standing on your left and right? In glorious splendor, Jesus shows off two of them to his other friends.

But hold it! His glorious “show off” is two dead guys and showing them to his living friends. Isn’t that kinda rude? If I were Peter, I would have said, “Hey, what about me? I’m still here!”

Jesus models for us that the distance is pretty short between living and dead. That separation was made shorter through the giving of his life.

It’s those significant people in our lives that we remember this Second Sunday of Lent. I say significant because it’s not only the ones we love, but it’s also those we tried to like. And, it’s often events and folks who mislead us which makes us more aware of ourselves and those we trust. My high school counselor told me that I shouldn’t go to college because of my grades, but join the Air Force. What if I had listened to him instead of other trusted friends who laughed along with me at that silly prospect. If Jesus were on a talk show today, he’d say about his mom, “She was the strength I needed to proclaim this Kingdom of God.” Of his dad, he’d say, “I admire the quietness of his deliberations, made clearer through his dreams or when more information was gathered.”

There are deceased voices, and there are living bodies who help form the person that each of us became or is becoming. If given ill-advice, it then becomes fodder to rethink or confirm your decision. If it’s a throw-away-nicety, then you consider that as well. I know my tie didn’t match my shirt this morning, but she told me how good I looked. (Nice try.) I hope your deceased mother still talks to you. Her advice remains worthy of your attention, years after her passing. A friend of many years gives you caution about your behavior. You listen to him and learn that it paid off.

Who is beside you on your mountain? Who guides and mentors you either from the grave or the tavern? Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of those two on the mountain who are the fulfillment of those who influenced them. That’s why he appears with the past and shows himself to the future with his friends. Peter needed to be Christ-like as each of us needs to learn and relearn. That’s the closeness between living and deceased.

Who’s alongside you on your mountain? I had all week to think of mine, so please take a moment and let your heart identify who your people are or were. Naming both the good ones, the indifferent ones, and the troubling ones.

(pause)

The best quote from the movie, “Jerry Maguire” is when Tom Cruise says to Renee Zellweger, “You complete me.”

(Since it was also St. Patrick’s Day, an Irish Blessing. However, an Irish Blessing is always preceded with an Irish joke.)

“McQuillan walked into a bar and ordered martini after martini, each time removing the olives and placing them in a jar. When the jar was filled with olives and all the drinks consumed, he started to leave. ‘S’cuse me,’ said a customer, who was puzzled over what McQuillan had done. ‘What was that all about?’ ‘Nothing,’ he replied, ‘Me wife sent me out for a jar of olives.'”

“Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!”

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A Book of Peace in the Midst of Chaos

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

10Gottlieb1-articleLargeI don’t easily recommend books but this one is a winner. Her prologue begins, “I am grateful and deeply honored that you are here. Which means that if you are here, then I am not. But it’s okay.” Julie had Stage 4 colon cancer and passed away in her mid-forties.

My last two years have been difficult for me and she has helped me to make sense of it.

Page 8. To her two young daughters, she writes, “You will understand that nothing lasts forever, no pain, or joy. You will understand that joy cannot exist without sadness. Relief cannot exist without pain. Compassion cannot exist without cruelty. Courage cannot exist without fear. Hope cannot exist with despair. Wisdom cannot exist without suffering. Gratitude cannot exist without desperation. Paradoxes abound in this life. Living is an exercise in navigating within them.” t_500x300

A gift for yourself or a friend having a difficult time in any way.
“The Unwinding of the Miracle,” Julie Yip-Williams.

The New York Times book review

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Temptation, Sunday in Lent

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

temptationTemptation. Cue the old Perry Como song to get its meaning. Side note, I think Perry’s the least likely person to sing that song. Frank, yes. But “Wholesome-Married-Once-Perry?” Number 68-married-years for Perry and four wives for that saloon singer. (Mia Farrow! Two years! You’ve got to be kidding!) If you’re under 50, you can find Perry’s song on YouTube. But if you’re under 50, you may wish to first find out who Perry Como is.

The song begins, “You came, I was alone…” No community, few trusted friends as though the saloon guy was singing his selfish, self-centered signature song “My Way” like he’s “king of the hill.” Oh, wait. That’s in another Frank song, and sung twice in once verse. The “Temptation” song continues, “I should have known, you were temptation!” Of course, you should have known. That’s why we study world history, examine our consciences before and during each Mass and celebrate God’s mercy when receiving communion.

The song resumes, “You smiled, luring me on, my heart was gone, and you were temptation!” You know, we can honor our souls, but we feel our hearts. The union of these two – spiritual and temporal – is the combination of fidelity and being found worthy.

The song’s final verse, “Here is my heart! Take it and say, that we’ll never part! I’m just a slave, only a slave, to you!” You give up because you’ve given in. We don’t have those smart remarks Jesus gives to the devil. Ours is a faith trying to daily balance the soul and the heart – things spiritual and things of this life.

Unlike me, all of you will be tempted each day. You can call it remnants of original sin or the human condition. But daily you will see a dress that looks better than yours, you may consider harm to someone (not death but at least needing an ER visit), or regretfully harming yourself in whatever way. I don’t need to bore you with a list because we all live that list. I like those lyrics because we have these thoughts and the devil cleverly holds out his arm as if to stop us by saying, “No, no, don’t think or do that” which defines the word “lure” while luring us in to disunite our sacred soul from the foolishness of our heart.

When it comes to sin and feeling regret, I like to say, “It’s what we do with it that matters. “Actions speak louder” and we know the rest of the quote. Our silly, passing thoughts only become dangerous in our harboring them, making them more than a bubble in a cartoon strip.

The three’s of Jesus is ours, every day. The scene is a desert of loneliness with the heart fighting for the soul’s cooperation. Power, denial of God. The devil’s task is destroying the soul to win the heart. Much like a baseball player having a good streak, Jesus knocks off each one to left field.

This Lent, use that smirk that you use at an annoying driver or lousy restaurant service. It’s not an either/or when it comes to sin. It’s all about the smirk. A smirk that tells evil and your heart that this is not healthy, enriching or compassionate to either someone, yourself or both of us. Smirk. You know how to do it. You lower the edges of your lips and dismiss breaking apart what God assembled, our hearts and souls.

I suspect that Perry must have smirked a lot in his life. I don’t think Frank smirk at all.

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A Spiritual Number

Posted on March 6, 2019 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

seven-1181077_640There are seven days in a week and as many Catholic sacraments. Along with seven seas is the Seventh Day Adventists, as many colors in a rainbow, or notes in a musical scale, or phases of the moon, or bodily organs, or an adjective for heaven and the same amount for those Deadly Sins. There are also seven ways to leave you lover (Sorry Paul, forget the other 43!). Snow White had the same amount of helpers and the Brewers take a “stretch” at this number when it ought to be fifth.

Best of all is the “Gifts of the Holy Spirit.” Guess how many there are. Another season of Lent begins today. For our 2019 version, pick one of them for your spiritual enrichment. Think and pray about what the gift means for these long weeks. On Holy Saturday night, please smile to yourself that this Lent was a deliberate effort to strengthen your faith, to strengthen your relationship with God and your neighbor (which is really redundant.) Then on Holy Saturday night, I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours first. There’s little work on your part. This isn’t like a resolution with a beginning or ending. The virtue does the work for you. That’s what makes it a gift – to be opened, enjoyed and cherished.

I’ll save you a trip to Wikipedia. The Gifts are wisdom, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, understanding, piety and fear of the Lord. Define them according to your present time in life and watch what happens. Happy Lenting! (It’s not a word but I like it, anyway.)

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A Prayer during Times of Trial

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

“My [child], when you come to serve the LORD,
stand in justice and fear, prepare yourself9853467346_8740280934_z for trials.

Be sincere of heart and steadfast, incline your ear and receive the word of understanding, undisturbed in time of adversity. Wait on God, with patience, cling to him, forsake him not; thus will you be wise in all your ways.

Accept whatever befalls you, when sorrowful, be steadfast, and in crushing misfortune be patient; For in fire gold and silver are tested, and worthy people in the crucible of humiliation.

Trust God and God will help you; trust in him, and he will direct your way; keep his fear and grow old therein.

You who fear the LORD, wait for his mercy, turn not away lest you fall. You who fear the LORD, trust him, and your reward will not be lost. You who fear the LORD, hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy. You who fear the LORD, love him, and your hearts will be enlightened. Study the generations long past and understand; has anyone hoped in the LORD and been disappointed? Has anyone persevered in his commandments and been forsaken? has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed?

Compassionate and merciful is the LORD;
he forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble
and he is a protector to all who seek him in truth.” Sirach 2: 1-11

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“Integrity”

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

“A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,
nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.
For every tree is known by its own fruit.
For people do not pick figs from thornbushes,
nor do they gather grapes from brambles.
A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good,
but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil;
for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:39-45

thWe say of someone, “How can he live with himself?” Meaning that something is missing in that person’s life. We can easily fool ourselves. Self-honesty is not a given in this life’s journey. I keep telling myself that I look like Brad Pitt but hopefully some truth and sincerity will one day win me over. That $10.00 the waiter undercharged you and you respectfully return to the restaurant. That fake compliment about her hair. Taking credit for a job you barely helped create. Our relationship with the Trinity. Perhaps our relationship with the last statement has an effect on all the previous statements. The words we use, the actions we perform. Elements in life we ignore and elements that we embrace. It all adds up to one of my favorite words: integrity. It has strength when it’s spoken and it has character when it filters throughout your life. “She’s a person of integrity.” What a compliment to pay someone or to believe about yourself.

A preacher said, “We ought to have enough integrity to see both ourselves and others honestly. Jesus was exercising his sense of humor when he compared a splinter in a neighbor’s eye with a whole wooden beam in one’s own. His idea can be encapsulated in the old saying that there’s so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us that it hardly behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us. To the Christian disciple who’s concerned with the faults of another and ignores his own, Jesus applies the word “hypocrite,” a designation he previously gave only to the scribes and Pharisees.”

Is that inch of gratification, or any kind, worth losing a yard of integrity?

Praying at home or in church reconciles our relationship with God. But, also believe that it reconciles our relationship with ourselves. It renews, rekindles a right relationship with God. “It’s the right thing to do,” we tell ourselves. “I want to buy the right birthday gift for her.” “The answer lies right in front of you.” (Being left-handed, you can guess my relationship with God and myself.) One of my favorite expressions in preaching is always acknowledging that we are the creatures of a Creator-God. Any sin erases that understanding, that lifelong bond. We seem to forget and soon believe ourselves to be that the creator. (Small “c,” always the small “c”.)

From an anonymous poet,
When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day, Just go to a mirror and look at yourself, And see what that one has to say.

For it isn’t your father or mother or spouse Who judgment upon you much pass; The person whose verdict counts most in your life Is the one staring back from the glass.

That’s the person to please, never mind all the rest For he’s with you clear up to the end.
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test If the one in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years And get pats on the back as you pass.

But your final reward will be heartaches and tears, If you’ve cheated the one in the glass.

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“Both/And”

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

Love your enemies. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, gift-wrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life.                                                                                                                         Message Bible

printbothsidesHere’s a quote for you, “We believe television news but doubt our faith.” Madonna sang, “I’m A Material Girl.”

Often in life, we reduce our lives to “either/or” decisions. The “both/and” option rarely seems to be considered. Dating back to 1546 is the saying, “Can’t have your cake and eat it too.”

“Can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Hmmm. In a few moments, together, we will take material bread and cause it to become the bread of “new life,” because we believe. The same will occur with material wine. Then, toward the end of Mass, I’ll lift up both materials to show you that the materials haven’t changed, but our beliefs about them have.

Hmmm. If only I could do that with my feisty neighbor. If only I could do with my arrogant boss. If only I could do that with my stubborn teenager. If only I could do that with … myself. The only true sentence is the last one. And, the last sentence has a way of affecting the first three.

Jesus forces us to love those who don’t love us – give your mink coat to someone who asks only for your shirt. Show the person who slaps you, your other cheek and not the one behind you. All of his admonitions come from the IMmaterial. All of his actions are rooted in holiness, not self-satisfaction or revenge. What is holiness? Holiness is taking the material of our world and making it IMmaterial. Making it something bigger than ourselves. IMmaterial is always concerned with us instead of only me. Madonna cleverly took her sacred name to sing about all things material. Hers was for commercial, personal purposes. As Christians, along with the Blessed Mother, ours is “full of grace” to the glory of God shown and lived through our lives – living with each other. The dictionary says immaterial means unimportant or irrelevant. Capitalize the “IM” and you’ve achieved the stature of being very important and highly relevant.

A more profound way of this “either/or” is from the movie, “Tree of Life.” “Grace doesn’t try to please itself. It accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked, accepts insults and injuries. Nature only wants to please itself, get others to please it. . . . It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it, and love is smiling through all things.”

The material is centered around the self, “What’s in it for me,” and IMmaterial is all about the Body of Christ. Any decision you make is never an “either/or” but always a “both/and” because the latter makes every decision or action sacred in transforming the material into IMmaterial. Then you know that your efforts are holy and worthy of today’s Gospel. If you’re selfish then never buy a truck, because a neighbor will call and ask if you’re free on Saturday.

Take that 1546 idiom about cake and reverse it, and you have a Christian solution. You can’t eat a cake and then have it. That’s the meaning. That’s our culture, but that’s not our faith. Our faith is always about effort, labor, hard work – all performed in a Christ-like-love. A love of sac-sac-sac-sacrifice. (I can never say that word because I so often give in to the material.) This isn’t Las Vegas, folks. What happens here doesn’t stay here. Being in church renews and prompts us all to transform what happens here to what could be or can be beyond these walls. Seeing with the eyes of God, walking with the legs of Jesus and wrapped in the enveloping arms of the Holy Spirit. That’s faith. That’s holiness.

Please remember, Every decision or action becomes sacred in its turning the material into IMmaterial. Or, put another way, taking our secular and making it His divine. If you don’t believe me, just wait a few minutes and watch what happens to those simple gifts that Jesus witnessed for us.

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