Following the Ascension of Christ into heaven we embark on our quest for God in a new dimension, in a new era. Perhaps it is the other way around. Perhaps we should understand it as God’s coming to us rather than our approach to God. After all, it is God’s initiative that is the foundation of our relationship with God. For the truth is that it is God who offers and we who respond.

How, then, does God approach us after Christ’s Ascension? Where and in what way does God come to us? Where and in what way do we find Him?

Christ comes to us in the Sacraments, but in those Sacraments He comes to us in His Spirit-filled humanity that has been resurrected and glorified by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. It is from His being at the right hand of the Father that He sends us the Holy Spirit.

We need to spend a moment now reflecting on what is meant by the word spirit. What does it mean for us as Christians? There are many connotations but essentially “spirit” refers to that non-material reality contained in our bodies in which we find the things of the mind and the things of the heart. Because of our souls, our spirits, we can know and we can love, things that cannot be weighed, or measured, or studied in a laboratory. Knowledge cannot be weighed and measured in a laboratory and neither can love. Both are non-material, spiritual realities that nevertheless come to us in our bodies. It is there that the Holy Spirit reaches us.

The critical thing for us is that we are willing to give attention to what is spiritual within us. The sad fact is, however, that we are too distracted; too thrown off the track, to give much attention to what is spiritual within us and to give attention to the promptings, the inspirations, and the movements of the Holy Spirit. How can the Holy Spirit prompt us if we are constantly text messaging, on our cell phones, or dashing about from task to task, all those things in our lives today that consume our attention and drown out what’s deep within us?

We have grown accustomed to being entertained. We have grown accustomed to be passive spectators, passively watching television, passively watching what comes to us on our smart phones, passively receiving so much without taking the necessary time to quietly process within us all that so noisily comes to us. We are over-stimulated by the noise and busy-ness of the world in which we live. We even read snippets of newspapers and books on our handheld devices, everything already processed and packaged for us thus eliminating the need for us to process and meditate on all of the stuff that bombards us.

Traditionally, the Catholic Church sees seven major gifts of the Holy Spirit beginning with Wisdom. With that gift we become aware of God at work in our lives as well as in the events surrounding us. The wonders of nature speak of God’s purposes. He is the father and author of all that lives, something that wisdom allows us to appreciate and brings us to respect. In wisdom we respect life, particularly human life. It is with Wisdom that we should make our choices and act.

Understanding. We are all aware of the confusing and conflicting opinions that bombard us in newspapers and on television. Know-it-alls give their opinions about God, the Church, and religion when they themselves have only superficial grasps of what they talk about. The Holy Spirit’s gift of understanding comes to us when we reflect our faith and the teachings of our Church. Reflection, we must remember, is something that is done in silence, freed from the noise of this world’s other voices. 

The gift of Counsel is the gift enabling us to make good judgments. With the gift of counsel/right judgment, we know the difference between right and wrong, and we find the freedom to choose to do what is right, not what is merely current. A person with right judgment avoids sin and lives out the values taught by Jesus.

Another word for Fortitude is courage. With the power of fortitude or courage, we overcome our fear of what others might think and are willing to take risks as followers of Jesus. A person with courage is willing to stand up for what is right in the sight of God, even if it means accepting the rejection of people around us, suffering their scorn and verbal abuse, or even physical harm. The gift of courage allows people to have firmness of mind that is required both in doing good and in enduring evil.

Knowledge is one of the Holy Spirit’s most vital gifts. It requires reading and reflection on our part. Knowledge that is worth anything only comes with effort, with work: With the gift of knowledge we understand the meaning of things in God’s eyes The gift of knowledge is more than an accumulation of facts, information, and data.

With the gift of Reverence (sometimes called Piety) we have a deep sense of respect for God and His Church. A person with reverence recognizes our total reliance on God because we only have a limited grasp of His ways. A reverent person comes before God with humility, trust, and love. Piety is the gift whereby, under the Holy Spirit's inspiration, we worship God as our Father and Jesus as our Savior.

Fear of the Lord really means that we have wonder and awe in our hearts. With the gift of fear of the Lord we are aware of the glory and the awesome majesty of God. A person with wonder and awe knows that God gives us the perfection of all we desire. This gift of the Holy Spirit gives us a fear of separating ourselves. It is not so much a fear of punishment as it is a fear of offending against God’s love. The Book of Proverbs tells us that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of losing God’s love for us. We can fall away from God and lose our love for God. When that happens our life can become meaningless and without purpose.

The Holy Spirit comes to us in many other ways. He comes to us with the tenderness of a true friend. He heals, strengthens our resolve, consoles us and enables us to see things in God’s light. Our Ancient Enemy, the devil, bests us with doubt, disillusionment, discouragement, depression, despair, defeat, and death. The Holy Spirit, our Advocate, tells us that we are loved, that God is with us, and that God the Son loves us so much that He died for us. Our Advocate tells us that we are loved by God and that despite Satan’s lies we are God’s beloved children. The Holy Spirit gives us good news in the face of all of the bad news and bad feelings we may have within our hearts. Truly the Holy Spirit is our Advocate and our Friend.

Pentecost, then, isn’t simply an interesting event that occurred two thousand years ago. It is, rather, a continuing event that comes to us down through the centuries in our Church, a Church filled with humans such as ourselves, capable of shameless deeds as well as deeds of glory. If our Church was merely a human invention, something created and sustained by weak and vacillating men and women, then it would have disappeared long ago. But as it is, filled with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ on earth, bids us today to seek the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that we can been the persons God dreams we can be. 

In the mid-1950s, during my first year out of college, I was a social caseworker. Like most of my colleagues, I had a variety of cases, including single mothers and their children, blind and disabled people, and individuals on old age assistance. One of the most memorable lessons in my life came from one elderly client.

When I visited the couple’s walk-up tenement apartment for the first time and the man let me in, I saw his wife moving back and forth in her rocking chair and sobbing uncontrollably. The man asked me to step into the hall, where he proceeded to explain why she was so sad.  Not only was she dying of cancer, but on that particular day, her birthday, her grandchildren would not be visiting her. Their father, the couple’s only son, would not let them visit then or at any other time.

The man shared a number of other details. He had been a well-to-do hotel owner and had given his son anything he wanted, including one new car after another, and lots of spending money. He also had put the son through college and law school. Now that the son had a successful law practice, owned a lucrative hardware business, and lived in an upscale suburb, he had cut all ties with his parents. Their only income was from welfare.

The man ended the story by asking if I had children. I said I did not. He then implored me:

If you ever have children, please learn from my experience. Don’t spoil them as I did my son. Doing so will ruin their lives and break your heart.

Wise advice, and when I had children, I did my best to follow it.

But such wisdom was swept away in the 1960s, when new ideas gained dominance and changed every aspect of American culture, including family life. Strict parenting gave way to permissiveness and indulgence. Many parents, intent on sparing their children the hardships they had experienced, gave them too much and expected little, if anything, in return. Disobedience and disrespect toward parents and other authority figures was tolerated and even encouraged. The notion that young people knew better than their parents was widely embraced. Self-esteem became more important than achievement. And belief in earning one’s way was replaced with a sense of entitlement.

When young adults failed in college or the job market—as increasingly happened because of their attitudes toward learning and work—parents allowed them to move back home. “What can we do?” the parents said. “He/she is our own flesh and blood? We can’t just abandon our child in time of need.” (Such arguments, eminently reasonable in the case of serious or terminal illness, are empty rationalizations where the only affliction is sloth.) Consider the case of the 22-year-old college graduate who got fired from his first job, was allowed to return home “until he found work” and is still there and still “looking” at age 48! The case may not be typical, but I suspect it is more common than most people imagine.

The trend has grown stronger in recent decades. A Pew Research study reveals that today 53% of adults ages 18-24 and 29% of those ages 25-34 live at home. Also, according to the Maryland Population Center, the number of young American adults living at home and still financially dependent on their parents rose from 20% in 1960 to 46% in 2000. Note that last percentage and date. It puts the lie to the notion that the “boomerang kids” phenomenon was caused by the 2008 recession. Though it certainly made matters worse, the recession did not cause the problem. The cause was and remains the lamentable change in parenting that occurred in the 1960s.

Many analysts are warning of the disastrous world-wide consequences that could result from having so many able people contributing little or nothing to the nation, consequences already manifest in some European countries, notably Greece. Which makes me believe that, if he were alive today, the elderly man who shared his hard-won insight with me so long ago would revise it slightly:

Spoiling children ruins their lives, breaks our hearts, and endangers the world.

Copyright © 2012 by Vincent Ryan Ruggiero. All rights reserved

Giacomo Puccini

One of the greatest Italian opera composers was Giacomo Puccini, whose works included La Bohème, La Tosca, and Madame Butterfly.  In 1924, while working on what many experts consider his greatest opera, Turandot, Puccini was suddenly stricken with a particularly virulent form of cancer.  Knowing his time was short, he told his students, “If I don’t finish Turandot, I want you to finish it for me.”  Soon after this he died.  Fulfilling their promise, Puccini’s students carefully studied what the master had composed, and then finished the opera.  At the world premiere of Turnadot in Milan in 1926, Puccini’s favorite student, Arturo Toscanini, directed.  The music was beautiful and moving, but when the opera reached the point where Puccini was forced to stop because of his illness,  Toscanini halted the performance, put down his baton, turned to the audience, and with tears running down his face, announced, “Thus far the Master wrote, but he died.”  The opera house was filled with a vast and somber silence.  After a moment, Toscanini picked up his baton, smiled through his tears, and proclaimed, “But the disciples finished his work!”  He then conducted the remainder of the opera, and when it was finished, the audience honored the late Puccini, and his living disciples, by giving it a standing ovation (Brian Cavanagh, More Sower’s Seeds, #88).  This theme of continuing the work of someone who’s gone before us is a central one in today’s Feast of the Ascension.  Jesus has returned to Heaven—not to abandon us, but to give us the opportunity to grow in faith by witnessing to His truth and by serving others in His Name.

Three years before His death and resurrection, Jesus prepared for His public ministry by spending forty days praying and fasting in the desert.  Beginning on Easter Sunday, Jesus then prepared His disciples for their public ministry by spending forty days in their midst as the Risen Lord, teaching and encouraging them, and commissioning them as His witnesses.  The Letter to the Ephesians [1:17-23] states that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand, and “gave Him as head over all things to the Church, which is His Body.”  The Gospel tells us that Jesus, using this authority, commanded His disciples to go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel, promising that they would be able to do wondrous things in His Name—a promise which would begin to be fulfilled ten days later on the Feast of Pentecost when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit.  This message, of course, was quite a bit for the apostles to take in at first, and it’s no surprise that after Our Lord ascended and disappeared into the heavens, His disciples stood there staring up at the sky, unsure of what to do next.  Two angels had to appear and prompt them to return to Jerusalem and await the promised Holy Spirit, as Jesus had commanded.  Sometimes even committed followers of Christ need a “nudge from Heaven,” or a reminder, of what the Lord expects from them, and sometimes we have to wait until we’re empowered by the Holy Spirit—but as long as we’re open to doing God’s will, we’ll be given the grace and strength needed to fulfill our mission.

In both the world of nature and in human society, growing in age is also supposed to mean growing in responsibility.  A robin cares for her young and provides them with food, but eventually they’ll have to leave the nest, learn to fly, and begin fending for themselves.  A lioness cares for her cubs and teaches them to hunt—but when the time is right, she disappears and lets them lead their own lives.  As children and young people grow older, we expect more and more from them, knowing the day will come—perhaps sooner than we want—when they’ll leave home to make their own way in the world.  This same idea applies to discipleship; we have the duty of using God’s grace, sharing His truth, and becoming the persons He wants us to be.

The day of the Ascension not only marks Jesus’ “rising up” to Heaven; it should also symbolize our “stepping up” to our Christian responsibilities.  Jesus tells us, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”  For some disciples, the “whole world” means Africa or Asia or some other mission field; for most of us, it means our workplace or office, our school or neighborhood or even our own home.  Not only should the world be a better place because of our presence; one day it should also be true that Heaven is a fuller place because of our influence.  Jesus is relying on us to finish His work—by means of our prayers, our example, our financial support of the Church, our involvement in the parish and the community, and our willingness to speak in His Name when the Holy Spirit prompts us to do so.  In all these ways, we must show that Christianity is just as vibrant and important today as it was 2000 years ago, for no one can truly follow Jesus without wanting others to know Him, too.

We are not involved in writing an opera, but we are supposed to be God’s instruments as He conducts a “symphony of grace.”  By our attitudes and actions, we are either saying to Him, “Lord, guide me and help me share Your love,” or “Lord, please choose someone else—I’m not interested or available.”  One of these responses identifies us as true disciples of Jesus, destined for eternal glory; the other marks us as name-only Christians, in danger of ending up outside the Kingdom of Heaven.  If we honestly desire to share our faith, Jesus will give us the opportunities, the means, and the words to say.  He entrusts His message to us, and expects us to share it with others.  Following the Ascension, Jesus is no longer seen on the earth; because of the Ascension, it’s more important than ever that He be seen in our lives and in our hearts.

America has been the richest nation on earth in all of world history, so it is our unique responsibility to obey our Lord’s command to give to the world’s truly poor (see Parts I and II).  This should be done in two ways: (1) Sell our possessions and give the cash raised to the poor; and (2) live frugally enough so that income exceeds expenses and then give the difference regularly to the poor.  

Let’s clarify one thing: When Jesus said, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33, see more in Part II), did He mean all our possessions, thus making ourselves poor?  No. Read Luke 3:11: 

He answered and said to them, He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise. 

Thus, we are to keep one necessary item for use and liquidate the second item and the excess. We should do this prayerfully, not thinking, “Only having one of these means I don’t have a backup if something goes wrong.”  

You need to also sell everything that isn’t truly necessary as well. Men, do you need two complete sets of tools?  Sell one. Ladies, is it essential that you have even one set of chinaware? If you use it only once a year, why not sell even the one? Does your family need that boat when you take it out many Sundays and don’t attend church regularly during the summer? Do you need six sweaters, five heavy coats, fifteen shirts, ten pairs of pants?  Here’s a big one for married couples: Do you need two cars? Can’t one spouse drive the other to work or can’t one use public transit or pool to work? And for those whose expenses always manage to exceed income, have you set goals in life other than your next worldly purchase? Have you searched eagerly for tools to apply to be more frugal? There are plenty online.

One argument we raise against our Lord is that if we give away frills, we will deprive our children of some enjoyment.  But what do your children see from your giving away, instead? Sacrifice. Then the lesson they learn is Love. True love is sacrifice. And we Christians are nothing without Love    (I Cor. 13: 1-3).

The problem with America is that many families have enough money to satisfy each person in the family to do their own thing without anyone sacrificing. The problem with that is, with no sacrificing, there is no real love being learned. And with everyone doing their own thing, there is no bonding, no teamwork, and the children learn nothing about the importance of another’s feelings―which makes them far less prepared for marriage, among other things. 

So, yes, discard that second car. That second house, too―that one in upstate Michigan or Florida. And stop the cruises. How can we go to God on judgment day? I can imagine He will show a split screen video with we on one side, living it up, and on the other side, people that we ignored scratching for subsistence? How then are we different than the rich man ignoring the poor Lazarus in Luke 16 (see Part II)? Will our final destination be any different from his? Are you confident that your salvation won’t be affected, despite Scriptures such as this indicating otherwise? Just by not having a second car, your family can save over $6,000 a year. Do you realize the difference you could make by giving that kind of money to the poor instead of making your life a little more indulgent? 

I remind you, we cannot argue “I’m not rich.” God isn’t comparing you to Americans. He’s looking at the entire train of world history, in which almost every American would have to qualify as “rich.” It means we Americans, to overcome the disadvantages our wealth has given us, have to be passionately determined to be holy, to persevere in seeking God’s heart, to fight against the natural tendency in wealth to be complacent, to not depend on Him.  We need to fight against the false assumption that “I’m rich, so God loves me.” We have to fight against placing all our trust on this world and not on the next one.  We too easily fall into the trap of Revelation 3:17: 

You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 

May God help us to see us as He sees us.

Most of the time when we come to Mass we reflect on our souls, on the meaning and purpose of having a soul, on the eventual destiny of our soul, and on how we relate to others and to God because we have a soul. But what about our bodies? What does it mean to have a body? And how should regard our bodies? The Ascension of our Blessed Lord presents us with the ultimate goal of the Incarnation, what God’s taking on a human body is telling us. What I want to reflect on today is the profound connection between Christmas, when the Son of God took on human flesh, and the Ascension when He ascended back into heaven.

In a series of talks the late Pope John Paul II gave us many reflections on the meaning of having a human body. His central idea was the fact that the human body, and it alone, is capable of making visible what is invisible, making visible the spiritual and the divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of our world the mystery hidden since time immemorial in God, and thus to be a sign of it. His theology is not only for young adults or married couples, but for people of all ages and vocations since it sums up the true meaning of the human person, body and soul.

Subsequent to His ascension He uses no feet to move among us, or tongues to proclaim His presence. He uses ours. The treasure of God’s personal love has been deposited within us, in our “earthen vessels” as St. Paul puts it. Let us therefore realize (make real) the responsibility God has given us, and be honored thereby. By becoming human and taking on our bodily nature God’s love is made real in how we relate to others and to Him in soul and in body.

The Ascension of Jesus Christ underscores the fact that Christians are charged with the responsibility of implementing His will on earth and sharing His love here on earth as He reigns from heaven. His parting words commissioned His apostles to make disciples of every creature among the nations throughout the earth.

Pope John Paul II’s revolutionary and life-transforming vision counteracts our surrounding societal trends, trends that urge us to view the human body as an object of pleasure or as a machine for production and work. John Paul II portrays a beautiful counter vision that offers us meaning and hope.

The “Theology of the Body” is Pope John Paul II's integrated vision of the human person - body, soul, and spirit. As he sees it, the physical human body has a specific meaning and is capable of revealing answers regarding fundamental questions about us and our relational lives. In God’s plan, what is the real purpose of our human lives? Why were we created male and female? Does it really matter if we are one gender or another? Why were man and woman, symbolized in Adam and Eve, called to a communion of life from the beginning? What does the union of a man and woman in marriage tell us about God and His plan for our lives?

Reaching way back into Old Testament times we find God revealing Himself as the Bridegroom with Israel seen as His bride. That spousal image was used by Jesus Christ. We should note that Christ’s first miracle took place at a marriage celebration, the wedding feast at Cana when He turned water into wine. The last miracle of Christ before He suffered and died was at another banquet, the Last Supper, which St. John identifies as “The Wedding Feast of the Lamb.” The message is that in giving us His Body and Blood, God the Son is marrying Himself to us. It is in His body and because of His body that God joins us into Himself. Note the direction – we don’t join ourselves into God, it is God who joins us into Himself. It’s His initiative. The ultimate point is that God the Son, in uniting Himself to us and joining us into His body takes us back home with Him to heaven, takes us with Him back home to our Father in heaven.

So what does a body do for us?

First of all, it locates us. Because you have a body you are located and made present. Others can reach you, know you, and love you because you have a body. We can’t love a fantasy. We can’t embrace a fantasy. We can, however, love and embrace another person because we have bodies.

Because we have bodies we can relate to each other.

A body allows us to communicate with one another, to share our thoughts, our vision, our caring and our hearts and minds with one another. Through our bodies we can enter into a bonded union with each other, we can enter into communion with each other.

St. Paul directs us to another reality, another fundamental aspect of the human body, something that he pointed out to the Christians in the seaport city of Corinth with is populace of very sophisticated citizens amongst whom were many who lived immoral lives, lives caught up in various sexual sins, lust, worship of false gods, adulterers, abusers, as well as other types of sins. St. Paul wrote to the Christians living in Corinth (1 Cor 6:17-20) warning them as follows:   

But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Because of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection, and because the Holy Spirit has been given to you, your body has been made into something holy, a temple in which God wants to abide, in which He wants to live. Many people of our day live lives much like those ancient Corinthians. Many people regard their bodies merely as instruments of pleasure and think their bodies are merely useful. Many people think their bodies have nothing to do with God and believe they can do anything they want with their bodies. Some think they can likewise do anything they want with other people’s bodies. The terrible result of such thinking in seen all around us, see in the trafficking of women, child abuse, and in disgusting sexual crimes against others.

Our belief is that because Jesus Christ ascended into heaven our ultimate destiny is to likewise ascend into heaven. In the Creed, we profess our faith that we believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting with God and in God because it is through Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ that we will give God honor and glory forever and ever.

All of this we do because our bodies, by the power of the Holy Spirit, have been glorified in Christ. 

In the early 1950s a baby was born in a hospital in Milwaukee, a baby who seemed to have everything against him:  he was blind, mentally retarded, and suffered from cerebral palsy.  He didn’t respond to sound or touch, and his parents abandoned him. Not knowing what else to do, the hospital called a nurse named May Lemke, a remarkable woman who, with her husband, had already raised five children.  The couple agreed to take the baby, even though they were told “He’ll probably die young.”  May and her husband adopted the infant and named him Leslie.  May cared for him, massaging his body every day, praying for him and crying over him; never giving up, she did everything possible to coax some response from Leslie, but nothing seemed to help.  Some people said all her efforts were worthless, and that he’d be better off in an institution, but May and her husband persevered.  It wasn’t until Leslie was 16 that they were able to teach him how to stand up on his own.  Even though they continued to love him and care for him, Leslie made no response; May told him stories about Jesus, but he didn’t seem to hear her.  One day she noticed his finger plucking a string tied around a package; May wondered if Leslie might be sensitive to music, so she played every type of music imaginable on the radio and phonograph, hoping he’d respond.  She and her husband bought an old piano and placed it in Leslie’s room, showing him how to push the keys—but he didn’t seem interested.

Then, one night in 1971, May was awakened by the sound of someone playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.  She awakened her husband and asked him if he’d left the radio on; when he said no, they both got up to investigate.  What they discovered was beyond their wildest dreams:  Leslie was sitting at the piano, smiling as he played it by ear.  All the music May had played for him was stored in his brain, and he played it beautifully and perfectly, even though he had never done the slightest thing on his own before.  Over the coming months Leslie spent hours at the piano, playing every type of music imaginable; he also began to talk, very slowly and simply.  Before long he was playing for church groups and civic organizations, and for retarded children and cerebral palsy victims.  Leslie also appeared on national television and was written about in newspaper and magazine articles, and his life was even the subject of a made-for-TV movie.  Though retarded from birth, Leslie proved to be an immensely talented person.  Doctors described his condition as autistic savantism; May Lemke described her son as a living miracle (Link, Illustrated Sunday Homilies, Year B, Series I, p. 41).  May’s untiring efforts and dedication on Leslie’s behalf, supported by her husband, illustrates an important point:  love can work miracles for those who believe in and practice it.

Sometimes people wonder why there’s so much suffering in the world, and so many problems and disappointments in life; why doesn’t God work more miracles on our behalf?  There’s no one answer to this question which would satisfy everyone or apply to every situation, but today’s readings suggest a partial response:  our failures to love place limits on what God can do in our lives. St. John tells us in that “whoever is without love does not know God.”  Closing ourselves off to God’s grace makes it impossible to experience His peace.  Selfishly thinking only of ourselves almost guarantees our existence will be miserable and empty; life becomes unhappy to the same extent that we choose our will, instead of God’s.

So many times we’re tempted to place artificial limits on what God can do.  Even the early Christians sometimes thought in these terms. Jewish Christians assumed that, because they were part of the original Chosen People of God, only they were worthy to receive the Holy Spirit; they were surprised when Gentile believers were also granted this gift.  Fortunately, St. Peter recognized the need to welcome and accept all who believed in Jesus.  In this he fulfilled Christ’s commandment in the Gospel:  “Love one another as I love you.”  Jesus considers us not slaves, but friends.  Slaves do what they’re commanded, but nothing more; friends go far beyond this, because they’re motivated not by fear or duty, but by love.  If we truly love God and our neighbor, we can ask for whatever we need, and know that our prayer will somehow be answered—even if it takes a miracle.

May Lemke believed this—and the story of her and her family is very fitting on Mother’s Day, for someone has said that mothers more consistently follow Jesus’ teaching on love than any other group of people.  We must never give up.  If, for instance, those of you who are mothers and grandmothers (and even fathers and grandfathers) are worried or upset because your children and grandchildren no longer practice their faith, or because they seem unresponsive to your love—the way Leslie was at first with his adoptive parents—don’t despair.  Keep on praying and loving, for whenever there’s love, there’s hope.

Even as we today honor our mothers, we remember in a special way our Mother in Heaven, who never forgets or abandons any of her children.  Writing of Mary, St. Maximilian Kolbe once said, “Let us allow her to do in us and through us whatever she desires, and she will surely accomplish miracles of grace, and we ourselves will become holy, great saints . . . because we shall succeed in becoming like her, and by means of us she will win over the entire world and every individual soul.”   As St. Maximilian knew, many miracles have been worked through Our Lady’s intercession precisely because there are no limits to her love for Jesus and her love for us.  The love of Jesus and Mary isn’t limited to those persons who are famous, healthy, wealthy, or wise; there are no restrictions based on sex, nationality, race, or social status.  This great love is available to all of us, and is meant to be experienced and shared; it’s truly the secret of life.  Sometimes miracles can occur—if we let love make the difference.

The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (EOA) launched the “war on poverty.” This legislation, promoted by Lyndon Johnson and supported by his successors Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, was a key part of what is known as the Great Society program.

From its inception, the war on poverty was a noble undertaking. After all, no decent person would argue for the preservation of poverty. Unfortunately, that very fact discouraged most people from questioning or criticizing it. Those that did were labeled uncaring or worse. I speak from experience because I once made such a charge.

In the late 1960s, while a professor in a small college in upstate New York, I served as (unpaid) president of the county’s EOA-sponsored non-profit agency. Before federal funds could be granted, the county had to make a financial commitment. County officials made that commitment for a few years, but then threatened to withdraw it because, as they put it, agency workers were not just identifying poverty in the county—they were “creating poverty.”

My response was to write an open letter to county officials and submit it to area newspapers. I pointed out the absurdity of equating finding the poor and informing them of available assistance with creating their poverty. Such nonsense, I continued, implied that the officials would rather have the poor suffer in silence than disturb the illusion that all was well in the county. That attitude, I concluded, hardly honored the Judeo-Christian ideal of helping those in need.

It was an easy letter to write. Having been a social caseworker some years earlier, I knew both that poverty is a real condition and the poor are often unable to speak for themselves. In any event, the letter aroused public interest and the officials relented and restored their support to the agency.

Recently, over forty years removed from that incident, with issues such as social justice and the plight of the poor in discussion once more, I decided to check the current status of the agency I once spoke for. My findings were troubling.

Geographically, the county in question is still one of the largest in New York State; however, it was and is among the smallest in population. In the 1960s it had about 44 thousand residents. According to the 2010 census, the population had risen to about 48 thousand, a little less than a 10% gain.

According to its website, when the agency was founded in the 1960s, it served approximately 600 people, whereas in 2005 it served 13 thousand people. That’s right, 13 thousand—almost 27 percent of the entire population of the county. To put it another way, the number of people needing assistance in 2005 was twenty times higher than in the 1960s. The reader is probably thinking, as I am, ”That figure can’t be right—they must be double-, triple-, or quadruple-counting.” But however they are arriving at those figures, they are evidently the ones they have submitted to the government to justify their workforce, stated as 270 employees (plus 400 volunteers) with an annual budget of $11.5 million.

For clarity’s sake, it should be stated that this EOA agency did not replace the Department of Social Services. It is a separate, additional agency serving many of the same residents. So the $11.5 million a year is over and above what is spent by the state.

Even if the number of residents receiving assistance from the EOA agency were the same number as in the 1960s (600) and the workforce were the same as at that time (a dozen or so), how much progress would it have made in its “war on poverty.” None whatsoever. On the contrary, poverty has increased twentyfold.

I find myself now thinking that , as absurd as I thought it was for those officials to say that EOA workers were creating poverty, in a sense that is just what was happening. Of course, I could reason that they were really just creating an attitude of entitlement that, over the years, increasing numbers of people have found attractive. But that would be a distinction without much of a difference.

Copyright © 2012 by Vincent Ryan Ruggiero. All rights reserved

The pieces of the puzzle are fitting together, and the emerging picture is quite ominous.  These fears are also borne out by numerous contemporary private revelations which speak of a coming persecution.  At this time I want to share some of these alleged visions and messages with you, using revelations supposedly given to four different messengers, some of them personally known to me. 

The first involves a priest in Michigan, who was reportedly given a warning three years ago by St. Therèse of Lisieux, who told him,

In a short time, what took place in my native country [a reference to the religious persecution accompanying the French Revolution], will take place in yours. The persecution of the Church is imminent. Prepare yourself.

Another contemporary prophet is an anonymous messenger in Chicago who goes by the title of a Chosen Child; over the last few months Jesus has allegedly been giving this person dire warnings about the need to elect the right person as president later this year.  A message from the first half of March states, “My little ones, I have been telling you in the past that this is your last election.  If the wrong man gets elected there will be no need for another election.  He will be your dictator for years to come and you will be living under tyranny.  Your churches and schools and hospitals and anything Catholic will be closed.  There will be no freedom for anything.  You will be told what you are to believe and if you don’t go along with their system, you will be sent to concentration camps to be brainwashed.”  Other messages allegedly received by this messenger in Chicago make it clear that the current occupant of the White House has a sinister agenda, whereas one of those who is seeking to become the nominee opposing him this fall has Heaven’s blessing—and, if enough of us offer our prayers and sacrifices on his behalf, this candidate can be victorious, in spite of seemingly impossible odds.

A third messenger, whom many of you will have heard of, is John Leary, whom I’ve known for over fifteen years, and whose alleged messages I’ve studied for even longer than that. Some of the major themes of the messages Jesus has allegedly given to Mr. Leary are that a behind-the-scenes movement toward a one-world-government is working to eliminate major obstacles to their plans—namely, Christian influences in American society, and U.S. freedom and prosperity; that as a result of these efforts and our society’s rebellion against God and its growing level of immorality, major upheavals will occur, including natural disasters, war, economic collapse, societal breakdown, the imposition of martial law, and an outright religious persecution; and that at the height of these dangers, angels will lead God’s faithful remnant to places of refuge, where they’ll be safe and undetected until Divine Justice has finished cleansing the earth of evil and brought about a glorious new Era of Peace.

Rather than going into detail about this entire process, I want to focus on several recent messages Mr. Leary has allegedly received in February from Jesus pertaining to a possible religious persecution.  For example, this warning was given early this year:  “My people . . . , the latest [mandate] forcing [the] handing out [of] birth control devices [by] all of your religious organizations is just the beginning of your problems.  As your government looks to make cuts in your health plans, you will see rationed care, especially less care to be given to the elderly.  Eventually, these same authorities will try to force mandatory chips in the body on you for your identification.  You will soon need this chip for your health care, and any government entitlement [such] as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and welfare.  Even food stamps will require such a chip in the body.”  Needless to say, this chip represents the “mark of the beast” mentioned in the Book of Revelation, and in many alleged messages Jesus warns us not to take this chip under any circumstances; He will instead provide for all our needs in a miraculous way.

Jesus also allegedly said, “Your current administration has taken away many of your freedoms guaranteed by your Constitution.  It is about time that your people realize what is going on, and now they are speaking out against your president’s edicts.  If you do not take a stand for your religious freedom, then all of your freedoms will be taken away when these evil ones bring in the North American Union.  Be prepared for a heavy-handed battle against your rights.”  The North American Union, of course, is a proposed regional government for Canada, the United States, and Mexico, which would have unified laws and a newly-introduced common currency.  This would supposedly be introduced to enhance our security and economic prosperity, but would actually be a major step in eliminating American sovereignty and imposing a one-world-government.

A further message allegedly given to Mr. Leary by Jesus states, “My people, today you are fighting for your religious freedom [in that] you do not want to be forced to do something against your faith [such] as handing out birth control devices.  Tomorrow you will soon be struggling for your life as you will be persecuted for just believing in Me…. As the evil people gain in power, your persecution will worsen because the one-world-people will be trying to eradicate Christianity.”  It’s reasonable to assume this persecution won’t happen all at once; there will be a series of gradual restrictions, each rooted in political correctness or justified in the name of national security—until, through a step-by-step process, the First Amendment’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion will be a dead letter, and America will officially no longer be one nation under God.

Many details of this looming nightmare are given in the visions and messages from Our Lord and Our Lady received by an alleged visionary in Michigan whom I’ll call Vincent—again, someone I’ve known for over fifteen years.  Vincent is also known to Maureen Flynn, the publisher of Signs & Wonders for Our Time magazine, and she’s told me his messages are in line with revelations allegedly given to other contemporary visionaries and locutionists.  These messages and visions I’ll mention here have all allegedly been given to Vincent over the last eighteen months.

First of all, if you’ve wondered why, a few years ago, the government was willing to spend money to help every household acquire a high-digital TV even as it faced huge operating deficits, it seems there was a sinister agenda at work, probably involving efforts to monitor and control citizens.  Moreover, Our Lady told Vincent, “HDTV is destroying your immune system,” and then he saw the words “Hell’s Demonic Transmitted Virus”—HDTV.  Vincent was also told that all currency will soon be replaced by an ID card with a chip, which will limit and track purchases, and grocery shopping will be allowed only once a week.  Also, driver’s licenses will need to be renewed every three months, and persons 65 and older will not be allowed to drive. Our Lady said, “Police will be randomly searching homes, even if you’re not there.”  Still more ominously, the Department of Homeland Security will require children, ages 8 - 16, to attend classes at undisclosed campsites for 30 days, where they’ll be trained as informers to report any illegal activity they see—presumably eventually including the practice of religion.     

As part of a long-predicted schism or division within the Catholic Church in the United States, many Catholic churches will separate from the Vatican.  Vincent was told several times, “Eighty percent of Catholics will drift away from the True Faith.”  Part of the reason for this, of course, will be the increasing pressures placed on those trying to continue practicing their religion.  First of all, there will be a law requiring people to register their religion, church, and frequency of attendance; soon afterwards, another law will forbid crosses to be displayed outside of the church buildings, even on church property, and then church services will be limited to once a month.  The use of Bibles in public will be forbidden (but no restrictions will be placed on the public use of the Koran).  There are other government regulations being prepared for churches, including a requirement that they perform gay marriages.  Also, Our Lady said, “Priests will have to submit [to] and pass a lie detector test in order to legally continue their ministry”—and this test will ask them about any criminal offenses mentioned to them in the confessional.  Private confessions themselves will eventually become illegal; instead, sins will have to be confessed in front of a lay panel of three or more persons.  It will be illegal to mention or discuss the Ten Commandments in public, or to mention God’s Name in public places.  It will also be illegal to display or use rosaries in public places, and this will include churches, which will be monitored by cameras and recorders.

Eventually, many religious believers will be taken to detention centers for refusing to deny their faith.  Those persons marked for arrest once martial law is declared—namely, devout Christians and patriotic Americans opposed to a one-world-government—are already listed in computers.  The FEMA camps are staffed with foreign troops, and most of the detention centers already secretly hold innocent detainees.  If large numbers of arrests make it necessary, public parks and recreation centers will also become detention centers.  Jesus said, “Persecutions will spread like wild-fire.  Christians will be targeted throughout the world.  Concentration camps are [already] staffed and operating.”

Also, Vincent had a vision of churches burning in the United States, and Our Lady told him, “Many priests will be martyred,” and he then saw a vision of several priests hung or crucified.  Mary also said, “Soon Christian religions will be illegal.”  Another revelation Vincent received explains this point; he was told that once a one-world-religion is introduced, approximately one-half of the churches in our country will refuse to participate in it, and will therefore be forced to close.   

If all this seems too incredible or horrible to believe, another message of Our Lady helps put these revelations into context, for as she told Vincent, “Satan is now in charge of every government in the world.”  If this is indeed true, then an all-out assault on Christianity is a certainty.  Looking at the war-mongering, corruption, and seemingly-irrational policies of many world governments today, I find it quite easy to accept the authenticity of this additional vision granted to Vincent.  He saw Satan sitting on a throne, holding a lit torch in his left hand and a branding iron with the numeral 666 in his left.  Eighteen world leaders—a symbolic number representing six plus six plus six—were standing in submission in a semi-circle facing Satan on his throne.

It almost sounds as if the devil and his many servants are gaining the upper hand.  However, Jesus and Mary have continually assured us that the minority of devout Christians who are called to endure arrest, imprisonment, and even martyrdom will be given the grace and strength needed to remain true to their faith, and all the other faithful servants of God will be led to places of safety—despite the efforts of their enemies.  Our Lady told Vincent, “Rosaries will interrupt tracking systems.  Angels will guide God’s flock to designated refuges.  Only He knows the lists, the sites, and the time.”  Vincent was also given a vision of a priest offering an outdoor Mass by candlelight—an act that will be strictly illegal in the future.  A helicopter was flying overhead, searching for such illegal activity, and a searchlight was shining down on everyone kneeling at the Mass—but all that could be seen from the helicopter was empty grass.

A similar vision speaks of the importance of the rosary.  Vincent saw people walking down both sides of a city street, when suddenly military trucks pulled up; soldiers began forcing civilians onto the trucks and then took them away.  However, among the people walking the streets were some who wore rosaries around their necks or carried them in their hands; they were allowed to proceed unhindered, almost as if they were invisible.  This leads into a final, highly-important and symbolic vision Vincent received.  He saw an endless number of people walking down a road; when they came to a fork, they had to choose whether to go to the right or to the left.  Alongside the road to the right were baskets of rosaries; the road to the left was lined by baskets of gold coins.  Devout followers of Christ went to the right, but most people went to the left, stuffing their pockets with gold.  Eventually both roads became bridges crossing a great abyss.  For those traveling the right-hand road, the Era of Peace—or a New Eden—was awaiting them on the other side of the abyss, and they crossed over safely.  A pot of gold apparently awaited those traveling the road to the left—but in trying to reach it, they all fell into the abyss because their bridge crumbled beneath their feet.

If we give into the values of this world, or rely upon our own efforts to make it through the coming chastisements, we will certainly fail—possibly at the cost of our immortal souls.  More than ever before in our lifetimes, it’s essential that we be firmly rooted in faith.  Certainly there’s nothing wrong with making prudent material and financial preparations, especially if we’re led to do so as a result of prayer and discernment; however, our trust must ultimately be in God, for He alone can help us remain firm in a coming time of turmoil, confusion, and persecution.  Spiritual preparations must always come first, and then material ones; moreover, Our Lord has promised to provide for His people, even to the point of multiplying food and confusing the electronic tracking devices of the one-world-authorities, as long as we live in a spirit of obedience, generosity, and trust.

Assuming we do have a solid spiritual foundation, and are seriously living our religion, there are some practical things we should be doing or considering as we prepare for a coming possible religious persecution.

First of all, we must use our religious freedom while we still can, and avoid taking it for granted or assuming everything will remain more or less the way it is now.  Even apart from alleged private revelations on the subject, there are numerous signs in government and society that a persecution may be on the way.  Now is the time to resist this trend as fervent Catholics and concerned citizens.  Join organizations such as the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Focus on the Family, and the American Family Association; write letters to the editor when our Catholic faith or our Christian values are attacked, and let elected officials know where you stand on issues involving religious freedom and moral values.  Above all, vote—in every election—only for candidates who not only say the right things, but who have a track record of defending human life and religious liberty.  We do not have to apologize for letting our Catholic Faith guide and inform our political and social values, and we must vigorously oppose any efforts to turn us into second-class citizens.  It’s time we started pushing back, in a peaceful and loving but unyielding way; there’s nothing wrong with Catholics adopting an “in your face” attitude toward society—as long as we show the face of Jesus while we’re doing it.

Secondly, we must find others who believe as we do—perhaps by looking around at some of those here right now—and begin meeting together and talking and sharing and brainstorming.  Become well-informed on these issues.  Has one of you read a good book or magazine article on this subject?  Mention it or share it with others in your circle of friends and acquaintances.  Can someone in your group personally vouch for a political candidate as being a person of true patriotism and integrity?  Consider that input as you decide how you’ll vote.  Do you know someone who’s very good at using the various communication technologies?  Seek his or her help in organizing e-mail alerts and on-line petitions.  The more you know about coming threats, the better prepared you’ll be to resist them; the more you know other people who feel strongly on these issues like you, the easier it will be to overcome temptations to hopelessness and discouragement.

Thirdly, we must strengthen our relationship with Christ, learning to trust in Him ever more deeply, for a solid spiritual foundation is necessary in order to withstand the troubles of life in general, and the unique challenges of our era of history in particular.  Our Lord’s parable of the house built on a rock foundation (Mt. 7:24-27) is timely and important in this regard.  Too many Christians today—Catholics most definitely included—have built their lives on sand by giving a higher priority to this world than to the Kingdom of God, and so if the threatening storms do arrive, their so-called faith will come crashing down.  We must be sure we’re putting Jesus first; we must be closely united to the One Who promises that He has conquered the world (Jn. 16:33), seeking His guidance in all things and learning to trust in His care for us.  This also involves keeping a proper perspective; as one Christian leader pointed out, “The reason Christians are being persecuted is because we are winning, not because we are losing.”  Satan knows his time is short, and that the victory promised through the Immaculate Heart of Mary draws near; therefore, we should see the frightened roars of his servants for what they are:  the death rattles of a doomed and defeated kingdom of evil.

Fourthly, if we’ve not already done so, we should very soon make whatever material or physical preparations we feel the Lord is calling us to do.  Perhaps that may mean slowly weaning ourselves away from an over-reliance on technology; certainly it means being cautious in our use of electronic devices, including being careful what we watch on TV and assuming our telephone conversations and computer communications are being monitored.  We should also pray about possibly storing food and water, acquiring useful barter items in case of an emergency or economic collapse, and purchasing any religious articles or books we may need or want while they’re still available.  These preparations, however, must be undertaken in a spirit not of fear and selfishness, but one of generosity and trust.  Through Mr. Leary and various other alleged messengers, Jesus has promised that when it comes to food and water and other needed supplies, He will, if necessary, multiply what we have—but only if we generously share with others in need.

Lastly, we must pray and sacrifice as if our future and the future of our country depend on it—for they do.  Our active participation in Mass, our attendance at Eucharistic Adoration, our Rosaries and Divine Mercy chaplets, our freely-chosen prayers offered in reparation for the sins of the world, and our fasting and other acts of penance, can unleash great spiritual power—not only benefiting ourselves and our loved ones, but also resulting in the conversion of many sinners and the delaying, lessening, or even prevention of many predicted chastisements.  Prayer is extremely powerful—especially the two greatest prayers of all:  the Mass and the Rosary. 

As Our Lady told us at Fatima, we need to pray for the souls in purgatory, the conversion of sinners, and for peace in the world—and today it’s more evident than before that we must also pray for the Holy Father and all leaders of the Church, for the moral and spiritual renewal of our country, and for the restraining of all who seek to implement an evil agenda and harm the people of God.  Prayer may delay, mitigate, or even prevent a coming religious persecution—and at the very least, it will help us and many others be spiritually ready if and when it arrives.  According to recent prophecies, some followers of Jesus will experience hardship, imprisonment, or even martyrdom; many others will be led to places of refuge, and all who place their trust in the Lord will have their names written in the Book of Life.

As Archbishop Sheen warned, holding onto the truth may well earn us the world’s hatred—but it’s precisely this sort of persecution that reassures us that we’re on the winning side.  The Lord has promised us a share in His victory.  In the meantime, He asks us to be watchful and ready, to reject the temptation to be anxious or fearful, and to turn to Him in all our needs.  Most of us are still proud to be citizens of the United States, but our true allegiance is, and always should be, to the Kingdom of God.  The blessings and freedoms we’ve experienced as Americans must not lessen our willingness to surrender everything to Christ, even to the point of dying in His Name—for in this way alone will we produce a rich harvest (Jn. 12:24-25).

Diego Rivera, The Flower Carrier (1935)

Many Catholics first encountered the term “liberation theology” during the 2008 presidential campaign, when then-candidate Obama’s pastor said from the pulpit, “not God bless America—God d*** America,” and was identified as a supporter of a related school of thought, “black liberation theology.”

Liberation theology (which I will abbreviate to LT) was founded by Gustavo Gutiérrez, a Dominican priest, in the 1960s. The movement arose from his experiences in dealing with poverty in Latin America. At first glance, LT represents a heightened commitment to the Gospel command to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the sick. But there is more to it than that.

In 1984 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would later become Pope Benedict XVI, analyzed the movement in “Liberation Theology: Preliminary Notes.” The essay noted that the movement’s impetus can also be traced to the ideas of Lutheran theologian Rudolf Bultmann, who separated the “historical Jesus” from the Jesus of the Christian faith. One important effect of Bultmann’s thinking, Ratzinger explained, was to diminish the importance of faith and elevate the role of science in social matters.

Meanwhile, Ratzinger noted, Marxism’s view of class struggle had come to be regarded as the most scientific perspective on human history. To accept that view required seeing capitalism as the enemy of the masses. The Catholic church, like other Christian denominations, found itself with a difficult choice: embrace the Marxist view and be considered a friend of the poor and a comrade in their struggle against the rich, or reject the Marxist view and be denounced as an enemy, and by extension an oppressor, of the poor.

What makes LT complicated and, in Ratzinger’s view, dangerous is that it transforms Christian theology into an instrument for “progressive” political action. It therefore represents a “radical . . . reinterpretation” of the Christian faith. The article ended by urging Catholics to meet the challenge of LT by increasing genuine faith and making it more “visible.”

Then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s assessment of the dangers of LT was supported by Malachi Martin’s illuminating book, The Jesuits, published three years later.  Martin revealed that many Jesuits embraced LT. One example was Arthur McGovern, who rejected capitalism and portrayed Jesus as a revolutionary. Another was Francis Carney, who “drank in Liberation Theology like fine wine.” Carney urged Christians to be more supportive of “armed revolution, socialism, Marxism, and communism.” A third was Jan Luis Segundo, who argued that armed revolution was the only way to overcome “capitalism and transnational imperialism from Central America” and declared that “to be a Christian is to be a revolutionary.”

Martin explained how LT led many Jesuits not only to reject their historic role as defenders of the papacy, but also to replace the authority of the Church with the authority of “the people of God.” He then demonstrated how that perspective exerted a profound influence on Vatican Council II.

Unlike traditional theology, liberation theology aims at political rather than spiritual reform. It is based on a number of false assumptions—notably that human beings are inherently wise and good and all their problems are caused by outside agencies or economic systems (such as capitalism); that the individuals championing the liberation are themselves incorruptible; that the end of liberating the oppressed justifies the means of torture, murder, and terror; and that the liberation will eliminate oppression, rather than merely install a new group of oppressors.

In brief, liberation theology denies each individual’s potential for evil and the historical reality that “liberators” often turn out to be as exploitive and tyrannical as the people they replaced.

Copyright © 2012 by Vincent Ryan Ruggiero. All rights reserved

About nine years ago, I had an opportunity to see General Norman Schwartzkof , Stormin Norman!  I attended a luncheon at which he was the guest speaker.  I had never seen the General in person before, and I was impressed.  He is a very good speaker.  He spoke on the subject of leadership.  And the main emphasis of his presentation was that we are all leaders.  Regardless of our role in life, we are all leaders.  Whether we realize it or not, whether we like it or not, we all lead because we all have an effect and an influence on those around us.

He pointed out that leadership is more than corporate executives and politicians.  Leadership is everyone’s responsibility because we all have an influence on the people around us and on our world.  And the General said, “If I had to summarize the qualities of leadership into one word, it would be character.  Committing one’s life to the time honored traditions of sound moral character and a concern and commitment for your fellow man.”  The General went on to say that the world sees America, not only as the strongest and wealthiest nation on the face of the earth, but also as a nation whose citizens are a people of character.

The General talked for about 45 minutes, then he took questions for another ½ hour.  But to me, the most memorable part of his whole presentation was how he ended it.  At the end he spoke of the American Flag.  There was an American Flag hanging next to the podium from which he spoke.  Reaching over, he grabbed the end of the flag and held it in his hand.  He then asked, “What do you see in this flag?  What does it mean to you?”  He then repeated some of the many answers he has received to that question.  Then he said, “What do I see in the American Flag?  I see us, you and me, the American people.  I see the qualities of honor and character that the world has come to know and respect as American.  I see what it means to be an American.”  The General then went on to say, “What is it that compels an individual to leave his loved ones and journey to one of the far corners of the globe and risk their lives for a cause, simply because their country asked them to?  Character!” 

In the General’s words, we are all leaders, witnessing to the world by what we are and the values by which we live.  To say we are American is to say we are a people of character, trusting in God.  For as the General pointed out we even print it on our currency, “In God We Trust”.

Personally, I like to believe that the General is right.  I like to believe that this is truly how we are perceived in the eyes of the world.  We could talk for hours on the declining moral values of our American culture.  But the General is right.  As a people we should be living our lives as a people of character, honor and integrity.

I mentioned the General’s speech because it reminds me of what a powerful influence we have on others, simply by who and what we are.  How loudly our lifestyle speaks to those around us and to the world at large.  Our life style, how we live our life, our values, our character, our morals speak more loudly to the world than anything that we could possibly say. 

In light of this influence that we have on others, there is a line in one of the Gospels that just jumped out at me.  Jesus, in speaking to His followers said, “You are my friends”.  That statement impresses me because during his lifetime, Jesus gave no one a title.  He did not call anyone Pope, or Bishop, or Priest, or Deacon.  The only title He gave anyone was that of friend.  In referring to His followers, you and I, He called us friend. 

If simply being an American says so much to the world about who and what we are as individuals and as a people, what does the fact that we are a friend of Jesus say to those around us?  What does it say to the world?  What does it mean to be a friend of Jesus? 

That word, friend, is a powerful word.  Friends care about the things that are important to each other.  This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Obey My commandments”.  Friends do not take orders from each other, like slaves or servants.  And true friends do not take lightly the matters that are very important to each other.  If your friend likes a certain sport, or movie, or hobby, you learn to appreciate and enjoy that activity also out of loyalty and enjoyment of your friend.  And if your friend has a set of values that define his or her life, you learn to respect and imitate those values also, so that your common time together may be mutually enjoyable.  For Jesus, these values were summarized in one phrase, “Love one another as I have loved you”.  If we are to be a friend of Jesus, we cannot despise others, especially those within the community of His followers.  No relationship can be sustained without the willingness and love that causes each person in the relationship to sacrifice their own self-interests from time to time. 

I once heard a comedian, Grady Nutt, say, “When we first got married, we had a rough first year because we were both crazy in love with me”.  If we are to have a lasting relationship, we must learn to take turns serving and being served.  We learn to find joy in that service, precisely because it is not required.  We serve voluntarily. 

Jesus said it best when he said; “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friend”.  And it is that quality of love for another that Jesus asked to be a hallmark of His followers.  The uniqueness of the Christian faith is that we find such a level of love for each other.  It is the single, most important witness we can give to the world of the reality of our faith in Jesus. 

In the early days of the Church, the world did not marvel at the Church’s theology.  The world did not stand in awe and admiration at the marvelous works performed by the apostles.  The quality of the Church that made the world stand up and take notice was echoed in the statement, “My, how they love each other”.

To be a friend of Jesus is to love as He loved.  For Jesus did say, “Love one another as I have loved you”.  This not only sounds difficult, it sounds impossible.  But there is a secret to living this kind of love.  And the answer to that secret is to look at how Jesus loved.  Just how did Jesus love us?  Was His love based on our appearance?  Did we first love Him, or did He first love us?  Scripture reminds us that when we were still unlovely and unlovable, Christ loved us so much that He willingly gave up His life for us.

The secret to living and loving as Jesus is to not limit our love to only those that are already lovely and lovable, for to have such limitations on our love is to mirror the friendships of the world.  There is no sacrifice in such love, nor any witness to the world. 

But in order to understand and apply this principle of love, I think we need to define our terms.  What do we mean by the term love?  The media has taught us to associate the word with romance and emotion.  But always remember love is not a feeling.  Love is a commitment.  To say you love someone is to say I love you, not because you are pretty or handsome, not because you have a pleasant personality, not because you’re just like me.  I love you because, and only because, you are you.

This should be the way the world sees the Church, the Church being the people, you and I, not this building.  And it is by this love that we are to witness for Christ.  And it is by this love that we are to lead others to Christ. 

To repeat the General’s words, the world sees America as a people of character.  Similarly, the world should see the Church, the friends of Jesus, as a people of love.  My prayer is that we may truly show the world what it means to be a true “friend” of Christ.

There is one more line in the Gospel that jumps out at me.  The line in which Jesus says, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you”.  We are not here by accident.

Jesus has called each and every one of us here for a purpose.  We must never ignore that calling and we must never take that calling lightly.

Jesus not only called us here.  He called us “Friend”.  He obviously has faith and confidence in us.  And He obviously loves us.  May we never forget that the world is watching!  May we never forget that we are His witnesses to the world!  We are his friends.  May the world see in us, a true friend of Jesus!

I mentioned earlier, the statement that General Norman Schwartzkoff made regarding those who have made sacrifices to serve their country, simply out of love for their country.  This is Mother’s Day weekend.  Let us take time this weekend to thank the Lord in prayer for our mothers.  All mothers sacrifice.  All mothers serve.  They sacrifice and serve, not because they have to.  They sacrifice and serve out of love.  The greatest example we have in this life of the love of God, is the love that all mothers have for their children.