John 7:25-31 But we know where he is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” So, Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” So, they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come. But many of the crowd began to believe in him, and said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man has done?”
I am still friends with two high school buddies. One wanted to be a Chiropractor and he became one. One wanted to be a mortician and he became one. I was envious because I never had the certainty of what my mission in life is. “His hour had not yet come.” Sometimes knowing who we are is harder than seeing it in others. Jesus knew His mission and He knew His place. Jesus was sent by the Father and so are we. He could do any wrong. It was against His nature.
I have a relative that moves from one crisis after another and everything is a crisis. Luckily most of my other relatives were like my uncle. My Uncle Elmer was always calm and collected no matter what was happening. He never panicked. He took everything in stride. In our Gospel Jesus is calm and collected and is taking everything in stride. My Uncle was a craftsman. He became department head at his work because he knew how to build things and hang wallpaper when wallpaper came back in style. It seems like wallpaper comes back in style every 20 years. He was not a great public speaker or in charge of a large company. He volunteered at Church and when he was elected to be in charge of Stewardship for his parish, he took the job and succeeded. He succeeded because he let God enable and give him direction. My Uncle was important to me because I could speak to him when I couldn’t speak to my dad. My Uncle was a great man.
We don’t have to be Savior of the world because Jesus has done that for us. We do have to be like Him and perform the miracle of loving God with our whole heart and also to love one another as ourselves . We need to do good wherever we can. The reality is that this perfect life is broken when we sin.
To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, Because his life is not like that of others, and different are his ways. He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the righteous and boasts that God is his Father. Sin creeps into our lives and we lose sight of what our true mission on this earth is.
Stay calm we have options. 1) Repentance and 2) the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The amazing thing is that we can start the miracle by repenting from our sins and accepting the grace of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Crisis is over and we can go back to being calm and collected because God is in charge and all the bad things of the world may cause us to die but our time is governed by God’s will for our lives , Jeremiah 29;11 For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the LORD—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.
So the plan for the readings for today is to do good as long as we live and repent and go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation when we sin. It sounds simple but we know that it is not. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
My goal in life is to do good as long as I am alive. If I sin I have the grace from Christ to accept the miracle of Confession and go back to doing the will of Jesus in my life. Christ is strengthening us.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Pray for peace in the Ukraine and the salvation and physical and emotional health of the Ukrainian people. Pray for the salvation of the Russian people.
