The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”
Matthew 13:44-46
Once Msgr. Henchal explained this Parable to us at Mass; it has been one of my favorites.
Why?
I had always thought Jesus was the Land and the Pearl, and I had found Jesus, BUT I hadn’t sold everything to obtain Jesus, so I didn’t understand the Parable.
As I think about it, no one else sold everything to follow Jesus. Never forget Jesus when He died, was Naked, and shed all of His blood and water.
Sooooo we have a problem.
When Msgr. Henchal explained that the Pearl and the buried treasure are You and me, the whole Parable leaped out at me and instantly became one of my favorites.
WE ARE THAT SPECIAL!
satan would have us believe just the opposite; the problem satan has is the Cross.
Explain to me how a God who didn’t have Outrageous Love for us would even consider the Cross. We have at least four thousand years of human history and four thousand years of humans recording the actions of Humans and false gods, and no one, man or god, did what Jesus did: forgive those who killed Him, You, and me.
Yet, despite all that took place on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, many just shrug their shoulders and continue their journey of disbelief.
If you think about it, it’s sad.
A whole new life is offered, and many have refused even to consider it.
How about you?
Have you contemplated this Parable and what it means for you and your relationship with God?
Change in one of our Prayers:
Thank you, Father, for the Difficulty of ………… Name the DIFFICULTY…… I have FAITH that you will take care of me.
Sidebar:
Last week, we talked about Purgatory being a Process. After we wrote this, I spent a lot of time thinking about the word Process.
When does the Process start, and when does it end?
I, and I pray we (Holy Spirit and I) had two thoughts:
Thought one:
In my younger life, I was taught that the Process begins when we die and ends when we arrive in Heaven. We are told to say prayers for the deceased, which, combined with their Prayers, help them get to Heaven sooner.
As we mentioned last week, I have a few problems with this theory.
The first is the man on the right of Jesus, who was told he would be in Heaven today.
The second is Time. I have always believed that when we die, we leave time, and
time is now infinite. If I go to Purgatory and then leave, time is a measurement.
The third thought: the days off we get from each prayer we say. We have never been told the days we would spend in Purgatory for our sins. This also appears to a Theologically non-trained person, like we are earning our way into Heaven, and ever since I accepted that I am saved NOT by my works or actions, which are very important because we are asked to Imitate Jesus during our life, but we are saved by the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, my world has changed, as we have reported.
In this scenario, God appears to be a bookkeeper, adding days on as we sin and taking days off as we and others pray for us.
Where is the Outrageous Love?
Thought Two:
The Process starts here and now, and we point to the Bible for clarification:
When Ananias was told by God to Baptize Paul, Aninias questioned God’s wisdom,
“Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man, what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call upon your name.” Acts 9: 13-14
God responded, “Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.” Emphasis mine Acts 9: 15-16
The bolded portion has always jumped out to me. What does this mean?
Paul, in 2 Corinthians, said: that he had incurred far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death. Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; Emphasis Mine 2 Corinthians 11: 23-25
Never forget that Paul was a monster to the early Christians before his baptism. I learned this from the book Paul: A Man of Grace and Grit by Charles Swindall.
What kept Paul returning to do the will of God his Father after all he had gone through? We believe it was the Love, Joy, and Peace Paul experienced as Paul did the will of God his Father.
Question: Was the Process started and Completed during the life of the Baptized Paul, so when He died, Paul went to Heaven?
I now believe it was.
Different Question: Was the Crucifixion of the man on the right of Jesus the start of his Process, and his death the end of the Process for that man? Once again, I now believe it was.
Question: Do the prayers we say for the deceased go from earth time to God, who is outside of time, who then sends them down to help us while we are alive? I now think this is true.
I learned something similar from Father John Corapi, who said the Bible says ALL FALL SHORT in one of his talks. Then, how do we explain Mary being Born without sin?
In the fourth century, St. Jerome translated Kécharitôméne as gratia plena—full of grace—since God had blessed Mary “in Christ with every spiritual blessing,” having chosen her in Christ “before the foundation of the world . . . [to] be holy and blameless [Latin: immaculata]” (Eph. 1:3-4).
Light is an image for grace, favor, and righteousness. Christians receive the light at baptism, as “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43). God did this with Mary in anticipation of the redemption, of her becoming the Mother of God. He fully favored or graced her in his light, as “God is light and in him is no darkness at all . . . but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light” (1 John 1:5,7). Had the Virgin Mary been tainted by sin, then she would not be fully clothed with the light. She would not be fully favored or graced by God. She would not be Kécharitôméne. God called her “out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9; see also Eph. 5:8). Emphasis mine www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/bible-mary-conceived-without-sin
Just a side note: I have always believed Mary was without sin from her birth on; she had to be. God would not place His Son in a sinful vessel; until now, I couldn’t explain my thoughts.
As you can see, Dr. Tim Gray’s talk started me thinking, and this is a Joy because I am trying to live in the Holy Spirit twenty-four-seven. With this and other knowledge, I am growing deeper in Love with a God of Outrageous Love.
Picture:
A raven taking flight from an old gnarly tree. (For some reason, I am attracted to old gnarly trees.) Although the raven is by far not the prettiest bird, watching them soar
above and into the canyons is quite inspiring, as I know that they are part of God’s magnificent creation. Picture by Jerry Torres
Does this picture relate to our Sideblog? If so, spend a minute thinking about why we made this statement.
Please keep Snapping!
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed, email me.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, no people, please, because we have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
By submitting a picture, you agree to let us include it in our next God Thoughts 2024 book.
