Are You Fooling Yourself?

~~~ 1 Corinthians 4:6B-15 ~~~ Psalm 145 ~~~ Luke 6:1-5 ~~~

Who confers distinction upon you?
What do you possess that you have not received?

Paul is reminding the Corinthians that they are confused
 by their own good fortunes.

They are mesmerized by their own
accomplishments and not on the workings of God.

We may find ourselves in a similar state when we are successful in life.
We often need to be reminded that all comes from God.
Whatever we may do well in our life proceeds
 from the gifts we have been given by God.
If we use those gifts well we may have success,
if we misuse the gifts it may be to our eventual destruction. 

It is true, we can better ourselves and improve our gifts. 

The real question we need to ask ourselves is...
what is our purpose?
How do we envision using our gifts?
Do we see gifts making life better for ourselves
at the expense of others or do we see our gifts
 making life better for others?

Jesus walked through the field of grain...

Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath,
his disciples were picking the heads of grain,
rubbing them in their hands, and eating them.

All that Jesus did while living among us as one of us
was for the well-being of others.

He was not restricted by the execution of the precise letter of the law.
One does not starve just because it is the Sabbath.
One does not allow another to suffer just because the Sabbath
requires one to 'rest' from certain activity.

Compassion is more important then the keeping
of rituals, laws, or customs. 

The scribes and the Pharisees were stuck.
They were chained to the exact keeping of the laws.
Compassion for another human being was a foreign concept for them.
The had to maintain their public position on matters
concerning the keeping of the Sabbath.

They felt superior and confident that they were
 correct and that Jesus was wrong.

They were satisfied with who they were.
They saw no need to change.
Paul is facing the same situation with the Corinthians...
They were quite satisfied with who they had become.

Paul had to shake them up a bit just as Jesus did walking
through the field of grain with the apostles
plucking, rubbing, and eating
on the Sabbath. 

We must never become satisfied with who we are
 because there is a chance we can be better.

God us constantly calling us to reach higher.
We can never be perfect so we must always
 strive toward perfection in the Lord.

We are Blessed to never lose sight of who is the giver of all gifts.

We can always improve.
~~~Peace~~~

Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa

Daniel 9:4b-10 ~~~ Psalm 79 ~~~ Luke 6: 36-38

Mea Culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa...

through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault...

At the beginning of every Mass we, in unison with the community, admit our guilt. We and we alone are responsible for our actions good or bad, positive or negative. Even though we recite these words of guilt together we present ourselves indiviually before God's holy altar.

Here I am Lord admitting I have mud on my face. Admitting I have been caught with my hand in the candy jar. We are tattling on ourselves, only because we profess to also believe in the mercy of God.

It's as if we are saying, 'Ahhh, God, I know I have not been the best person so many times, but remember you promised...' And now comes the pleading like a little child...'you promised forgiveness and you also promised mercy.' We look up at God with sad puppy dog eyes trusting in his attentive forgiveness. At the same time we are secretly hoping that we will not be required to actually name our sins. After all God is all knowing therefore he already knows.

Have you ever thought of your sins from the generic perspective? I think I probably have at least once or twice. We even try to rationalze them away.We did this or acted that way because...well you know, it just happened. 

We rarely feel as if we are in the courtroom swearing on the Bible 'to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth'. We are masters at deception...deceiving even  ourselves. We would much rather look out at others than inside our own heart.

We diligently join the psalmist in praying, 'Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.' The flip side of this plea ties us back to the 'Golden Rule'. Jesus tells us, 'Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.'

If we treat others with the mercy of God then we too will find favor with God, who is the giver of gifts. Grace will be given to us overflowing; poured into our laps.

"For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."
Be generous in all things, but especially forgiveness and mercy. This is the only way we can ever hope to be perfect as our heavenly Father. Forgiveness is the only way to maintain wholeness within your heart and soul.

When you recite the penitential rite at the opening of every Mass, don't just mouth the words, but rather speak them in the spirit of true mercy.

Mercy gives the benefit of the doubt to the other person.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa,

ushers in the grace for God to 'manifest the motives of our hearts.' (1 Cor.4:5)