This past Wednesday I had dinner with a friend of mine from high school. We went to Marian Central Catholic in Woodstock, Il. Tony and I were two of four friends who hung out all the time. We talked about church, and we talked friends and family, and we talked about some the dumb things that we did as kids. We were your typical suburban teens; full of pride, listened to no one, didn't care about anyone's feelings, and did what we wanted to do ... yet somehow we made it through. My friends, I was an idiot, and I'm sure I wasn't alone. Do I want to be remembered for the stupid things I did almost three decades ago? No, I don't. Not everyone responds to God's call with change, but we have to encourage them to do so, to give them the opportunity to do so. Does this mean that we should put ourselves in harms way? Probably not, but it isn't always the safest thing to deal with people living in sin and/or crisis, but it is still our calling to help. God offers redemption to all, let us be remembered for choosing Him and helping others, rather than being remembered for the sins of our youths.
Me, Marilou, Beth, Ronny, Tom, Frank, and Joe.
I love Holy Family Shrine, it is so easy to feel at peace there. It is also easy to get very good pictures. It's not so good if you want to pay attention at Mass; I get caught up in watching the cars go by on the highway, or looking at the wonderful view of the Platte River valley. You can see all the pictures from our Advent Mass Chaos tour right here.
Gospel:
"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham...” Matthew 1:1
God is thorough. His son could have been born to any person in any generation and still made the difference in the world. However God wanted to make certain that we, frail and question humans that we are, had no way to point away from, or question the authority of Jesus. Jesus is the fulfillment of the all the prophets and kingship of David. Saint Matthew wants this to be obvious from the very beginning of his gospel. Jesus is the heir of David, the king above all others, and our Lord.
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