Locked Out of Heaven's Gate?

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This is a true story. I got off work, went out to my car, hit the button for the doors on my remote unlocker – as usual. Nothing happened. I tried it a few more times, battery must be dead. I stand there for 10 minutes, mashing the little button, hoping for enough juice to open the doors. Nada.

I call a locksmith, explain that I’m locked out of my car. He says he’ll be right over. 20 minutes later he arrives. He walks up with his tools, inserts a thing that looks like a blood pressure cuff in the door jamb. He starts making conversation as it inflates, pushing the door open: “So locked your keys in the car? No problem sir, I’ll have it open in a minute.” No, my keys are right here, my key fob is dead,’ I replied.

He stops and for about 10 seconds doesn’t say a word. He sees my keys in my hands. Takes them from me, inserts them in the lock and opens the door.
I was mortified. I was so in a habit of opening the doors with my remote fob that I entirely forgot that keys could be used to unlock cars manually. He started laughing so hard I thought he was going to have an aneurysm. After he stopped laughing, he told me there was no charge. The story he’d have to tell was worth the drive out.

Jesus tells two parables about someone asking a favor at a late hour. They teach us a lot. Maybe you remember the first one, there was a man knocking on a friend’s door at midnight, wanting to borrow some bread. The friend yelled back, Don’t bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything. But he does. Jesus says: “I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.”

Jesus message is this: “ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Doesn’t it feel good knowing that constant prayer will get the door opened?

Well, hold back that feeling for a while. Look at this Sunday’s Gospel. Here again someone is knocking on the door late at night, but receives nothing. The master of the house says, I do not know where you are from. The one knocking reply: “But we ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.”

Look carefully at those words: These people are mere casual acquaintances, if that. Something like this: we liked what you did, and now we want more!
The master says, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!

Ouch. What about “ask and you shall receive”? As if to rub it in, Jesus says,
There will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see the saved ones—
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets—looking down from heaven
while you are being cast out!. Locked out of heaven’s gate is no joke.

What is going on here? Is Jesus just in a bad mood? We know that he is “making his way to Jerusalem” when he tells this parable, walking straight into the crucifixion, and maybe he is just anxious.

Yet notice that, in his prior parable, even though the owner opens the door just to get the noise stopped, the interruption was being caused by a friend—even if a rude one—who would not stop asking for what he needed. That parable told us to keep asking God, our friend, for what we need, even though he may be a bit grumpy.

But in this parable, the people outside are not friends and in fact they have no relationship at all to the man in the house. The parable states that they knew about him only from parties and from the streets. They did not come to his house at a reasonable time and begin a friendship. No amount of midnight knocking will make up for it.

What is the message? That God keeps the door open long beyond what we would expect, all the way to the end. But if we are too busy partying and dancing, then finally there is nothing he can do. He has to accept our decision to stay outside.

Serious question to ask someone you know who doesn’t come to church except at Christmas. Why don’t they want a friendship with Jesus? Let them know it’s never too late to start the relationship. After all, we don’t want anyone to be locked out of heaven’s gate?

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that they get to know God now. Let us not procrastinate or make excuses until we get to heaven’s gate and have nothing to show for ourselves.

The Winning Bid

A proud grandmother is sitting in a hot, crowded barn waiting for the animal auction of her grandchildrens’ farm animals. Yes, I find myself at the annual county fair learning how children “on the farm” are taught the values of respect and proper care for God’s pigs, lambs and steers. Grandma Jean explained to this “urban priest” that it starts in the Spring when mom and dad buy a pig, or lamb or cow for their child. There is this understanding that the child takes care of this animal meaning, no nonsense, you get up in the morning and clean the pen, shovel out the manure, rake in fresh straw, fetch fresh water and feed. Don’t forget that you are going to show your animal to the judges and show them that you can control your animal. So that means practice, like every day, you take your animal for a walk and teach it manners so that it doesn’t buck, kick, pull or run over the judges during your showmanship competition. By the way, the child does this everyday even on the days it doesn’t feel like it. After all, the animals’ poop and need water and food despite our occasional cranky moods. Once the child shows their animal in the ring and the auctioneer screams out the winning bid. The parents will take the winnings, deduct the costs of the animal, food and vet bills, and the remaining amount goes into their child’s savings account. No money is used for foolish things like a more expensive iPhone. Another good lesson in life. 

As the auction begins, I am sitting next to Chris, the dad who is keeping score. There were over 130 pigs being auctioned, and he is marking down the winning bids and the company and/or person who made the highest bid. He is a generous and an exceptional kind employer. He plans to bid on several pigs and have them packaged and donate the meat to his employees for their loyalty and hard work.

What makes me humbled is that our parishioners are present and plan to bid on a steer. The parish committee agreed to donate the steer meat to Angel Action, a local county social service agency. The agency will share the meat with several hurting families in need of food. 

I am sitting next to Bob, our parishioner, who has marked his score card with the steer he wants to bid on. The auctioneer starts rattling off the numbers and as God would have it, Bob holds up his card and the auctioneer screams $2.75. Holy Family has bought half a cow that weighs 1138 pounds. The parish has just donated $1564.00 to feed the poor! Awesome.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are grateful for the many comforts you have provided them in their homes and community. Help us to teach our children respect for all creatures great and small. Then help us to be aware of those in need in our home, our neighborhood, or our community and show them your generosity and compassion in their time of need.  

Oops, She's Gone

I asked a wonderful mentor this question: "Give me some hints on how I should prepare to die?"

With a grin on her face, she simply shared that she hopes to be surrounded by her friends at her bedside, when someone will turn, look and say:
“Oops, she’s gone!”

Jeanette, my dear Neumann friend, has learned to cope with her cancer diagnosis for some time now. Her treatments are a routine part of everyday life. She has a deep faith in God and a profound wisdom from living a life that was not pampered as she describes her life for she had her share of scars. Instead of living in fear, not so much fear of the afterlife or even fear that there might not be an afterlife, she spends each moment living her life filled with love and passion for her family and loyal friends.

Her joyful nature shines when with a twinkle in her eye she says: “What do you think makes God laugh?” Her answer: “when people makes plans.” She knows that we rest in the hands of a kind and merciful God. Instead of fretting about the hour of our death, she chooses to live her life as a gift. She spends her days not dying but living and loving the people that God has given to her because she says that one day He will want them back.

It’s a good question that we prefer not to think about. How do we prepare to die? How do we live so that death does not catch us unaware? What do we do so that we don’t leave this world with too much unfinished business?

I shared a story with Jeanette about a young student who was dying of cancer. In the final stages of his illness, he came to see his old professor and said something to this effect.

Professor, you once told us something in class that has made it easier for me to die young. You said: “There are only two potential tragedies in life, and dying young isn’t one of them. These are the two tragedies: If you go through life and don’t love and if you go through life and you don’t tell those whom you love that you love them.”

When the doctors told me that my cancer was terminal, I realized how much I’ve been loved. I’ve been able to tell my family and others how much they mean to me. I’ve expressed love. People ask me: “What’s it like being 24 years old and dying?” I tell them: “It’s not so bad. It beats being 50 years old and having no values!”

Once again, Jeanette in her infinite wisdom after she heard this story shared that its best to have a positive attitude by loving deeply and expressing our love for those people who have made a difference in our life.

She was told by her doctors that she runs the risk of bleeding to death if she falls so she needs to be very careful when she walks around her home. However, unexpectedly she felt some pain, calls her doctor at 3am and he responds in 5 minutes and orders her to urgent care. A few tests later and a kidney stone is discovered. So back in surgery she goes. A little tuck here and a stint there and she’s back at home safe and sound. As she says, “it doesn’t pay to waste your time worrying about falling down when something totally unrelated can occur.” She just feels blessed that she has a compassionate and smart medical team helping to keep her going each day. Her goal is to live well one day at a time. And for another day she is grateful to God for a life filled with beautiful and appreciative friends.

 What makes it hard to die is that we have so much life yet to finish and we best finish it by loving more deeply and expressing our love more freely.

When Jeanette corners Our Lord in prayer, I am sure that she might tell Him that the best way to prepare for death is by living your life as a gift. Work at loving more deeply, less discriminately, more affectionately, and more gratefully. Tell those close to you that you love them and death will never catch you like a thief in the night.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are dying or worse not yet ready to move on into your promised glory. First, let’s agree that there’s nothing noble about pain, so let’s do all we can to relieve the suffering of those in our care. Let us be confident that God wants us to have peace of mind. Let go of all your fears and anxiety about death for Jesus comes to bring us His salvation because He loves us all passionately.  

Who Are Your Mentors?

On Saturday, I attended a dedication music workshop for an old friend who I miss very much, Bishop Peplowski. This was a holy man who invited me to come and learn about the Polish National Catholic Church. Needless to say, he had a hidden agenda in mind for me. He had just established a new Catholic country church in North Java and he was searching for a mentor “shepherd” to be the right fit for this community.

At the music concert that had gathered, 45 choir members from around the country came to  celebrate their passion for music. The story was shared that Bishop Peplowski had translated many hymns and encouraged musicians in their education to enhance the music liturgies of his parishes around the globe. The concert was a celebration of his life and love for the Blessed Mother that included a hymn, Ave Marie.

Let me share a glimpse of this spiritual mentor in my faith journey. He welcomed all people no matter what religious tradition they had come from Roman, Polish or anyone searching to learn about the Lord’s compassion and love.

The best way to describe Bishop “Pep” is that he saw the potential of each person he met. His warm smile, gentle hug, and wonderful “dry” humor meant he never took himself too seriously. On the inside of each person, he saw a beautiful cathedral of crystals. In his presence, he skillfully polished every angle of a person until a beautiful diamond glittered brilliantly.

“See” before the Lord, “we are rough around the edges” but he knew the hidden beauty and the value in each person he met and so it freed us from our coat of dirt, the self-centered attitude we muck around in our daily life. In his presence, you would sparkle!

Let me share that we may feel that sometimes our life gets "coated" with worry, anxiety and fretting. What we need to do is to let the Lord free us. Our Heavenly Father can see the beauty that lies within. In fact, He said, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." (Eccl. 3:11)

Bishop knew what was inside of me, the desire to mentor a reborn Catholic community that had been closed. So the Lord certainly knows what is in you, my friend. Please don't mar your beauty or cover it up with undo anxiety. Cast your burdens on the Lord!

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who often do not feel they are "beautiful". The world has put on us a lot of guilt and shame. When we buy into this we are coating ourselves with lies and deception. Let us be freed and reflect and sparkle with the Light of the world.