A good tree bears good fruit

This past Monday evening, my son Philip and I were at the Saint Marie church hall with over 100 other parishioners.

Our mission was to assemble food baskets from an abundance of donated food-stuffs, to give the less fortunate the makings of a complete Thanksgiving dinner.

As I surveyed the mounds of canned-goods, stuffing, vegetables, fruit, coffee, and hand made greeting cards, our Religious Ed Director, Terry, began with an opening prayer. And in that prayer, she mentioned the phrase corporal works of mercy.

It was then that I received the locution and inspiration for this blog entry.

Luke 12:48 states: "When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required."

That evening, our group of volunteers assembled enough complete baskets to feed 130 families in need (about 520 souls). There were even left-overs, yes, left-overs, which were donated to the local food pantry. The miracle of the loaves and fishes crossed my mind more than once that night.

Take some time to read the Book of James (New Testament). It's not very long, and he clearly outlines the relationship between faith and good works. Remember, our creator God has charged us all with the task of building The Kingdom here on Earth, to lovingly perform acts of charity and kindness, not begrudgingly, but with the joyful spirit of a giving heart.

Sadly, our overly-sensate society has been preaching the mantra "It's all about me." Shamefully, many of us have chosen to focus inwardly, ignoring the call to loving service of those in need. We respond with half-hearted excuses of not having enough time, or of not knowing what needs to be done, or to rationalizing that "Somebody else will take care of it."

Jesus said : "Whatsoever you do for the least of my people, that you do unto me."

This Christmas, shed the insanity of the shopping malls, and spend some time giving the gift of you. It's not that hard...honest! My father is fond of saying, "It doesn't have to be a major production." Do something!

Visit a sick friend, bring food to the local food bank, pray for someone, work for a few hours in a soup kitchen, send a letter to one of our troops over-seas, volunteer for one of the many ministries at your Church or Synagogue, and the Blessings that you give, will be returned to you 1000 fold. (Plus you get a really neat warm feeling inside knowing that you bore good fruit from your tree.)

Bottom line: If you're not serving somebody, than you better be serving someone who is.

Via con Dios,

Marty

Drifting deeper into Darkness

Brothers & Sisters,

Just as dark, ominous, clouds form in our November skies, so too are they forming in the halls and chambers of our newly elected Government.

Clearly, the selection of Barack Obama to be our next President is a deeply disturbing event, especially to those of us who are Christian.

I find it hard to fathom that a man who so openly supports the slaughter of innocent human life through abortions, who wants to overturn the ban on partial birth abortions, who supports gay "marriages" , who has little to no practical experience, who will raise taxes on small to medium sized business ,which in this painful recession will throw us into a Depression (eg. What Herbert Hoover did in the 20's), and who associates himself with notoriously shady characters, can be chosen to lead our Republic.

To be honest, he doesn't even respect our Flag! (more on that later)

I am forced then to conclude that the majority of people who voted for this man either did not do enough research or were collectively mesmerized by this charismatic Celebrity Senator touting his nebulous, well financed, but ultimately empty, message of "Change", or both.

On an equally appalling note, exit polls conducted by Gallup and Reuters showed that just about 43% of our Catholic brethren voted for Obama, and that just over 50% who share that faith do not consider abortion to be problematic or evil.

My Brothers and Sisters, this is precisely what I mean when I speak of the Culture of Death. A culture so deluded and distracted by false gods, and watered down moral values, that we have turned a blind eye on just how far we have fallen!

America has become the Rome of AD 400: Fat, Dumb, and Happy, filled to satiety with all manner of lustfullness and deceit . We have only ourselves to blame, yet we will try to assign blame elsewhere, shunning responsibilty that by it's very nature is defined as accepting the consequences of our behavior.

So now what? The selection of Mr. Obama has been allowed by God for a reason, and as Christians we must be confident in the wisdom of the Lord. This is not the time for us to crawl with limp resignation into our "hidey-holes". Now more than ever we must re-dedicate ourselves to fight for what is right and truthful under the Law.

I will close with Psalm 42: 2-3 "God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in our distress. Therefore, we fear not, thought the earth be shaken and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea."

Be well. Be strong.

Marty