St. Dominic Catholic Church

Pastor's Corner

November 18, 2018

Pope Francis made a bold statement at the canonization Mass in Rome October 14:

“Jesus is radical. He gives all and he asks all: he gives a love that is total and asks for an undivided heart. Even today he gives himself to us as the living bread; can we give him crumbs in exchange? We cannot respond to him, who made himself our servant even going to the cross for us, only by observing some of the commandments. We cannot give him, who offers us eternal life, some odd moment of time. Jesus is not content with a “percentage of love”: we cannot love him twenty or fifty or sixty percent. It is either all or nothing.”

This is another way of repeating what Jesus said when asked what was the greatest commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

(Mark 12:30)

[Something about end times and “counting the cost” of discipleship]

(from Nov. 4) It’s easy to say, “that’s too demanding, no one can do that,” but it is what Jesus demanded of his disciples, and what he continues to demand from us today. How much do we love God?  What does our behavior at Mass suggest?  I’ve been told of people walking to receive communion while talking on their cell phones, or texting or answering their phones during Mass. And these are older folks, not youngsters! 

If we love God, then we also trust Him.  If God doesn’t seem to answer our prayers, He may be saying, “not yet,” or “I have something better in mind.”  But to abandon prayer, or, worse, pursue what we want through occult means, is to show we want our will to be done, rather than God’s.

When bad things happen, those who love God don’t blame God.  God allowsevil, but does not causeit.  Sometimes bad things happen to us as a consequence of our own sin, or the result of someone else abusing their free will to do something bad to us.  Natural evil, like earthquakes and typhoons are part of the same world that also supports our life with food and water. Sometimes evil we experience may even be the result of demonic activity.  But in all these cases, if we trust God completely and turn to Him, whatever happens to us can be used by Him for our spiritual benefit.