there's a lot of beating going on in today's gospel I don't know if you got
it severe beating someone won't get a bad of beating but it ends up with saying
to whom more is given more is expected is the traditional line and fathers that
us that is us we have been given much when you reflect on that we get to hold
the God of the universe in our hands every day we get to bring and make bread
and wine the body blood soul and divinity of Jesus Christ we get to
forgive people their sins people come to us and so when people look at us they
rightly want to see Jesus right that's the point every question every time
anyone comes to you or I they're saying the same thing father I would like to
see Jesus and any time we show them themselves we do Christ and we do them a
great thing
to serve our job is to show them Jesus and so you know it's a there's a great
story talked about in the Second World War you know there was a Japanese there
was a we were fighting with Japan there was an American who was caught and he
was a prisoner of war and they treated him pretty bad but they fed him and did
everything else at the same time there was a Japanese man there and he was a
traitor and so him
they treated horribly, huh?
And so every day they would torture him
and deprive him of food, the Japanese man,
and then they'd throw him in the cell with the American,
who was a Christian, and the American would take his food
and give it to the Japanese man.
And he would sit there and try as best he could
to help the Japanese man and heal his wounds.
And this happened for about a month.
At the end of the month, they had beaten the Japanese man
and tortured him so badly that when they threw him back
in the cell with the American,
the American knew that this guy was going to die that night.
There was no way he was going to live.
So he knelt down next to him because he thought,
you know, I've shared with this guy everything
except for Jesus.
So he knelt down next to him and he says,
you know, you're probably going to die tonight.
But you don't have to be afraid.
If you just sit there and surrender your life to Jesus,
you will live forever.
You know what the Japanese man said to the American?
He said, if this Jesus is anything like
you, I can't wait to meet him.
Could they say that about us fathers?
Oh, Father, Herman Sr.,
if anything, if Jesus Christ is anything like you,
I can't wait to meet him.
Is that what they could say?
Those of you who are lay people out there,
could your wife look at you and say,
oh, hubby dear, if Jesus Christ is anything like you,
I can't wait to meet him.
Could your kids say that about you, parents?
Oh, mom, oh, dad, if Jesus Christ is anything like you,
I can't wait to meet him.
Husbands, could your wives say that about you?
Because by definition, a Christian is another Christ.
That we can't sit there and like I talked about yesterday,
focus on ourselves and I'm just a weak sinner,
get over yourself.
You have Christ living inside of you.
And if you're going to call yourself a Christian,
then your job and my job is to show people Jesus Christ.
Now, we'll all do it in our own way,
in our own personality.
But the point is, is that we show them Christ.
And the thing that stops us from showing people Christ,
of course, is our sin.
And so we can either just sit there and make excuses for our sin
or become slaves to our sin,
as it talks about in the first reading,
or no longer let sin rule over us.
Now, the way we no longer let sin rule over us
is when we give God permission to get rid of it.
I'm sure I don't know if you're a big sinner,
or a big C.S. Lewis fan,
but I've read almost every C.S. Lewis book.
I love C.S. Lewis.
Again, he's not a Catholic,
but he had a Catholic theology in some ways.
Anyway, in his book, The Great Divorce,
I don't know if you ever read it,
but in The Great Divorce, it's about, you know,
heaven and it tries to explain heaven, hell,
and there's a purgatory, if you will, in there.
And there's this guy who struggles with lust his whole life.
And this lust is a little demon of lust on his shoulder
and it has a chain around the man's neck.
And this demon makes the man do all these,
horrible things, all these things he's very ashamed of.
And he keeps crying out to God,
God, you gotta get rid of this demon of lust.
God, help me, I can't deal with this demon of lust.
And gentlemen and ladies,
fill that in with your own demons.
It doesn't have to be a demon of lust.
It could be the demon of gossip, the demon of pride,
the demon of vanity, the demon of greed.
You fill in the blank,
whatever your personal demon happens to be.
And so it's sitting there
and it makes it do all these horrible things.
And so finally, after this man cries out,
I need help with this.
I can't deal with this.
I can't deal with this.
God sends an angel and an angel appears to him and says,
what can I help you with?
And he says, it's this demon of lust.
It makes me do all these horrible things.
I hate it.
I hate it.
And the angel looks at him and says, may I kill it?
Oh, I don't know if you want to kill it.
Maybe you could just wound it a little bit or something,
you know, take it out.
May I kill it, says the angel.
Oh, killing isn't very politically correct, you know,
we got him.
We got to make peace with our demons, da, da, da, da, da, da.
And the angel says, may I kill it?
Finally, the man says, yes, yes, yes, kill it.
And the angel reaches out and he takes a demon of lust
and he crushes it and it falls to the ground
and it swithers and it dies.
And then it's transformed
and it grows in this beautiful white stallion.
And he jumps on the stallion
and the stallion takes him home to heaven.
So what the Lord looks at us each today and says,
that demon in your life that's made you a slave,
may I kill it?
And when you and I say, yes, Lord, kill it.
He can transform that cross that's made us do
these horrible things throughout our lives
and make it into a beautiful stallion
that can take us into heaven.
But we have to give him permission.
To kill the demons in our life.
So the people will see no longer us, but Jesus.
May it show you know his love today and forever, amen.