13th Week in OT 2018 - Monday - Don't get too comfortable

After Jesus left his home in Nazareth, he was an itinerant preacher—he moved from place to place—never getting too comfortable.  He and the apostles, who followed him for the three years of his public ministry, weren’t staying in luxurious hotels on their travels throughout Galilee.

Before following the Lord, most of the Apostles were fishermen, who after a long night of work would clean their nets then go home to their families. But meeting and following the Lord changed everything. They, like him, had no place to lay their heads. Especially, after his resurrection and ascension: the Apostles traveled far from their homeland in israel: to india, turkey, Greece, Italy, spain.


They couldn’t get too comfortable in one place, because they were tasked to spread the Gospel.  And this is an attitude that every Christian disciple is to adopt in a way.  To not get too comfortable in the world. You’ve probably heard that as Christians we are to “be in the world, but not of the world.”

The world has a way of lulling us to sleep, intoxicating us with its riches and pleasures, encouraging us to store up treasures here, rather than in heaven. We have to be very careful with worldly pleasures, for our home is not on earth, but in heaven. Many will spend their lives seeking earthly pleasure, at the cost of their souls.

This is why you hear stories of the saints putting pebbles and rocks in their shoes. Some of the saints would wear scratchy hairshirts.  I visited the room of a Franciscan saint in Viterbo, Italy, who slept on the same wooden board for decades.

Is it extreme?  Perhaps.  But it worked for them.  Little acts of penance and mortification helped them to fan the fire of their Christian fervor.

So, perhaps we each need some little act of mortification, or fasting, or penance every day to remind us not to get too comfortable—to remind us that we are not meant for this world.  We offer up those penances especially for those who are losing or lost their desire for heaven.

For the Christian, constant pleasure seeking is so dangerous. Selfishness is truly an enemy to faithfulness. So may we busy about fanning the fire of faith, offering up the sufferings of illness and inconvenience and working constantly on earth for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
 
- - - - - - - -
That all Christians may be deeply committed to the spread of Christ’s Gospel.

For our nation, as we celebrate our independence this week, that we may be always grateful for our freedom, but more importantly, use that freedom for God’s will, rather than our own.

For all those who suffer from violence, war, famine, extreme poverty, addiction, discouragement, loneliness, and those who are alienated from their families.  May they know God’s mercy and be gathered to the eternal kingdom of peace.

For all those who suffer illness, and those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care, that they may be comforted by the healing light of Christ.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and for Jim Steeber, for whom this mass is offered