Dear ones, the way we hit the mark that has been placed before us, is to come to the realization that all we have comes from God Himself.  It is a shift in thinking that takes away the sins of attachment and greed, when we begin to see the truth...that we simply stewards of all that we have been given. 

Over the past several years in talking to people about their growing faith, I have been asked this question countless times: “Does it get any easier once we are baptized/chrismated?” My response is always the same: “No…it gets even harder…and the crosses get heavier…but through the Church we are given the strength to bear them so that they don’t crush us.” 

So imagine if you will, for several hundred years, on the very spot that the True God gave His life for the human race, He had to watch from above as His own creation offered sacrifices to the Goddess of the Passions, just a few meters above the Cross of Christ! 

…If we turn our heads to the east, there is a faint light beginning to grow brighter…just below the horizon.  And what appears first in the midst of the dark sky?  The morning star, which heralds the coming of the Sun of Righteousness.

“If Father Gabriel took me and cloned me….If he were to take my level of fruit bearing, my level of worship, the amount of time I spend in Church and in prayer, the amount of effort I put into ministry and serving the Church, would this parish family…this vineyard…be stronger, or weaker?