Living The Worthy Life: A New Look At Paul And Our Life in the Here and Now

Let me begin todays article by asking each and every one of you four questions:

1.     Why are you here today?
2.     What will you hear today?
3.     Are you willing to change your life?
4.     Do you truly know where you are going?

Now that I have your attention, let us focus on the words of Paul as he wrote to the Corinthians. Corinth was a worldly town with all of the vices and distractions of any 21st-century city of today.

For the people who say we should not read the Bible, I say look at this reading
For the people who say the Bible is not written to us today, I say look at this reading
For the people who are hearing my words, I say look at this reading.
For those who live busy lives and feel like they do not have enough time, I say look at this reading.
For those who are looking for all of the answers in the Government, Drugs, Alcohol, or Pornography; I say look at this reading.
For those who do not believe in God, down on their luck, and are questioning their faith; I say look at this reading
Therefore, what should we do? - I say look at this reading

Paul’s words today are as true as they were then. People have not changed.

“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’”

Wow - Paul talked about three major things in this passage, three of the favorite things in my life:

God
Government
Genealogy

The three G’s.

In Paul’s writings and in his life, he placed God first.

He clearly wrote this to the Corinthians so that they would put God first in their life. He wanted them to know the Good News; that Jesus died for them and came back to life, just as we will do.

Today, we get these Gs turned around, battered around, and we forget. We replace God with the government. We seek to pray to the Government to help us out, without realizing that we humans are the Government. Therefore, if we are the government, we need to be praying to a higher power. We need the Good News that Jesus died for us so we might all live.

Politicians place Government first, second, and third. They teach us to forget our families and turn away from God completely. Our educational systems have taught us to forget our heritage, forget our religion, forget our God; and instead, turn to the Government for help. For those who believe the government is the answer, please read Paul’s words carefully. Clearly, the government is not a real power in this world; and in the next it is nonexistent. Why sacrifice your eternal life for a something temporary here?

A little over 95 years ago, President Calvin Coolidge stood on his front porch and said, “The chief business of the American people is business.” Let us look at what Paul would say to that.

Would Paul want the chief business of you and me to be business? I say No.
Should we worry, fret, and lose sleep over things of this world? I say No.
Is this what Paul told us to do? No, no, no.

Paul said clearly, "God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” Therefore, business should not run you, you should run business. If business runs you, you will gain neither riches in this world or the next. The business of America according to Paul would be to turn to God. Can you imagine if we Americans turned our hearts to God - what we could do? If the business of America was God,

Would America be a better place to live? I say yes.
Would we have abortion on demand? No.
Would we allow babies who are born to be killed after they are born because they were supposed to be aborted? No.

Brothers and sisters, we are Catholic by faith, not cafeteria Catholics by choice. When we turn our thoughts to God, our business will change. We do not need people to say they believe one thing and do another; we need people who stand up and do what they say and say what they do.

Brothers and Sisters, we are here for a short time, not a good time

Brother and Sisters, we are here to return to our Heavenly Father. We are spiritual beings who need spiritual food to survive. Simply put, we should put our faith in the Lord.

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” - GK Chesterton

To elaborate on this point even more:

I ask you: can the Government save you?
I ask you: can the Government provide you everlasting life?
I ask you: can the Government resurrect you?

No, no, no they cannot and they will not. So why do you seek the government's answers to your problems as solutions? Do not be fooled by fast-talking politicians who claim to have your best interests at heart and tell you what you want to hear so they can get elected. We do not need more government; we need more of Christ in our lives. In fact, we could use more of Christ in Washington D.C. and across this great nation.

We do not need more of Washington D.C. telling us what to do and not do. Today we live in a country with free speech and freedom of Religion. But tomorrow, or next month, this may no longer be the case.

“In this present crisis, the government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” – Ronald Reagan

If this is the case, would more government make sense in our life? I say not.
Would more government regulations in our life help us in the next world or even this world? I say not.

Then, brothers and sisters, turn not to the Government for answer, but to God.

I will conclude with a few brief remarks on Genealogy, the Gospel reading, and a prayer. This is my favorite time of the Church year, the Season of Holy Cross. It involves three sets of my relatives. Helen and her son Constantine, St Gregory of Armenia, and Heraclius the Emperor who returned the True Cross back to Jerusalem. The Heraclius family were the founding people of Carthage and originally came from Phoenicia.

All four of them are my relatives, and all three are heroes of the faith. Because of them, today we have the ability to worship God. They are true Saints, and more importantly, they are real people. We should look to our relatives, learn about them, and take pride in what they accomplished for the Lord. They came so we might come, they worked so we might work in Gods vineyard.

Brothers and sisters, we are here to accomplish great things. We are here to worship God, we are here to praise God, and most importantly we are here so we might obtain everlasting life with God. No government can do this, no government promise can come close to this, and no government edict can make me deny the Lord.

This is what Paul was telling them then and us today and it reinforced in the Gospel reading when it states Let us be attentive to the Gospel of Life and Salvation of our Lord Jesus. I ask you today, can you feel it? Can you feel the spirit here? Right here and right now?

We began with four questions. Let us see if you are ready to answer those questions:

We were here today to hear the word of God and to put what we heard to work for us in our daily lives.
We heard why it was important to focus on the hereafter through our actions here and now.
We should be willing to change our lives accordingly.
We should know now that Jesus came to this earth so we could join Him in heaven one day. Our job here is to prepare for the rest of our life today.

Are you ready and willing to stand with me and make the profession of faith that we will be attentive to the Gospel of the life and salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ? If you are stand up, stand up, stand up and pray:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Help us to know thy will,
Help us to do thy will,
Help us be a beacon of your light in a confused world
Help us to a witness to your love and the fact that you were resurrected from the dead so we all may do the same.
Help us to be a missionary of your word
Help us to be always thinking, working, praying to you for guidance
With your help, we can change this world, change the minds of people,
and most importantly put our lives back into so that we may live with your forever and ever

We ask this in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Amen