These Simple Gifts: Using GPS

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Using GPS

Today's Feast of All Saints gave us the Gospel of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5: 1-12). It is presented to us in the context of reflecting on those who have "made it", the saints who are in heaven. For those who are old enough to remember, the Baltimore Catechism had a question that is particularly important in thinking about this feast. "Why did God make you? God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, so as to be happy with Him forever in the next." Our reason for being is to get to heaven. We get there by following the Beatitudes. Jesus gave us these as a sort of road map - a set of directions.
I have a GPS that I use to help me navigate from one place to another. I simply put in the place I want to reach and "Jack" (sorry, but I just couldn't live with a woman's voice telling me where to go all the time - reminds me too much of my mother!)
Anyway, Jack tells me when to turn and how far to go, and if I follow his instructions I will get there. Sometimes I make a wrong turn, and Jack's voice tells me that he is "recalculating". He will come up with an alternate route and sometimes even tells me to make a u-turn.
If I am trying to get to heaven, I also have a GPS. Not a Global Positioning System, but God's Positioning System. These are the beatitudes. They will certainly not get me to the place where society will bestow power, prestige, wealth and other things that so many desire. Rather, they will help me get to the true goal of my life - heaven. sometimes I make a wrong move, forget to follow the directions or maybe intentionally take a detour. Just as Jack will recalculate, so too God helps get me back on the right road. But I have to listen. I must admit, sometimes I just turn Jack off and try it on my own. But I usually mess it up and turn it back on. I do that with God also.
Perhaps you are that way too. Maybe you have turned God off and have found yourself a little lost. The great thing is that God will help you and "recalculate" so that you can get back on thee right road. Just remember to think of the Beatitudes and follow your spiritual GPS - God's Positioning System!

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Welcome!

As a Catholic priest, I know that it is important to try and reach out to people in many different ways. I hope that this will be a way that may have a small impact on someone. Because I really do not have anything very profound of my own to share, I decided to do here what I attempt to do in my homilies - to share the love of God with people. I certainly do not have the answers to profound questions, but I do believe with all my heart that, together, we can discover that Jesus meant it when he said "Where two or more gather in my name, I am there in the midst".
So, let's begin by declaring that we gather at this blog in the name of Jesus.
In the presence of Jesus, then, we can begin to share our insights with one another (Feel free to e-mail me). As Peter said to the man who was crippled from birth in Acts 3, "I have neither silver nor gold, but I will give you what I have." I hope that "These Simple Gifts" I offer may be of some use, and that we will be united in the Lord through this effort.