A Faith Journey

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I believe Father Reese is saying that Jesus must have felt tremendous frustration because of non believers; many did not see or hear the Father as he did, and unimaginable pain in face of the apparent ending on a cross must have led him to scream out: "My God, My God, Why has thou forsaken me?" Indeed, he was killed after having healed and resurrected others and even abandoned by almost all disciples.

Yet he resurrected from the dead and we know that, for he manifests himself to us as Life itself in the Eucharist. That is why his failure is so uplifting.

I think that's what Father Reese may have meant.

The passage in scripture that is referred to as The Lord's Prayer and also the Our Father: Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven, give us this day our daily Bread, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. OUR FATHER, as in the Father of the entire human race considering that not only did He create everyone but also everything. WHO ART IN HEAVEN, not only is He in Heaven but He is also putting the finishing touches on the Heavenly Jerusalem not to be confused with the New Jerusalem which is going to go down the tubes just like the Old Jerusalem only more so. HALLOWED BE THY NAME, actually God is Pure Love but from so many of the posts that call themselves christians, you would never know. THY KINGDOM COME, God's Kingdom which will be a Kingdom of Pure Love and it is for all of His children which is ALL OF HUMANITY. THY WILL BE DONE, Like it says in many places in the bible, it is God's Will that ALL BE SAVED, also if all that someone calling themself a christian, cares about is going to the "good place" , how christian is that, considering that on the cross Jesus said, "Father forgive them", there is not an asterick after them, them means ALL OF HUMANITY, we have all done wrong at least I have. ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN, as it says even the forces of evil, satan and his cohorts, are working toward the Will of God even if inadvertantly, besides being a liar and a thief, the deceiver is also a loser. GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD, this refers not only to that which sustains us physically but also the Eucharist which is the BREAD OF LIFE. FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US, this is a divine equation, pure and simple, Jesus told us as much. AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, satan is the tempter and like it says when we fall which we all seem to do at times at least I have we can ask for forgiveness, we can go directly to God for forgiveness, the curtain in front of the Holy of Holies has been torn in two, yes the one that so many people are trying to sew back together. BUT DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE, yes satan and his cohorts are real and in God's Plan, All of Humanity will be delivered from all evil that is why we are to be willing and active participants in God's Plan whatever we may have been called or chosen to do. Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

Love one another for for God is the Love with which we Love. We can never defeat sin by our own power but only by Loving, for God is that Love. People go to hell by rejecting Love and living for themselves alone. Its love that lifts us to live the life of heaven. When we reject Love we have only hate the breath of hell.

And when the princes and rulers looked one upon another, he began to speak about truth; and he said, "I have already demonstrated how powerful women are; but both these women themselves, and the king himself, are weaker than truth; for although the earth be large, and the heaven high, and the course of the sun swift, yet are all these moved according to the will of God, who is true and righteous, for which cause we also ought to esteem truth to be the strongest of all things, and that what is unrighteous is of no force against it. Moreover, all things else that have any strength are mortal and short-lived, but truth is a thing that is immortal and eternal. It affords us not indeed such a beauty as will wither away by time, nor such riches as may be taken away by fortune, but righteous rules and laws. It distinguishes them from injustice, and puts what is unrighteous to rebuke." [Ant 11:3:5]

A pity this passage from Josephus' "parallel scripture" never made it into the Old Testament.

One verse that played a role in my conversion from Atheism was Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.

The more I learned in life, the more it began to dawn on me that the Universe was too good to be an accident. The beauty of a tomato in the sunlight, the beauty of the Pythagorean Theorem for right triangles, the beauty of the triangular geometry and how it relates to things like modern communications and many more happily orderly things. God made the world in an orderly an consistent way. The "unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" suggests that God meant for it to be accessible and comprehensible to us.

This all made me wonder if the simple truth is that God had created this Universe for life and for us.

I have come to believe that the answer is yes. Much follows from this simple conviction about what makes a good life and what we should do with the work of our hands.

Thank you for you well written response to this week's question.

Christ was asked a similar question. Matthew 22:37

Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. "

Respectfully sire, it is not all about "where I am today."

Jesus never failed at anything. The disciples failed but not Jesus. We can rightfully take hope in the fact that inspite of their failures the diciples succeeded. But Jesus never failed to do the will of God in His life and, again with all due respect, to indirectly compair yourslef to Christ by making Him to be a failure is walking on thin ice.

Proverbs 8:17

I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

Sorry about the multiple posts.

As usual, the Wapo's web technology is totally nonfunctional, and tells the poster his post hasn't gone through when it has.

Trying to post here is like appealing to an idiot god who doesn't repond.

"We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."

H.L. Mencken

"We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."

H.L. Mencken

"We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."

H.L. Mencken

"We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."

H.L. Mencken

Fr Reese: You said, "I have never been comfortable picking just one Scripture passage to sum up my faith." Maybe I can help.

Exodus 3:7 The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering."

That passage will give you some really good insight into God. He is "concerned about their suffering." Rather than use His Almighty power to get what He wants He relies on a killer on the run from justice, Moses, a former resident of Pharaoh's palace. At least it explains how Moses got into the palace to confront Pharaoh.

But wait. Later, as the plan to set God's people free unfolds, God sends an angel to "passover" the firstborn son of the Hebrew and kill the firstborn son of Pharaoh.

Leaves some of us wondering if that God isn't really a "strange God" in violation of the first commandment. God wouldn't encourage people to sin would God?

Some folks might even use the Bible as a guide if it didn't have such a strange God. I'm afraid that God doesn't do much to convince the astute IT's Almighty, resorting to trickery and murder to get IT's way.

To Mary Cunningham and the rest of the world: In the eyes of the world Jesus was a failure and His ministry also. What Rev. Reese says, does say a lot, we should not be so concerned that what we try to do even appears to be fruitful but that we are doing it out of Love because if we are, then we are doing it for God since God is Love. One of the things that Jesus said on the cross was, "It is Finished", which translated means, "Paid in Full", interestingly they found this in some ancient digs pertaining to a tax bill. God's Plan is for all of His children and "Paid in Full" says it. Yes, Jesus did say, "Come follow Me", and what that means is individually tailored to each follower. Jesus also said, "Many are called, few are chosen", I have been chosen, like God also said, "Remember I have chosen you, you have not chosen Me", why God chose me, I do not know but I have said Yes. God is a searcher of hearts and minds, not of religious affiliations or lack thereof, He is not looking for people that know His Name and that is the extent of it. You can have all of the right dogma, the right doctrine, even all of the beautiful sacraments but if you are doing it for all the wrong reasons, than what good is it? I am a catholic and I cherish my catholic Faith, but sometimes people should stop being a practicing catholic and become catholic, it is also a good idea to look up the word in the dictionary, it does mean universal, do you think there might be a reason for that? Jesus did say that some do all the right things for all the wrong reasons, He called them white-washed tombs. Holier than thou also comes to mind. I am just a messenger and the message that I have is: God wins, satan loses, a tie is unacceptable, night is approaching, be ready. It is important what you do and why you do it and also what you know. A lot of people of all persuations seem to have trouble with that but it is only taking responsibility for our actions,it is not trying to buy your way into the "good place" Some people don't seem to understand that repenting is taking personal responsibility, it is not getting a holier than thou attitude. Jesus won the keys and He will use them in due time. "My ways are not your ways, My thoughts are not your thoughts", "Who can be saved?", "With man it is impossible, with God all things are possible", "PAID IN FULL", think about it, could God actually be trying to tell us hardheads something? I repeat God is Love, Pure Love whatever you do in the Name of Love you do for God. Take care. Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

I will have to agree that no one verse can possibly sum up anyone's belief.

That said, if I absolutely had to pick one line out of the Bible, it would be Galatians 6:2, "Bear one anothers' burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ."

Or maybe John 12:24, "Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

Or then again, maybe... see the problem? Good question, though. It should generate some interesting responses.

The question was specific, and you did not answer. Although I could not answer for others I can for myself. What about this one: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do?"

How about when Thomas was before Jesus after the resurrection and said, "my Lord and my God"?

The cross is not a failure, it is a profound mystery. Almost unendurable.

The Church, ridden with scandal and faults as anything human is, is still descended from the Apostles, tasked by Christ himself with spreading the word. From Christ's small, short ministry in a poor, unimportant part of the Empire has emerged a church that comprises over a billion faithful and has endured for two thousand years!

Father, you should not write about failure..You are still a priest *and* a Jesuit.

Sursum corda.