Dear Parishioners and Friends,
 
One of the reasons that our accomplishments are not greater is that we falsely expect an easy way.  We should know that nothing just drops down from heaven.  It never will.  That is reality.   Anything worthwhile requires discipline, sacrifice, effort, perseverance.  At first we may not succeed, but should we expect to?   Even after great effort there may be little to show for all the work.  There is little or no thanks.  As some say no good deed goes unpunished.  The truth is life is not a piece of cake, as it were.  Often what we face are blood, sweat, and tears.  Even then the results are uncertain and unsure.  Success is elusive.
Entitlement is one of those attitudes that cripple our modern society. More and more people expect to get things for nothing with little or no effort.  That type of thinking can also enter religion.  Many want a religion that just feels good, or tells them what they want to hear, or conforms to contemporary trends and whims.  Of course, after religion has become man centered there is the complaint that it has lost its power, its vigor, its depth, its mystery and reverence.   Modern man is tempted to support a watered down religion, but is the first to protest and complain that it has lost its flavor. 

The truth is we can’t have it both ways.  Jesus reveals that He is the Truth.  In our selection this Sunday from the fourteenth chapter of Luke, Jesus sets the stage for His ultimate revelation.  He reminds us that nothing worthwhile is easily accomplished.  He also reminds us that if we wish we are capable of being rational and achieving our goals to our advantage.  Yet when it comes to following what God wants, as He wants it, we are blinded and lethargic.  We just don’t get it.

The key is the Cross.  Here is where love is found.  God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son who suffered and died for us.  The Cross represents the triumph of real love, sacrificial love.  Such love redeems us and others.  Such love saves souls including our own.  Such love is inseparable from the doctrine and mystery of Christ crucified.  In Paul’s letter to Philemon we have the example of the old, imprisoned Paul ready to give up his life for the conversion of souls, for the good of Holy Mother the Church, without counting the cost and willing to give up his own preferences and comforts for the good of all.

Our Lord does not count the cost.  Love never does.  St. Paul does not count the cost.  Love never does.  You and I must be the same if we are to know God’s great Wisdom, if we are to know the mind of God. 

For Christians, the Cross is not a sign of defeat but of victory.  We speak of the Exaltation or Triumph of the Cross.  When we were doing our worst to Christ, He was doing His best for us.  The Cross destroys the death of sin and restores the life of grace.  To take up the cross is to enter the romance of the Christian life.  It is not as the world gives.  It is far greater than the pleasures and applause of the world.  For those who take up the Cross with the Lord a Crown of Victory waits for them in eternity. 

This Saturday, September 14 ^th is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.  Union with the crucified Lord is the only sure and certain way to heaven.  His grace and His love will always be enough for us.  That’s the way it is.

Yours in the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Fr. Mark G. Mazza, pastor