2149AFC121021 – A Bouquet of Doozies (Part 1)
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Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Because of the incessant demands on our time in keeping up with medical appointments,I’m going to have to build a new post out of a collection of old posts, hence, the name A Bouquet of Doozies (instead of daisies). I’ve gone through Advent posts from 2011 through 2020 looking at messages from the second or third weeks in Advent. From those I’ve chosen a paragraph or two – in most instances – that were characteristic of the content. There are a couple of places where I have asked you to go off-site and do a little sleuthing on your own. At the head of each paragraph is a link to carry you to that source-post. We’ll try this for this week and next, and then things should be “back to normal.”
1149AFC120911 – Aloha Friday Episode of Extreme Makeover Next Sunday is the third of the four Sundays. It has been called Gaudete Sunday in times past, and usually the vestments are Rose or Pink. It is a Sunday when we are reminded to REJOICE because the Victory has been won through what started in Bethlehem. Yes, we are at war, and yes we must keep going, but YES we can also rejoice for we know already that the outcome will be something good for all mankind, and we will have been part of that.
“Rejoice* always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5: 16-18) *Latin → Gaudete = rejoice ye
1150AFC121611 Mission Impossible? No! Did you know you have a Holy of Holies inside you? It is that place in you where you and God speak to one another “in Spirit and in Truth.” It is the life-core of your existence, the part of you made in the image of God. For that reason it is the holiest part of your life. You have heard and read that our bodies are to be a temple for the Holy Spirit. In the most-perfect portion of that temple is your spirit, and we think of it as dwelling in your heart. It is hidden and protected by a veil called Life. When the veil is removed, the spirit is released from your Holy of Holies.
1350AFC121313 – A Perfectly Good God We know that God wants us to be like him. He wants it so much he stacks the deck in our favor making it ridiculously easy to become what he seeks and to do what he desires. All we have to do is repent, to be unselfish as he is. I heard something from Fr. Gerry recently that really caught my attention. Eve and Adam stepped into sin and out of Paradise because of selfishness. Here’s how I see it: The serpent appealed to Eve’s love of God and told her, “He’s trying to trick you. He doesn’t want you to be like him. He knows if you do this you will be like him, and you can be his equal.” Eve, selfishly, thought she could become more than what God had created her to be – perfect and eternal; she desired that unquantified “more” and took the knowledge offered. When she realized what she had done, she offered Adam that knowledge. He already knew she had broken God’s commands, but he took what she offered anyway. Hence, it is Adam’s sin for he partook though he already saw it was wrong.
Within the hour of that first sin, God had promised a Redeemer, “for his steadfast love [mercy] endureth forever.” What a Good God we have!!
Repent and Believe …
1349AFC120613 – Mercy – Part 2
He is there with his unlimited mercy before we sin. He is there with his unlimited redemption after we sin. He is overflowing with tender, loving compassion and sympathy for each of us. He knows every living soul. He knows the “good, the bad, and the ugly” about everyone. Even though we don’t deserve mercy, he makes it readily available in such abundance that we can never use it up. Although we are completely lacking in personal merits, and always tips the scales of justice in our favor. He forgives thousands of generations of sin because it pleases him to do so. Even people who are blatantly evil will be forgiven when they repent of their evil. Whether we sin willfully or unknowingly, in malicious rebellion or carelessness, he is immediately prepared to redeem us and make us righteous. No matter how many times we repent and then fail again, he forgives everything of which we repent, but never remembers how often that happens. Only he can do this because only he is Omniscient. He knows everything about me and yet he still loves me; sometime even I don’t love me, but his love never fails. HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS. That is because God knows every living soul more intimately than we know ourselves.
1449AFC120514 – Did you do that? We often hear it said, “You have to earn my respect!” I think that’s backwards. That’s not the way God does things, so it’s not the way we should do things. Returning to THE I.D.E.A.S. FORMAT ™ Working Definitions, respect is the gift of courteous consideration of others. Respect is not earned because that would make it a commodity that can be bought and sold. Respect is a gift given unconditionally and continuously. To accept the gift is to honor the giver, and that is also respect. God expects us to be stewards of everything on earth. When we do that, we are being responsible and returning God’s respect as our gift to him. Respect that deep is called reverence. In scripture this deep feeling of awe is called “Fear of the Lord.” It is not a fear that is frightening, but a powerful understanding that knowing and obeying God is an amazing and humbling fact. For this reason our goal should be to know fear. That is the responsible thing to do.
1450AFC121214 – Fully Aware I Trust Him A good master and a good servant are the basis for a good household, a good community, and a good nation. God himself is the epitome of the Good Master. Who is more faithful than God? Who can be trusted more than God? Who is more reliable, more believable, more honest? Who else is the embodiment of Truth? St. Augustine in his sermon on The Creed stated there are three things God cannot do. He cannot die, he cannot lie, and he cannot be deceived. These are not failings that arise out of weakness, but rather a testament to God’s infinite power and dignity. If a good master and good servant make a good combination, how much better is a combination of an infinitely good master and a good and faithful servant? We can only speculate about that because we, too, have at most done only what is expected of us; truth be known, we don’t make it to that level of excellence very often.
How, then, can we hope to hear or Lord call us “good and faithful?” We have that hope because HE is faithful! Paul explained that in his second letter to Timothy. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 – Here is a saying that you can rely on: If we have died with him, then we shall live with him. If we persevere, then we shall reign with him. If we disown him, then he will disown us. If we are faithless, he is faithful still, for he cannot disown his own self.
1549AFC120415 – Advent 2 What do we do? How do we get out of this mess? Hosea 12:6 – 6 But as for you, return to your God, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God. We go back to him with all our heart. We repent. We give God glory and honor in worship and in day-to-day living. We trust God’s Mercy for us and for our enemies. We rely on God’s Justice for us and for our enemies. We do not tolerate evil and give it permission to enslave us, or harm us, or destroy what God has given. We oppose evil. We serve God. We give obedience to God above all others. We give all who willingly disobey God whatever justice he plans for them. We are, like Israel, in a protracted captivity because of our failure to know, to love, to serve, and to obey our Creator. If we want to look forward to being restored to the blessings of his Mercy and Justice, then we must “rend our hearts and not our garments.” We must make the internal changes that return us to his provident care.
1550AFC121315 – Aloha Friday Building Clinic This week we also celebrated the Immaculate Conception, a feast day not all that well understood (or attended) by many Catholics, and barely conceptualized by non-Catholics. What many people fail to understand is that the dogma of The Immaculate Conception isn’t about Gabriel visiting 
Mary to ask if she would carry Jesus the Son of God in her womb. It is about the special privilege given to Mary to be free from original sin from the moment of her conception – a conception which was normal in every way except that God allowed for Mary to experience Salvation through Jesus before his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. It is good to remember that in this year of Mercy, because that Child of Mary is the Biggest and Bestest Act of MERCY ever!
1649AFC120216 – 2nd Advent. As you know, Advent is progressing. The stores and online shopping sites are bulging with stuff, enticing us to be indulgent and buy it for family, friends, coworkers, and – of course – for ourselves. We want what we want when we want it which is now. So much is going on! Amid the Holiday Rush we also have catastrophes in nature, unspeakable acts of violence and hate, corruption in every high and low place, and somehow – in all the ruckus and racket – a voice is heard saying Μαρανα θα! Μαραν αθα! Maranâ thâ’! Maran ‘athâ’ – Come Lord! Our Lord has come! That, as we like to say, is “the reason for the season.”
Thank you for your patience. I hope you found some useful memories in this bouquet of doozies and that it wasn’t too boring. We should be able to go back to the usual format after next week’s post. It will be Part 2 of this collection.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
