2330AFC072823 – Another smart move
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Matthew 13:49-50 – 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Romans 8:29 – 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.
Psalm 119:129-130 –
129 Your decrees are wonderful;
therefore my soul keeps them.
130 The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.
1 Kings 3:11-12 – 11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12 I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Today we anticipate the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
In our readings, Jesus continues with more parables addressing the Kingdom of God and who will inherit it. The manner of inheritance is not how we usually think of it. When “our rich uncle dies,” we fantasize about coming into a sizable fortune left to us for some mysterious reason. We envision the unknow gratitude accreted into our uncle from who-knows-what. What was it that made him decide to reward us so abundantly? As tantalizing as all that sounds, what we can inherit from our Heavenly Father is incomprehensively more generous and, above all, eternal. Those who inherit the Kingdom of God will receive abundant rewards – eternity in Heaven with the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit along with all the angels and saints and all the holy people who pleased God with their service to him and to others. Those who displeased God receive rewards in abundance as well – an abundance of eternal suffering and separation from the entirety that Heaven holds. Once again we see that evil persons are separated from holy persons and are the first to be sent off to their eternal reward – they will be thrown into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (See Matthew 13:50 above.) We may never know what led that rich uncle to bless us, but we know “for sure and for certain” why God will bless his good and faithful servants. It’s really pretty simple: Keep his commandments, reverence his Being, and Love God and neighbor in the same way God loves each of us – completely. I am very certain that all of us have had that goal in mind. I am also very certain that all of us often fall short of reaching that goal. In this Sunday’s readings, we have a great example of good intentions paving the road to Hell.
The reading from 1 Kings is part of the story of Solomon, one of the sons born to David and Bathsheba. In 2 Samuel, there are lists of the sons of King David; only one daughter, Tamar, is listed. The total number of sons is around 19, and by my count, Solomon was the tenth-born. As was the case with several (or many) Old Testament males, David had more than a few wives. As we see in today’s Key Verse, Solomon was appointed by God to take over his father’s throne and to rule Israel. Solomon was just a youth – a mere 12 years old 
– when he began his reign. This is why it makes sense that he would ask God for help in ruling “so vast a people.” (See 1 Kings 3:3-9) Solomon started out following faithfully in his father’s ways of serving God. One very important thing to remember about the life of King David was that he made bunches of colossal mistakes, but he always repented. Solomon was operating in the same way early in his reign, so God came to him and said, “Ask what I should give you.” Solomon asked for wisdom and a discerning heart so that he could know what is right and wrong. When I think about this request, I visualize it as kind of counteraction to the effects of original sin. Eve and Adam learned about the existence of good and evil. Solomon asked for understanding of good and evil so that he could use it to help God’s chosen race. Adonai was pleased with this answer and so gave him exceptional wisdom. He also gave him everything he didn’t ask for – wealth, freedom from enemies, honor greater than any other ruler. It was indeed an auspicious beginning. However, Solomon, like his father, was also aware of the advantages of alliances through marriage. It started with marriage to the daughter of Pharaoh. It did not end there, though.
A few chapters later, in 1 Kings 11, we read that Solomon “loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh.” In verse three we read: 1 Kings 11:3 – 3 Among his 
wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. As Solomon brought more outside influences into the Kingdom, his attention to God drifted. He began “going along to get along” with his wives – and probably their families – by worshipping their gods with them. He worshipped at the shrines of gods Adonai had specifically warned against including Ashtoreth, Molech, and Chemosh. He married women from Ammon, Moab, Sidon, Edom, and Hittite women, too. All of these were countries God had specifically forbidden to Israel for intermarriage. Solomon collected them all. When I present this to other people, there is usually at least one comment, “What are you going to do with 700 wives and 300 concubines?”
The best answer I have is, “Nothing good.” God allowed Solomon to keep on defying him in the hope that – like his father, David – he would repent. Every time Solomon took in another princess from another forbidden country or another concubine from another forbidden family, he was apparently thinking he was making another smart move to preserve his wealth, honor, and security. Actually it was just the opposite. He only impoverished himself and his people, he lost all honor from God and men, and enemies sprouted up all around and within Israel. Time was running out for Solomon to repent. There is no word in Scripture that he ever got to that stage. He may have died unrepentant, and that was definitely not another smart move.
We have commented here many times recently on the importance of Jesus’ command, “Repent and believe the Gospel.” Belovéd, when we procrastinate on fulfilling that command, that is definitely not another smart move. When is the best time to repent? 
NOW! How? 1 John 1:9-10 – 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. This is a double-admonition. Verse 9 says if we confess, God forgives and cleanses us. Verse 10 says if we claim we did not sin, we are in essence denying and defying God! Catholics have the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation handed down from the Apostles. When used properly, we are indeed cleansed of all sin. When used improperly, we are no better than Solomon worshipping idols and false gods. We all know that God knows and sees everything. How can we possible think that by not admitting sinning, God will not see what we have done?! Well, there’s another smart move! NOT! The universe is God’s creation. We are part of that creation. There are rules, laws, decrees, and patterns that govern all of creation – including us. When we live by the rules, creation is at our hand to enjoy as a natural consequence of obedience. When we flaunt the rules, all creation is against our hand as a natural consequence of disobedience.
Yes, Belovéd, it is true that often the wicked seem to prevail and be showered with every blessing … even when they refuse Grace. But, it is that refusal of Grace that is another dumb move because – in refusing the free, and unlimited, undeserved favor of God – we countermand everything in the universe that might keep us in his Presence. We who believe know that there are safety-devices all over the place to prevent us from giving up that Grace which surpasses all understanding. It appears to be something David and Solomon knew, but they forgot. David wrote this about it:
Psalm 119:129-130 –
129 Your decrees are wonderful;
therefore my soul keeps them.
130 The unfolding of your words gives light;
He also wrote –
Psalm 119:105 –
105 Thy Word (↔ Music Link) is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
When I was working in Quality Assurance – later called Performance Management – one 
of the guiding principles was that we can’t improve what we don’t measure and we can’t measure what we don’t observe. Looking at the two passages from Psalms, we see that we must know the decrees, and then live by them. As we unfold the words of God’s decrees, they become a light that shows us where our feet are standing and where our feet can go. Trying to move around without that light is surely no smart move. God sent prophets, judges, seers, even enemies to try to straighten out Israel, but they persisted in ignoring him.
I’m going to paraphrase something from Catechism In A Year (↔ Learning Link) – a podcast from Ascension Press hosted by Fr. Mike Schmitz: “God, I know what you want, but I don’t want to do that. I’m going to do what I want to do.” God says, “Do this.” The 
four-year-old inside of me takes over and says, “NO! I do it myself!” There’s nothing smart about that, folks. God is going to let me get away with that for a while. He’ll send me some disciplinary measures to blunt my obstinance. He’ll invite me to confess and repent. If I play it smart, all I have do is “Repent and believe the Gospel” and then live like that.
Remember Your decrees are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them – unless I foolishly try to characterize God as a liar, as The Apostle John told us. If it is the Light that makes moving forward safely in every circumstance, then why not walk in the light? (↔ Music Link) Jesus certainly knows where we are, where we’re going, and does everything he can to make sure we arrive at the Place he has prepared for us. Every single soul who has ever walked the Earth has full access to the saving Grace of Salvation. Untold numbers ignore that, oppose that, or – worse – are indifferent to that. The result is that they themselves vote themselves out of the Family of God. They vote with they feet by walking away from the Light. The Apostle Paul commented about that:
Romans 8:29 – 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. Now there are some words here that get some folks a little edgy. We hear questions like this: “Does that mean God created certain people to intentionally send them to Hell and others to intentionally take them to Heaven?” In CCC 600 (↔ Learning Link), we are reminded that when we try to impose our linear concept of time onto God’s nonlinear omniscience, we are easily confused. Every living soul is invested with Free Will and thus able to choose to obey the decrees for the universe or not to comply. God permits the consequences of each of our actions to follow the consistencies of obedience or disobedience. In CCC 1037 (↔ Learning Link), we understand that God never creates a soul intentionally destined for Hell. We are allowed to choose between Life and Death, Blessing and Curse (IMPORTANT: See Deuteronomy 30:19) until we draw our last breath. At the next moment one of three things will happen when we receive our particular judgment (↔ Learning Link):
- We will immediately see the blackened form of a demon rise up from beneath our feet to snatch our unrepentant soul straight to Hell where we shall spend eternity first as spirits and then as resurrected bodies.
- We will suddenly be ushered by our angel into a place of purging – purification – where we will have the opportunities to receive temporal recompense for sins completely forgiven but for which we have not yet relieved the debt of punishment and correction. This is what we see in Matthew 5:25-26 – 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court] with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
- We will instantly arrive into a place of endless Joy where we shall “see him as he is for we shall be like him.” (See 1 John 3:2, paraphrased here). We will dwell with all the spiritual beings in Heaven until God restores our bodies then glorified as the Body of his Son.
All three of these come down to YOLO-F.
We’ll finish up with Matthew 13:49-50 – 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “There are no inconsequential actions.” And some actions have complex, compound, or compound-complex components 
– like broken bones, the worse the break, the longer the healing. The thing is, there are endless, and I mean endless, opportunities to “settle with your accuser” (i.e., kick Satan in the butt 😊) before that last moment of Earthly life. After that moment, there are no do-overs. What’s done is done, and what we’ve won, we’ve won. God gives us the biggest and best opportunities to get it right and make a final smart move when he calls us by name, points to his son and says, “This is Jesus.” (↔ Music Link) Of course, Belovéd, we have that opportunity to see Jesus “every moment of every day“. (↔ Music Link) We also know that at any moment we can leave this Earth. Are we ready today, right now, for that irrevocable outcome at the end of our lives which is based on all our choices? Our making sure each of us is indeed fully and righteously prepared for that moment is the smartest move of all. How do we know? Try this: John 14:23 – 23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Loving Jesus is a really smart move.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.
For an extra list of scripture on this topic look in the end section of this online version:
Sirach 47
Exodus 15:26
Deuteronomy 15:4-5
Joshua 22:5
1 Kings 9:4-5
Leviticus 18:26
Leviticus 20:8
Ecclesiastes 12:13
Luke 11:28
1 John 5:3-4
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.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
but notice. For me, the most significant of those differences is the fate of the weeds (Darnel, also called tares cf 
When we see that happen, it means that the message for us is necessary for our edification. This Sunday, the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, has some pretty cool readings – not that there are any Scripture readings that are uncool! In the reading from the Prophet Isaiah, for example, God is declaring how he uses the rain and snow to water the earth and provide for the growth of crops that can be used for food, as he intends in his Divine Will, and he tells us that in just the same way – as part of his Absolutely Perfect Plan – he sends his Word out to the Earth to accomplish whatever is his intention. The water he brings to the Earth does what he wants it to do, and so does his Word. This is important to understand, and there are some nice symbolic connections here, too.
person to the Glory of Eden, the redemption of our bodies. He says that it is not just us, not just the Earth, but the entire Creation that groans and labors for that moment. He encourages the Church in his letter to the Romans to willingly bear all suffering present now in our lives because there is a greater Gift awaiting us. It is the Gift of freedom to be reunited with God as he intends – just as he intends that the earth be watered and his Word will not be voided. Belovéd, that is the incomprehensible Hope we have in Christ Jesus. It is a Hope that is brighter than all the stars and galaxies in the universe, and it is that Light, that Truth, that Way of Life that draws us and everyone we meet nearer and nearer to God’s Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, and Eternal Salvation through Christ our Lord. But we forget about that. We forget about YOLO-F. We forget about the APP. We forget there is no place to hide from the Divine Presence, the Divine Will, the Divine Love, and the Divine Wrath of our Almighty and Everliving God. His Plan is that we will grow in Grace as he prepares us for his gathering-in at the end of time – the Day of Reward. In the parable in Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a wonderful example of how the Word, which guides us to our Heavenly Home, is given and received.
World. Jesus describes four scenarios for the scattered seed. Three end in fruitlessness. One ends in a return of 30-, or 60-, or 100-fold. That’s the seed that falls on the good soil. In this parable, we want to be like the good soil. We want the Lord of the harvest to send the waters of dew, and rain, and snow on our good soil and sanctify our own Spirits. We want the Lord of the harvest to till the soil, to prune the vineyard or the orchard to increase the yield. We want to wait in joyfully eager anticipation of the rich fullness of the harvest. Why, then, do we take the extra trouble to cover that fertile, tilled, and watered soil with a two-foot-thick layer of rocks, broken branches, dead vines, trash, and garbage? Shall we tell the Lord of the Harvest, “Oops, sorry. I forgot we were planning on harvesting a crop here. We can clean it up later, OK?” That brings us to the quote from the Gospel. Why did Jesus say that?
Eternity with him. Before that, there was no such thing as time; but, when God created light we are told in Genesis 1:5 – 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. Yup, I’m sounding totally crazy, but I have just told you what I was told to tell you. When I was told, he also said, “Don’t forget to tell them.” Like everything he says, it is a good reminder of how vast is his Love for us! It is because of that Love that something is happening here. Back in the sixties, we used to say, “Hey, what’s happening?” We know the answer if we know the Lord. We are watching as creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God. That is most definitely “SOMETHING.”
So the idea is that two work together as one. Another image is like a balance that has two pans balanced on either side of a fulcrum. Whatever you do to change one side moves with the other side
two more easily. One example is carrying a heavy load balanced on a yoke across the shoulders, like this→
work together with more control. It is a tool that allows us to share a burden and lighten it. A yoke allows a wider span of control – I can carry two heavy buckets instead of one, control a team of oxen, or even a prisoner. A yoke can be used to force an animal or a person to carry a heavy burden. It can be used as a device of punishment or even torture. We even talk about being “under the yoke of oppression.”
predominantly Jewish converts to Christianity, they believe it is only possible to be a true disciple of Jesus if one keeps The Law (See 
death,” Jesus paid that in full at Calvary for “whosoever believes in him.” Therefore by his death, we receive Life – his Life – and are joined to his Body, the Church. As described by The Apostle Peter in 
salvation in no one else. “What about people who have not known Christ and have not been Baptized?” As before, God decides. Based on the life they lead and the innate desire to find God, HE will make that decision at the end of days. That’s the Absolutely Perfect Plan, and he made it for everyone, so everyone has an equal shot. Baptism is a spiritual bath that justifies, purifies, and sanctifies. It is in this way, through “springs of living water,” that we are cleansed and prepared for Life in the Kingdom. We are Baptized with the Baptism of Jesus (which he did for “the sake of all righteousness”), and have new life in the Body of Christ because we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Isn’t that APP completely amazing?!?
who lose their life for my sake will find it. 40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Some may have read (perhaps in these pages), “If you’re looking for your “true self” inside yourself, that may be all you will find.” What if we looked inside our inner-self and found Jesus there? He wouldn’t be there unless we welcomed him, and whenever we welcome him, we welcome the One who sent him. Selah. If we claim our lives as our own, how can they belong to God? Moreover, “ya gotta serve somebody,” so if we are self-serving, that’s exactly what Satan has always wanted from we earthlings – to be selfish enough to try to grasp Eternity in our own grubby little fingers. That path of selfishness always leads to exclusion from the Joys of being part of the 
serious matters and decisions required the witness (Gr: 
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
Prophet who spoke the Lord’s words to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. The corruption of the kings of this era was … disgusting. “They did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Ultimately – in Jeremiah’s lifetime – the Babylonians captured and deported most of the people of Judah and Israel and held them captive for 70 years. There God told them through Jeremiah, “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (See 
Learning Link) – a gift of Grace, a gift of undeserved favor. The form is more directly translated as a Grace-Gift – an endowment, a legacy, a superb bequest – and it is given for the purpose of edifying the Church by enlightening the Believers. That is the Gift of the Absolutely Perfect Plan – that Jesus emptied himself of all his Glory and Power to become one of us so that he could willingly offer himself up as atonement for our sins. He did “our hard time in Babylon” all by himself and all in himself once for all souls and all time. The magnitude of that Grace-Gift cannot be measured in human understanding. Now, let’s look out the window and see who and how many will gratefully receive that gift by submitting to God and resisting the Devil. All we need to do is look at the MSMOs perfectly unbiased reporting, and we know the answer. Fewer and fewer are willing to submit to God. Jesus has something to say about that:
me say that dying is like getting into a little elevator. When the door closes, you notice that there is just one big, blue button to push. On the button there is one big white H. You push the button. Will you be surprised at the direction the elevator goes? Heaven? Or Hell? If you believe in one, you have to believe in the other, for sure. There are thousands of years of arguments and apologetics about that question, but I come down on the side of “yes, there’s an afterlife, and yes, I’m shooting for the blissful one.”
common theme of obedience and possession. “Obey my voice and keep my covenant,” and “we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” God made us to know him, to work with and for him, to do what is right, and to Love him. Of course, those are the things we’d like to do for and with him always, but – as we have also said often – we forget. God has taken care of that through the Life, Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of his Son, Jesus. As The Apostle Paul put it “much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.” In the Gospel passage from Matthew 9, Jesus has been preaching in many of the villages and towns and telling them that the Kingdom of God was near. Some listened and began walking the road to salvation. Others listened and walked away. Did Jesus go after them? No. Did he send the Disciples after them? No. You may recall he even told them to “shake the dust off your feet” when a household or town refused to be hospitable and to listen to the Good News. Neither did Jesus drive them away. We tell our kids, friends, and neighbors “Everybody makes choices.” All of us have learned by experience that choices have consequences. Good choices generally have good consequences, and bad choices do not. 
Could it be, ʻŌmea, that when we get right with God, we get left within his even-closer presence? If we, who are sinners, are reconciled to God in Christ Jesus, do we not banish the evils of this World from our lives? Yes, indeed, the wicked continue to flourish even though they not only forget God, but also ignore and deny him. The “wicked will not stand in the judgment” because they will be laid low by their guilt and removed from “the congregation of the righteous.” In 
We can begin with this startling statement by Jesus. Even those of us who have heard this over and over on this Solemnity find it strange and mysterious. This quote is from John 6 which contains some of the most remarkable things Jesus said and did. He fed 5,000 men and their families. He walked across the Sea of Galilee during a storm, and as soon as he stepped foot in the boat, the storm was over and the boat and everyone in it instantly arrived at their destination. It is in this chapter that Jesus’ discourse on ” the bread from Heaven” occurs (See 
Today around the world the dispute that erupted then goes on with statements like “This is not really the actual body and blood of Jesus. It’s just a symbol, a representation, that’s all. Saying that Jesus is truly present in the bread and wine is ridiculous.” “When the Priest intones ‘This is my body,’ he’s talking to a wafer of bread, and that’s all. Nothing else happens.” Jesus said, in 
and done. Wherever we find one of the demonstrative pronouns in these passages, there we will also find the meaning this one, meaning the item actually present here, the one just named and none other than this one; and also this action, meaning the action actually performed here, the one just shown and none other than this one. In these few words, Jesus affirms that the Grace given by and of his own flesh and his own blood as the true Paschal Lamb of God, as the Sacrifice for the sins of the world, and as the wherewithal of the true life of mankind will be present when the Supper of The Lord is celebrated as he has prescribed. “This is my body … This is my blood …” 
tablets. We all remember this scene from the movie, Exodus. Do we remember, can we remember what the message was? It sounds familiar compared to something Jesus and John the Baptist said. How about “
find a full discussion of the Trinity that is Scripture-based and passed down through the Traditions and Teachings of the Church. Let’s just read one “leg.” The Son is not the Father, the Son is in the Father, the Son Glorifies the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Son is God. Did I miss any? Do I understand all of it, how it can be that the Holy Trinity is One God in Three Persons? Nope. Do I understand that in this image, “glorifies” also means “Loves?” Yep. Do I understand enough of it so that I’ll never forget? Nope. Do I know that it’s true? Yes! Because why? Because everything in it is a mystery that I tightly embrace as an inestimable Treasure to claim as my Gift from God. Whenever I forget, he relents and declares “it shall not be” forestalling the correction I deserve. (See 
whom we encounter Jesus who makes us present to the Father. We are called by the Father to follow Jesus by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As some of us have recently learned, when one member of the Trinity Acts, all three Persons act in union to produce the same efficacious result which is to know and do the Will of God. And what is the Will of God that we should know and do it? Well, we might pull up an old chestnut (for some of us) from the venerable Baltimore Catechism, Lesson 1, Question 6.
at the feast of Pentecost (May 28th), and in honor of her birthday, the Church gives us a Gift. This Gift, the Holy Spirit, is the center of all creation. It is the Spirit who moved across the waters. It is the Spirit who moves within our hearts to make our bodies a Temple for the Lord. All other gifts come to us, work in us, and enliven us for the purpose of loving and serving God by loving and serving the Body of Christ which is the Gift given to The World for salvation “as the Spirit gave them ability.” As described in “Words from the Son of the 
The Canticle of Creatures. It has 14 verses. Verse 12 brings us this thought: “Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whom no one living can escape.” Hank Williams Sr. put it this way: “No matter how I struggle or strive, I’ll never get out of this world 
