Blessed are those who are comfortable(?)...for they will probably inherit Hell

Matthew 19: Divorce, Children, The Rich Young Man

Many people tell me today, I just want to be comfortable…nothing wrong with that is there? Its not like I’m greedy or something. Let’s check that, what do you mean by comfortable? Because if you are seeking for something other than Jesus Christ and His will…where do you think you are headed?

Comfort

1. a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint.

2. the easing or alleviation of a person's feelings of grief or distress.

Sounds pretty good. Do I prefer to travel in comfort? If I have the option, absolutely. Do I try and alleviate people’s suffering with a word of courage or the Sacraments? sure.

But suffering is not the opposite of comfort. Suffering is the norm, comfort then is the exception, and we should not seek to make the anomaly the rule.

Read Divine Mercy 996 - I must become prayer! Therese - I must become love!

Zoomers - I must become comfortable!

But what does comfort consist in? Are you married or not? Yes. To and excellent spouse or a crummy spouse? Excellent and handsome. Physically fit? Sure. How many kids? 2.5? nice! Do you have time to get your “me” time in? Sure! How much money per year are you pulling in? 200k a year? Nice job. Where do you live? La Cresta? sure, obviously. Are you educated? Yes. When did you get married? 28. Not too early. Do your kids have any deformities or issues? Nope, boy and a girl and a dog and they’re perfect. Does that mean you are using contraception? Well yea. and so on and so forth.

These are many of the things that parents are shooting for, life goals. But that doesn’t inspire me. I guess it is patient endurance that inspires me. How will that rich life inspire me? I mean, great for you, but how is that comfortable life going to inspire me to live the Gospel? Because I just read a whole chapter to you. Divorce, Children, Riches. And the only thing that matters is following Christ.

Heb 10:35 So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! 36 

is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

What benefit does your marriage have to anybody if you marry the perfect spouse and you are perfect and there are no difficulties? Lame. That you both have issues is part of it, then you work through them, you learn some patience, you grow, you become worth something. The value of the marriage corresponds precisely to the amount of suffering and obstacles you overcome! But they cheated on me!!!!! So, what now? because we’ve cheated on God and He has welcomed us back. So should we love as we’ve been loved. If you are going to walk out of the marriage as soon as your spouse cheats on you, you aren’t ready for marriage.

Children: "Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and to bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?" Yes, 2.5. Jesus loves children. We…don’t love children as much as Christ. They are too much work, and cranky and sleepy, and expensive. Do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Your life isn’t made for comfort, children make you into more of a man, into a father. Children make you more of a woman, into a mother. Now you can really begin to sacrifice. Now you can become a little bit more like Christ. What are the works of Mercy? “To feed the hungry.To give water to the thirsty.To clothe the naked.To shelter the homeless.To visit the sick.” You do all those things as a parent. It isn’t fun, but who cares. This life isn’t about fun, its about loving Christ on the Cross! and sometimes life is fun.

But it is better not to marry? Not all can accept this, but only those to whom it has been given.

19:11 Few Can Receive This Saying Not All Willing to Receive This Saying. Incomplete Work on Matthew: Then the Lord did not say that it was expedient, but instead he agreed that it was not expedient. But looking to the weakness of the flesh he said, “Not all men can receive this precept but only those to whom it is given.” The meaning is that not all men in fact do receive this, even if they are able to. All can indeed receive it, but not all are willing to receive it.

Luke 21:18-19 “but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

The prize of glory has been laid out. Anyone who desires glory does not think about the toil. No one would win if all were afraid of the danger of the battle. Some are unable and fall from the goal of continence, but we ought not for that reason to become less earnest about the virtue of chastity. For if some who fall in the fight do not dispirit the others but say to them that that is their given lot, they do not apply the matter to the fight but to the person. All the more ought we to impute their fall to the negligence of the fallen and not to the difficulty of virginity.

But he says, “To whom it is given.” By this he does not mean that to some it is given and to some it is not given. Rather, Jesus shows that unless we receive the help of divine grace, we have no power on our own account. But since grace is not denied to those who are willing, the Lord says in the Sermon on the Mount: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks, receives, and every one who seeks, finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” We must first will to ask, and then grace follows. For grace cannot achieve anything without will, nor can will have any power without grace. The earth too does not germinate unless it receives rain, nor does rain bring forth fruit without the earth. Homily 32.

“But my vocation is marriage.” Fine. Don’t look for it to be easy and comfortable, because our goal in this life is to do the will of God! But we want to be comfortable. We really are just greedy and often it goes unaddressed.

God, do you want me to follow you more closely?!

The Rich Young Man: A lesson in how to be sad. Half follow the Lord. Do most of what He says. But not all of it. And yet, unless we are following Christ to the best of our ability and grace, we will not be happy, which is what we mean when we say comfortable, we want to be happy, but we were made for God, and so, unless we are responding generously to his call, we will remain unhappy, unsatisfied, longing for the great adventure, too scared to do anything, we will resent God and give up. I don’t want people to go to Hell. I want you to go to heaven. What about you? what do you want?

GIVE ME SOULS AND TAKE AWAY EVERYTHING ELSE! - St. John Bosco.

“I don’t have digital, I don’t have diddly squat, its not having what you want, its wanting what you’ve got” - Sheryl Crow. 0:31 Soak up the sun

Meh, that’s kinda lame, because we always want more! Because our hearts were made for more. Our hearts were made for Christ.

New Testament Ib: Matthew 14–28 The Incarnate Word as Needle

Through the wound of his Passion the Gentiles now have entered eternal life. Only this needle, the cross, can stitch wounds together. He

New Testament Ib: Matthew 14–28 (19:23–24 A Camel through the Eye of a Needle) INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW:

The cross is the only answer to all of life’s sufferings.

Why am I going through this Lord? Because I am drawing you to myself, come, suffer with me, come to the cross, jump up here with me. Nah I’m good, No you’re not! You’re not that good. I heard it said today, “If you wonder if you are a bad parent you probably are a good parent because a bad parent doesn’t wonder those sorts of things.” Thus, if you think you are a good person you probably aren’t. Why? Because have you encountered your darkness? If you know that you do wrong things because you like them, that is an indication that you aren’t yet done with your work here on earth.

This has been stuck in my head all week, that we can only suffer here on earth…in heaven there is no suffering, here on earth we can engage in redemptive suffering… “But I just want to be comfortable!” GIVE ME SOULS, AND TAKE AWAY EVERYTHING ELSE! None of us get to get out of being a Christian. And Christ had no place to lay his head. Seek first the Kingdom of God, and everything else will be handed you besides. Seek comfort first, and you will spend eternity being quite uncomfortable.

St. Therese of Lisieux - For when one expects pure and unmixed suffering the smallest joy becomes an unhoped for surprise. Suffering itself becomes a great joy when one seeks it at as the most precious treasure.

Today’s Gospel: Gospel Mt 10:16-23

Jesus said to his Apostles: "Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes."