I will see you in hell

Monday of the Nineteenth week in Ordinary Time     12/8/13 Deut 10:12-22. Moses said to the people: "And now, Israel, what does the LORD, your God, ask of you but to fear the LORD, your God, and follow his ways exactly, to love and serve the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD which I enjoin on you today for your own good? Think! The heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the LORD, your God, as well as the earth and everything on it. Yet in his love for your fathers the LORD was so attached to them as to choose you, their descendants, in preference to all other peoples, as indeed he has now done. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no longer stiff-necked. For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods, the LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no favorites, accepts no bribes; who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him. So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. The LORD, your God, shall you fear, and him shall you serve; hold fast to him and swear by his name. He is your glory, he, your God, who has done for you those great and terrible things which your own eyes have seen. Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy strong, and now the LORD, your God, has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky. Ps 147:12-13.14-15.19-20. Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. He has granted peace in your borders; with the best of wheat he fills you. He sends forth his command to the earth; swiftly runs his word! He has proclaimed his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. He has not done thus for any other nation; his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia. Matt 17:22-27. As Jesus and His disciples were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day." And they were overwhelmed with grief. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?" Yes, he said. When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him, "What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?" When he said, "From foreigners," Jesus said to him, "Then the subjects are exempt. But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you." Commentary of the day : I love the way Jesus makes money appear in fishes’ mouths in this story. I wish I had that kind of power then I wouldn’t be concerned about where I am going to find food for my family or pay my bills. I often tell God these things when I read Jesus repeatedly telling us not to worry about our life, turn the other cheek, pray for those who persecute you. “Easy for you to say” I tell Him respectfully, “You could have sent a legion of angels to kill those @$%*! who were whipping and crucifying you (if You wanted to). No you just smile inwardly and say, ‘I will see you in hell. Oh no, you will be there alone. I will be just enjoying my heaven while you toast’”. That gives God greater confidence in the face of adversity. For us mere humans we try our best to overcome our human lack of trust and temptation to be well, human. But I still trust and pray that God will provide. I don’t ask for wealth or fame, just the daily bread. So I pray the Lord’s Prayer many times a day. But each time I pray it, I mean it. Now hear what Saint Ambrose (c.340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church had to say as his commentary on Psalm 48: What man's blood has now the power to redeem him, when Christ shed his own blood for the redemption of all? Is there anyone's blood comparable to the blood of Christ?... Christ who alone reconciled the world with God through his own blood? What greater victim is there, what superior sacrifice, what better advocate than he who was made the atonement .for the sins of all, and gave his life as our redemption? Individual propitiation or redemption, therefore, is not to seek, because the price of all is the blood of Christ, by which the Lord Jesus redeemed us, who alone reconciled the Father. He labored to the end, since he took upon himself our labours, as he says: “Come to me, all you who labor, and I will refresh you” (Mt 11,28)... We give nothing in return for our salvation because we have been washed, once for all, through the blood of Christ. But that does not mean we are dispensed from working hard to keep the precepts of life or can throw aside the Lord's commands. So long as we live we are striving and persevering so as to live eternally lest we die of death although already redeemed from death.