17th Sunday: Living with the signs of giving all for the pearl of great price

Have you chosen to live for the Kingdom now? The Kingdom is the pearl of great price, the organizing principle of a life of Faith in Jesus Christ.

Without Christ there is no Kingdom, and without the Church there is no Christ.  If the Church is not in your life then the Kingdom which comes to us in the Person of Jesus Christ is not either.

The unaccompanied children currently being pushed over the border into the "promised land" of the United States in some cases by deadbeat parents are a lot like the situation in which some children find themselves in our Church today. Many children are "pushed" over the border into the Church, which is the beginning of the heavenly Kingdom on earth, by deadbeat parents who refuse to be engaged as witnesses of faith through the conduct of their own lives.

But a faith that is not good enough for the parents will not good enough for children because "like father, like son".

There is a widespread crisis in the call to the Kingdom: most kids who get Confirmed stop practicing Faith after Confirmation. By observation of parish life I can tell you which children those are going to be and why. If I do, are you going to do something about it?

Living for the Kingdom is done through signs because love and commitment are visible through the signs made evident by the choices which make up our lives.

Clothing on Sundays that suddenly on Confirmation Sunday is not good enough is not Sunday best. Sunday best remains Sunday best even after it becomes workday best; if the typical club and bar clothing that people use on a typical Sunday comes off on Confirmation Sunday then it proves the people who wear it know it’s not Sunday best.  So why do they tell Father it is?

Saturday vs Sunday? Why? Saturday available only when some reason beyond control prevents from attending on Sunday. Sundays are the celebration of the resurrection when we reaffirm faith in the empty tomb by coming to Mass for a real encounter with the One who conquered death and escaped the tomb, promising us the same. Saturdays for habitual convenience only teaches children that God is a nuisance that we must avoid and who must be made less burdensome in our lives.
 

Do we live on Sunday like it’s just another day of the week instead of Lord’s Day? Rest is commanded by God on Sundays in order to imitate Him and made possible by avoiding unnecessary shopping or servile work whenever possible

Faith formation for children is not ordering a product but one aspect of lived and saving Faith including Sunday worship. Pray for parents.

When parents take "time off" from Church when class is over during the summer they teach children Faith is something to outgrow like school.

Please pray for Catholic parents who impose spiritual poverty upon their children by failing to take them to Mass on Sunday.

Parents who think they get more out of life by taking shortcuts with God end up with children cutting God entirely out of life.

Stop making excuses to "Father" about why you cannot keep the Commandments; talk to God about it because it's you and Him on Judgment Day.

Christ does not say sell all you have for Kingdom but live as if you would. What are the signs which say the Kingdom is first in your life?

When the Kingdom is far more precious to us than a pearl for which we are willing to give up all we have our children will know it and follow our example.