Jer. 17: 5-8; Ps. 1: 1-4, 6; 1Cor. 15: 12, 16-20; Lk. 6: 17, 20-26

Freedom of religion is not free.  Recently in a number of judicial appointments we have witnessed Congress take the adversarial position to appointees who profess to be Catholic.  In one case the appointee’s history as a member of a group in support of the Catholic Church was compared to a secret suspicious cult.  The group he belonged to was the Knights of Columbus with a long history of supporting many worthy causes of charity locally, nationally, and internationally for the Catholic Church.  Woe to you from the secular view who dare to represent causes that pose an existential threat to the mainstream view of the times. 

The struggle of today is for the soul of the person to put their “trusts in human beings”.  Humans claim the right to choose the appropriate social norms and the freedom to be ever changing.  “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord” who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  This is the “tree planted beside the waters…in the year of drought it shows no distress but still bears fruit.” 

The seed besides restful waters is given at the waters of baptism.  The tree is to grow in the image of God always fruitful.  The fruit comes in a variety of types, feeding the hungry, sheltering the poor, giving alms, visiting the sick and many more endless ways of caring for others.  It also comes when we stand as a witness for truth knowing “people will hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man” we rejoice because it is the fruit of the “Blessed”. 

To be in this world is a journey constantly wandering though the stages of life in search of itself.  “Woe to you who are rich” seeking “strength in the flesh” and “all speak well of you”.  This is the fruit that poisons the soul to reject the “I Am” for an identity of slavery in the image of this world.   I am created in the image of God where my identity and freedom lie.  Woe to you who choose slavery to the “politically correct” norms for you “laugh now, for you will grieve and weep” when they betray you left behind to “experience an empty earth”. 

The human search of itself is discovered in the one raised from the dead.  The reward of the “Blessed” is the joy of eternal life in Christ.  Often the focus of faith in some believers is limited to the nirvana of an earthly kingdom of social justice and an elimination of all disparities.  “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.”  Christ came and gave witness “the kingdom of God is at hand”.  It is now with us and does not belong to this world.  It resides in the souls of his children to live out the kingdom as brothers and sisters of the King who is raised from the dead. 

“Blessed are they who hope in the Lord…the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep”.  Many have “fallen” into the “weeping of an empty earth…hungry as salt”.  It is seen in actions that reflect faith in the flesh “for this life only.”  If your soul is for this life only, “your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.”  Seek first the kingdom of the resurrected Christ.  Where will you spend eternity?