{"id":11438,"date":"2021-01-08T07:06:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T12:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=11438"},"modified":"2021-01-08T07:09:57","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T12:09:57","slug":"wont-get-fooled-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wont-get-fooled-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Won\u2019t get fooled again."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Won't<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Charles Schultz, the creator of the comic strip \u201cPeanuts\u201d, tapped into a profound human experience when every fall Charlie Brown and Lucy are kicking a football around in the back yard. Lucy loved to pull the football away just as the gullible Charlie swung his foot to send the ball flying. She laughs and Charlie, once again, gets fooled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRats! Never again!\u201d Charlie swears. Sometimes we can all feel like that about life. Think of the times we\u2019ve been \u201cfooled\u201d; promises broken, trusted people (priests!) in jail, \u201cloop-holes\u201d in contracts, hidden fees, out and out lies . . . (we\u2019ll leave Santa out of this – – he\u2019s a special case).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time it creates a caution in us; a hesitancy to believe. Somebody\u2019s going to pull the football away and make me look like a fool. Compounding this is the fact that we\u2019ve done this to others. We\u2019ve fooled and been fooled. Can you see how this leads to a certain cynicism about what is true? (I think this is the cause of our mistrust of the news media and what some call \u201cfake news\u201d. \u201cThese aren\u2019t facts, it\u2019s their version of the facts.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

So what is true? What can you bet your life on? Let\u2019s see . . . . . . . . . how about: Republicans? Democrats? The Bills? Good health? Long life? All these things eventually fail. Even our most cherished relationships (spouse, family, best friend) reveal certain weaknesses over time. They\u2019re not all we hoped they would be. Nothing seems to bear the weight of being our ALL <\/strong>our EVERYTHING.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point many people \u201cpull up the draw bridge\u201d and proceed to live private lives, keeping the world at bay. We begin to choose \u201cthe news\u201d that best suits our long- standing opinions. We say things like, \u201cYou can have your truth and I\u2019ll have mine.\u201d What\u2019s REAL <\/strong>no longer unites us, what\u2019s real becomes a matter of opinion. Oh dear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not pointing fingers here. I share this human impulse of mistrust. It goes back to the Garden of Eden. But we have to ask the question . . . is this the way we were meant to live? Is there a better way? What has the power to finally define how things really are?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Of course you know what our Faith proposes at this point. There is only one answer for what summarizes God\u2019s creation. Jesus Christ, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is God\u2019s love come to us in human flesh. He is God\u2019s Way, His Truth, His very Life. Jesus shows us the way to live our lives. While not blinking at the lies, half-truths, and deceits of this life, Jesus points to Himself as the giver of a new kind of life \u201cpoured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit . . . producing a hope that does not disappoint.\u201d Romans 5:5<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what is this hope that doesn\u2019t fail? A share in the very life of God and a \u201cbreaking down the dividing wall of enmity (between us) that he might create one new person in place of the two (you and me!) thus establishing peace and might reconcile both (of us) with God through the cross putting our enmity to death.\u201d Ephesians 2: 14-16<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All very well you say. But how can I trust this Jesus? I\u2019ve never seen him or heard him. How do I know this stuff is true? St. Paul was asked that same question. Here\u2019s his answer: \u201cGod proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners (and unbelievers) Christ died for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s it gang. Christmas is special because the child born is so true to his Father (who is Love) that he will lay down his life in witnessing to Him and revealing in human flesh how God loves. This is our Truth. This is our All. This is what reconciles the human race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merry Christmas! . . . for the last time this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Tim<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charles Schultz, the creator of the comic strip \u201cPeanuts\u201d, tapped into a profound human experience when every fall Charlie Brown and Lucy are kicking a football around in the back yard. Lucy loved to pull the football away just as the gullible Charlie swung his foot to send the ball flying. She laughs and Charlie, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11438"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11442,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11438\/revisions\/11442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}