The Seasons: A Poem

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Sunrise over Amazing Grasses Family Farm The mad Artist wields His brush, Painted colors rush, To life and give flush, Before the quiet autumn hush. The life seems to pour, As colors fall to the floor, To be seen no more, Outside the dark, grey door. Brightness from below, Sun upon the snow, High, cold clouds blow, Flakes and ice appear to grow. The man melts with little seen, Underneath, pale, grey green, Hides life in dark unseen, Waits for warmth and to careen. Buds on branches show, Patience starts to grow, Trickles, streams and veins flow, Bringing fruits of melted snow. Sprung to life it springs, Bees, birds, sound rings, Lush green flings, Its gift bounty brings. Green growth gives one last rush, Underneath the Painter's brush. The mad Artist wields His brush, before the quiet autumn hush. More poetry is available from James M. Hahn in  The Last Dragon and Other Poems  available now. My new book of cryptogram puzzles " Secret Messages from the Saints " is avai
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Keeping my eyes on Heaven

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Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

C.S. Lewis once wrote, "Aim for Heaven and you get the earth thrown in. Aim at the earth and you get neither." Christ said it this way, "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." (Matthew 6:33)

In all of today's readings I am given a gentle reminder that this life is passing and I should be concerned with the things of Heaven. If my mind is rightly focused on Heaven, the things of this earth will be in their proper place.

In Jeremiah there are two dramatic and opposite images. Those who trust in this world and in the flesh are presented as a "barren bush", in an empty waste. In other words, there is no life in this person now and there will be no life in this person in the life to come.

In contrast, the one who "trusts in the Lord" is presented as a tree planted beside waters with green leaves even in the midst of drought still bearing fruit. This person is full of life. Even when the world that this person finds himself in is similar to the "empty waste", this person is still full of life and will be so in the life to come. The message is clear, trust in God, focus on Him if you want true life.

In First Corinthians Paul puts the same message in yet another way. Paul says, "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all." Paul shows us that everything is geared toward salvation, toward the next life. If we have believed in Christ merely to have a happy life here, or as a cultural experience, or to belong to a group, we are in a very sorry state. Paul is telling us that if we are not doing everything with our resurrection in mind we aren't living. Our sights are to be set on the resurrection and eternal life.

Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus makes the point very clear. He shows that the things of this life are not going to make us happy and they won't prepare us for eternal happiness. The poor that He speaks of are happy because they see things in relation to the kingdom and can take them or leave them. Those that hunger for God will have their fill. Those that suffer will be filled with an unending joy. Then. Not now but then. Here and now we experience samples of those things but in the next life they will be ours.

We cannot end with out looking at the warnings of Our Lord. Woe, He says to me when I seek things for their own end. Woe to me, when I fill myself with all sorts of fleshly desires. Woe to me, if my focus is on comfort, pleasure and the like for their own sake. Woe to me, when I treat this life as the end and not the means to the end.

Lord Jesus, help me to keep my eyes on You! Help me to use creation to draw closer to you and draw others closer to you. Help me to hunger for You in this life and instill that hunger in others. Help me to weep for my sins and the sins of others. Say to me, whisper to me in my times of trial, "Rejoice, leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in Heaven!"

FROM THE SAINTS - "The limited and pitiful happiness of the selfish man, who withdraws into his shell, his ivory tower... is not difficult to attain in this world. But that happiness of the selfish is not lasting.
For this false semblance of heaven are you going to forsake the Joy of Glory without end?"
- Saint Josemaria Escriva The Way # 29

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