{"id":505,"date":"2014-02-20T13:08:14","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T18:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=505"},"modified":"2014-02-20T13:09:06","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T18:09:06","slug":"who-are-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=505","title":{"rendered":"Who Are You?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time<\/span><\/h2>\n

James 2: 1-9; Mark 8: 27-33<\/span><\/h2>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Just who are you?\u00a0 Are you who you appear to be?\u00a0 Or are you are wearing a mask and a disguise?\u00a0 The real \u201cyou\u201d is probably someone other than the image you try to project for yourself.\u00a0 The real you is who God wants you to be; and that is usually not the person you want to be.\u00a0 And so, we all wear disguises that show us in the light that we want to be shown rather than who we really are.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This morning\u2019s First reading speaks to how we see others rather than how we see ourselves.\u00a0 But the masks and disguises we all wear complicate the matter.\u00a0 Because not only do we hide who we are; we also help others to hide themselves.\u00a0 We find it easier to welcome people who wear a mask that fits them into the world\u2019s accepted categories than it is to encourage people who are God centered.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

James hits the nail on the head.\u00a0 He says that the rich are the ones who oppress us!\u00a0 And yet these are the same people we honor over the folks who are just being themselves, living God\u2019s will for them and not putting on airs.\u00a0 How ironic, and foolish that is.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And you know what, things haven\u2019t changed.\u00a0 Today\u2019s most popular masks are worn by sports figures, entertainment personalities, and politicians.\u00a0 We give them top billing; and we seem to honor them above the common folk.\u00a0 But you know what? These roles they play are not who they really are.\u00a0 For, as gifted as they may be as athletes or politicians or actors;\u00a0 God\u2019s view of who they really should be is probably very different.\u00a0 Drugs and suicide demonstrate just how unhappy these people can be when they mask who they really are.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus shows us just how different God\u2019s plan for who we are really is from the worldly image of who we want to be.\u00a0 Jesus was the Messiah.\u00a0 In the world\u2019s view, the Messiah would be popular, having great power; but he would also be rich, well dressed, and the image of the top of Society.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Jews were looking for \u2013 a worldly \u201cleader\u201d with wealth, power, and a dazzling image.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But Jesus was poor, a simple carpenter, dressed as a peasant.\u00a0 He had no power in the worldly sense; and his popularity waned quickly when the authorities arrested him.\u00a0 Not only that, he suffered greatly and was put to a humiliating death.\u00a0 Yet Jesus knew who he was because he knew God\u2019s mission for him.\u00a0 That was who he really was- a slave to the will of God, dedicated to spreading a way of life based on living God\u2019s way in our hearts.\u00a0 The Gospel shows us just how that life should be led- loving people, putting others first, and keeping the commandments.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In this morning\u2019s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples exactly what that means in worldly terms for him.\u00a0 It is something they didn\u2019t want to hear, as Peter demonstrates.\u00a0 But Jesus was telling the truth; he was being real.\u00a0 All of us face the same challenge.\u00a0 God is calling us for something; but we are disguised as something else.\u00a0\u00a0 We are just a few weeks away from Lent.\u00a0 Do yourself a favor.\u00a0 Take off your mask.\u00a0 And take the time this Lent to find out who you really are.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time James 2: 1-9; Mark 8: 27-33 Dc. Larry Brockman \u00a0 Just who are you?\u00a0 Are you who you appear to be?\u00a0 Or are you are wearing a mask and a disguise?\u00a0 The real \u201cyou\u201d is probably someone other than the image you try to project for yourself.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[271],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":507,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions\/507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}