No. 22 The Mark of Intimacy

But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:6

These precious prayerful moments of heart-to-heart talk with our Lord guide us through life.

Without without email or text, our words in song or silence like seeds in the depth of dark fertile soil grow to unite us with our Father as nothing else can.

How joyous is the Father whose child regularly leaves the chaos of this world to enter their secret place. How magnificent that when you go there you may see the Creator of the universe patiently waiting for you to shut the door behind you. Saints and many monks live there always.

Precious prayer, time to ask questions, to worship and adore Him, to pour out of your heart the joys and tears life has presented this day. How glorious to hear the voice of the wonderful counselor, mighty God, Prince of peace.

How much more dynamic is praying with the masses when each of us is so connected.

The Wonderful Counselor is wise and patient. His schedule is always open for you. And he costs nothing. Not even insurance.

Joy.

No. 23 Forgive or Die

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; Matthew 6:14

Imagine a ball with needles protruding all around it.

Now imagine that you are walking along a path in the woods, enjoying the crisp clean air of a snowy winter’s day when suddenly someone lobs that weapon at you. It cuts you in several places and lands in your hands. You look up to see who hurt you. How do you react?

a. Throw the sharp ball right back and aim for the face.

b. Hold onto the ball and cry very loud to get sympathy, while pointing at the offensive assailant. Or...

c. Drop the ball, look up at the assailant, smile, and keep on walking.

Every time you refuse to aim for the Mark; when you disobey the commands of Jesus, to be kind, generous, pure of heart, make peace, etcetera you are tossing that poison ball at the heavenly Father. You hurt Him!

You expect Him to drop the ball, smile at you and keep on walking.

The Mark of God-likeness requires us to drop the arrows and stones that hit us and keep on walking. Don’t retaliate, don’t cry and blame, don’t look back, even for a second.

The Greek word to forgive is literally “to let it go, with purpose and with great abandon.”

No one on the path to immortality brings weapons along.

Smile and keep on walking toward the light.

No. 24 The Treasury

Don't store for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life which the Son of Man will give you for it is on Him that God the Father has set His seal.  John 6:27

Wake up, look around. What you see with your eyes is a world heavily salted with death and shadows of death. Nothing lasts here. It is even hard to hold on to goodness here because everything changes. This is the dark and dangerous world of thieves and murderers. This is the world of insatiable desire.

Oh my lying eyes, if only you could let me see the safe place of life and light.

“I can! come with me.” exclaims the shepherd boy. “Imagine your mansion. Keep one room for your treasure. Someday you will find that room and your riches will already be exchanged into the currency of that kingdom!”

“But what shall I put there? What lasts?”

“That’s easy!” replied shepherd boy “Fill your room with acts of love, with friends and family you have helped and prayed for. Fill your room with miraculous moments of hearing God speak. Become conscious with every decision you make of where to invest your wealth.”

“I think I get it!” I cheered. “What is visible here dissolves like vapor and what is invisible here, is as real as a rock in God’s country. How ironic!”

Shepherd boy smiled, nodded, then disappeared!

No. 25 Pray the Mark

When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask.  Matthew 6:7 (John 1:13)

Aspiring immortal friend, know this:

The spirit that pulsates in between your cells is more life-giving than the blood that runs through your veins.

Your birth is neither the effect of your parent’s lust or of their love.

You were born of no less than the Will of God. You have been given the right to become a child of the most-high God, you who believe in His Name.

He watches over you; He knows your mind and your heart. He knows what you need, and He knows what you want.

You too are 100% human and 100% divine. Your divine Father hears the prayers of your divine self.

You are heard because you are His.

Your common language is your being, in the reflection of His image and likeness, your obedience to His commands and yielding to His desires for you.

Let your prayerful words be as purposeful and meaningful as His who said, “Let there be light.”

And there was light. Nothing less will do; empty words make a mockery of your relationship.

Recognize for yourself the difference between genuine and fake, between gold and plastic, between powerful words and empty words.

He purchased gold for you, receive it; wear it. Pray it.

25A The Lord's Prayer 1

Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Matthew 6:9

Saying the Lord’s Prayer is like putting on your mom’s fur coat. It may not fit now, but when you grow up it will.

In Mark 25, we come to understand in a new way what it means to call God “our Father”. How wonderful!

No father of the flesh can compare in wisdom and generosity to the Father by Whose will you were born.

Christ doesn’t tell us to say My Father, but Our Father. We live as a family loving each other who we can see, even as we love Him who we cannot see.
My ability to be a good brother or sister is as important to fitting into this big fur coat as my ability to perceive as Father, the Creator of the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God who parted the Red Sea.

He is a very specific Person. He is not just anything we want him to be. He lives beyond heaven because heaven and earth cannot contain Him. He is more magnificent than the sun, and more peaceful than the stars. His home is beyond the galaxies. His paintbrush sketches the nebula.

Holy is His name because He is indescribable. In the very first commandment to Moses He said, “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other Gods before me.” The Name on your lips and in your heart is so exclusive as to abhor casual usage. The name above all names that Jews dared not say, YHWH, is suddenly called our Father.

For the only begotten Son to tell us to call the Lord of all, Father was the very beginning of Christ’s mission to bring the children of Adam and Eve back from distrust and banishment.

Awesome!

No. 25B The Lord's Prayer 2

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9

Have you ever wondered why Jesus told us to say “thy Kingdom come”? It may be the most curious line in this nuclear reactor of a prayer.

Why would God tell us to call forth His Kingdom, either on earth or in the heavens? Is it like asking us to vote daily for God as king? Or is it more like replicating creation when God called earth into being with His words?

Who are we to do such a thing as invite His kingdom in being?

Can a mouse move a mountain?
Can a baby build a bridge?
Can a struggling, aspiring immortal transform this chaotic world?
Jesus knows that the power of our words, when said with sincerity, can move mountains, build bridges, and spin chaos into twine. So say it with confidence. Say it with conviction. Say it as if you are saying, “Earth be!

Thy Kingdom come. Here and now. Why wait?

May God be the ruler of me, my family, my community, my country, my planet Earth. May His laws be obeyed, may His taxes be fair, may His education system be successful, may His court system be just, and may His army be victorious. May His people be healthy, wealthy and industrious, every last one of them.
“Thy will be done” is a clear, clean, simple, golden declaration. This phrase is the big long arms of mommy’s fur coat; the coat we want to grow into. The literal Greek translation of this line is “the birth of Your wants.”

Not my will, no never when it conflicts with God’s. God’s will is the Mark. God’s will is His Kingdom come. God’s will, as incomprehensible as it may be, as quirky, unfair, circuitous, molasses slow, harsh, joyful, mysterious, and relieving, as it may seem, whatever it is; His will be done on earth as it always is done where He art in heaven.

Trust

No. 25C Lord's Prayer 3

Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11

Once upon a time the Lord God got the attention of a man, Moses. He introduced Himself to this man saying, “I am the God of your Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Ex 3:6)

He told Moses that he had observed the misery of His people and heard their cry [because they lived under the conditions of slavery]. He was going to free them and send them to a good and broad land flowing with milk and honey. (Ex 3:7-8)

After the Lord God did what He said He would do, and these people left Egypt, they became very hungry. Moses told God about their hunger. God answered, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, [so that] each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way, said the Lord to Moses, He would test them whether they would follow His instruction.” (Ex 16:4).

Free food, all you can eat, one day at a time. The deal was that they should only gather enough bread for one day. If they gathered too much it would rot. God gave them each day, their daily bread. Day-old rotten bread was evidence of faithlessness and greed.
Picture this: A winding rocky hilly trail that leads to the land of immortality, strewn with hikers, aspiring immortals, who haven’t a care in the world other than to reach the terminus, ask God for their daily bread. No grocery shopping, no cooking. As in the days of the great Exodus, the Lord provides food to sustain our mortals bodies while our souls gradually become indestructible.

Give us this day our daily bread is code for: “We are your hungry people, Lord. We trust you and we will not be greedy. Try us. Feed us.”

No. 25D The Lords Prayer 4

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12

In yet another reminder to aim for the Mark of perfection, a shiny gold coin is set before us. Heads we forgive, tails we are forgiven. There are two sides to every valuable coin. A one-sided coin is useless. A one-sided useless coin would want to be forgiven without forgiving others, or the other side: would forgive without asking God for forgiveness.

Forgive us our sins. To ask God for mercy and forgiveness should make us stop to think about what we did wrong, about how we missed the Mark. The hypothetical or general wrong is good enough. This is why it is so important to study the Mark until it is part of daily consciousness (i.e.…and my words abide in you John 15:7). We need to know exactly what we want to be forgiven for so we can evolve into immortal children of God. We can’t wait for official confession time. Like daily bread, we need to look at the target daily and see how many arrows landed off the Mark, and how many fell on the floor.

As we forgive our debtors, or (all) those who trespass against us. Let’s turn every dagger thrown at us into a chisel to help form us like Michelangelo David.

Think about how or when Christ suffered as you did. Being the victim has energy. Will you use that energy to build, or to destroy (yourself)?

No wonder the Kingdom of God is such a peaceful place. No one holds a grudge here, and everyone knows the reasons why he or she was forgiven and is all the more grateful.

Peace:Life.

Life:Peace  

No. 25E Lord's Prayer 5

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Matthew 6:13

Listen to what He tells us to say with astonishment. Would God, our blessed Father, Creator and lover of humankind lead us to destruction? Would He test us with temptation?

I hear a stadium-full of angels in unison shouting “Yes, He would! He does!” after a pause they continue “Ask Him not to do that.”

Cringing, the Christ recalls His 40 days in the wilderness, when He was tempted by the devil to turn stones into bread; to fling himself from the mountaintop and to show-off as the angels lift Him to safety. When the devil failed to appeal to His flesh or find any vanity, he thought surely the condescended Son of God could be lured by power and offered the kingdoms of the world.

With fresh memories of His victories, Jesus instructs us to ask God not to lead us into temptation, to test, or try our souls (lest we fail because of our weakness, or ignorance.)

If only God would yank us from the grasp of the devil who would have that we abandon the Lord with our distrust; if only God would remove the dangers we face daily, then surely we could survive this earthly life.

It doesn’t hurt to ask. Who knows, maybe our Father replies with a resounding, “Yes.” every time we pray the Lord’s prayer, and we don’t realize it.

When He does leads us into punishment, evil, temptation, think about why that was just. The back-up is to ask for mercy.

Ask:Receive

No. 25F Lord's Prayer 6

For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, [of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit] both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The last words of the prayer that Jesus gave us, ask God to deliver us from evil as only He can. The end.

It is His Bride, the Church, who finishes Her Bridegroom’s perfect prayer with three quintessential points to complement and confirm.

His Kingdom: She affirms the Father’s sovereign authority.

His Power: She acknowledges His astounding ability to answer prayer requests.

His Glory: She praises God’s resplendent beauty, magnificence, splendor, and radiance into eternity, without diminution, or change.

The Bride’s last line of the Lord’s prayer is the hug, the kiss on the hand, the difference between making a wish upon a star, and catching the lifeline for the Creator to reel us in. What more can we say to God, our Father? Could any other words be used to worship Him better?

No. We can only top this prayer by going back to the commands to aim for His Holy Mark of being with our attitude and actions.

We love, worship, and glorify.

No. 26 Fasting Faces

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:16-18

How does it make sense that not eating food is good?

The hunger and sacrifice of fasting tells God that I care about more my spirit than my stomach. God who is Holy Spirit likes that. Rumbling tummies are like ringing bells in God’s ear to alert Him to answer the prayers of that person.

Eating builds the body, but not the soul. Self indulgence leaves no room for God’s providence.

Strong spirits can defeat enemies, turn away tornadoes, heal dying people, and has even rotated the earth backward. A strong spirit cannot exist in a self-indulgent body. Jesus fasted. He told his disciples that certain demons can only be expelled by prayer and fasting.

The ability to keep this secret is key, the secret of the internal battle of the wills, the powerful will to eat vs. the will to do God’s will when it is to abstain to strengthen the spirit.

No one needs to know if you are fasting, only Father God. No one needs to know when you lose an internal battle or when you win one. Only the One who is rooting for you, our Heavenly Father who watches your every move and listens to your every thought.

Disciples need discipline.

That’s the Mark of fasting. That’s the Mark of keeping the secret that will clothe your holy soul with an immortal body.

Shhhh.

No. 27 My Treasures in Heaven

...store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:20, Luke 12:33, John 6:27

God is rich. God is richer than all the billionaires put together. So, when through His Son, God advises us on wealth, do it!

We think that since heaven, the Kingdom of God, the homeland of immortals will be blissful, everyone will be of equal status. This is not true, which is why jealousy can’t come in.

The Bible speaks of a hierarchy, where some are first, and some last, and here it talks about sending your treasure there. I imagine that in heaven as on earth, a person with a lot of treasure in heaven will be more influential than a person with very little or no treasure. This is why it is written, that in many cases, the first (here) will be last (there) and the last (here) will be first (there). Heaven is neither communist nor socialist. It’s a benevlent monarchy of love, trust and all the virtues we are learning here.

God is not against treasure, so none of us should be either. The Creator of gold, and a zillion kinds of lavish natural beauty has children who like gold and beauty too. Gold is good, God is great. He wants us to be smart about it; to invest for long term gain.

The Bible says that the best way to get rich now and forever is to 1) Treasure these commands. These commands are the entrance to a glorious world. (Proverbs 7:1) and 2) Sell what you have and give the money to the poor, the needy, the sick and imprisoned, the downtrodden, and the grieving. Funding these people are the 401k plan of the servants of God.

Wise up! If your treasure and your heart are in heaven, then God is bound to send the rest of your body there too. Wouldn’t you think so? It’s one way to get your foot in the door!

No. 28 Healthy Eyes

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.

Matthew 6:22, 23

Healthy eyes fill the body with light, like Christ’s light-filled body on Tabor.

Open your eyes to beauty and turn on the lamp of the body. Let the light fill your whole body. Healthy eyes are fed a diet of beautiful, wholesome sights nature, children, loving people.

Looking at evil makes your eyes unhealthy. Looking at pornography, violence, and horror send your body into scary darkness.

Be careful to keep your eyes as healthy as you do your body when you eat well, drink plenty of water and exercise.

Of course, from time to time healthy eyes must see sad sights, such as Jesus Christ hanging on the Cross, or the cute little lamb being sacrificed on the altar. Such sacrifices are important for healthy eyes to see. How else would we understand the deadly effects of missing the Mark?

Free will is this: we may be deciding between mental health and sickness, between light and darkness, between life and death because of what we choose to eat with our eyes, and what we think about. We gather the flowers or weeds from the kinds of seeds we sow in our eyes, minds, and bodies.

Oh aspiring immortal; be filled with light and shine on this nighttime world!

Food for thought.

No. 29 Worry Warts Die

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? …But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness (read: aim for the mark, obey these commands), and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:25-33; Luke 12:22-31

Only someone like God could command us to do something that is so difficult. Telling us not to worry is like grabbing the bag of potato chips out of our hands and giving us apples instead.

I remember the days when I had a lot to be worried about. Self-employed people, even those with many children, do not get paychecks for food, rent, utilities, pediatrician bills, and nothing for health insurance. Weeks could go by with nothing in the mail but more bills. Oh yes, and the letters from landlords telling us to move because they want the house back; never because we didn’t pay our rent. The Lord always provided rent money.

One month a check, just enough, was found in our P.O. box addressed completely wrong. How did we get it? The temptation was great to worry about our bills when the clients didn’t pay, or there wasn’t enough work.

In those days obeying this command felt like being told to jump off a high dive. The notion of trusting God to catch me was a little thrilling and very scary.
Worry warts die because they put their faith in the devil with their negative thoughts. The devil wants to keep us as far from trusting God as “it” can; same old trick as in the Garden of Eden. “It” never gives up because “it” often wins. When the devil loses, “it” dusts itself off and tries again and again. Being rid of evil once and for all is a great reason to follow Christ into Kingdom Come.

Aspiring immortals can fly!

Fun!!!!

No. 30 The Real Now

So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:34

God loves reality. He created and continues to create reality. He hates lies because lies distort reality.

This is why He hates sin too. Sin corrupts His image and likeness in humankind. He made us to be like Him, and we keep distorting that!

Reality resides in the ‘now’ zone. Memories distort reality, and worrying about tomorrow does too.

Worries about tomorrow are no more real than fairy tales and Star Wars.

Ask any sniper how important it is to stay focused and not to think about the future, even what you will eat for dinner, or the past, even about who hurt your feelings yesterday. Snipers, like us Mark sharpshooters must focus on the Mark in front of us, now!

Jesus doesn’t want us to worry, but for His sake let’s only worry about the real matters of today, and don’t make up problems that may not happen.

Like God, we have power. We can make our worries come true by energizing them.
To focus our energy on today’s problems concentrates our power and opens our ears to hear His counsel.
His solutions come to a soul that focuses on the problems of the day.

To imagine all the horrors that can be the result of the problems of today is to play into the hands of the evil one, that wants you to do that. It is to distrust God, and it wastes the energy that can be used for problem solving, and keeps us from being the Salt of the Earth.

Wisdom.

No. 31 The Be-Me Death Trap

Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Matthew 7:1, Luke 6:37, 41, 42

The quest for similarity in everyone reminds me of God’s desire for us to return to His image and likeness. (Hence aiming for the Mark!) We are created to be like God, so we too want everyone we deal with to be like us!

Problem. We aren’t God, so when I want others to be like me, that means they should be flawed like me. Not good.

One reason God became incarnate in Jesus Christ on the earth, was for the human experience to be a sympathetic judge when the time comes.
Yes, each and every person will be judged. Our lives will be assessed and we will receive commensurate rewards and punishment. The Holy Report Card.

As frightening as that is, knowing this helps us to accept the injustice and hypocrisy we see all around us. There will be a day of reckoning for the mean and nasty. We dont have to punish them. We dont even have to send criminals to jail. God will.

Jesus warns us with this Mark, that we will be judged by the standard of measure that we judged others by.
It’s all social.

The best citizens of the land of immorality with God at the helm will be those who let others be whoever they choose to be or do, without judgment or condemnation.

Those who have mastered not judging, who are merciful, will have some wiggle room for entrance through the Narrow Gate.

Some of us will need all the help that we can get to squeeze through!

No. 32 Dogs Pigs and Pearls

Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you. Matthew 7:6

While dogs and pigs can be playful and even lovable they cannot distinguish between the sacred and the silly.

Neither aspires to anything more than a fully tummy and an empty bladder; they are 90% physical and 10% emotional. If you hand a Bible to a dog or pig he will tear it to pieces for fun. Even if you read it out loud in barks and oinks, the smartest animals in the world cannot listen. So what’s the point?

While the sun and rain fall upon both the good and evil, and all men are created equal and we are all endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, the sad truth is that people are unequally able to receive the sacred. Some people are doggish and others are piggish. This Mark warns us not to even try. This is not to be mean, but to be protective of the sacred.

Some people are not receptive, like dogs and pigs. The immoral, like swine who love to wallow in mud, would rather lie or cheat or steal than admire your pearls.

Yes, the Great Commission directs us to spread the good news that immortality was made possible by Christ, and invite the interested to be baptized, but simply invite and let the Holy Spirit take over. Jesus said that no one comes to the Father unless He draws him/her. Wait to see who God chooses.

We are not selling widgets; we are not selling anything. When we give holiness to the holy, we are hiking up a mountain with friends, sharing light and water. We are becoming immortal.

Peace

No. 33 The Sacred Wait

Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9

For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks, it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his sons ask bread, will he give him a stone. Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?

.........As I hear Jesus whisper this into one ear, I cringe because in my other ear I hear a chorus of raging souls who have begged God for something that was crucial to them, that they did not receive, or they received a serpent instead.

Many sought and didn’t find, knocked and the door did not open. I have been that person. Pay close attention to how to hit this Mark. God help you if you don’t get it.

With every other command, the onus is on us. In this case a response is required from God. This is not archery, it is ball.

Playing ball with God the Father exposes a person to amazing grace, wishes come true and doors open into heaven. The One who gives what you ask for, the One who shows you where to find what you are looking for, and the One who opens the door you are knocking on, is not wearing a watch, and nothing but the best is good enough for you.

Impatience can be deadly. You miss this Mark when you give up. Did the person you pray for die, or become sicker or more depraved? In this too, be patient. Death is not the end.

So take off your watch and wait for the response that will exceed your wildest imagination. Or trust when He says “No.”

Ask - wait and receive.
Seek - wait and find.
Knock- wait and watch.

Patience is a virtue.

No. 34 The Golden Mark

In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. [Love your neighbor as yourself.] Matthew 7:12, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31

God knows how easy it is to love an invisible all-powerful Being that we imagine adores us with all our flaws and can grant all our wishes.

No wonder the heathen think we are deluded. We should beware of that trap! Loving God is only the vertical bar of the cross. It stands straight and tall like a marble obelisk glimmering in the sunshine. Me and God are best friends because He loves me as much as I love me! How wonderful; let’s skip merrily down the yellow-brick road to bliss. Oops, I’m falling off a cliff!

To hit the Mark we must take a step beyond nature as often as opportunities to do so present themselves.

Ironically it is not the vertical post, but the cross-bar that divinizes us; it stretches all the way from my heart to the person next to me, and only briefly touches the point of my relationship to the all-powerful loving God.

This Mark commands us to treat others, not as they treat us, but as we want to be treated. It tells us to gain power over our attitudes; we need to put aside in others their rudeness, arrogance, hostility; dismiss their blatant lies, their ingratitude and undeserved rancor.

Treat all men and women with the kind of compassion and generosity that we expect from God. In this way we bring the invisible God into focus for the heathen, and we are constantly reminded of His forbearance towards us when we miss the Mark.

Practice giving amazing grace daily.

No. 35 The Narrow Gate

Enter [heaven] through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14; Luke 13:24

There is no doubt that it can be tough and painful to scrape away at our ungodly characteristics. But cut and scrape we must if we are to fit through the narrow gate that ushers us into the land of immortality where we will live happily ever after with Jesus Christ visibly among us; where our new bodies will be healthier and stronger than ever.

We won’t pass through this narrow entrance with a fur coat on, or after eating an ice cream sundae. We won’t be able to drive through it in our Mini Cooper or on a motorcycle. The gate cannot even be found in our cathedrals or churches. Take heed; the most mystical minuscule of gates is at the end of an unpaved bumpy road in a deep dark forest.

I suppose all of us on Route 66 depend on God’s infinite mercy, and the Eucharist to help us to find and enter The Golden Gate. This Mark forces us to ask ourselves if our assumptions are too presumptuous and too risky.

What kind of father allows his children to repeatedly disregard his rules? Is heaven comprised of rebellious rascals, the kind whose pride saturates this war torn earth?

This Mark is like the others that call us out to be divine. Dare to be different. You are on the road less traveled where the only other person you may see all day is hobbling a hundred yards ahead. If you are lonely; if you struggle to keep upright; if you are weary; you are probably on the right path.

This is the clue; this Mark is hard to spot, and harder to hit.

Fortitude.