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Hi Hereld,
I just wanted to add to Mary Ann's fine answer.
I was talking with my colleague John recently and
somehow this issue came up. The pharisees
put the Lord to test on numerous occasions, see the
following passages: (Matthew 16:1, Matthew 22:18, Matthew 22:35, Mark 8:11, Mark 10:2, Mark 12:15, Luke 10:25, Luke 11:16, John 6:6, and John 8:6) as
well as Satan:
Then the devil took him to the holy city, and
set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said
to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw
yourself down; for it is written, `He will give
his angels charge of you,' and `On their hands
they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot
against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "Again it
is written, `You shall not [tempt|test] the Lord your
God.'
(Matthew 4:5-7 (RSV))
Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take
your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods,
the gods of the peoples around you; for the LORD
your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and
his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy
you from the face of the land. 16 Do not test
the LORD your God as you did at Massah.
Deuteronomy
6:13-16
He reminded me that there is one area in the Scriptures, where Our Lord says, Test
me!
It's in the area financially
supporting our local parish and diocese.
Malachi 3:8-15 reads as follows (note verse 10):
8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But
you say, `How are we robbing thee?' In your tithes
and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing
me; the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be food in my house; and thereby
put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if
I will not open the windows of heaven for you and
pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that
it will not destroy the fruits of your soil; and
your vine in the field shall not fail to bear,
says the LORD of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for
you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of
hosts. 13 "Your words have been stout against me,
says the LORD. Yet you say, `How have we spoken
against thee?' 14 You have said, `It is vain to serve God. What
is the good of our keeping his charge or of walking
as in mourning before the LORD of hosts?15 Henceforth we deem the arrogant blessed; evildoers
not only prosper but when they put God to the test
they escape.
Malachi 3:8-15
This year for our Cardinal's Appeal, I gave a little
more then I have ever given in the past. Interesting
enough, at the same time, there was a small
amount of local scandal. {Interesting how Satan works
:> }
In my mind, no big deal.
Why? In the United States we live in a pop culture
that is against Catholic values. If there is any
way the local and national mass media can knock
the Church, it will.
Sad to say, this will be a perpetual
attitude with, both the local and national mass media.
Nevertheless, I ask readers of this posting to test the Lord on what you give to the Church financially.
- Are you scared that you will give too much out of
your surplus, that He won't provide for you financially
in return?
- Who do you think molded the mind and heart of
your hiring manager to:
- hire you?
- determine what was a fair salary?
- access whether you should be kept on
as an employee?
Test
Him! On what you put in the collection each
Sunday and supply financially to both your local
parish and your diocese for its annual appeal,
Test
Him!
Let me see if I can address some of the objections
to this.
— But our bishop and all our priests
are liberal and not in union with the Magisterium.
- Malachi 3:11 says, I
will rebuke the devourer for you, so that
it will not destroy the fruits of your soil; and your vine in the field
shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.
For short: Let the Lord handle that part of the
situation and trust that: your vine in the field
shall not fail to bear.
We know
as faithful Catholics that the Church will be with
us until the end of time.
- The question remains, Will it be near you?
- If you don't support it in
prayer for priests and bishops and along with the
money it needs to run smoothly, can you say your
hands are innocent?
- If you don't support it and your diocese files for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy, can you say with a clear conscience,
that you did not help in the fall?
Hope this helps,
Mike
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