For those of you who are old enough to remember, during the somewhat formative days of space exploration by the United States and the Soviet Union. Nasa was perplexed by a most peculiar problem. The problem being an astronauts ability to write in space using a pen, which led to a million dollar investment in time and effort, in order to create a pen which could write no matter what the attitude of the spacecraft was in relation to the pen being held. This pen then became available to the public that was clamoring for any space-related stuff, as if we needed a pen that could write upside down, and they weren’t cheap either.

The Russians, on the other hand, solved the same problem by simply using a pencil. Now you and I both know that many things come out of the science behind tackling complex problems, even if that problem is getting ink to the tip of a pen being held inverted. But I am not here to talk about pens and pencils, and neither are you. We are here, however, to get our lives right with God. There are many in this day and age, who like to complicate things, thinking that they are Gods gift to humanity, having sat through a thousand sermons and read a hundred books on Christianity.

But our faith is now and has always been a simple one. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. When many non-Catholics, look at a stained glass window, or some statues depicting saints which have gone on to receive thier eternal reward. They say that I as a Catholic am an idol worshipper. Nothing could be further than the truth. These things are no more of an idol to me than your 2018 Corvette is too you. The predominant use of such things in days gone by was that of being a talking point or an instructional tool for the ignorant masses. In other words, those who couldn’t read or write, in order to help them gain a better understanding of our faith and its history. Besides all of that, they are extremely beautiful and artistic.

But you don’t care about that in your church filled with nothing but bodies, in order to exemplify that you are not an idol worshipper, as you believe that I am. If I was left with the conundrum of inventing a new pen or choosing a pencil, I would have taken the later. I myself always striving to not complicate matters any more than need be in a life which is perpetually filled with needless clutter. Its funny how we can have a statue of Abraham Lincoln seated in the edifice of a king in Washington D.C. and no one who goes there considers it idol worship. And yet we can have a statue of our Lords mother, Mary in our church, and suddenly she has become an idol. So what will it be? A pen or a pencil?… To be continued