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"Disney" or "Christ?"

It’s good you’re sitting down. Since I don’t have kids, I was floored by the Disney Kingdom’s pre-virus sticker price for four days. Two adults (over 10-years-old, parents are getting younger every day) along with two children under ten years costs – ready for this? $2,624.00. Now, remember that you haven’t flown there yet, rented a car, and have eaten yet.

“Wow, what a great vacation, Dad,” says the 9-year-old kid to his 10-year-old father. (Dads: you’d have to be a foolishly ten-year-old to fork out that kind of money!) “But it’s magical,” says the kid who’s paying slightly less than the parents.

Ezekiel writes, “I will resume them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. (Like writing a check for close to $4,500.00 for three days to see a castle lit at night.) He continues, “I will pasture my sheep; I will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy shepherding them rightly.”

As Thanksgiving approaches, I use a nice alteration, “magic, mystery, and myth.” It sums up our Christian faith on this ending Church season with “Christ as our King” and the advent of his new life beginning next week.

If you want those three M’s to grow and mature in your life, then skip that Florida trip and immerse yourself in this, our incredible Christian faith. Here are two more “M’s” for us today. There’s no mercy or forgiveness at Disneyland, only tears at the end of the month when you see the bill and your two kids who forgot about the trip.

St. Paul gives us the progression of faith, “Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ; then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

For my previous work, I attended a Disney seminar years ago about how “Disney does it.” Everything you see, feel, and hear has been carefully crafted for your overpriced enjoyment. What I’ll never forget is the plan they’ve planned for your second visit. The first time around, you’re overwhelmed by everything you see. Your second visit increased from $2,624.00, is programmed. The speaker said, “You’ve seen the magic castle, but you didn’t see its decorated sides or looked down to see the additional trimmings a first-timer would miss. Your third visit to Disneyland is built-in as well with new surprises and excitements to make a family’s fourth visit possible.

Match that with the Church’s over 2,000-year-old rituals that invite us to see and hear, touch, and embrace new messages from ancient messages each and every time at Mass and in our private prayers. So, who’s copying whom?

Magic, myth, and mystery, we’ve got it all folks, hands down. And, the Divine mercy from God lasts a lifetime and beyond.
Matthew writes to us about those plaguing times of human life calling for a response. It’s an endearing smile to a naked person who lost her husband or a child, a friend who thirsts for even more knowledge of God, the ill who need a visit and a prayer, and those imprisoned by their own selfishness, addiction, or not knowing how to love.

Jesus says, “Amen, I say to you, what you did for one of these least ones, you did for me. And those who did not will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Let’s see Walt top that one?

Disneyland will take you for a ride but the Catholic Church invites you to enjoy the ride of your life because it is your life’s ride.

The 23rd Psalm saves us, “Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, for years to come.”

Honoring Christ as our King ends our Church calendar. And what a year it’s been with our own personal concerns and the pandemic. The kingdom of Disney is thousands of miles away and also amounts to even more in dollars.
$2,624.00? You’ve got to be kidding.

God wants and demands of us the whole amount - our complete lives. All of our successes, failures, attempts those failed and achieved; all that we did, missed, avoided, or accomplished. Our complete lives. 

Hey, Walt? Try putting a price tag on that!