All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God

“All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God,” or a variation thereof,  is the Antiphon of the responsorial psalm for all of this week.  As I reflect upon that phrase, my thoughts go to the newborns and toddlers sent into this world this past year or recent years. Each of us is sent here to praise the Lord. My thoughts then go to the snowflakes beginning to fly or to the new leaves and flowers on plants in other parts of the world that have year-long springlike or summerlike weather, the newly born animals, fish of the seas, and birds of the air, each in its own way singing God’s praises. The universe itself—the stars in the sky, the sun and moon, the galaxies and other planets—all emanating from Creative Energy to reflect  God’s glory, His greatness, His love and power.  Hidden in all of creation, and especially in humankind, is God’s transformative power bringing each of us into oneness with His Son and with one another in love, reconciling our wills to the will of our Creator, to the will of our True Selves, healing brokenness and making us whole again in Christ Jesus (watch a cut on your finger heal—that kind of healing within the depths of our beings also transpires through God’s grace and our openness to be healed, that is, our willingness to “lance the boil” and release the poison of resentments and past hurts by acknowledging them and grieving the losses sustained as a result).  All of us, through Christ’s power to save, are being made over into a purer likeness of our Creator God when we allow God to save us. “I have come into the world,” Jesus tells us, “not to condemn it but to save it.”  May each of us know that reality deeply in this coming year of our personal lives, our community life, and the life of our families.