God Has Made His Salvation Known (Ps. 98)

,In today's first reading, Romans 1: 1-7, St. Paul describes himself as follows:

• A slave of Christ Jesus
• One called to be an Apostle, that is given the grace of apostleship
• One set apart for the Gospel of God
• One who is to bring about the obedience of faith among the Gentiles for the sake of Jesus' name

Who am I? Who are you?  In one of the Gospels, Jesus says that He no longer calls us slaves but friends because He has shared everything with us that the Father had given to Him.  We are persons called to servant-hood as well as called to a relationship with the Most High, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God Himself.  What a noble vocation!. What a graced relationship!  By our servant-hood and our friendship with Jesus, we, like Paul, are commissioned to bring about the obedience of faith in others whom we encounter in life.

As we pray in the responsorial psalm, Psalm 98, of today's liturgy, "The Lord has made known his salvation" to us through the Gospels and those who preach the Gospels to us in word or in deed. We, in turn, by our calling to be God's servants and friends, make the Lord's salvation known to ourselves as well as to others.  All of this is possible because of the wondrous things God the Father has done through His Son, Jesus, whose "right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm. The Lord has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice."

Lord, I think you for the wondrous things you have done and are doing in the lives of each of us!  Thank you for making your salvation known to me every single day of the year, in good times as well as in bad times, in every season of my life!  Thank  you for the call to be your servant and your friend.  Thank you for setting me apart and consecrating me to you in my baptism, confirming that gift in the sacrament of Confirmation and through any other sacrament that I am privileged to receive through your love for me. I offer this thanksgiving to you through Your Son,  Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

See the Saving Power of God!

The response to the responsorial psalm, Psalm 98, states that "[a]ll the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God."  "All the ends of the earth": every continent and every country and State, city and village, in each continent has seen the saving power of God.  Knowledge of God has been spread throughout the world. And, in fact, the law of God has been written on every heart. Furthermore, "everyone who acts in righteousness is begotten by him" (1 John 2:-3:6).  St. John then says to us: "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are!"

Each of us is a child of God! Each of us, if open to God's revelations and presence in our personal lives and in the world, "have seen the saving power of God." We have seen God's love being poured out, for instance,  by little children who cling to their parents, who rest their tiny heads on their shoulders, who give their art pictures to mommy and daddy, who kiss their baby brother/sister, who want to help mommy and daddy with chores or with baking Christmas cookies, and the parents who respond lovingly to their child's needs and comfort them when they are distressed.  We see God's saving power at work in the reconciliation of spouses, of grown children with their parents, of long-lost relatives being found, in criminals remorseful of the ways in which they have hurt others, in persons who risk their lives to save others from disaster, and on and on!  This evening on the CBS news we have seen God at work through a little boy who has found "forever homes" for 1400 dogs confined to kettles in animal shelters. We see God's love and saving power at work in strangers helping strangers in need, in children making sandwiches for homeless persons and, with parents, distributing those sandwiches. Human being partnering with God, allowing God's power to flow through them, is endless and happens throughout the world!

"Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done [and is doing] wondrous deeds" (Psalm 98) around the world,  in our back yards and in our families!

God's Everlasting Covenant

"The Lord remembers His covenant forever," we pray in today's responsorial psalm.  The New Covenant is sealed in Jesus' blood poured out for us on the cross on the first Good Friday.  Just as in the Covenant expressed in the Old Testament to the people of Israel to inherit the land  of Canaan, so, in the New Covenant, we who believe in Jesus and keep His Commandments are promised an eternal inheritance, a home in heaven with God forever, as we past from this life into eternity.

Holy Week is a time to remember the wondrous deeds of the Lord--His total self-emptying love upon the cross to secure our salvation.  On that first Good Friday, we have been redeemed, made whole, purified in Jesus' blood. Jesus gave His life for you and me. Jesus died for you and me. Jesus gave His back to be scourged for you and me. Jesus allowed His head to be crowned with thorns for you and me. Jesus walked the hill to Calvary carrying the cross on which He would be crucified for you and me.

We Catholics believe that every Eucharist recalls these saving acts of our salvation. We believe that Jesus' self-emptying, sacrificial love is made present to us at every Eucharist. The very words of Jesus at the Last Supper, when giving the bread and the wine to the Apostles and saying "'Take it,...,this is my body"....This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many," is repeated by the priest at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  We Catholics believe that, when the priest says "This is my body," "This is my blood" that the bread and wine used at every Mass are changed into Jesus' body and blood, just as they were when Jesus spoke those words at the Last Supper.

Today's responsorial psalm reminds us that "The Lord remembers his covenant forever." Let us also always remember the wondrous deeds of the Lord at the Last Supper in giving us the Eucharist for our daily food and on Good Friday offering His life on the cross to secure our eternal salvation.