Losing One's Life for the Sake of God

In today's Gospel, Mt. 10: 37-42, Jesus says to us "whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."  You may have seen the Special Olympic race in Seattle a few years back when, as the race started, a little boy lost his footing and another racer came back to help him. Seeing that, the other six racers returned to the starting line also to help!  It was not about winning for those children, it was about helping another little boy who had fallen and scraped his knee and elbow in the process. I also recall seeing, in another racing incident, an example of "losing" and thus finding.   A racer falls down during a race and a fellow racer stops to help him. Both lose the race but know what Jesus meant in today's Scripture!  The generosity of God to those who  put helping others ahead of material gains is beyond measurable now and in eternity!

We see God's generosity working through Elisha in today's first reading.  A wealthy woman built a room on the roof of her home and furnished it so that the prophet Elisha, when he visited again, would have a place to stay. Elisha, in turn, wants to do something for this woman and asks: "'Can something be done for her?' His servant Gehazi answered, 'Yes! she has no son, and her husband is getting on in years.' Elisha said, 'Call her.' When the woman had been called and stood at the door, Elisha promised, 'This time next year you will be fondling a baby son.'"

God is never outdone in generosity!  How generous am I, are you, in being there for others and giving a helping hand? Would I, would you, do what the one special Olympiad had done to help one of the racers who lost his footing and thus risk losing the race oneself? 

Lord, may I have my priorities straight! May I live for You and not for things this world promises when such would replace doing what the Spirit invites me to do.

Compete Well for the Faith

What an incredible God we have! In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 146, we praised God as the  One who sets captives free, gives sight to the blind, gives food to the hungry, raises up those who are depressed, loves the just, protects strangers, sustains those who are widowed or orphaned, and blocks the way of the wicked.

We might take the time today to reflect on how God has done these things for ourselves.   How has god fed our hunger for Him, for strength to endure a difficult situation at work, in our homes, concerning our health? How often has God not lifted up up in down times?  How often have you or I been in need for being set free from an addiction that led to our neglect our families: our children or grandchildren, our spouse, our elderly parents, or our fellow Sisters/Brothers in a religious community?

St. Paul, in today's second reading, 1 Timothy 6: 121-16, urges us to ";pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith,"  St. Paul says to us.  If that would have been the goal of the rich man in today's Gospel, Luke 16: 19-31, he certainly would have not ended up as he did when he entered eternal life. Caught up in, addicted to, good times, good food and the comforts his wealth afforded him, he neglected the poor, and, in particular, a sick man named Lazarus "lying at his door...covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table."

For what am I competing?  For that which is just? To what am I devoted: my family, my fellow community members, especially those who are significantly limited by physical and cognitive limitations?   Am I competing to increase my patience with others' and my own weaknesses, limitations, imperfections?  Am I growing in love, in devotedness to those in need, in being gentle in the face of life's harsh moments? Or do I escape these faith challenges by "gluing" myself to computer games, gambling trips, excessive and unnecessary shopping, nonstop TV watching or other distractions?

Lord, help us to take the words of these Scriptures seriously and have the change of heart that we need!

Blessed by God with an Abundance

Today's first reading calls us to "fear [reverence] the Lord, [our] God, and follow his ways exactly, to love and serve the Lord, [our] God, with all [our] heart and all [our] soul, to keep the commandments and statues of the Lord...for [our] own good."

Yesterday, August 11, I had the privilege of celebrating my 60th jubilee as a vowed member of the Sister of the Sorrowful Mother!  Sixty years of being blessed by God with an abundance!  Truly God gives a hundredfold to those who follow Jesus in their respective vocations: consecrated life,  priesthood, marriage or the single life.  God is never outdone in generosity to those who reverence Him and strive to "follow his ways exactly, to love and serve the Lord, our god, with all our heart and all our love, to keep the commandments and statues of the Lord."  The majority of us can thank our parents for this gift of reverence of our God!

The gifts I received are truly that: gifts freely given and which found their way into my life because of my parents. Mom and dad passed the faith on to me and my siblings and modeled living their faith in God, in one another, and in themselves.. What gifts they were in their faithfulness to one another, their love of their children and their willingness to sacrifice for us!  Nothing was too much for them! I am grateful to them for all of this and especially for teaching us children that "if there is a will, then, there is a way."   Self-pity was not in the bag, so to speak!  "Just do it" was a motto we were taught long before Niki ever existed!

I never realized as a child that Jesus''determination to do whatever the Father asked of Him was what guided my parents, though this was not put in words.   They followed Jesus' way "as exactly"  as a human being is capable.  They knew their dependence upon God, as evidenced by their faithfulness to weekly worship with a community of believers, their involvement in their parish, weekly confession and daily prayer at home, especially the daily praying of the rosary.  They carried "the cross," as life was not easy for them, by any stretch of the imagination. Nor has life been easy for any of my siblings. Following the example of our parents, all of us persevered  through the tough times of our lives.  We are who we are, strong Christians, as a result of the way we coped with the "Calvaries" of  our lives over time.

God be praised and thanked and glorified!

The Generosity of Our God

In today's first reading, Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15, we read about the Israelites having been freed from the slavery of the Egyptians and are crossing the desert on their way to the land promised to them by their God.  Food is scarce. In anger, they grumble against Moses and Aaron: "Would that we had died at the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and had our fill of bread!" God, of course, who is always present, leading  us, walking beside us, behind us and ahead of us, hears their complaint! He does not get sucked into their anger and respond angrily. No! He says to Moses: I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion...I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the Lord, am your God."

WOW!  That is our God then and now!

The bread that God sent down to the Israelites in the desert was perishable food, not food that lasts. The Bread set down to us now is bread that lasts into eternal life: that Bread of Life is Jesus, as we read in today's Gospel, John 6: 24-35. Jesus tells the people: Do not work for food that perishes but for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you....[T]he bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world....I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

Are we aware of this Truth? Do we come to Jesus in the Eucharist, in the daily Scriptures, in our personal, communal and liturgical prayer seeking to know Jesus more deeply and more personally, to grow in our faith and trust and love?  Do we even pray for  these graces each day, recognizing our need for the Lord's help?

The Holy Spirit is Not Rationed

In today's Gospel, John 3: 31-36, we are reminded that God "does not ration the Holy Spirit." God is a giving God.  In his showing us God's love, Jesus held nothing back. He gave everything He had, His very life. God continues to hold nothing back from any one of us. The question is: Are we open to the Lord's generosity? Do we trust the Lord?  For concrete example of being open to receiving all that God wants to offer us in terms of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of at the Holy Spirit, all we need to do is look at the Apostles. Before Pentecost, they were frightened individuals who, except for John, hid from the Jews when Jesus was being crucified. Peter, the "rock" upon which Jesus built the Church,  went so far as to deny that he even knew the Lord.  After Pentecost, Peter boldly proclaimed Jesus' death and resurrection and continued doing so even after several arrests. Nothing held Peter back, as God "does not ration the Holy Spirit."  He gave his all as Jesus did!

What about you and I?  Do we give our all, knowing that God meets us on our way and even goes ahead of us preparing the way for us to gather an abundant harvest of the "seeds" of love that we sow along the way of life? As we journey through a day, do we expect God to be generous or do we perceive God as being stingy, one who withholds His gifts and thus we sow sparingly?

Glorifying God

In today's first reading, Romans 5: 12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21, St. Paul reminds us that, just as sin came into the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, so, too, did righteousness come into the world through Jesus, the Incarnate  Son of God, who was obedient to the Father even unto death.  Psalm 40, speaking of Jesus, says: "Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings you sought not; then said I, 'Behold I come.'  In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, to do your will, O my God, is my delight."

You and I are made righteous through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Because of Jesus' obedience to His Father, and ours, grace overflows into our lives, as Paul also proclaims:  "Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  When you and I admit our sinfulness and acknowledge our neediness of God's overflowing graces,  and when we submit our will to the will of God, those graces are poured out upon us in an abundance that only God is capable of bestowing upon us.  May God's generosity lead us to say, with the author of Psalm 40: "The Lord be glorified."  And may that glorification of God become a reality by our words and deeds in the everydayness of our lives!

The Abundant Kindness of our God

In the opening prayer of today's liturgy, we state that God, in the abundance of his kindness, surpasses the merits and the desires of those who entreat him, that He pours out his mercy upon us beyond our imaginings, pardons us of dreaded offenses and gives us what we dare not ask.  In today's gospel, Luke 11: 5-13, Jesus reminds us that if someone comes to our door at midnight asking for a loaf of bread, though we may turn him away initially, we would, by this person's insistence, respond positively to his request so that he stops pounding on our door in the middle of the night.  Jesus then asks us: who of us would give our children "a snake when he asks for a fish...a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" And we need to remember that God, in the abundance of his kindness, surpasses the merits and the desires of those who entreat him, that He blesses us beyond our imaginings, and, yes, gives us what we dare not ask!

What a God!  "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!"

God's Justice

In today Gospel, Matthew 18,  21-19:1,  Peter asks Jesus how many times does he need to forgive those who sin against him: "As many as seven times?"  Peter asks.  Jesus responds: "Not seven times but seventy-seven times," Peter. Jesus then goes on to describe the Kingdom of heaven in terms of a king settling accounts with those who owe him money.  The king has a debtor brought before him  who owes way more than he could ever pay off. The debtor's master, therefore, orders that this person's "wife, his children,  and all his property be sold as payment."  The poor man, totally distraught, begs his master to have pity on him. "Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full." The master dissolves the debtor's entire loan. He owes nothing, nothing at all.

That is us, folks!  Because of our sins, we owe God a debt that, in no way, are we able to pay off. In his mercy, God resolves our debt entirely through the passion, death and resurrection of His only begotten Son, whom He sends into the world to reveal God's love for us! Jesus pays our debt! emus is our ransom!

Will we, by the way we live our lives in justice, love, mercy, and forgiveness accept God's pardon?  Or are we squandering God's gift of salvation by doing what the forgiven man did: treating others mercilessly?  "Should [we] not have...pity on [our] fellow servant[s], as [God] has pity on [us]?

Sowing Bountifully or Sparingly

In today's first reading, 2 Cor 9: 6-11, St. Paul reminds us that "whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."  How challenging it can be at times to sow bountifully. If you are like me, sometimes you cut corners by letting the other person do what we easily could do ourselves or do for others. Or we let the other do our share of the chores that need being done. Or, we know what our responsibilities are as partners in marriage, as members of a religious community, as children, as employees but shun them. For instance, a child may say to him/herself: "If mom and dad don't notice, I will get away without practicing the piano or spending time reading", or whatever.  Or, a husband or wife might say:  "Mom/dad can do that; I am tired; I've worked hard all day" and don't lift a finger to help. When we sow sparingly, we also reap sparingly:  we feel depleted, dissatisfied, less loved, less compassionate, less fulfilled.

Those who sow bountifully give the 100-150%.  Nothing is too much for them.  They notice things that need to be done. They look for ways to be helpful. They do not wait to be waited upon but are the waiters. They do not wait to be served, but are the servers.  These persons  "have an abundance for every good work...," St. Paul reminds us in this passage. They are "being enriched in every way for all [their] generosity." 

Are you satisfied with yourself? Are you sowing bountifully or sparingly? The choice is yours and so are the results!

Active Faith and Jesus' Response

In today’s Gospel, Mark 5: 21-43, a woman who has been ill for 12 years,  exhausted her savings and experienced painful treatments to no avail, approaches Jesus quietly, hoping to simply touch the hem of His garment, knowing in faith, that she will be healed. And she is!  Jesus turns around and asks: Who touched me?  The disciples think he’s crazy to ask such a question when they were surrounded by a crowd of people so “thick” it was impossible not to rub against one another. Yet, Jesus knew that healing  power had flowed out of Him.  The woman who was healed and who would have been considered unclean because of her condition comes forward and acknowledges that she is the one who touched Him.  In love and compassion, Jesus commends her for her faith, saying to her: “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”

Jesus waits, also, for you and I to approach Him in faith, unafraid to come forward. Jesus will not shame us, as others might do for being “unclean,” for being considered unworthy by some, by being ostracized and excluded by many. We may have even been treated badly, such as being told to “get outta here. You don’t belong here.”  This woman knew that she was considered unclean and that anyone who touched her would also be labeled unclean and would need to submit to the legal ramifications of ignoring the Mosaic laws that applied to such individuals. Yet she approached Jesus!

To Jesus, what mattered were love, compassion, understanding and mercy. God is a loving God, a compassionate God, a kind God, a God of understanding and mercy.  Legalism was not part of Jesus’ vocabulary or behaviors. Over and over again, Jesus challenged people of His day who adhered rigidly  to ritual and laws at the expense of responding lovingly to human need. He does so today, also.

How do you and I relate to others? Are we slaves to rigid boundaries? Are we legalistic, denying others the compassion, the mercy, the love of God that dwells within us? Or do we, like Jesus, rise above legalism and challenge the rigid application of set rules/structures, playing it safe to look good in the eyes of authority outside of ourselves?

Direct Us, Lord, and Deliver Us

My prayer today is that of the author of Psalm 25: 1-8,  entitled “Prayer in danger”:

Adoration I offer, Yahweh,

to you, my God.

But in my trust in you do not put me to shame,

let not my enemies gloat over me.

Calling to you, none shall ever be put to shame,

but shame is theirs who groundlessly break faith.

Direct me in your ways, Yahweh,

and teach me your paths.

Encourage me to walk in your truth and teach me

since you are the God who saves me.

For my hope is in you all day long—

Such is your generosity, Yahweh.

Goodness and faithful love have been yours for ever,

Yahweh, do not forget them.

Hold not my…sins against me,

But remember me as your faithful love dictates.

Integrity and generosity are marks of Yahweh

for he brings sinners back to the path.”

I offer this prayer for the U.S.A. I am afraid that we have abandoned integrity, goodness, and faithful love. We have left the path, I am afraid, of truth and need God to save us: “Direct [us] in your ways, Yahweh, and teach [us] your paths.”  Also, Lord, “let not [our] enemies gloat over [us]. Be with us, Lord, as we pass through the darkness and chaos that is likely to lie ahead. I ask this in Jesus’ name.

God's Immeasurable Riches

Today, in Ephesians 2:1-10, we are blessed with another one of St. Paul’s messages of God’s awesome generosity, mercy and love.  Bluntly, St. Paul tells the followers of Christ, that is, each one of us: “You, [Dorothy Ann,] were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you once lived following the age of this world,… the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient.”  [Dorothy Ann] you “…once lived among them in the desires of [your]flesh [and of your ego], following the wishes of the flesh [and of your ego] and [your] impulses, were by nature [a child] of wrath, like the rest.” 

St. Paul puts it on the line, so to speak.  Nothing in that passage is something of which to be boastful or proud. Without redemption, you and I were a mess and in deep trouble, resistant to following the will of God and cooperating with grace. No way, however, would God allow you or me, masterpieces of His hand, His possessions, to perish, to remain “dead.”  No, says St. Paul. “God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved), raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus….[Y]ou have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works,…For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.”

How awesome! We live on this earth doing good that God has prepared for us do to ahead of time: everything we need to live a good life has been secured for us by a loving, caring, faithful God! Why has God done this? So that “he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

Today, Lord, may my eyes, and yours, be opened to the “immeasurable riches” of God’s grace bestowed upon me “in Christ Jesus” and may I not choose death by following “the age of this world,…the [evil] spirit that is…[always] at work in the disobedient”:  the arrogant, the deceitful, the corrupt, the greedy, the unjust, the proud, the abusive  persons of our societies. And, Lord, when I do fall into Satan’s snares, may I recognize and acknowledge my failures, my sinful ways, and come to you and those I offended, asking for pardon and forgiveness.  

O, the Greatness, the Generosity, the Mercy and the Love of our God

In today’s first reading, 1 Cor 11¨17-26, 33, St. Paul reminds us that what he received from the Lord Jesus he hands on to us, namely, “that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my Body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This is the cup of the new covenant in my Blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”

At every Eucharist, we remember what God has done for us on Calvary. We give thanks through Jesus Christ and we take and eat in obedience to His teaching that “the bread that  I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world….Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise that person on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person.”

At every Mass the Holy Spirit changes the bread and wine into Jesus through the consecrated hands of the priest.  “It is the Lord,” each of us at Mass can say as we ponder the act of consecration and what happens on the altar when the words of Consecration are said. At that moment, God comes down from heaven to visit us in person, to share the fullness of His life with us and the gift of reconciliation with our God. In the Eucharist, God transforms us, purifies us, recreates us into the persons God designed us to be in His creation of us and in His molding of us in our mother’s womb! O, what a gift is Eucharist! O, what a gift is the Mass! O, the greatness and the generosity and the mercy and the love of our God!

Those Who Have More, More will be Given

Today’s Gospel, Matthew 13: 10-17, Jesus is asked why he speaks in parables to the crowd. He says it is because “knowledge of mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to [the crowd]  it has not been granted.”  Furthermore, Jesus says, “ to anyone who has, more will be given and [that person] will grow rich; from anyone who has nit, even what [that person] has will be taken away.”

What are we to make of Jesus’ explanation?  The crowd, Jesus says, has not received “knowledge of mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven” but you have.  We might interpret that to mean that  God gives to individuals--calls individuals.  The call is personal, individualized.  We might then ask: “Why, Lord, to the one who has,  more will be given and to the person who has nothing, nothing will be given and even the little this person has, that little will be taken away from him/her. “  Is it possible that when we have nothing or very little—and probably are not doing much to grow in our faith, we lose the little we have and, if our “jug” is empty of faith, it stays empty because we are doing nothing to assist in its growth?  On the other hand, when a person has a lot, is it because that person is working and doing all within his/her power to achieve even deeper knowledge. Thus the more one has the more one receives because of the open disposition of that person’s heart, mind, and will?

“Seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be open to you,” 

Jesus says to us in Matthew 7:7.  Are you seeking by engaging in spiritual reading, in reflecting on the Scriptures, in attending religious services and  receiving the sacraments? Are you knocking at the door of  God’s heart, seeking God in the stillness of your own being, in the stillness of nature, in the stillness of a religious service?  Are  seeking to love and be loved, seeking to forgive and be forgiven? Are you seeking that which is true for you?

A Generous, Attentive, Listening God

In today's Gospel, Mark 6: 34-44,  Jesus is concerned about a crowd of people. They are, He says, "like sheep without a shepherd.  He takes time to instruct them "in many things".  It's getting late and the disciples ask Jesus to send the crowd away so they can get something to eat for themselves in the nearby villages and farms.  Jesus challenges them to feed the crowd themselves. They wonder how the heck they are to do that without losing a day's wage. Then they notice that someone in the crowd has five loaves and two fish. He orders the 5000 men (women and children not counted) to sit down in small groups. Looking up to heaven, from where all good comes, Jesus blesses and breaks the bread and divides the fish. All are fed and there are leftovers of both commodities!

Who are you/who am I in that passage? a member of the crowd? one of the disciples who is afraid of losing a day's wage to help out those in need? one of the disciples who asks Jesus to dismiss the crowd and does not want to be bothered? Are you/am I the person with the five loaves and two fish that I need for my lunch but am willing to give them to Jesus to feed the people? Are you/am I one of the disciples who notices Jesus' generosity and is grateful or one who does not notice but participates in the meal? Are you/am I one of the disciples who listens to the Word of God and puts it in practice, following the Spirit to be of help in whatever little way I can?

Lord, help me to become more of a listening person and a doer of good for other's benefit, willing to let go and not cling to "my possessions," my time, my energy or whatever you are asking me to share with others for the common good or the good of my family/my community!

Our Humanity Infused with God's Divinity

In the opening prayer of today 's liturgy, we pray: O God, Creator and Redeemer of human nature...look with favor on our prayers, that your Only Begotten Son, having taken to himself our humanity, may be pleased to grant us a share in his divinity," that is, in all that is divine: love, mercy, compassion, selfless giving, being for the other, gratitude, justice, peace, understanding, healing words and actions, purity, integrity,honesty, patience, humility and inclusiveness. Because God assumed our human nature and died on the cross for our salvation, becoming divine like Jesus is possible, as possible as God taking on human nature in Mary's virgin womb! "O Wisdom of our God Most High, guiding creation with power and love: come...[and] teach us the path of [this holy] knowledge."

This is my prayer today. What is yours?

Being Brought to Perfection by and in Christ Jesus

Oh, the richness of the readings of today’s liturgy and the great love of our God for each one of us.  In the first reading, Acts 22: 30; 23: 6-11,  the Lord says to Paul, who has encountered all kinds of problems in his ministry, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.”  The Lord asks us also to “take courage.” We are to be His witnesses right where we are this moment, this day, this week at work and at home, in our parishes and our schools, with our children and grandchildren, with our spouses and co-workers and with our neighbors around the world.

In the responsorial psalm of today’s Mass, Psalm 16, we say to the Lord: “My Lord are you. O Lord, my allotted portion and cup, you it is who counsels me; …I set the Lord ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.”  The Lord is my cup and yours. He fills it and He empties it! Fills it with love; empties it of hatred and prejudice. Fills it with meekness and empties it of anger. Fills it with joy and empties it of sadness, envy and jealousy. Fills it with humility and empties it of pride and arrogance. Fills it with courage and empties it of fear! Fills it with truth and empties it of deceit. Fills it with generosity and empties it of selfishness and on and on and on!

God is a generous God and an initiator. When He sees that my cup, or yours,  is empty, He is there to fill it.  Why?  Jesus gives us the reason in His last discourse to the apostles at the Last Supper and related in today’s Gospel, John 17: 20-26: “…I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as  we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.”

How aware am I, are you, that God is filling and emptying your cup?

In God, With God, Through God

God “gives to everyone life and breath and everything…’In him we live and move and have our being,’…[f]or we too are his offspring,’”  we read in today’s first reading, Acts 17: 15, 22-18:1.   In the Gospel, John John 16: 12-15,   Jesus  tells us that when the Advocate “comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth….He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told y9ou that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

How awesome is the  relationship God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have developed with us. God who made all that is, the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, God who  created man and woman in His likeness shares everything with us. The Spirit will bring us to this truth, in fact, to all truth:  the truth about our Creator, the truth about this universe, the truth about ourselves, the truth about a child in the womb, the truth about all men and women created equally in the eyes of God, truth about justice and love and mercy and all that has it origin in God and taught to us by Jesus.  We will come to realize that  God  “made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us.” For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’”!

How do my behaviors/attitudes reveal that I have come to know that God has given me “life and breath and everything,”  that  I “live and move and have[my] being” in God?  Would I treat others differently if I live from the belief that they, too, have been given “life and breath and everything” from God and that they, too, “live and move and have [their] being” in God?

Fulfilling God's Purpose

Today’s  first reading, Isaiah 55:10-11, speaks about God’s word going forth from God’s mouth never returning  to Him void, but always doing the will for which the word was sent.  You and I are small words—Jesus is The Word of God--sent forth by the mouth of God to accomplish the purpose for which God put us here on earth.  We will not return to the Lord until we have accomplished that purpose. How  mind-boggling  to realize that God  not only sent us here to accomplish His purpose but also did so in a way that  we possess all of the “tools” needed to accomplish God’s will. Furthermore, God did not send us alone; He has sent His Spirit to direct us, strengthen us, and enlighten us along the way. He also sent His Son to destroy Satan’s power over us.    And, as noted in the liturgy’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 34, as we go through life striving to accomplish God’s will by doing the good we were sent to do, the Lord rescues us from all of our distress, that is, from that which would hamper us from doing the good we are challenged to bring about in God’s name and overcoming the evil that we encounter. Furthermore, the Lord stays close to us when our hearts are broken (Psalm 34) and saves us when we “are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34).