Imitate God in His Holiness, Compassion, Justice and Love

Today's first reading, Leviticus 19: 1-2, 17-18, exhorts us to "[b]e holy, for I, the Lord, your God am holy."  How? By  following the counsel given in this same passage:  "Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. ..[L]ove your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." Paul, then, in the second reading, 1 Cor 3: 16-23, asks us the question:  "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the the Spirit of God dwells in you?  ...[T]he temple of God, which you are, is holy,."  In the Gospel, Jesus amplifies the teaching of Leviticus, saying to us:  "[L]over your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." And he exemplifies this calling when, on the cross, Jesus prays for his enemies, asking the Father to forgive them for they know not what they are doing!

Holiness is not just something to talk about or read about.  It must be lived by us by the way we treat each other, especially those who hurt us, treat us poorly, gossip about us, hold us in disdain, refuse to greet us or who have nothing good to say to us or about us. In today's Gospel, Mt. 5: 38-48,  Jesus challenges us to imitate His Father, who shines the sun on the good and the bad and orders the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust.  You and I are also to shine the "sun" of love, of grace and of goodness and justice upon those who sin against us.  We are to radiate God's holiness within us upon everyone, especially upon those we do not particularly like or who do not like us. If we greet only to those who cherish us, Jesus is then speaking directly to us us when He says:   ...[I]f you greet your brothers [or sisters] only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."  Be compassionate just as God is compassionate. Be caring just as God is caring. Love just as God loves!

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, our God

Today’s first reading,  Revelation 4: 1-11, concludes with the following proclamation: “Worthy are you, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things; because of your will they came to be and were created.”

Every one—each of our family members and all of our relatives, every citizen of our country and all countries throughout the world, our president elect and his family members, each of the persons he is choosing for his cabinet, every member of the Senate and the House of Representatives, everyone in public service, all of our clergy from the Pope down to our parish priests and ministers in any religion, persons  we like and those we dislike—has come into being because of God’s will.  Each of us is here to carry out a special mission given to us by our Creator God. Will we carry out God’s purpose for us today or decide to carry our own will apart from God?

In heaven, day and night, God is proclaimed holy:  “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was, and who is and who is to come” (Revelation 4: 8).    May  we, day and night, in good times and bad times, in each season of our lives here on earth—spring, summer, fall and winter-- worship God, praise God and give God thanks for our existence and that of all of creation. And  may all that we do and say give glory to our God and carry out the purpose for which God brought us into being!

The Almighty Is Doing Great Things: Do I Realize It?

Both the first reading of today’s liturgy, 1 Samuel 1: 24-28, and the Gospel, Luke 1: 46-56, hail two great women who give God that which was most precious to them, their only child!  They held nothing back from God. Hannah prayed for a child and God answered her prayer, changing her sterile womb into a fruitful one. She gave Samuel back to God.  Mary was chosen to bear in her womb the Son of God, who took on flesh within her through the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary echoed her son’s “yes” to God’s will for Him in saving humankind from the destruction of sin and eternal damnation by surrendering His life to the Father on the cross and in His resurrection from death. Mary gave her Son back to God.

What am I willing to give back to God for all of His graces God give to me? What is your response to God’s goodness to you and your family?

Mary prays: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked upon his lowly servant.  From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.

Do I realize the greatness of the Lord at work in my life and in the life of the world? Do I realize that God, my Savior, “had looked upon his lowly servant”, upon each and every person on this earth, and that, given the gift of redemption, each and every one of us “will be called blessed: [yes, ] “the Almighty [is doing] great things for [us] and holy is His name.”

Great and Wonderful Are God's Works

In today’s first reading, we pray the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb:

“Great and wonderful are your works,

Lord God almighty.

Just and true are your ways,

O king of the nations.

Who will not fear you, Lord,

Or glorify your name?

For you alone are holy.

All the nations will come

And worship before you,

for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

At every Mass, we join Moses and all of the saints and angels in heaven, proclaiming the greatness of the Lord, acknowledging the justice and truth of God’s ways and recognizing God as “King of the nations.”  We glorify God name, God, who alone is holy and to whom all nations will come, worshipping before the Lord, God of hosts.  God’s righteous acts are revealed in the consecration of every Mass, where earth and heaven join in worship, in becoming one with the Lord, who gives Himself to us in Holy Communion to reconfirm our union with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let us shout: “Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God” (the Antiphon of today’s Responsorial Psalm 98), for the Lord’s “right hand has won victory for him,” and for us.  “The Lord has made his salvation known” (Responsorial Psalm 98).

May we allow God today to make His salvation known through the way in which we relate to each other and in the way that we respond to injustices done toward us or other or in the way in which we react when confronted with truth—perhaps a truth we do not want to hear about ourselves.