One of the greatest truths of our faith of God is a
mystery. Our belief in God
features an interesting paradox—that God is both utterly transcendent but ever
present and accessible at the same time.
Remember
that God created everything out of nothing. As the school year has started, I have introduced the candy basket to motivate our students to
learn our faith. The kindergarten
through fourth grade classes can memorize a verse from the Bible to earn a
piece of candy. But the
preschoolers simply have to tell me something about God. Without exception, the little ones have
alluded to God’s creation. God made cars. God made trees.
God made my puppy. God made
us. It is wise to take
seriously this childlike faith in God.
Indeed, God made all of the above.
He made the stars, sun and planets. He created life and made everything we see in nature. He made us.
Yet
that wasn’t enough for God and He sent us His son. Jesus, “…though
he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something
to be grasped. Rather,
he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming
in human likeness.” If we
were to make a spectrum of all that lives, we humans would fall infinitely
closer to the worms and mosquitoes than God. God is eternal, all-powerful and all knowledgeable. Yet He became one of us!
Yet
that wasn’t enough. God’s son “…humbled himself, becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” It wasn’t enough for Jesus to become a
man—he suffered, was tortured and died for us.
Yet
that wasn’t enough. “Because of this, God greatly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bend…” Jesus rose again!
Yet
that still wasn’t enough. Jesus
gave—and continues to give—his very body and blood in the Eucharist. And how does he give this? By turning bread and wine—the most
common food and drink—into himself.
How much simpler could God be present to us than what looks like a small
wafer of bread and simple chalice of wine?
Since
the beginning of time, there has been a marvelous exchange between God and
us. In Catholic theology this is called
in Latin exitus reditus. (Don’t worry, there won’t be a quiz
later!) Exitus refers to the gifts that come from God—creation, life, love
and mercy. Reditus refers to how we respond back to God.
This is what Mass is all about! When we present the collection, bread
and wine, we symbolically remember everything God has given us. We present it to Him and, through the
prayers and actions of the priest, it is transformed into Jesus’ body and
blood.
Our first reading and Gospel make it clear that our
fundamental response to God is a simple choice—for God or for something
else. Ezekiel puts it bluntly: “When someone virtuous turns away from virtue
to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he
committed that he must die. But
if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, he
does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life…”
How will you respond to God this week?
Thank you for this sermon, Father.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.