I’m dating myself when I quote the Baltimore Catechism. The first question was ‘who made me? God made me. Why did God make me? God made me to know him and love him and serve him in this world and be happy with him in the next. We are meant to live in this world and in the next. Death is not the final word – life is the final word, the final reality.
This past week we celebrate the feast of St. Irenaeus, a bishop of the second century. One of his sayings was, ‘The glory of God is man/woman fully alive.
We are fully alive and give God glory when we are living the teachings of Jesus and the example of Jesus in our daily lives. We are fully alive and give God glory when we support the unborn, we are fully alive and give God glory when support hospices and a dignified life for our seniors, we are fully alive and give God glory when we support food banks, when we support efforts for affordable housing, when we work for a minimum wage that can support a family.
We are fully alive and give God glory when we follow the advice of St. Paul who tells to say only the good things people need to hear, things that will really help them. We are fully alive and give God glory when we challenge sexist or racist or homophobic remarks in any conversation. We are fully alive and give God glory when we challenge racist remarks that lessen the dignity and worth of our brothers and sisters.
We are fully alive and give God glory when we have the courage to change our consumer life styles and live simply that others may simply live. We are fully alive and give God glory when we delight in the beauty and wonder of God’s good creation and we are fully alive and give God glory when we work for the healing of the wounded Earth.
We are fully alive and give God glory when we work for the healing of our church, wounded by the scandals of our priests and bishops.
We are fully alive and give glory to God when we love and support and respect life in all its manifestations. We are fully alive and give God glory when we are there for family, friend or stranger as Jesus we there for Jairus and his daughter and the suffering woman who touched his garment.
We are fully alive and give glory to God when we try, as best we can to live the new commandment – love one another as I have loved you.
We can continue this Mass giving thanks to God for living in this wonderful land of Canada and seek the grace to be fully alive.
This Homily entry was posted on Sunday, July 1st, 2018.
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