In our opening prayer we ask God to deepen our sense of reverence for God and how God works in our lives. In other words deepen in us a reverential attitude and appreciation for our lives, our faith, the gifts of health, our families and the possibilities that life offers us. Let’s face it, we take so many things for granted, we just presume on God and the gifts of God.
You’ve heard me speak before about having an attitude of gratitude. You know what it is like to be taken for granted, when family members just presume you will be at their beck and call. Sons and daughters expect you’ll put aside your own needs and be there for what they want. Your boss expects you to be available 24/7. We know how much we resent being taken for granted. We may have a smile on our face but there is a hard feeling in our heart.
How much do we treasure our good health? How much do we appreciate our mobility? How much do we appreciate the gifts and talents with which we have been blessed? How often do we take these precious gifts for granted?
How much do we appreciate our gift of faith, our membership in the church? How much are we in awe at what we are celebrating right here, right now; ‘when we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim your death of Lord’? Right here, right now we make present the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
What would it profit us if we gained the whole world and lost our sense of reverence, our attitude of gratitude for God’s love for us, a love we see proven in the crucified body of God’s beloved son?
Can we think for a moment and offer a prayer for the families who are now homeless, businesses now destroyed and jobs put on hold by the winds and rain that devastated Houston and surrounding communities this past week? Did this tragedy in any way make us more conscious of how consumerist life styles, how our careless exploitation of earth’s resources has impacted the very health of Earth’s life systems? We’ve presumed that Earth’s resources are limitless, and they are not. We presumed on Earth’s bounty and in many ways refused to share them with nations not as blessed as are we. Has this past week moved us in any way moved us to a reverential attitude toward God’s good creation and our relationship to it?
What would it profit us if we gained the whole world and lost any sense of our oneness with the rest God’s good creation?
As we continue this Eucharist may we pray for each other that each of us be blessed with a deeper sense of reverence and awe for all the ways we are blessed and enriched by God’s gifts to each of us.
This Homily entry was posted on Sunday, September 3rd, 2017.
Founded by St. Paul of the Cross, every Passionist takes a special vow to spend his or her energies in promoting remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus, the memory of the Cross, and reflection of the meaning of the Cross for the world.
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