Time and again we’ve heard Christ’s teaching about the folly of men and women who believe they are above the rest of us and the wisdom of men and women who know their limitations and their need for God and others.
But I’d like to say a few words about our opening prayer for this Mass. In it we ask God to put into our hearts a love for God’s name and a deepening sense of reverence so that God may nurture in us what is good.
Sometimes are lives can be so superficial, so shallow. We get caught up in things that are so much fluff, so passing. We ask for a sense of reverence, a sense of awe so that we can appreciate the wonder of ourselves and of life itself. We can begin with ourselves and the wonder that before the world began God chose us in Christ to be his adopted sons and daughters, such was his will and pleasure. We are to appreciate our own worth and dignity and the worth and dignity of every person who comes into our lives. When we allow racism and bigotry to take root in ourselves we diminish our own dignity- these mentalities are unworthy of us.
May we be blessed in a reverence, a sense of awe for the Eucharist we are celebrating right now? Right here, right now we are renewing the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Right here right now we are touch by the wonder that Jesus loved and loves each one of us, thought enough of each one of us that he died his painful death of crucifixion for us.
Could we use a deeper sense and reference and awe for the nourishment we receive at this Mass; the body and blood of Jesus? Could use a great sense of awe when we remember the promise of Jesus; those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I live in them; we become what we receive, Jesus.
As the human family we desperately need a deeper reverence and sense of awe for the wonders of God’s good creation. A masterpiece that has been 13 billion years in the making and is still not finished. A masterpiece we’ve exploited for our own selfish needs, at the expense of other peoples who share this Earth with us. A masterpiece we’ve degraded by our failure to live within the limits of Earth’s resources. Can we lift our eyes from our ipads and see the beauty of other people and the bountiful beauty of God good creation, not just in a dazzling beauty of a sunrise or a sunset but also in the ordinary dandelion, a flower we’ve reduced to a pesty weed?
Lord, bless us with a sense of awe and wonder.
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.
