Working Through You

“The Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
so that through me the proclamation might be completed
and all the Gentiles might hear it.”

2 Timothy 4:17

Not too long after St. Paul penned his second letter to Timothy did he glorify God by his martyrdom. While imprisoned awaiting his death, the time when he was to meet the One he once persecuted, St. Paul acknowledged that it was the Lord strengthened him and it was the Lord who stood by him, not just in prison, but throughout his ministry. Undoubtedly, St. Paul did great works during his ministry, spreading the Good News to the Gentiles, converting the hearts of many, but St. Paul knew that it was the Lord who did the great works through him.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the two great Apostles who were instrumental in the propagation of the Faith in the early Church. These two men did not necessarily have clean records. St. Peter denied Christ and St. Paul persecuted Christ in the Christians. Yet, they were chosen to be messengers of the One whom one denied and the other persecuted. It was in being chosen that they realized the Lord had always been by them, strengthening them and encouraging them. God does not choose the strong or the most qualified, He simply chooses those whom He has called. And brothers and sisters, God has called you.

There is a special calling for each one of us. Some may say “Well I am not holy at all!” or “I have a lot of shortcomings; I am sure God has someone else better in mind…” But the answer is “No.” God does have others in mind, but they each too have their own unique calling. It is not our perfection or strengths that God sees; it is only our hearts that He see. He saw the repentant hearts of Peter and Paul and He loved them. God sees our hearts and He loves us, and He wants to work through us so that all peoples might come to know and experience His love and mercy. Will we let God work through us today?

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us!

It’s Always Been Him

“It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt,
and who led you through the desert for forty years,
to occupy the land of the Amorites.”

Amos 2:10

Through the Prophet Amos, the Lord reminds the people who they were and how they go to where they were at the point. The people seemed to have forgotten about God and they were doing to others and even to each other what the Egyptians did to them. The people seemingly had forsaken their name sake and the One who led their ancestors out of slavery through the Red Sea dry shod. During the Exodus the Lord led them as a column of cloud or a pillar of fire and when the Holy of Holies was constructed His very own Presence was manifested there. The God who walked with them became irrelevant to them and they began to live as it it was themselves that have earned the comforts they enjoyed. But soon their sinful behaviors — not just because they abandoned the Lord, but also because of how they treated each other, as slaves, as foreigners, and as enemies — will meet their natural consequences. Their pride and their lack of faith will lead to their fall to the Assyrians and then the Babylonians, becoming slaves once again, and this time by their own choosing.

The Israelites forgot that it has always been the Lord who guided them, led them, protected them, and loved them. It was the Lord and His mercy and compassion towards them that sustained them. Yet, they refused to acknowledge this but instead subjected and submitted themselves to their own yokes, leading them to slavery and death. When we come to serve ourselves — the world calls this freedom, by the way — we really become slaves to ourselves. That is not freedom. A life of pride and self-indulgence is not “the good life,” but rather the fleeting life because what appeared so good and felt so pleasurable quickly fades. A life in service to others and to God, which the world calls silly, dumb, and stupid, is truly the good life, the life that is truly free, free because we live in a manner knowing that all that we have and all that we have experienced and all that is to come is a gift, unmerited and undeserved. When we come to see that all is gift and grace, we will be able to live without the yokes that cause us anxiety and fear because we will have realized that in all things and in all times, it has always been the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, do you know that it has always been Him? Whenever we look back in life and remember the moments of sadness and sorrow and disappointment and grief and at the same time recognize the very fact that we are here today and see how far we’ve come, do we pat ourselves on the back for being resilient because we got through it ourselves, or do we feel within our hearts a deep sense of gratitude to those who have helped us during those difficult times, realizing that it was all part of God’s plan to send them into our lives. It was not simply our grit or resilience or luck, it was Providence. May we remember today that it has always been the Lord.

Wonderfully Made

“I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.”

Psalm 139:14

Today we celebrate the birth of St. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, the herald of the Messiah. John the Baptist is the prophet that bridges the Old and New Testaments; he is the one that prepared the way of the Lord. John’s life and existence was not expected. His parents were old in age and did not plan to have any children, but God had other plans. God chose Elizabeth to bear the child who would be the first to leap in joy at the presence of the Son of God and who would devote his entire life in preparing for the mission of his cousin, Jesus Christ. In every way, John the Baptist was wonderfully made, and so are we.

The psalmist in today’s responsorial psalm gives praise and thanks to God for the gift of his life. He says that he is wonderfully made, and indeed he is. This beckons us to go all the way back to Genesis when we hear how God created male and female in His image and likeness and how that creation was “very good.” Brothers and sisters, we are wonderfully made. This is not saying that we are without sin or weaknesses or flaws, but that who we are, fundamentally and innately, is good and in fact, very good. Our sins and mistakes do not define us or lessens our worth or value. Our worth is rooted in something so much more than ourselves, it is rooted in someone; it is rooted in God. And God is unchanging and His love is unconditional and without limits. This means that no sin, no mistake, no weakness, and no brokenness can ever diminish our worth and value because that which our identity is rooted can never change. We are wonderfully made.

Brothers and sisters, sometimes it can be hard to accept that truth because our sins stir up within us guilt and shame. But I encourage you to bring those feelings to the Lord and know that even in our guilt and shame, God looks at us and sees only His beloved sons and daughters. May we bring our sins before the Lord today, encounter His powerful forgiveness in the sacrament, and proclaim boldly and loudly that we are wonderfully made.