Some of you may know that I had an unfortunate accident on my bicycle.
Since then people have been saying to me…
“You’re lucky you didn’t break anything…”
“You should be thankful it wasn’t worse…”
“Thank God you’re alive and have all your teeth…”
Such sentiments are little consolation when you’re being stitched up…
This is perhaps a simple example…
but the experience of wrecking a bike…
flying through the air…
and landing hard on your face…
and walking away from it all relatively unharmed, except a cut chin…
can certainly make one say “thank you” for all he has been given!
Today we hear the prophet Hosea speak of the love of God in a splendid way…
in a human way…
as the love of a father for his children.
God draws us to Himself with human cords…with bands of love…
stoops down to us and draws us to His cheek…
How beautiful!
For us who are Catholic Christians…what are these bands of love?
They are the Sacraments.
Through the Sacraments…
the grace of God is present to us in human ways…in material things…
bread and wine, oil and water, the words of the priest
Through these outward signs of His mysterious hidden grace…
God draws us to Himself…
and holds us close… in love beyond all telling.
Think of the tremendous gifts we have received through the Sacraments.
Consider the Sacrament of Penance…
what a gift it is to have the burden of sin washed away
by the blood of Christ…through the ministry of the priest!
None of us is without sin…
so none of us ought to suffer with sin and guilt inside us…
rather, we ought to come to the fountain of mercy and be healed.
Think of the tremendous gift of Christ’s presence…here with us now…
we heard Him speak to us in His Word
He is present in the priest, who stands before us not on his own
but in the person of Christ
He is present as His body, the Church, gathers for worship
and above all, He is present in the Eucharist in a way we cannot fully
understand this side of Heaven…in a real and substantial way…
for the Eucharist is not a thing…it is a person…
not simply a thing we eat and drink…but a person who loves us.
Today we also hear in the Gospel of the work of the early disciples,
which becomes the essential mission of the whole Church.
To preach… to heal… to bring peace…
To do all this we have to remember that it’s not about us!
It is God’s Word we speak…Christ’s love and peace we bring to others.
We have received a gift…
without cost…without deserving it…by no merit of our own.
So we are to give in return…
without putting a price or a condition on our service to God and the Church.
May our lives be filled at every moment with gratitude for God’s many gifts…
and a spirit of generous self-giving in return.
Without cost we have received gifts beyond measure…
may we put no limits on the love we give.
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