When
I was at Lansing Catholic High School as a student from 1998-2002, our
principal was famous for one phrase: “Don’t dig yourself a hole.” While many of us in the class heard it
so often that we started to make light of it, as high school students are wont to do, looking back, it was
great advice which serves a person well in academics, sports, and
extra-curriculars of any kind.
In essence, what our principal was saying was that starting out is very
important in anything we do to being successful in the long run.
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Our
Year of Prayer, as a Diocese, is precisely about entering into that intimate
relationship between the Father and the Son, a love so strong that it breathes
forth the Holy Spirit. And we can
only do so because we have been consecrated by Christ in Baptism. We have been consecrated into the
truth. And because of that
consecration we can take part in the pouring forth of love between Father and
Son and Holy Spirit, which forms the foundation of any true love that exists in
the entire universe. How blest we
are to be able to listen to the words of Love Incarnate to His Father! Without God’s permission, we could
never presume, as creatures, to be worthy of hearing that dialogue. But God welcomes us, through Jesus, in
the power of the Holy Spirit, to not only observe the dialogue, but to become
part of it in Christ.
In
this Mass, we celebrate the dialogue in ritual ways. God speaks to us grace and peace, and we respond. God speaks His Word, and we say,
“Thanks be to God.” Jesus ultimate
gift of love to the Father, His very self on the cross, is re-presented for us
on this altar of sacrifice in the Eucharist. And this act of love is so great that we are invited to
respond after the Words of Institution and I remind us that this is the Mystery
of Faith.
Celebrating
Mass, this celebration, is the best thing that I will ever do in my life. Joining in the celebration with me is
the best thing you will ever do in your life. Nothing can top it, except heaven, of which this Mass is an
anticipation. In the reality of
God, there is no more intimate union with God then what happens right here,
because we are involved in the total gift of the Son, in whom we are members
through Baptism, to the Father.
But
we are not given this great gift so that we can keep it to ourselves. Jesus does not consecrate us and allows
us to share in the most powerful, intimate love ever just to keep it to
ourselves. We then are called to
be in union with Jesus, all of us together, through His teachings, given to us
in Scripture and in the teachings of the Church. And we are also called to share it with others, so that the
world will believe that God sent Jesus, and that God loves us even as He loves
Jesus. And when we share that love
with others, in union of action and belief with who Jesus is and what He
teaches us through the Scriptures and His Body, the Church, then others want
that. They hunger for it. They want that love, because they were
created for that love.
Each
week, in the Mass, we enter into the most powerful, most intimate love ever:
the love of the Trinity Who is Love itself. Each week, if we receive the Body and Blood worthily, we are
given grace to then share that love with others. During this Year of Prayer, draw deeper into the love of God
by growing deeper in love with the Mass, and with daily prayer which continues
that love each day. And then share
that love with others, so that all may be joined to Christ in His Church, and
experience the Love that God has for us.