Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Blessed the man who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law, day and night” (Ps. 1:2). Despite all our advances in science and technology, we must never lose sight of the fact that God made us. He wrote the owner’s manual. The path to peace and true joy leads us near to the heart of God. The Psalmist continues: “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither” (Ps. 1:3). In the hearts of all who ponder His Word, God causes a fountain of living waters to spring up. We meditate on His Word, but He digs the well and digs it deep.

Scorching winds may blow, but we have nothing to fear because God is with us as our rampart and shield. He is ever faithful and true to his Word and the flow of life-giving water will never cease. If we make Him our anchor and resting place, we will know no anxiety in times of trial and drought. It might be helpful to note that it was when the crowds started melting away that Peter uttered these memorable words: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn. 6:68). Without God, life lacks meaning, purpose, and value.

Some of us are old enough to remember the Baltimore Catechism. First Question: Who made me? A. God made me. Sixth Question: Why did God make me? A.  God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next. My brothers and sisters, we exist because God made us. We are the work of his hands, the apple of His eye in whom He takes great delight. Because God made us we belong to Him. From the first moment of our existence, we have desired to know the Father’s love and have longed to find our resting place close to His heart. It is in God that we live and move and have our being. It is in Him that our lives have meaning.

Nothing in this life, be it wealth, education, power, or pleasure, can satisfy the longing of the human heart. We long to be loved. Nothing can fill that void but God alone, because God is LOVE. “We know how much God loves us, and we put our trust in His love for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in Him” (1 Jn. 4:16). The Father has pitched his tent in our midst so we might have a place to call our home and our hearts can find their greatest desire. As the psalmist writes: “Only in God does my soul find it rest. I patiently wait for him in silence because my salvation comes from him” (Ps. 62:1). Only in God can we discover what it means to be human. Only in the One who delights in us can we take delight in one another. I love because I am loved.

“In Christ, we though many, form one body, and we all belong to each other” (Rom. 12:5). Our life in Christ has taken “being in the image and likeness” of God to a whole new level. The bond of love draws us into communion with the Trinity and with all the members of the human family. As a consequence, “if one member suffers, every member shares its pain; if one member is honored, all members share in its joy” (1 Cor. 12:26). As members of the Body of Christ, we have been bound together with the cords of love.

The principle of shared suffering aligns with the teachings of Jesus, who bore the suffering, shame, and guilt of humanity. Jesus was the ultimate example of shared suffering. “He bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds, we have been healed” (1 Pet. 2:24). With Christ, we must make the cries of the poor and the pains of all who suffer our own. The Son of God became man to walk with us in our time of need. By the power of His Spirit dwelling in us, we are to walk with all who are in need, show compassion to the abandoned, and wipe the tears from their eyes. As Christ stretched out his arms on the cross in loving compassion for us, we must be willing to stretch out our hands to all in need. We must never forget that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers and companions on the journey to our heavenly homeland.

When God created us, He designed us to live in intimate, trusting communion with him and one another. As we contemplate Christ, we must be willing to see things as He does. As we ponder his gospel message, we must be willing to go where he leads. As we embrace his cross, we must be willing to experience a conversion of heart. As we gather around the Table of the Lord, we must be willing to become bread blessed and broken for the life and healing of the world.

This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something and to do it well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and to do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.

(Oscar Romero’s Prayer)