Hello everyone. I hope you are well and keeping safe. Happy Sunday. Happy August! Wow, the time passes.
I am about to go into church to pray a little bit and offer Mass. I take you with me.
I will try in my homily today to stick to the theme that was one of St. John Paul II's favorite: the theology of the gift. God is pure gift and we in turn become gift to God and to one another. Put it another way, "it is in giving that we receive."
In any event, to quote Isaiah, "Come to the water!' Receive the gift that God wants to give you, but then give in return. My uncle Aeney in Ireland had so many great sayings. My favorite is "You have one life to live and a good God to face." To me that means we try to live a good life simply because God is good. Our lives reflect the goodness that God gives us and we in turn radiate that goodness especially in giving that goodness to others. For my uncle, well that was heaven on earth! Enjoy the day!
Here is a little prayer from St. Ignatius of Loyola where he wishes to give of self just as God gives unconditionally:
"Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O Lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me."