Recently I gave an Easter/Pentecost Mission at St. Philomene in Sacramento, CA, to help them feel the Spirit within and experience a newness/fullness of life…a resurrection. One of the things we Catholics believe in is our resurrection…after we are dead. I often remind folks that the resurrection is meant to be experienced here and now; for even though we may be breathing, unless we experience the holy presence of the Holy Presence, we might as well be dead.
I shared that the most essential step in this resurrection is an AWAKENING…the AWARENESS of who we are. We are more than mere mortals. We are sons and daughters of God. Thus we are human AND divine. The problem is that though we profess this, we have trouble believing it. We tend to focus on our human frailties and cannot imagine our divine nature. Just as when we think of Jesus and believe that he was fully human and fully divine, yet we tend to see him only as the Son of God.
Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am? Who do you say I am?” This is who God says we are. “I made you in my own image and likeness…This is my body; take and eat it [and become what you receive]…I will send the Holy Spirit to dwell within you.” Those three images say it all: Child of God, Body of Christ, Temple of the Holy Spirit. They tell us that there is holiness within our mortal flesh. It bears repeating: We are more than mere mortals. It is as if we have come from another world…to transform ours.
As I shared this message I unbuttoned my clerical shirt to reveal a Superman T-shirt underneath. Of course, the folks laughed…and I with them. But I reminded them that this was no joke. If we really believe that God is with us…within us…could anything ever kill our spirit? Could we ever not feel fully alive? Let’s stop pretending we are just Clark Kent.
Who are we? From the very beginning of our being we were created to be one with God. WE ARE, each one of us, THE UNIQUE, UNREPEATABLE MANIFESTATION OF GOD!
All too often we are not only numb to our divine nature, we fail to experience heaven on earth. We think it awaits us after death. But if we don’t encounter God here and now, what do we think will happen after we die that will make this encounter a reality?
Yes, we not perfect…we are sinners…we are not God. But the essence of God is in each of us. Just as a wave is not the ocean, and yet is part of ~ one with ~ the ocean, so, too, we are an extension of God. The cosmic, holy stardust which originated from God, and continues to give life to our universe and to each of us is in our very genes; so, too, the very air we breathe is God’s holy breath. We are inseparable from God.
I used the following example with the folks at St. Philomene. I showed them two little jars, each partly filled with holy water (colored with red food coloring to make it more visible). I said, “Each jar contains holy water. We see that there is more in one jar than in the other. But there is holiness in each of them. So, too, there is holiness in each of us. In some it is more visible than in others. In Jesus the ‘jar of holiness’ was overflowing.”
What must we do to increase the visible holiness in our jar? We must PRACTICE what we believe! A friend once shared this expression with me: If we don’t practice what we believe, we soon believe what we practice. Settling for mediocrity in living our faith is our greatest obstacle to the discovery of who we are…the profound encounter with God…and heaven on earth. My friends, we cannot settle for the mediocrity of simply believing and being good.
Our challenge is to be our best. To give anything less than our best is to waste the gift of the God seed in us. We bring out the best in us…by living authentically what we believe. That is what Jesus taught us…and showed us. This is why the only ones he ever confronted were the hypocrites. This is why he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” If, like him, we truthfully, sincerely “walk the talk” of our faith, we will have life with him…and be one with God. Actually, we already are…we simply have to be aware of it.
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Superman? Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteHow about prophet? Dictionary says: inspired revealer/visionary/speaks for God! Your message was all that those words bring to mind! THANKS for once again 'cajoling' us to be our best, through, with and in GOD!!! stardust
Why were we born here in the land of plenty, while others are born suffering from the get go? I would very much appreciate your thoughts on this.
ReplyDeleteThe question of why we are here is as old as time. It's a good question...one which most people spend too little time on.
ReplyDeleteAs we reflect upon it we discover more about who we believe we are, if there is a God, and what we need to do to connect with this God. The question helps us to clear our priorities about where we want to go with life, and how we can get there.
You have added a wrinkle to this question by asking why some of us may be born in better circumstances than others, whether financially, physical or psychological well-being, loving family, etc. The fact that we may be at an advantage in some ways doesn't make it any easier to discover who we are, whose we are, and what we are about. It simply means that we have a different starting point...which may be helpful or may blind us to the reality of our being and our real goal in life.
It is not very helpful, I believe, to compare our situation with another's, but better to simply look within ourselves to see what we're made of and what we want to do with it.
Hope this is helpful.