The Gospel message this week revolves around this fact: everything that we have we owe to God. The first reading points to the fact that God is our beginning. The 2nd reading reminds us that we are chosen. Finally, the Gospel warns of how ugly it can be when we do not trust in the Lord and fail to respect his wisdom and goodness. There is commentary following the 2nd reading. The responsorial psalm and Gospel are after the commentary.
Reading 1
Is 45:1, 4-6
Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus,
whose right hand I grasp,
subduing nations before him,
and making kings run in his service,
opening doors before him
and leaving the gates unbarred:
For the sake of Jacob, my servant,
of Israel, my chosen one,
I have called you by your name,
giving you a title, though you knew me not.
I am the LORD and there is no other,
there is no God besides me.
It is I who arm you, though you know me not,
so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun
people may know that there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, there is no other.
Reading II
1 Thes 1:1-5b
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians
in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
grace to you and peace.
We give thanks to God always for all of you,
remembering you in our prayers,
unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love
and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,
before our God and Father,
knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God,
how you were chosen.
For our gospel did not come to you in word alone,
but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.
The theme of these 2 readings is very clear. The 1st says that God calls Cyrus by his name even though Cyrus does not know him. God even arms Cyrus. All that God says to Cyrus, he also says to us. The fact that God calls us by name means that he knows who we are. He gives us a "title" which means that he also knows WHAT we are. That's right. God is the ONLY person who COMPLETELY knows WHO and WHAT you are!
Made and Known By God
We Christians believe that God created us out of nothing. Isn't that what you believe? Our existence is not an accident as many evolutionists suggest. If we did not come to exist out of pure chance, then why did we come to exist? We exist because God is more loving and generous than we can imagine. He wanted to make me and you so that we could experience his love. He gave us a high dignity by allowing us to choose to love him out of our own free will. God knows us because he made us -just like an architect is the one who knows his building the best.
Why did God make us? Because he is a loving father to us. It is a great experience to give someone a gift. When I was in the 3rd grade, my dad bought me a bicycle. I was SO happy. My dad must have been thrilled to see the look on his little boy's face! Like a loving father, God simply gave us life becauese loves us and perhaps he not only wants to see the smiles on our faces, but joy and peace as well. It's hard to understand why God would be so generous to create us out of thin air, but he is a loving person. This loving act of creating us is SO incredible that God can easily say, "I am the LORD and there is no other,there is no God besides me." God's incomparable generosity is part of what makes him so great.
Chosen By God
Notice how the word "chosen" is used in both of these readings. These words are being spoken to us today. We are the modern-day Thesallonians and Israelites. We are the people of God. Imagine you are at school and everyone is playing kickball. The two team captains pick teams. Wouldn't it be great to be the first one "chosen"? That is exactly what God has done for YOU. He did not choose fish, birds, or monkeys first. He chose you. Unlike all other living things, he chose YOU first. Everything on Earth is made for YOU.1 In addition, he doesn't just leave us to roam around and figure things out on our own.
Our faith says that "God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end.2The 2nd reading talks about "endurance in hope." Just a couple of weeks ago we spoke of how hope is a gift from God. Through hope, we desire the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life as our happiness and we put our trust in Christ.3 So when Paul says that "our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit", he is saying that these words we hear at Mass have power and God wants to do more than just talk to us. He wants to help us and remain with us until the end.
An Every Day Thought
The Thessalonians have an "endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ". Our faith also teaches us that "Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence". If we keep pressing on in life and put our complete trust in God, he will take care of us. That is the promise he has made to us. Wisdom 11:24-26 says about God "For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it?" In other words, God would not create something that he hates. Why would he do that? The only reason we exist is because God wants us to exist. He wants us to exist because he loves us. This reality should remain constantly in our hearts and minds. No matter what happens, no matter how painful, no matter how ugly, no matter how bad we are, we are still here because God wants us to be. He loves us.
The Point
* Because we were created by God's hands, he is the only person who knows us completely
* Because God chose to give us life, everything we have comes from him
* God made us so that we could experience and reflect his love
* Hope comes from the Holy Spirit (God). In this way, God guides us towards him everyday
* If you exist, God loves you. You exist because God wants you to.
Real Life
About 6 years ago, on a snowy night in Kentucky, a police officer knocked on my front door. He came to tell me that my sister had crashed her car on the highway. She had been ejected from the vehicle and when they found her, she was underneath her car. The cop gave us the impression that she was alive. So, I got into the car with my family and a friend. We drove to the hospital and the car ride was deathly quiet on the way to the hospital. When we arrived, I was scared. I imagined that if she were alive, her body would be mangled and it would be a disturbing sight. We entered the hospital and were shocked to find her laying in the bed completely intact. Despite being ejected from her car on the highway, she had no broken bones, but only a fractured nose and a fractured vertebrae! She was unconscience, but she awoke later.
After reading these readings, I am reminded that my little sister remains alive today (she made a complete recovery) because God wills it. She (just like me) was not living a holy lifestyle at the time of the crash. Maybe she was not headed towards heaven at that time, and God wanted to save her. "God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end."
God loves us.
1- CCC 358
2- CCC 301
3- click here to read about hope from Sept. 28th
http://massexcitement.blogspot.com/2008/09/lifes-not-fair-but-what-about-god.html
Gospel
Mt 22:15-21
The Pharisees went off
and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech.
They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying,
"Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion,
for you do not regard a person's status.
Tell us, then, what is your opinion:
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?"
Knowing their malice, Jesus said,
"Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?
Show me the coin that pays the census tax."
Then they handed him the Roman coin.
He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?"
They replied, "Caesar's."
At that he said to them,
"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God."
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10
R. (7b) Give the Lord glory and honor.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. Give the Lord glory and honor.
For great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
awesome is he, beyond all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are things of nought,
but the LORD made the heavens.
R. Give the Lord glory and honor.
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
Bring gifts, and enter his courts.
R. Give the Lord glory and honor.
Worship the LORD, in holy attire;
tremble before him, all the earth;
say among the nations: The LORD is king,
he governs the peoples with equity. R. Give the Lord glory and honor.
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