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August 2, 2020: Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"He said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crows. They all ate and were satisfied."
                                                                                  -Matthew 14: 19-20

The other day, as I was finishing the celebration of our first, First Communion Mass at Saint Mary’s, I started the prayer to Saint Michael and completely blanked out as to how it goes. I cannot tell you how often I have prayed this prayer, and sometimes multiple times in a day. And yet there I was, standing before the altar and unable to continue. I have to admit that I started to laugh which, of course, made it even more difficult to remember what I was supposed to say. Eventually I had to simply give up. The congregation found it pretty amusing, as did I. But, at the next First Communion Mass, at Saint John’s, I made sure I had a prayer card with Saint Michael’s prayer on it.

We all have had these moments in our lives when the things we normally do, which are sort of second nature to us, seem to be lost. The harder we try to retrieve them, the more they get out of our reach. And yet, we usually struggle to try to accomplish what appears to be a futile endeavor. After a time we have to admit that we cannot do it.

Living out our faith life can at times feel like this kind of moment. If we are honest with ourselves most of us, at some level, have a general sense of God’s expectations of us. But, when it comes time for us to act or to speak, we have a hard time remembering what is expected of us. We may truly struggle to discern, and the words we want to say can be on the tip of our tongue but they escape us, and so we feel lost in the moment.

The great thing about our faith is that it is not about remembering everything perfectly. Rather, it is about being open to God’s grace. God wants us to succeed. He wants us to come to know his grace in our lives. As Catholics, grace is everything. We cannot do or speak anything of value or merit without grace. Even our desire to do good is based on God’s grace. We are completely dependent on God for all things, even for the ability to act correctly. Recognizing the importance of grace in our lives, the next question might be, what exactly is grace?

The Catechism teaches us “Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.” (1996) “Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body. As an "adopted son" he can henceforth call God "Father," in union with the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms the Church.” (1997)

For me, there is a simpler definition of grace: any interaction/experience of God is a moment of grace. God, interacting in our life by bestowing his grace on us, will change us in some way. That change is a sign of God’s favor, of his love, which will bring about some level of transformation within us. But it is important to note that God never forces us to accept his grace. It is freely given, and it must be freely accepted.

God wants us to have a real relationship with Him. God wants us to live our earthly life with Him in order to be happy with Him in the next life. It is only possible by grace. On our own we will mess up and make choices that will inevitably lead us away from God. We simply need to look at the scriptures, or human history, to see the truth of this statement. God never wants us to be lost. He will never abandon or forsake us. Instead, He works hard to get us moving in the right direction.

It is pretty incredible to think about the depth of God’s love for us. No matter how much we may reject Him—no matter how far we may go astray—God is always there, patiently waiting to give us what we need to return to Him with our whole heart and being. Again, we simply need to read the scriptures, or look at human history through the eyes of faith, to see the truth of this statement.

We do not deserve God’s grace. We cannot earn it or merit it. Rather, in God’s abundant love for us, He freely offers us his grace as the means to return to Him.

If you have any questions about anything, please do not hesitate to ask me directly, or send your questions to me at fr.brian@chelmsfordcatholic.org.

Please keep me in your prayers.

In Christ,

Fr. Brian