16 Mar 2017
(School Mass)
That description in the gospel sounds kind of familiar: The
rich man, dressed in purple, eating a sumptuous meal with fine linens. After all, that’s what we have here at Mass .
. . our color for Lent is purple, the altar has fine linens on it, and we’re
feasting on the Bread of Life and the Chalice of Salvation—the Body and Blood
of Christ. You can’t get more sumptuous
than that! We’re not all that different
from the rich man, are we?
But, you know, the rich man didn’t end up in a very good
place. And the problem wasn’t that he
was rich. The problem was that he didn’t
share what he had. And so, when we think
about this feast that we get to share in every time we come to Mass, we have to
remember that the Body and Blood of Christ are given to us to be shared.
Jesus shares himself with us, but we’re not supposed to just
keep him to ourselves. We’re supposed to
share him—most especially with those who need him. We’re supposed to share the riches of God
with others. And the most valuable and
precious thing God gives us is his love, his friendship, his mercy. When we realize just how much our God loves
us, we realize how rich we really are.
And that’s what Jesus wants us to share with others.
There are lots of people around who don’t know that they’re
loved. Maybe it’s a classmate. Maybe it’s a friend, or somebody in the
family. Well, they need to know that
they’re loved and that they belong. It’s
maybe the greatest gift we can share with others: the gift of God’s love—the
riches of God’s sacrificial love.
God shares himself with us here at the altar. He gives us a sumptuous feast. Let’s just make sure that we don’t keep it
all to ourselves. Let’s be sure to share
God’s love, especially with those who really need it.
No comments:
Post a Comment