{"id":824,"date":"2016-01-31T13:43:22","date_gmt":"2016-01-31T18:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=824"},"modified":"2016-02-04T13:47:12","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T18:47:12","slug":"how-wonderful-we-all-are-in-gods-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=824","title":{"rendered":"How Wonderful We All Are in God’s Eyes!"},"content":{"rendered":"

4th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/h3>\n

Jer 1: 4-5, 17-19; 1 Cor 12: 31- 13: 13; Luke 4: 21-30<\/h3>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/h3>\n

Isn\u2019t it wonderful!\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it wonderful how unique and special each one of us is? In fact, I get excited every time I hear the words of the first reading.\u00a0 \u201cBefore I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Because, isn\u2019t it exciting that each one of us is known to almighty God, even the least of us by world\u2019s standards?<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s world, \u201cthe least\u201d include all the disadvantaged of the world- the young, the old, the poor, and the handicapped.\u00a0 And if we are honest with ourselves, that\u2019s all of us at one time or another in our lives.\u00a0 But yes, God takes a special interest in each one of us.\u00a0 We were made in his image and likeness, and formed by God in our mother\u2019s womb to be just exactly the person we are!<\/p>\n

Now the reading also says that we were dedicated, and appointed as a prophet to the nations.\u00a0 That is exciting too, because it says that each one of us has a Mission.\u00a0 Yes, God has dedicated each of us to a Mission, our own specific Mission.\u00a0 I think that we all lose sight of that fact by becoming embroiled in the things of this world- including the joys, the pains, and the distractions.<\/p>\n

So, just what is or was our Mission?\u00a0 Well, we were born into a particular family at a particular time in history.\u00a0 Another way of saying that is that now is our time; and that we are charged to bloom where we were planted.\u00a0 When we get older, we can sometimes see how that Mission unfolded.\u00a0 We can see the fruits of our labor; we can see the family tree for which we are the roots; and we can see how good many of our experiences were.\u00a0 We can even see how we have benefited from our mistakes because those were learning experiences.\u00a0 And all well-meaning people take away a resolve to do better from their mistakes, particularly if we are sorry and have resolved to change.<\/p>\n

You see, God is relentless in his pursuit of us.\u00a0 He coaches us at every fork in the road to return to His favor.\u00a0 But more often than not, we cannot see how all our lives fit into God\u2019s overall plan.\u00a0 In other words, we just can\u2019t see how we fulfill our roles as \u201cappointed prophets\u201d?<\/p>\n

Many of you probably watched \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life\u201d over Christmas.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great way to see how a seemingly common, yet well meaning, man\u2019s life influences others for the good.\u00a0 Just like the Jimmy Stewart character, each of us has blessed other people\u2019s lives; fulfilling God\u2019s appointed mission for us in some ways that we often-times cannot even begin to imagine.<\/p>\n

Rather than seeing our value, we are focused on how we haven\u2019t succeeded at this desire or that want; or how we weren\u2019t given this gift or that gift, usually some \u201cthing\u201d; or how we are limited by time and age in what we can do; or how others have fared better in the World\u2019s eyes than us.<\/p>\n

In the second reading, St. Paul explains that each of us should \u00a0\u00a0\u201cStrive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.\u201d\u00a0 Indeed, that is the way that each of us can discern God\u2019s plan for us, our Mission, present and past.\u00a0 Paul goes on to list them:\u00a0 faith, understanding, knowledge of the Lord, the gift of prophecy, and others.\u00a0 But he prefaces this list with the words:\u00a0 \u201cBut I shall show you a still more excellent way\u201d.\u00a0 And so, as he lists the spiritual gifts we should all seek, he makes it clear that the gift that eclipses all of them is Love.\u00a0 If we love one another in all of our contacts with one another, then we cannot go wrong- ever- in fulfilling God\u2019s Mission for us.<\/p>\n

And the love Paul speaks of is:\u00a0 \u201cLove is Patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth\u201d.\u00a0 And that kind of love for others is often hard for us.\u00a0 But it is the way all of us hope God will treat us.\u00a0 And so, it is the way all of us should treat others.<\/p>\n

As background for this Gospel, recognize that Jesus has just been Baptized \u00a0\u00a0And has spent 40 days in the desert using spiritual gifts to discern his mission.\u00a0 Very confidently, he reads from Isaiah the prophecy of a savior; and boldly proclaims that the reading has been fulfilled in him.\u00a0 Jesus certainly did what Paul recommended.\u00a0 He loved all that he came in contact with.<\/p>\n

We need not search for our Mission too far.\u00a0 It is hard, but it is ultimately very simple.\u00a0 We need to rejoice because the time and place we have been given in life is God\u2019s gift to us.\u00a0 We need to embrace the challenges of our lives, and to love all those placed in our lives by God.\u00a0 That\u2019s recognizing how wonderful we really are in God\u2019s eyes; that\u2019s blooming where we are planted.\u00a0 And we will reap the rewards of our love for others, which is a form of Loving God, by experiencing the everlasting love of God in the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time Jer 1: 4-5, 17-19; 1 Cor 12: 31- 13: 13; Luke 4: 21-30 Dc. Larry Brockman Isn\u2019t it wonderful!\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it wonderful how unique and special each one of us is? In fact, I get excited every time I hear the words of the first reading.\u00a0 \u201cBefore I formed you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[390],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":825,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824\/revisions\/825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}