Sunday, May 6, 2012

Darkness Into Light

Here's what occurs to me today....as I look at I Peter 2:9

O chosen people, proclaim the mighty works of him who called you
out of darkness
into his wonderful light, alleluia.

This is the Opening Antiphon for Mass today, May 5th, the 4th Week of Eastertide.  What a beautiful "phon" to begin worship with.....a real call to worship.

It saddens me to realize though, that so many souls are not thankful for being called out of darkness.  We, people living today, and many past generations, were not the people whom God directly called out of the darkness of sin and of not knowing him, and to whom He revealed himself.  So, if we were not walking in darkness, how could we be thankful for being called out of it.  Truly, we were, when we were baptized and the stain of original sin from our first parents, Adam and Eve, was removed from our souls by the pouring of the Holy Spirit into us.  But, we were infants, and others prayed for us, and we ourselves were not able to truly celebrate outwardly this great gift of sanctification.  Our parents and godparents and family, friends, and the priest prayed it over us.  I am not stating that infants should not be baptized.  My observation is that I think we must live out our baptism by being more thankful for this incredible gift.  We must frequently take stock in what Jesus has achieved for us through his death on the cross, and that gratitude for it all must be the rule of our lives.  Can we ever say "Thank You, Jesus!" enough?

We are blessed to live in His wonderful light!  This light allows us and reminds us to love one another:  the husband who doesn't always do things the way we think they should be done, the child who keeps giving the dog his peas under the table at supper, the sister who is a chronic complainer, the co-worker who does things that makes our job more difficult, the boss who is too demanding, the woman on the train who coughs during the entire commute every single day.   Regardless of annoyances, we can be thankful for them.  Each person is God's beloved creation, and though we need to practice the virtue of patience, we can still pray to Jesus, Thank You!

Of course, there are the easy things to be thankful for:  roofs over our heads, food on the table, cars, jobs, church, good schools and teachers, friends, relatives we are fond of, the kind note received in the mail, prayers that are answered, unexpected blessings.  That's easy and fun to be grateful for, and again we can pray, Thank You, Jesus!

Yet, EVERY THING is something to be thankful to Jesus for.  So, as we go about our day, filled with blessings, banes, baubles, foibles, aggravations, and laughter, may our inner and outer prayer express our gratitude to Jesus.  He knows what He's doing, and we can all be thankful for that!

Thank You, Jesus.
Thank You, Jesus.
Thank You, Jesus.

Thank You, Jesus, for everything!

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