ALL IS PRESENT
Some years ago most
newspapers carried a comic strip entitled "Alley Oop" which featured
a time machine. With the proper setting of dials, upon stepping into the
machine, one could be transported back in time to any period of history. Of
course the time machine was only the product of the author's imagination. No
device can actually reach back into historical events now long past. We are
bound by time. But are we? Is it
possible that somehow events of the past are not beyond our grasp, at least by
the power of God? After all, God Himself is not limited by time, having no past
and no future. All is present for God.
In the Mass God uses His loving power to
transcend time. Now hopefully we do not think of the Mass as a time machine.
That is much too simplistic and mundane an image. The liturgy does not thrust
us back in time, but God, through the Mass, does make the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ present before us so that we may share in it. Jesus died only once and
cannot die again, as the reading from Hebrews tells us. The Mass in no sense
makes Jesus die again. Rather the one sacrificial death of Himself which He
offered on the cross is now made present for us on the altar.
A book I would recommend is entitled The
Present by Spencer Johnson, M.D. He writes about three ways to use the present
moment. First, he says, be in the present to be happy and successful; focus on
what is right now. Use your purpose to respond to what is important now.
Second, he says to learn from the past.
Look at what happened in the past and learn something valuable from it.
Do things differently in the present. Last, he invites us to plan for the
future. Imagine what a wonderful future
could look like. Make plans to help it happen. Put your plan into action in the
present. This book is definitely worth
reading!
In today's Gospel, Jesus tells us that
He has overcome evil, and He also tells us to turn away from sin and, most
important, not to blaspheme against God's Holy Spirit. If people repeatedly
close their eyes to God and shut their ears to His voice, they come to a point
when they can no longer recognize God in daily living. God is always conscious
of our needs because He is full of grace and mercy! And there are no limits to the mercy of God,
unless we refuse to accept mercy by repentance. God will give grace and help to
all who humbly call upon Him. Throughout time, we are all called to be sons and
daughter, brothers and sisters to each other as God's children. We all have the
privilege to stand by Jesus and share His death on the cross, which won for us
our salvation and adoption into the family of God our Father. The love and
mercy of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit
are freely given to us who acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
The Mass is not a time machine, but it
is the reality of Christ's sacrificial death made present for us on the altar.
May we always hope in the security that is placed in Jesus Christ who died and
rose for our salvation. Salvation history has a happy end. Let us in the
present anticipate that happiness in our lives.