“Look Into The Eyes of Your God”

Living in reality is not easy. We have so many distractions that can cause us to pay attention to things that are passing away and will not last. They are real for the moment, but they are temporary. They may even be dramatic events.

In the last few days we experienced an earthquake and an eclipse of the sun. These got the attention of all who experience them….woe, did you feel that… the earth is shaking…it’s an earthquake….. woe. If you were in the right place for the eclipse, the world went dark for several minutes. We were warned that it was coming, but what if you were living someplace that gave no warning…woe, what’s happening Mabel…. the sun just disappeared. Yikes!!! As dramatic as these events were , they were temporary and didn’t last. 

I just read a meditation by Pope Benedict XVI that spoke of true reality that is lasting. 

• “Again and again it moves me deeply while distributing Holy Communion when I can say and must say: “The Body of Christ.” When we give people something that is infinitely more than all that I myself am and have. When I can give them much more than I could ever give as a man, when I have the privilege of placing the living God himself onto their hands and into their heart.
• And it is an unheard-of thing to be able to say in the sacrament of reconciliation, “I absolve you.”… This is precisely what it means to give the name of Jesus, to give Jesus himself, and to say: “You are free; your guilt does not matter anymore, the burden of your past has been taken from you, you can stand and go your way and can go to God and can leap and sing praise.” 
• And what an unheard-of thing it is also to have the privilege at the hour of death of giving the anointing that leads to resurrection, to make the resurrection present as the one real answer to death, so that in this hour, too, in which the final earthly lameness occurs, we can say: “Stand up. You will rise, and you will go your way, and you will look into the eyes of your God, and you will praise him, and no one will ever take your freedom from you again.” (The Everlasting Substance of Priestly Ministry, Pope Benedict XVI)

These are magnificent examples of realities that are everlasting. We will forget about earthquakes and eclipses and Final Fours, and myriads of things that were important at the time but are passing away. Experiencing the eternal touch of God will last forever….. receiving God himself in the Eucharist, hearing that your sins are forgiven and you can go to God and leap and sing praise, and that no one will ever take your freedom away. 

So in the midst of our life, let’s give the temporary realities a side glance and set our sight firmly on  the love of God for us and his promises that will never go away. This is true reality. This is good news…. Great News.