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Dear Friends in Christ,

If one were to ask an unbeliever to define a rainbow, then answer you would likely get, might sound like this:

A rainbow occurs when atmospheric conditions are favorable, so that the phenomenon of light passing through droplets of water result in a prismatic refraction of light, which is manifested in an arc of spectral color.

But the answer of a believer would sound more like this:

A rainbow is a sign, created by God, visible at times in the heavens, and made to remind men and women that there is an agreement between Heaven and earth, that some are chosen, that some have found favor with the Lord their God.

And if you were to ask again of that unbeliever, his opinion about this gathering, he would answer:

Catholics have special ceremonies for everything, and this one is their welcome party for converts Ð a method of reinforcing their beliefs and customs, and of making their members feel comfortable with one another.

But the believer, the believer would bow his head in humility and respond:

The Rite of Election is the Church acknowledging that God calls us, to enter His Church, to be together, to worship Him, and to carry out His purpose in the world.

And just as for the unbeliever, the rainbow, and the assembly have no meaning other than a momentary passing significance, for the believer, the rainbow is an imprint of the Divine Word, appearing clearly from time to time, but existing for all eternity - and this day, though one among millions in the history of time, is, in your lives, and for the Church, the opening of the door to Heaven, to revelation of Divine light, shining upon us, showing us the power of the Holy Spirit, to choose, to guide, and to make of us mortal creations of flesh and bone and sinew, more than we are Ð to make us vessels, living vessels, worthy to be filled by the love of our Creator.

God chooses us today Ð He chooses your sponsors, your priests, your friends in the Church Ð He chooses, through their witness and their powers of judgement, to accept the wish you have made public, to be a part of His one True Church on earth Ð and He chooses, through the love of His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to be a part of us Ð not at a distance, but by having become man, by having lived and died, by having been such, that He can be not only our God, but our friend.

You have found Him, you have found God in His most intimate expression, by finding His word, as expressed in Scripture, and the teaching of His Church. You have found Him through the secret, and inside conversation we call prayer, knowing that out in the great space of the universe, He speaks, and the angels listen, we listen, and answer, and the life of all creation rises in one swelling hymn of gratitude to the One who has made us. And you now seek, because you have heard in yourself, and seen it in the people you trust, to live fully in the life of the Holy Spirit from which God reaches out and touches us. And that life will be, for you, the life of conversion, the life of the Sacraments, the life of the Church in Jesus Christ her Lord.

Baptism makes us belong to God, and Confirmation fills us with the strength to live the life of God, the holy life, even if it costs us everything to do so - Holy Orders gives us priests to offer the Sacrifice on our behalf, and in a beautiful reflection of its own power, inspires many single men and women, to live religious lives of chastity, poverty and obedience - Marriage consecrates many men and women to the realities of mutual care, and the care of the children that God sends them - Reconciliation works for all, to keep us within the fellowship of the Church, and reminds us of our sin, and the fact that we all share an equal need for the mercy of God - and finally, and above all, the Eucharist brings Christ into our midst - into our community at the offering of Holy Mass - into our bodies when we receive Him at Holy Communion - and into our minds and hearts, when we pray before His Presence in the tabernacle, seeking Him in a solitary and mystical embrace.

All of this, you elect of God, is your hope and desire. All of this, you baptized Faithful, is the gift already received, and yours for sharing. But it is not possible for anyone Ð bishop, priest, deacon, catechumen, candidate, faithful man or woman Ð it is not possible to receive and to share, unless we all hear and become fastened to the command of Christ:

This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.

This is the time Ð not yesterday, which is gone and cannot be reclaimed, but today; this is the time Ð not tomorrow, which may never come, but today. For Christ has come to earth, and Creation is fulfilled Ð this is the time, and we must make it our forever.

The Kingdom of God is at hand. What remains is to prepare Ð to prepare for the life span that is ours, and to prepare our soul for eternity, which his GodÕs gift through Jesus Christ.

Repent Ð be remade, be changed. Cast out sin and the devil and be filled with the grace of purification. The purification that lasts Ð not just for forty days, not just for as long as enthusiasm lasts, but forever.

And believe in the Gospel Ð for the Gospel is the life of Jesus, the actions of Jesus, the mind the heart and the soul of Jesus, who is Lord, and without whom, there is no life Ð here or in eternity.

Dear friends, these lessons are occasioned by this great celebration of the Rite of Election. And the Church gathers especially for the sake of those brothers and sisters who now have before them, the last days of preparation for the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. But these lessons are for us all, and shared among us all. For the Elect have drawn from us, the satisfaction of knowing we have kept ChristÕs command Ð Go into the world and preach my Gospel, and who believes and is baptized will be saved; and we have turned to the Elect, in loving friendship, to lead and guide them, to allay their fears and trepidations, and to be with them for the duration of this journey, proving to them, what grace can do. But our feast of fulfillment and satisfaction, neither arises nor does it rest with us.

Because we have been called Ð we have been elected Ð by God who made us Ð by Christ who saved us Ð and by the Holy Spirit, whose life makes holy our days on earth. And when it is all over, it will not be what we have done, but what this triune God, this three-fold Divinity, this fullness of Perfection, has done in and through us.

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