From Archbishop Donoghue
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Children's Mass |
My dear boys and girls, Today we have heard the story of how a man named Saul was chosen by God to do His work, and given a new name to do this new work. No one could have expected that anything like this would have ever happened. Saul was a passionate believer ion the old ways, and he truly thought that Jesus was not the Son of God, but instead, a trouble-maker, who would make things very difficult for all the good Jewish people who lived in the area. This was because his and all his friends' homeland was under the control of the Roman empire, and the Romans didn't tolerate people who complained, or misbehaved, or caused the people to be excited in any way. Saul thought that Jesus and his followers were this kind of trouble-maker, and he had dedicated his life to stamping out all the Christians, and silencing the message which Jesus had come to share with all men and women. But Saul was wrong, just as the Romans were wrong. Jesus did not come to teach the people of His day to rebel against the government, or to break the laws, or to do anything bad. Jesus came to teach the people that no matter where we live, that no matter how good or bad the society is in which we live, and that no matter who we are, Jesus is the leader we accept above all other leaders, and that His only law is a law of love - love for God before everything else, and love for our families, our neighbors and our friends. Saul had great talents which God wished to use in spreading the message of His Son Jesus. He was a great thinker, a great writer, and a great speaker. If you read the letters he wrote, and which make up a great part of the New Testament, you can see for yourself how inspired he was, and how dedicated he was to things he believed. And so God picked Saul, and when he was on the way to Damascus, a city in Syria, God brought about Saul's conversion in the way we have heard in this morning's reading. From that time, Saul changed his name to Paul, just as if he had become a new man, which is in fact what had happened. And from that time, the man we call St. Paul never stopped preaching about the greatness of God, and the love of His Son, Jesus Christ, who had come to redeem the world, and offer all men and women the means by which they can do good during their lives, and then go to heaven once their lives are completed. Now whether you have ever thought about it or not, we are all in a way like St. Paul. When we were baptized, even if we were just a child in our mother's arms, God came into us just like He came into Paul. From that moment on, we were changed into children of God, chosen to do his work and to live the kind of life He wants us to live. Later on, when we are confirmed - and sometimes we even choose a new and special name for our confirmation - the Holy Spirit fills us with a new power, the power to grow and become mature Christians, to follow whatever path of life we choose for ourselves, and to know that Christ will be with us all the way to the end and beyond. The reason we know that all of this is true is because of what our Lord said in the Gospel, and because since He was the Son of God, we know that His words must be true. He said: My flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are one with me, and I am one with you. These words might be hard to understand, and indeed, the people who heard Jesus speak these words were very confused at the time. But all we need to know is that when Jesus speaks of us receiving His Body and Blood, He is talking about something that we do at least once a week and sometimes more often, and that is to go to Mass and Holy Communion. If we do this, and if we believe that God is truly present in the bread and wine which is consecrated at Mass, then we will have enough strength to deal with whatever life brings along. We will have what the Church calls grace - the grace to be good, to be gentle, to be compassionate and caring, and all of the other things which Jesus wants us to be. I am happy that I have had this chance to be with you today, to share my thoughts with you, and I promise to pray for all of you, hoping that you will all pray for me. We have a great opportunity to do this right now, because we have the Mass, and during the Mass, we are able to think about everyone who might need our prayers. And so we ask that Jesus come into our hearts, and change us, just as He changed St. Paul, so that we can become, even more than we already are, His friends, and His helpers. + |