By grace, we have been saved! Amen! Indeed, our salvation is a gift of unconditional love from our gracious God. We don’t need to try harder, pray more, debase ourselves, or boast of our many trials and tribulations. We must surrender to God’s mercy, compassion, and love.

Yet some resist and continually ask, “What shall I do?” assuming it’s all about us. We judge ourselves (and sometimes others), thinking we are not good enough, holy enough, or worthy of receiving God’s gift of redemption. And truth be told – we are not worthy, yet God has called each of us to be brought to life with Christ. It is all about yielding to God’s immeasurable riches of blessings.

There is a component, though, of what is required of us. It is faith, the faith to abandon ourselves and relinquish ourselves to God. At our Eucharist celebration, before consuming the body and blood of our Savior Jesus Christ, we acknowledge, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.” We seek reconciliation. And through Christ, it is granted. We proclaim our faith in the redemption that we have been promised.

Saint Peter Julian Eymard understood this transformation from a preoccupation with self to a complete trust in God in his evolving awareness of what “a gift of self” means. It is the ultimate letting go of who we think we are to become more like God intended us to be. It is an act of consecration leading to spiritual communion with our God and each other. It is an invitation from the One who created us to sing joyfully, serve with gladness, give thanks, and offer blessings in our Lord’s name! Let us unreservedly accept this divine invitation!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, you sent us Saint Peter Julian Eymard to teach us that emptying ourselves fills us with your Holy Spirit. May our spoken words of worship be transformed into actions to build your kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.