There have been times in the last five years when I have opened up the readings of a day for which I was supposed to write a reflection, and I sat back and thought, “This is going to take a lot of prayer and an overabundance of grace for me to write anything.” Today is not such a day!

We are still basking in the joy of Easter, and we read, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son.” WOW! I can imagine how the mystics and those deeply engrossed in prayer would just stop there and revel in the wonder of this mystery! But it should not only be the mystics who stand in awe. We, who are a Eucharistic people, take a step forward. God sent his Son, and the Son, who died and rose for us, did not leave us, but remains with us in the Eucharist.

Each time we gather around the altar as a community of faith, we hear the Word and we meet the Lord who feeds us to be Eucharist to the world.

The first reading proclaims that God’s word cannot be contained. Each time I read this selection, I am drawn back to the haunting song from Leonard Bernstein’s The Mass.

You can lock up the bold men. You can lock up the
bold men and hold them in tow. You can stifle all
adventure for a century or so; smother hope before
it is risen, watch it wizen like a gourd, but you cannot
imprison the Word of the Lord.

We are the people called to ensure that the Word of God is not imprisoned.
Wherever and whenever the person of Jesus is demeaned, persecuted,
hungry, fearful, dehumanized, and ignored, we are called to step in and honor the dignity of that person as one loved by God.

Let Us Pray:

God of all creation, in this most marvelous act of love and mercy, you sent your Son into this world to convince us of your infinite love for each and every one of us. Please give us an abundance of your grace that we might be beacons of your love and mercy in the world in which we find ourselves, so that all will experience the wonder of your love. Amen.