He, The Christ, knew us, before we were in our mothers womb. No profounder words have been spoken to us today, by our dear Pastor Father Patrick Francis O 'Doherty. At morning mass we were given the great gift to reflect upon Jesus, our Blessed Mother Mary, and all the Saints in Heaven, as we celebrated the special feast day of all the Saint's. You may have a particular Saint in mind, that you pray to daily, and ask for that particular saints intercession in your life. You may have several saints you pray to and read about and are finding their lives to be a very rich resource, full of information on how they lived, how they prayed to God and how they gained knowledge of Him, and made their way to heaven. We can certainly learn alot from their experience and journey, and take those fruitful examples into our very own lives as we have our turn in fufilling our own life long journey toward our precious Lord. I truly believe that we the faithful children of God, were all meant to learn from one another, we were all meant to share our findings about Christ. This type of knowledge is critical and necessary to pass on to the next generation. The saints were definitily given to us for a special purpose, God's purpose, and for reasons that we will learn about from God himself during this earthly toward heaven. Each of us. I believe are assigned a very specific duty that was meant to inspire the next generation of the faithful. As you begin to study more about the saints, you can see just how specific our Lord created them. Each one is totally unique and different, so different that each one stands out in a class of their own. I belive God wants us to see his unique power living inside of everyone he has ever created. No duplication of person, exists with God, each are very distinct in their intellect, we are all, one of a kind. Take a look at Saint Augustine, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Saint Catherine of Sienna, all the above mentioned saints were given very specific gifts which were all contributed to honor God, honor the saints and prepare you and me for the journey of not just reading about their lives but immitating them. We have our work cut out for us, and time becomes ever more preciousfor us, to catch up, and catch on, to what the saints are trying to reveal to us from heaven. We in general are worth much more than we give ourselves the credit for. We are Gods very own children, we were meant for greatness, and we become great I think, when we all surrender our free will to Him. When we do this, we become his own. And we stand out in his eyes, and even in the world! We proclaim a uniqueness in ourselves that best describes who we are in Christ. I thinks that the saints lived in this manner by way of duty, and excellent service to God. God mattered the most, and it really showed by the way in which they as saints all choose, to serve Him. Truthfully, I have spoken in great length about what it means to be different, what it meant to be outstanding, in the eyes of God . In what mattered to Christ the most, was something we needed to discover on our own. Cooperating with his grace, keeping prayer as a priority, discovering our true identity and more importantly how we choose to identify with God. And what we need to know and live by, as Catholics should give us the greatest peace, and the most profound, lovely new reality, of truly knowing Christ is in realizing, I am totally His. And together we are making this journey, as one, quite meaningful, spiritual, and purposeful, from life on earth, to a life eternal. To be with Him forever, amen.
