Homily

Wow! What powerful readings that we have just heard from the Holy Scriptures. What I mean by powerful is that the readings make us think twice of how we would behave if we suddenly found ourselves in the Divine Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Many of us would like to think that if Jesus suddenly appeared to us, we would run towards Him and hug Him. Our words would probably be, "Finally Jesus, I waited so long for You," or "Oh Jesus, I love you."

But these were not the responses of Isaiah, Paul and Peter. The prophet Isaiah viewed himself as a great sinner among sinners, he not being worthy of being in the Divine Presence of Yahweh. [Is. 6:5] Paul, still full of guilt for having persecuted the Holy Catholic Church instituted by Jesus, viewed himself as being unfit of being called an apostle. [1 Cor. 15:9] And Peter, the first Pope, begged Jesus to get away from him because he was a sinful man. [Lk. 5:8]

Are we not also sinners living among sinners? "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." [1 Jn. 1:8] As sinners, are we worthy of being in the Divine Presence of the Lord? Or, should we also fall on our knees and say, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful person!"

Isaiah, Paul and Peter were blessed. They perceived the divinity of the Lord. As the Book of Revelation tells us, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." [Rev. 4:11] These early Church saints perceived that they who were unholy and unworthy of being in the presence of He Who was the Most Holy. Most likely, they asked themselves, "Why me?" "Why do you come to me Lord?" "Can you not find someone else who is more holy than I am?" Knowing what they were, frail creations of God, they humbled themselves before the Lord.

How did the Lord God react to the sincere state of mind and heart of these three children of His? He forgave the sins of each one of them and gave them a mission to fulfill. Isaiah was called to bring the Israelites to repentance. Paul was called to bring others to follow Jesus. Peter was called by Jesus to assist Him in His ministry and to provide leadership to the Holy Catholic Church after the death and glorious Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As history tells us, in each case, the grace of God has not been in vain. Isaiah, Paul and Peter were most grateful to the Lord God for having chosen them and they have made a great effort to answer their calling to the best of their capabilities. This is not to say that they were perfect. Isaiah wished at times that God would have chosen someone else because the people would not listen to him. St. Paul started on the wrong track by persecuting the Christians. St. Peter ran and denied Jesus during the last twenty- four hours of His life. All of them were weak. All of them made mistakes. But, what was most important, all of them had sincere hearts and overcame their weaknesses by placing their complete trust in the Lord God.

Going back to my original question, "How would we behave if we suddenly found ourselves in the Divine Presence of the Lord Jesus?" Many of us can answer that question in absolute truth. You see, Jesus is physically present in the Holy Eucharist and in the Holy Tabernacle. In the past, how have we behaved in His Sacred Presence?

In the physical presence of the Lord, do some of us fall down with our faces to the ground? Do some of us genuflect piously before Him? Do some of us half genuflect as a habit and forget why we are doing it? Do some of us deny ourselves the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist? Or, do some of us pass before the Holy Tabernacle without displaying any honour and respect towards the Lord Jesus? What we have done in the past is but a reflection in the mirror of what we will truly do when we find ourselves in the Sacred Presence of Jesus. If we have never shown honour and respect for the Lord Jesus in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, nor before the Holy Tabernacle, should we behave differently before Him when we will see Him, surely Jesus will call us hypocrites. To avoid being called hypocrites, we must now begin to give the Lord Jesus the honour and respect that He truly deserves.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus, in human form, has been gone for a long time. And we cannot deny that we are weak. Like Isaiah, Paul and Peter, we are not perfect, but we do have sincere hearts. Because Jesus has been gone for a long time, we are tempted to forget about Him. And, by modelling after those who are weaker than we, we are easily influenced to live as though Jesus does not exist.

To ensure that we would never forget Him, over and above the many invisible gifts that have been given to us, Jesus gave us many visible gifts as reminders that He is our Lord and God. He gave us His Holy Church to which we belong as children. He gave us the Church leadership that has handed down the tradition since the days of the incarnation of God on earth. He gave us the Holy Bible as His inspired Word. He gave us the Sacraments. He gave us the Sacramentals. Every generation, He gave us saints to prove to us that it is possible to love and serve Him in all humility. And by the grace of the Heavenly Father and the power of the Holy Spirit, in the Most Holy Name of Jesus, miracles have been manifested as an affirmation that it was God's Divine Will for the saints to be canonized.

Jesus never left us alone. Over and above His physical Divine Presence in the Holy Eucharist, He has given us many visible gifts that can be seen with our eyes. These gifts are the strength of our living faith in the blessed hope that awaits us all.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, by the grace of God, while we are what we are, let not the grace of the Lord towards us be in vain. If we have neglected our salvation, let us start again from where we left off and together, let us move ahead with Jesus so the grace of the heavenly Father may shine brilliantly through us.