We are familiar with the second commandment in which we are
instructed to not take the name of the Lord in vain. In other words, we must not use the name of
the Lord as if it is meaningless. The
name of the Lord is holy, and we need to treat his holy name with reverence.
In today’s reading, Paul appeals to the Corinthians not to
receive the grace of God in vain. By
grace he means, God’s gift which reconciles us to himself through the death and
resurrection of Jesus and makes us holy; by our acceptance of the grace which flows
from Jesus’ paschal mystery we are transformed into the people he made us to
be—into saints. So when Paul says “do
not receive the grace of God in vain”, on one hand he is saying that we mustn’t
fail to allow the grace of God to transform us.
Here we might think of the person who has backslided into a
life of sin. A baptized person who has
fallen away from the Church, or living as if he weren’t a member of the Church.
But even we who are coming to daily Mass, who are trying to
be faithful to a disciplined prayer life, Paul’s appeal goes for us as
well. There is a danger of falling into
routine, of saying the words, but just sort of giving the Lord lip
service.
One of my seminary professors warned us often against,
“worshipping in vain” and “receiving the Eucharist in vain” in other words:
saying the words without meaning the words and wanting to be changed by the
words, consuming the Eucharist without wanting to be changed, sanctified,
healed, purified. We must come to the
Eucharist every time seeking conversion, lest we receive the grace of God in
vain. We must come to daily prayer
and Mass with that desire to become more
like Jesus Christ in his selfless self-giving to God.
As we celebrate this Eucharist may we give God true worship
of the heart, desiring evermore to be conformed to his Son—for His glory and
the salvation of souls.
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