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Saint Paul encourages us this morning to be imitators of
God.
Over and over and Scripture, God explains that he wants his
people to “Be Holy, as He is Holy”. Over
and over in Scripture we see God seeking to purify his people from wickedness,
idolatry, and impurity, and so St. Paul urges the Ephesians to strive for
purity because God is pure.
Over and over in Scripture God is showing his patience and
mercy, even while we resist his Holy Will; St. Paul urges us to be full of
patient mercy because God is full of patient mercy. Over and over, God is
giving the hard-hearted second chances, he invites them over and over, and so
must we.
In the Gospels of course, we see Jesus approaching the
outcast, the widow, the leper and showing them God’s abundant love, and so must
we.
St. Paul writes that Christ offered himself as a sacrificial
offering to God, and so Christians, who seek to be imitators of Him, are to
offer their lives as sacrificial offerings to God.
The pattern of how we are to live is to imitate what God has
done.
Over in the school for the past two weeks, I have been
talking to the kids about the Saints in preparation for the Great Solemnity of
All Saints Day. The very word Saint
means “holy one”. The Saints have become
Holy through their imitation of Jesus Christ: putting on his mind, his
attitude, his heart—learning to live in the power of His Spirit—learning to
love with His Sacred Heart.
Each of the Saints has responded wholeheartedly to this
invitation to be Holy as God is Holy. And Jesus extends that invitation, not
just to nuns in convents and priests in public ministry, but to every
Christian. Every day, our living God is
whispering that invitation to our hearts, “Be Holy, As I am Holy”.
The Lord pours himself out in the Eucharist for us
today. He is broken and poured out on
the cross for us, that we may be poured out for others. Through the Eucharist may we become a
sacrificial offering to God in all things for the glory of God and salvation of
souls.
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