Sunday March 4, 2007

The Second Sunday of Lent

March 4, 2007




“God took Abram outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so, he added, shall your descendants be.’”
Genesis 15:5

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Three main promises that were given Abram that spoke of God’s blessing were name, land and posterity. God would soon give Abram a new name and lead him into a new land with the blessing of many descendants. God says to look up into the heavens and count the stars and so shall your blessing be in your posterity.



Talk about generosity! We cannot even count all the stars. And that is going to be God’s blessing for Abram and every believer. Try to wrap your finite mind around this one. We live in galaxy where there are billions and billions of stars. Think about how long it would take to see and name and know all the stars that are part of our galaxy. Now, think about the fact that we are in just on galaxy of billions of galaxies. Think about all the stars God has made to look at. And the stars are a sign that points to the unending goodness God desires to flood every believer with. So, think about that goodness and generosity the next time you are star gazing.



The generosity of God will never be exhausted. We will always be able to dive in deeper to his goodness forever. There will always be more and this is the mystery we call life in God. Yes, God tells Abram that he will have descendants as many as the stars in the heavens but the life we have now and forever in God is much greater than simply having countless posterity. Eye has not seen nor has ear heard nor has it so much dawned on you and me what that will be like but we do know that it will be and it will be infinite goodness!



When we humbly walk up to receive Jesus in communion (which I hope we are taking every chance we can to receive his body and blood), Jesus is saying to us, “I give you all of me, forever!” Wow! The generosity of absolute forgiveness and eternal life is greater than all the trillions and trillions of stars there are. And our response to Jesus in communion is, “Amen.” We say “Yes” to the unending goodness of Jesus as he feeds us with his body and blood. We come to know that there is nothing more generous in this world than Jesus feeding us with his very body and blood.



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John