Sunday, July 4, 2010  Fr. Pat Grile

 

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

“Go Forth”.  The first words we say are “Peace to this Household.”  And that’s the message I think we want to take with us tonight.  And the peace that Our Lord wants us to bring is twofold. 

 

First of all we need to be at peace with ourselves.  You and I need to have a right relationship with God first.  You cannot give what you do not have.  So if you and I are not in a right relationship with the Lord, not at peace with God within ourselves, how are you and I ever going to be able to pass it on to someone else?  So first of all we take a look at ourselves to say where I am, where am I in my life?  What’s not right?  What’s going wrong?  What are the things that I need to let go of?  What do I need to bring the Lord deep into my life?  We get that straightened out then we can go forth and we can be a people who can bring peace, compassion, hope, joy, mercy to others. 

 

We come here tonight to this Eucharist because first of all you and I will get the peace of Jesus Himself in the Eucharist.  Every time we gather here to celebrate the Eucharist we get the strength, the love, the compassion, the mercy, the joy that we need.  We become the Lord. 

 

We will go forth from this Eucharist tonight to be the eyes, ears, the hands, the feet, the presence of Jesus for one another. 

 

Our world needs you and me to give and bring.  There is a lot of pain, difficulty, hardship all around us.  You don’t have to look very far to see it. 

 

So let’s bring people some peace and hope.  A very short, a very simple message.  Bring peace and love because you and I first get it here tonight.  Be people of great comfort, of great compassion because God first gives it to you and me.  Let’s pass on what God gives to us, and then as Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is at hand.”

 

Wherever you and I go tonight and throughout this week, we will bring the kingdom of God as we bring the Lord.