Today is the first Sunday in May. May starts a glorious season for me. In May, I was freed from slavery and was adopted as a son of God. In May, I was first forgiven on May 5th. On May 6th I received First Holy Communion. May 9th was my Baptismal day. May 12th was my Priestly Ordination day. May 20th my Ordination to the Deaconate. And May 24th was my Confirmation. It is truly the best month for me because the best things happened in this month, except birth. Why does God give us the Sacraments? He gives them to us so that we can become other Christs, so that we can be His ambassadors.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus said, “I no longer call you servants but friends.” What does that mean? It means that we have been called to live the life of Christ. He said a servant does not know what His master is doing so I call you friends because you know what I am doing. You might be thinking that I don’t know what Jesus doing so why does He say that. It is because when you do good things, Jesus is doing them in you and so you know that good work He is doing but you and I also know the good work He is not doing because you and I are not doing it either. This month for me represents when God united me to His powers. Peter, in the First Reading, was so united to God’s works that Cornelius fell down and worshipped him like a god. Peter corrected him telling him not to, but there is a profound truth of what happened there. We represent God to the people around us. God has done great things in our lives. He has given us the Sacraments which are really meant to conform us to be like God, to be the friends and coworkers of God.
I want you to sit on that idea, how you and I represent God to people. It scares me to look at my life and see what a poor example of God I have left. I have said sorry for the most part and that is important because one thing God does not have to say is I am sorry for what I have done. When we say sorry we are admitting that we are not acting like God would have. That is very important so people know more about how God is acting. When we refuse to say sorry it confuses people, especially children and people under our care. Jesus said you are my friends because I have told you everything. I have shared what is right and wrong. It is prideful not to say sorry when we have failed. We pretend we are God but we don’t act like Him so we lie to the people around us. Jesus tells us to love one another as I have loved you. So we see very clearly why we have to say sorry when we don’t because confusion about who God is follows.
As I mentioned earlier, the Sacraments are the greatest things that have happened in our lives. They directly allow us to participate in the life of grace that God has called us to. What is the life of grace? It is a life of the power of God. Why aren’t the Sacraments changing us the way they were meant to? Why aren’t people falling down when they meet us because are we not the friends of God? Do we not do His works? No, we don’t. In many cases we often harm the work of God and say I am only human yet we were made to do the work of God. You can tell if we are letting the Sacraments work in our lives because we have a life of joy. We abide in God. Grace, which is the power of God in our lives, brings joy. Joy is like a Christian suspension system. Have you ever ridden in a tractor without suspension? If you have, you know that when you hit a bump you literally go through the roof. The same applies to our lives. Are you often going through the roof? Well then you need joy, you need grace. How do you get it? You ask. Each time we come to the Sacraments we must ask. Mother Teresa always asked to be able to pray better when she went to Communion. There are many things we should be asking for in our lives and we don’t get them because we don’t ask.
So, if you don’t take bumps well, it is time to ask for more grace. When you fail say sorry to God and the ones you have hurt, then resolve to ask for more grace so that it doesn’t have to continue to be like that. You and I have been called, chosen to go and bear fruit that will last. We will bear fruit only by grace and we will only have grace if we ask for it.