The words of the psalm echo through the readings today. Especially as we celebrate the feasts of the Guardian Angels and the feasts of St Jerome, St Therese of Lisieux, St Francis of Assisi, and Sts Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel we reflect on where God speaks to our hearts in daily life. Each saint calls us to look at the office entrusted to us to proclaim the Good News in daily life. This is not just an allocation of a work schedule where we tick off the boxes but rather a way of life in which the Holy Spirit guides us to be faithful to the gifts entrusted to us. Our witness proclaims that we share our lives for the good of God and the good of each other with power, love, and self-control. The Gospel is not just our private possession that we preserve solely for our own use but rather a living truth of the relationship that sustains us in life.
We are called to have faith that can grow into more than we can imagine. This is where it may be useful to do a short precis of the saints I mentioned. St Jerome had a passion for the Word of God which called him to study scripture. His passion for the Word was to reveal to others the revelation which touched him as a way of life that would inspire others to read, reflect, and be transformed by scripture. St Therese of Lisieux was inspired to live a life of simplicity and dedication to God where she saw her life doing good on earth. In many ways, she was an apostle of God's love for others in drawing people into a living relationship with God. St Francis of Assisi heard the words to rebuild my Church and realized that this was not just about bricks and mortar but about encountering the heart of God who was at the heart of creation. In our own times, we are called to be cocreators with God in caring for all that sustains life. St Michael seeks to focus our attention on how it is God at the heart of our lives, St Gabriel who invites us through the Virgin Mary to be part of God's way of salvation, and St. Raphael who seeks to heal and strengthen us both from our physical and spiritual blindness to see God's action in our life. In all these situations our Guardian Angels are not cute addendums who watch over us but people who pray with us and for us in our daily lives.
In all these Saints' lives, the focus was on how we can cooperate with God's grace not solely for our own good but for the good of all of God's creation. It calls for our hearts to be enlarged by our prayer, reflection, and isolation. As Christians, we are not called to live in splendid isolation but people who witness to the heart of God who speaks to every generation with a voice that burns deep within us.
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