Beloved,
What can we know or say about God? Whatever we can know and say about God from our human comprehension cannot fully grasp who God is. What is God? Can we know him in terms of human cognition? God is a mysterium beyond our total comprehension. St. Thomas Aquinas says, "Whatever can be known or understood is less than God himself." In other words, from our human point of view, we cannot fathom the essence of God. St Aquinas adds to his statement on our inability to fully know the nature of God: "The essence of God Himself remains forever hidden from us. The most we can know of God during our present life is that he transcends everything that we can conceive of him." Despite the mysterious and hidden nature of God, He nevertheless has revealed himself sufficiently for us to love and worship him.
God is with us. And He reveals himself to Moses as "a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity" (Ex. 34: ). As Moses prayed, "O, Lord, do come along in our company," so did God become incarnate; he is Emmanuel, and God is with us. St. Paul describes his presence as "God of love and peace" (2 Cor. 13:). St. John adds that God reveals himself to us in His son, Jesus Christ. God, by his presence among us in his son, Jesus, demonstrates his love for us to be saved if we can only believe in him (John 3: 16-18).
So what do we do next? Ours must be a response of faith, an absolute surrender to God who has revealed himself as love, mercy, and peace. We must turn to God in worship and bless his majesty as Daniel did (Daniel 3: 52-55). We must respond in praise and adoration to the God who reveals himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. To the God who is, who was, and who is to come" (Rev. 1:8).
As I noted earlier, God is with us. This truth is more apparent in Christ's Most Holy Body and Blood- the Eucharist. We, the Catholic Church in America, are on a three-year Eucharistic Renewal mission. We need to strengthen our faith in the Eucharistic God and enkindle a fire of love for Jesus in our hearts. We must be devoted to Eucharistic Adoration and deepen our relationship with Jesus. In this regard, I call on you to attend mass en masse next Sunday for mass and the Corpus Christi procession that follows the 10:30 a.m. mass. This is a public demonstration of our faith in Jesus sacramentally present among us. We proclaim by our precession that Jesus is truly present in the consecrated Host, and we joyfully and lovingly bless our community with his sacred presence.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all as you come to worship God, who makes himself known and present among us perpetually in the Holy Eucharist.
-Fr. Bernard, OP
RSS Feed