Precious in God's Eyes

Isaiah tells us, "You are precious in my eyes." (Is 43:4). We were formed out of the dust of the earth yet have become "beloved dust" for God has chosen us to be vessels of the Holy Spirit, Temples for himself. Even though our lives in the time-line of world history are but a moment, the good that we do accumulates as an everlasting treasure in heaven. In baptism we were buried with Jesus so that we might share his resurrection, thus we live not alone, but Christ lives within us. All that we do becomes the extension of the works of Jesus. No wonder God takes such delight in us and blesses us over and over again with signs of his love and approval.
Yesterday as the entire student body of Marist High School in Chicago was seated in the Red Hawk Football Stadium, and countless alumni and friends sat in chairs before the altar where Cardinal Francis George presided at the liturgy of thanksgiving, one could not deny the presence of God and his delight at what this Mass represented: 50 years of "making Jesus known and loved"; 50 years of offering "all to Jesus through Mary, whose presence was made visible in the statue of Mary Our Good Mother, at the right of the altar. To hear the first reading confidently proclaimed by Kevin Shanahan, a senior and president of the student body, was to see how family and school had worked together to shape this young man and all of us in the image of Jesus. With humble gratitude, let us accept this new day as God's gift and use it to show others how precious we are in his sight.
Bro. Rene