You Raise Me Up

The haunting melody and comforting words of the popular tune, YOU RAISE ME UP help us understand the lavish generosity of God which shows itself in the goodness and beauty of each one of us, the wonders of all creation and especially in his desire to share his life with us.  Yes, he would raise us up to the level of divinity as shown in Jesus, the Divine taking on our human nature.
Today's Gospel illustrates this magnanimity: a landowner who lavishes a daily wage on all his workers, even those who only worked one hour. (cf. Mt 20: 1-16).  When criticized, he reminds his critics of his freedom to give as his heart moves him.  So too  with God.
From time to time, we see examples of this generous spirit in people who so give of themselves that their legacy of love endures from generation to generation. Such a man was St. John Eudes, whose memorial we observe today.  He gave his heart to God at 14 with a vow of chastity, became a priest, one of the best preachers ever, served the sick during two plagues and founded an order of priests (the Eudists) for the education of seminarians, and an order of sisters, the Order of Our Lady of Charity (often called Good Shepherd Sisters), and promoted devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary through the liturgy. He died in 1680 at the age of 79, after a life of endless giving in which God raised him up to a level he hardly imagined at 14.  May we follow his example and think of him when challenged to step up to the next rung.
Bro. Rene