Fr. Alan's homily for Sunday July 16th 2006

Saint Paul writes: Before the world was made, God chose us in Christ.

Our enlightened, empirical world may not have a beginning, or at least any beginning remotely relevant to us. We are adrift on a sea of chance, our human being merely the result of a long, complex web of accidents.

It is not surprising then that our real universe, our moral and spiritual framework, is falling apart. For our culture denies that such a framework can possibly exist. The thing that strikes me most about our western world today is its lack of any inkling of the sacred. In losing its sacred quality, the world has evacuated all meaning. If we cannot speak of God, then we cannot speak meaningfully of man.

And into the vacuum we have put things. We define ourselves as consumers. Our meaning is to buy, use, throw away and buy again. At worst, this is sacrilege before the Creator, demeaning to humanity, criminally exploitative of others and devastating to the planet.

Without any sense of being loved, cherished and chosen, human beings become dangerous to themselves and violent to one another.

Before the world was made, God chose us. What we have to offer is a universe of meaning, held together by a purpose, an end, a plan. The key to that plan is praise: .. That we should become his adopted children through Jesus Christ, to make us praise the riches of his grace.

A parishioner met me this week on a lovely morning. He looked up, lifted his hands to heaven and said "What a wonderful heavenly Father we have?" That's not naïve sentiment, that's spirituality.

When did you last praise God? When did you last say grace before eating? We say: "It is right to give him thanks and praise." Not just in Church, but every minute of our life.