Yap Catholic High School Student Retreat Day - Friday of the 3rd Week of Easter

There has been a lot of practicing for the upcoming musical showcase on the sophomore veranda and Tionna has been singing a song that reminds me of how God feels about every one of us. 

Here are some of the lyrics:

When I see your face 
There's not a thing that I would change 
'Cause you're amazing 
Just the way you are

That’s my first point today:

God looks on us and says, “You’re amazing” and God loves us just the way we are, with our faults and failings, our mistakes, our doubts, our fears.  God loves us just the way we are.  I know I say it often, but if we knew how much God loves us, we would be amazed, and even though God hasn’t demanded it or asked us in order to have Him love us, we would want to change. 

Feeling and knowing God’s love would make us want to be the best person we could be.  Perhaps you have already had the experience of being in love.  If you have, you know what I’m talking about.  Everything, including ourselves, looks better to us when we’re in love.  We smile more.  We’re nice to everyone.  We can’t wait to see him or her again.  Love changes us, and it’s always for the better.  God’s love, once we have experienced it, changes us and makes us better.  And, unlike the love of others, God’s love will never end. 

Here’s my second point:

We are not perfect, but we can be better than we are.  There are parts of our life that need to change and we can trust Jesus to show us what that is and to help us to do better.

The third point is:

We need to trust Jesus and realize that He will use other people in our lives to help us change and become better people.

In today’s reading, Jesus, the Risen Christ, has decided He has to do something about Saul, who will later be known as St. Paul, the first great missionary and preacher of Christianity.  Saul was going around capturing Christians and having them tortured and even put to death. 

Here’s something you might not know: Saul thought he was doing the right thing.  He thought God would be pleased with what he was doing.  He thought he was protecting the Jewish faith.  He was wrong, and Jesus Christ Himself, is going to set it up so that Saul will find out how he needs to change. 

You heard what Jesus did, if you were listening to the reading.  Jesus flashed some light that knocked Saul to the ground.  Bam! Then He said to Saul, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.  Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” 

Notice that Jesus did not say, “Saul, what the … are you thinking of?  Are you crazy?  You ought to know better!  You’re acting like a worthless piece of…” Jesus did not say that.  Jesus would not talk to anyone that way because He loves everyone.  He simply tells Saul, “You’re persecuting me and I’m going to tell you what to do.”  We too need to be open to having Jesus correct us and help us in whatever way He chooses.

Now think back to what happens next in the story.  At the same time Saul is on the ground on the road to Damascus, in that same city, the Lord speaks to a Christian named Ananias.  He tells him where to go and that he needs to pray over Saul who is now blind.  But Ananias had heard all about Saul, so he says to the Lord, “Lord, wait a second, I know about this guy.  He is hurting people in Jerusalem, your holy ones, and now he is having others thrown into prison. Ahhh, I'm not sure….”

But the Lord says to Ananias, “Just go. I plan to have Saul preach about me to the Gentiles and I will show him that he is going to suffer for my name.” So Ananias goes and everything is just the way the Lord told him it would be.  He prays over Saul.  He even calls Saul his brother. And Saul is immediately healed and then baptized and starts to get better. 

We all need to be like Ananias.  How you ask?  Let me tell you.  Ananias prayed and he listened for what God had to say to him.  And then he did it.  He didn’t judge Saul.  In fact, he forgave Saul, and called him “my brother.” 

We need to pray, even for just a few minutes every day because then God will speak quietly to us telling us what He would like us to do.  And then, like Ananias, we do it.  We don’t judge people; instead we think of them as your brothers or sisters, and in doing so, we help others as Ananias helped Saul.

So remember this:

- God thinks we’re amazing and He loves us, just the way we are.

- Knowing God’s love will make us want us to change, to become a better person.

- Jesus will show us how to do that and will send others to us who can help us.  He will send us to others to help them as well.