22nd Sunday Homily : Salvation brings new vision!

How do we see the world around us, and ourselves?
There is a story of a woman caught in a flood.  She goes to the roof of her house, and watches as the flood waters rise.  She begins to pray to God for her rescue.
A man comes up to her in a boat, and tells her to get into the boat.
“No, thank you.  God will rescue me.”
You sure?”, asks the man.  “Yes” she replies.  So he floats away.
She watches the waters rise and she climbs higher on the roof.  “Dear Lord, please come and rescue me from these waters.” She prays.
A man comes up in a boat and pleads for her to get in.  
“No, I am waiting for God to come and save me.”
He goes away.
The waters rise even more, she can go no higher.  “Dear God, please come, take me to safety!”
A man comes in another boat and pleads for her to get into the boat.  
“No,” she exclaims,  “I am faithful.  I believe God will save me.”
“Please get into the boat!”  “No,” she says.  He goes away.
The waters rise, sweeps the woman away and she dies.
Standing in heaven, she is angry at God. “I prayed to you to rescue me, and you never responded.”  She cries out.
God replies..”I sent three boats, and you would not get in.”
Peter sees the Christ, receives the revelation of God that Jesus is the Christ...and yet, he sees no differently than before.
He has seen wondrous things and yet, his visión remains limited.
Jesus brings new vision, a new way to see...and Peter is unwilling to be changed by this new vision, by his encounter with the Christ.
Salvation comes from an Encounter with Jesus Christ.
Salvation is a gift of God, through Jesus Christ.
Salvation is freedom, the freedom to do what is good.  

This means God wants us to see  ourselves and the world differently.
It means God wants us to see how we act and why we do what we do...to see how we can be so enslaved, so limited, so blinded by our attitudes and choices:
and how we can act differently, be different, so as to have life in the full.
It’s not necessarily the huge things, though it does apply.
But often it’s the little things that occur daily.
Like to see how forgiveness can really make our lives easier…
Or actually being humble, and trying to NOT control the world, our spouses, children, everyone, will help us to experience more peace.
Like how our fears drive so much of our reactions, and how politicians and the press use the fear to manipulate us….
Even how we perceive God will be changed.
I know people who think God is out to punish them for any mistake.
People who think every bad thing that happens is a result of God getting them for their “sins”.
Even though Jesus showed us that God has absolutely no interest in punishing us.
When some finally understand and open their eyes to God’s love, the energy they feel, the passion they experience, the freedom they live!!!!  
It’s amazing to watch.
It’s amazing to experience.
That’s the sign of a person who really has encountered Christ, and has let that Encounter go into their hearts.  
They have become a true disciple of Christ.
Peter had that, eventually.  It took the Resurrection for him to change.
We have the sacraments, we have a community, we have a prayer life….


This is in part what liturgy and all the sacramental celebrations are about. God wants us to be stretched, to have our hearts and minds opened even more.
God wants us to see, in Christ, how life is truly to be lived.
Lived by giving of ourselves for others.
Lived by not obsessing about control, about our egos, about our stuff.
Think about our own lives.  I would bet if we are truly honest with ourselves, the suffering in our lives is because we think too small, we see too little.

When we open our minds and hearts to the mystery of Christ, and are willing to let go, Life happens.  
Our relationships can actually get better.  
We can find more peace in our lives, more harmony.


What will it take for us to be changed!

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