Today’s Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Peter Wells who serves as the Apostolic Nuncio to Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. Bishop Kemme from the Diocese of Wichita was also with us. Additionally, dozens of priests from all over the United States concelebrated.
We all have a desire to be chosen. Whether that be for a sports team, a club, a play, getting into college or attaining a job. There is something deep about the human heart that desires to be chosen. In his homily this morning, Fr. Dave Pivonka, TOR, reminded us that we are all chosen to be holy.
God chose you
Fr. Dave began his homily by reminding us of what St. Paul shares with us, that God saw the beginning of history and the end, and he still chose us. What makes us special though, is that God chose us for adoption. In the time of Jesus, you were allowed to abandon your child for any reason. But also in that time, if you adopted a child, you could never abandon them because you chose them. That is the nature of God choosing you as an adopted son or daughter of God. He knows everything about you, including your fears, struggles, anxieties, strengths, weaknesses and joys – yet He still chooses you. In the worst moments of your life, God is still adamantly choosing you and He will not abandon you, for “it was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.” Our Lord knows our minds and our hearts and He chose us and He continues to choose us each day.
Chosen to be holy
Paul goes on to say “you are chosen to be holy.” The Lord has set us apart for a purpose. True holiness means you being the person the Lord created you to be. Not you trying to be like someone else but you choosing to blaze your own path. In Ephesians 1, Paul goes on to say “in Him who have heard the truth and have believed in Him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit which is the first installment of our inheritance towards redemption.”
We were sealed with the grace of the Holy Spirit so the world cannot tear the truth away! Fr. Dave shared with us that what we have here (at the Steubenville Conference) is just an installment, it’s a taste of what is to come when we go home today. This is just a taste that everyone deserves, but it’s up to us to take it home. Everyone needs to know that they have been chosen. Every time we come before the altar at Mass, we are reminded that God has chosen us to be here to have a taste of what is to come in Heaven. Heaven will look like a Steubenville conference, but a billion times better. Fr. Dave ended with these words:
“You have been chosen to be holy. Every time you come to the Eucharist, you are reminded of that.”
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