The ONE BEYOND NAMING Knows You by Name

2 Mc 7:1-2, 9, 16, 22-27 / 2 Thes 2:16-3:5 / Luke 20:27-38

There's a legend from the orient about a traveler making his way to a great city. One night he meets two other travelers along the road. One is Fear, and the other is Plague. Plague explains to the traveler that, once they arrive, they're expected to kill 10,000 people in the city. The traveler asks Plague if Plague will do all the killing.

"Oh, no," says Plague. "I'll kill only a few hundred. My friend Fear will kill all the rest."

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How much of our life is killed or stolen away by fear? Not huge fears of things like nuclear holocaust, but miserable, little fears that slowly eat away the sweetest parts of life: Will the new teacher hate me?  They're going to laugh at my speech! Why did I wear this outfit? I'm going to fail the test!

But fear isn't the only thief who lurks inside us. There's a whole army of wretched little bandits that can rob us blind: resentments over long-past slights; fights over meaningless issues; cut-throat competition for things that don't count; deal-breaking stubbornness on matters that don't matter; lingering disappointments that discolor the whole of life.

How do we escape the clutches of such a wily band of thieves? We can begin by doing something very simple: Lift up our eyes and look into the sky. There are 50 billion galaxies out there, some racing away from us at millions of miles per hour! With the Hubble telescope, we can see light that was emitted by distant stars 12 billion years ago! Some of these stars have already been dead for millions of years, as their light only now reaches us. There seems to be no end to this vast universe, no edges, no limits! And yet, with all its vastness and age, it is only a creation, something made by another.

So what about that Maker? We call Him "God," but He is in fact too immense to name or even to imagine. Faced with the Maker of this vast and ancient universe, we seem mere fly specks. And yet He tells us that the name of each of us is written in the palm of His hand, and every hair on our heads is known to Him. Beyond all understanding, He calls us His "children," His very own, whom He did not make as disposable playthings, but as His family for all eternity.   

Whom should we fear? Of whom should we be afraid — if we let God be God for us? Who can steal life from us? Or joy? No one but ourselves!

We are made in God's own likeness, with the power to love and to give life and joy. That is our life's work, each in our own way: To be life-givers for one another as God is for us. 

Our destiny is grand beyond all human expectation! May God help us be true to it this day and always. Amen.

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