I AM...

3/20/2013 
A Reading from the Book of John: 

51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death." 52 The Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, 'If any one keeps my word, he will never taste death.' 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you claim to be?" 54 Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God. 55 But you have not known him; I know him. If I said, I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad." 57 The Jews then said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." 59 So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple. 

When God says "I am," I want to continue His thought, in the most unassuming way possible. It's as though I want to ask, didn't you mean to say I am loving, merciful, good, constant, eternal, peace, faithful, eternal, forgiving? Yet, God simply says "I AM."  Well, gee. What does that mean? Let's take it back to Exodus, when "the angel of the Lord appeared to (Moses) in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush." Moses in an attempt to understand what is going on is met by God's  revelation that he is on holy ground (Ex. 3;5). Let us also realize as we strive to encounter the God who is, that we are still on Holy Ground. 

When further prompted by Moses, God says "I am the God of your father," and God lists the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God highlights not only His faithfulness through the ages but also the centrality of family in passing on our faith. He is knowing and consoling as God explains "I know their suffering and have come to deliver them". He is a God of exodus and freedom. After Moses has encountered the living God, God calls "Come, I will send you." Moses, responds like many of us "but who am I?" God in His gentleness, affirms "I will be with you." How cool is it that the stories of our faith from the early ages still ring true today? How many of us could insert ourselves into this story just changing some details? Yet, we are each an unrepeatable miracle  

So as we are called to imitate Christ in His works, we are called also to imitate Him in his Being. I am (insert your beautiful name here). God wants us to know we are known; we are delighted in; we are loved. "We do a lot of stupid stuff when we forget we are loved." We are called to remember we are eternally His. God wants to give us His love, His blessing, His Body and Blood, His very life; He also gives us the gift of faith to understand and believe that He is who is. We are called to live in the reality that eternity is our home. Let us receive this good gift God wants to give to and strengthen within us for our journey towards Heaven. 

Reading a meditation on this Gospel, the author highlights that Abraham rejoiced. God wants to fulfill his promises so that we may know JoY and blessedness eternally. "The Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus' preaching. They take up the promises made to the the chosen people since Abraham" (CCC 1716).  They are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ's disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints (CCC 1717)." John Paul the Great in his homily from the beatification mass notes Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was one who lived this blessedness. "The power of the Spirit of Truth, united to Christ, made Pier Giorgio Frassati a modern witness to the hope which springs from the Gospel and to the grace of salvation which works in human hearts...By his example he proclaims that a life lived in Christ's Spirit -the Spirit of the Beatitudes - is 'blessed,' and that only the person who becomes a 'man or woman of the Beatitudes' can succeed in communicating love and peace to others." Let us let God transform us and love us as we are.  

Verso l'alto, 

Kathryn 

Personal favorite: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kww33eLc6Cs