To Praise God

Read the Homily

I was with Dad fly fishing a few weeks ago. As I was walking along a path next to the water I was fishing, I spotted a butterfly on the ground. I was struck by the bright colors, it looked like a stained glass window. I bent down to take a closer look, and I noticed the lines on one wing perfectly matched the lines on the other wing. How did it do that? Better yet, who designed this? So I said to God, “You did a nice job with this.” And God said, “I am glad someone notices me once and a while.”

It is true. God likes to be noticed; He likes to be acknowledged. Sometimes we get so caught up with our problems, and concerns that we sometimes do not see God in our lives.

Did you ever notice in the Gospels when Jesus healed the blind man, or when the paralytic stood up, picked up his mat and walked away? Remember when Jesus cured the woman in the synagogue who was hunched over for eighteen years?

Everyone in the house, or in the synagogue, or in the crowd that saw the great sign rejoiced and praised God. The reason they praised God is because God gave them a reason to praise Him. Sometimes we think, “Oh, I suppose it is time for me to praise God again, I guess.” That is not how praise works. God always gives us a reason to praise Him. We just have to have the eyes to see it.

We come to Mass every Sunday, why? To praise God. The reason why we praise God is because God gave us a reason to praise him: resurrection. God destroyed death. I praise God at Mass because God gives me a reason: I will see my deceased mother again. Here is my Christmas story. So the angels were sent by God to the philosophers, and they said, “Behold the sign, an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” So the Philosophers went out and saw the child and said, “It is metaphysically impossible that this newborn is God. We all know that God is infinite. God has no beginning or end. God cannot be born of a woman.” And they went away unimpressed. Then the angels appeared to the scientists, and they saw the child wrapped in swaddling clothes and said, “This cannot be a divine event. It is biologically impossible for a virgin to give birth to a child. We call this a myth.” And they went away unimpressed. Then the angels appeared before the social workers, and they saw the infant lying in the manger. They say, “It is impossible that this child is to be the savior of the world. He will never have the money or the education to make an impact on the world.” And they went away unimpressed. Then the angels went to the shepherds. They saw, and they rejoiced. So I pull one of the shepherds aside, and I said to him, “Hold it; why are you so happy?” They said, “Because we have seen the savior of the world.” I said, “The philosophers, the scientists, and the social workers said it is impossible. How is it that you know?” The shepherd replied, “Why of course this child is God. God loves doing the impossible. You just have to have the eyes to see it.” God always gives us a reason to praise him and to rejoice. We just have to have the eyes to see it. Do you have shepherd eyes?