Dear Parishioners,
I want to share the following for your personal reflection. It meant a lot to me.
God bless us all!
Fr. Citino
God Knows Those Whom He Has Called
You formed my in most being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, because I am wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works!
My very self you know.
My bones are not hidden from you,
When I was being made in secret,
fashioned in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw me unformed;
in your book all are written down;
my days were shaped, before one came to be
(Ps 139:13-16)
God beholds thee individually, whoever thou art. He “calls thee by name.” He sees thee, and understands thee, as He made thee. He knows what is in thee, all thy strength and thy weakness. He views thee in thy day of rejoicing and thy day of sorrow. He sympathizes in thy hopes and thy temptations. He interests Himself in all thy anxieties and remembrances, all the risings and failings of thy spirit. He has numbered the very hairs of thy head and the cubits of thy stature. He compasses thee round and bears thee in His arms; He takes thee up and sets thee down. He notes thy very countenance, whether smiling or in tears, whether healthful or sickly. He looks tenderly upon thy hands and thy feet; He hears thy voice, the beating of thy heart, and thy very breathing. Thou dost not love thyself better than He loves thee. Thou canst not shrink from pain more than He dislikes thy bearing it; and if He put it on thee, it is as thou wilt put it on thyself, if thou art wise, for a greater good afterwards.
—-Blessed John Henry Newman
Parochial and Plain Sermons 5:124-25
I open the book of my life to the living God. I rejoice in his loving acceptance of all that I’ve been and all that I am and all that I shall yet become.