Blessed Are Our Eyes and Ears

Homily for Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Moses had a special relationship with God; he was allowed to enter the cloud over Mount Sinai. In a similar fashion, the disciples had a special relationship with Jesus. While he spoke to the crowds in parables, the disciples were able to ask questions of Jesus. They were being given knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God which had been denied to those who “look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.”

However, these relationships, that of both Moses and the disciples of Jesus, were given to them for the sake of all people of God rather than something for themselves. The same is true for us. Our faith places us in a special relationship with God, a relationship that is nourished by prayer and the sacraments of the church. However, we, too, are to use that relationship for the benefit of all by acting as credible witnesses and stewards of God’s holy people.

St. Augustine is said to have preached that “If you receive the body and blood of Jesus worthily, you are yourselves what you receive.” Some consider the Eucharist a privilege for living a life that is worthy of our relationship with God. To be sure, receiving the Eucharist is a privilege. However, it is not a privilege that we have earned or which makes us superior to others. This privilege should be borne with humility as a pure gift of God. This humility compels us to love the world as Jesus loved it and to act as witnesses of that love before others. “Blessed are our eyes, because they see, and our ears, because they hear.”