Seek the Lord while he may be found (Sunday homily)

How does it happen that you are here today?

“I always come to Mass”

“My mother made me come.”

“I bring my kids.”

“I just felt like it.”

“I don’t know why I’m here today.”

Well, I can tell you
how it happens that you are here today.

You and I are here because God’s grace has made it so.

God’s grace is mostly invisible.
God works behind the scenes,
Through ordinary things.

It may have been your mom who got on you…
But the Holy Spirit was behind it.
So, if you wonder what the Holy Spirit sounds like,
Sometimes He sounds like your mom and dad!

Sometimes your spouse, your children, your friends.

Occasionally, he might even sound like your pastor!

And grace—and grace, by the way,
is God’s love for us, at work in our world to save us—
God’s grace works mostly silently:
Things happen, people meet on a street corner;
A friend you haven’t heard from, writes you a note;
A door closes, another door opens.

The workings of grace are simply beyond our imagining:
“As high as the heavens are above the earth,so high” are God’s ways above ours,
His thoughts above ours.

So, back to my initial question:
How does it happen that you are here today?

The answer is grace:
God brought you here, today.

Just think about that.

God…brought you…here…today.

So heed the word of Isaiah:
Seek the Lord while he may be found.

Sometimes the Lord calls us early,
Sometimes he comes and finds us at noon,
He comes back around, hour after hour, looking for us.
Jesus is happy to find us, early or late.

But you and I should not be complacent:
The day does come to an end.

Seek the Lord while he may be found.