Friars Corner: Let us praise and worship Jesus, our Light and Salvation
Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR
Isaiah 45:1, 4-6; Ps 96:1, 3-5, 7-10; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b; Matthew 22:15-21
As I sit to write these thoughts I ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten me to help you. Since these thoughts go viral, I don’t know who will be reading this but hope we shall be together in heaven.
My thoughts this weekend float to the Responsorial Psalm 96. It is so beautiful. As I think of that Psalm, I am drawn to an old hymn that I so loved by Robert Call. I often sing a song asking God to bless all of us and not just myself. The song goes like this:
Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus.
To reach out and touch him and say that we love him.
Open our ears, Lord, and help us to listen.
Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus.
Yes, Jesus, please grant us these gifts.
As we get closer to Jesus, he fills us with more of his love and like this psalmist, we want to sing, praise and worship the Father, Jesus and their Holy Spirit of love. Because Jesus is our Shepherd, Savior and Lord, we want to, sing to him new songs as the Holy Spirit sings to our Father through us.
New songs for the hungry
He does give us new songs and wants us to tell his glory among all peoples. They are thirsty and hungry for God and most don’t really know that is what we are all longing for. When God made us we were like the old raised donuts with the whole in the center. God put a longing in all of us that only he can fill. Our God is an awesome God.
God is so awesome in all of the diversity of his creation. He leads us on to give him glory and praise for his mighty works. This glory is due him as we praise and worship such a loving God. We come into his presence bringing our hearts full of songs of praise and worship. As we do that from our hearts, as Mary has asked us in some of her appearances, at times we float in his love.
Praise vs. worship
Praise is a lower level of honor due to God. Worship is a higher level when the Holy Spirit raises us closer to God. When we come on Sundays, God deserves our best apparel, special clothes the psalmist mentioned. We wouldn’t go to a wedding or the White House for a state dinner in shorts and a T-shirt would we?
Jesus mentions in the gospel about coins, to repay to the government what belongs to them and to God what belongs to him. My encouragement is to get “as close to God as fish do to water.” Or we could say” get as close to God as bark is to the tree or the petals are to the flower.”
Have a great week as God wants to bathe you in more of his love and let his light shine through you to bless others. Your area will be brighter and not cloudy.
Blessings,
+ Fr. Bob Hilz
(© 2017 Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR
