“Remember I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Scripture is full of “hard sayings,” sayings we don’t understand, sayings we would like to ignore or avoid because accepting them would be difficult or painful but this week’s gospel promise is one of the most comfortable, God is with us always, Emmanuel. Surrounded by and infused with God’s presence, we are strengthened to live out the “hard sayings,” to accept God’s call to a radical new life following in the way of Christ.

We recognize that God the Father has created us and all we know, the entire cosmos, “the galaxies in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.” But God is not finished! Creation is on-going, and the Creator is hard at work. We are called to be co-creators with God, Love’s hands and feet, and voice in the world, so that God’s will may “be done on earth as it is in heaven,” here and now.

We are grateful that God the Son has redeemed us from our rebellious, self-centered ways and reconciled us in love. But the work of reconciliation is not over either. God calls us to continue that reconciling work in the world around us, to enable others to experience the forgiving love of God, as we love and forgive those whose lives touch ours, as we accept our differences and strive to live in harmony with one another.

We know that God the Holy Spirit has sanctified us, set us apart to be God’s holy people. This work continues as we allow God to heal us and make us whole, complete, perfect according to the divine will, to transform us into the imago dei we were created to be. God calls us to open the doors of our hearts and welcome the healing and life-giving grace prepared for us so that even the “hard sayings” may become ”comfortable words” for us, that we may come to live into the unity of the Trinity, the Three in one, the One in three.

Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier Emmanuel ALWAYS!