Here I am, Lord

Today’s homily includes a song by Daniel Schutte, SJ., called “Here I am, Lord”. This song uses Scriptural texts to show us God’s feelings, to show us what is in the heart of Jesus and of God the Father. The music is very good, and its intention is for you to feel what God “feels”. As St. Paul says in his letter to the Philippians (2:5), “Have the same feelings as Christ Jesus”.

Lord, tell us why You came into the world. A vocation to religious life or to priesthood is a vocation to having the same feelings as You Lord have in Your Heart. Why did You come into the world?

I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin,
My hand will save.

The Lord came because of our sufferings, because of our lack of meaning in life, because of our sins. The Lord came because He could not tolerate that men and women might think that God did not care about their sufferings. The Lord cannot see a human heart in trouble without taking it personally. Nowadays we are in the same situation. God still wants to come to our hearts, to those hearts who suffer, to those hearts who cannot find an answer or a meaning to their struggle, to those hearts who feel rejected and alone, to those who lack the attention of others.

I, who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?

The Lord came to teach us the way to eternal life. He came to forgive. But He didn’t want to do it alone. He wanted not only to share His forgiveness, but also His power to forgive. He wanted not only to share His light, but also His power to illuminate. He wanted not only to give His Body, but also His capacity of giving His body. He is the same now. He wants someone to help Him to help others. He wants someone to have His same feelings, someone who will love people with the Lord’s own love.

Chorus
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? (How could you think of me for this task!)
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, (How could I resist!) if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

You do not go alone. He wants to give you not only the joy of working for Him, but also the blessedness of working together with Him. In good and in bad, side by side with the Lord, fighting the Lord’s battles and drinking from His own cup.

Now, what is the problem? What is it that pierces the Lord’s heart? Why does He still suffer for us?

I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.

The mission is urgent. Nowadays so many people fall and sin. So many people live as if there were no one who cared for them, as if nobody had died for them. So many people simply forget the Lord. The Lord cannot stand not to be loved. The Lord wants to be loved by every human heart, He is on fire, He is like an earthquake, with the strength… of an infant sobbing, piercing not our ears but our hearts: “Why do you forget Me in the manger? Why do you not love Me?”

I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my words to them.
Whom shall I send?

The missionary is sent as a messenger of the love of God, to pierce hearts, to break stones, to shake the world with the power of His tears and the storm of His breath, with the thunder of His words, with the fire of His heart. The missionary is sent with the power of God, with the words of God, with the love of Jesus, with Jesus’ feelings, to conquer the modern world for Jesus.

The mission is great: God alone has the power to do it. You cannot do it by yourself, but God does not want to do it without you. May we all, and especially our youth, respond to the call of Jesus.