Although all of you who are probably reading this Bulletin are aware that I have stressed that our Divine Liturgy is a worship of God the Father with the Son in the Holy Spirit, I don’t know how many truly understand this.

We, as human beings, are called to worship God. People have, in the past, accomplished this in many ways. We have typically taken those things that we have that are special and then offered them to God in worship, destroying them so that they might only belong to God.

We Christians, however, believe that Jesus showed us a new way of worshiping God, namely the same way He worshiped Him. Jesus showed us how to worship God.

What did He do? He worshiped God by offering Himself – His very life – back to God in thanksgiving for life. He helped us realize that the “LIFEFORCE” within us is actually a sharing in the LIFEFORCE of God Himself. Therefore we offer our lives back to God in praise and adoration for the gift of life itself. So when we gather to worship, we do what Jesus did before He suffered and died – we offer our lives back to God in unity with His Son and in His Spirit.

When we think about it, we know that Jesus actually offered His very life back to the Father in worship and praise. He surrendered His life out of adoration to the Father. He did not “fight” the events of life BUT, rather, embraced the life that presented itself to Him.

All this means that He did not see the betrayal and rejection by others as an obstacle to His praise and worship of the Father BUT as an opportunity to praise the Father. The challenges of His life provided Him an opportunity to thank God for His life.

Life presents multiple challenges. They are neither bad or good but, rather, opportunities to place our hope and trust in the Father – they are opportunities to truly understand that the meaning and purpose of life is to face challenges with the knowledge that we are loved by God and called to personally return His life by living as His children. This means, of course, that we seize each opportunity to offer Him praise and glory.
This particular approach to life truly answers the question about the meaning and purpose of life. We have been given this earthly existence to grow as Children of God. How are you approaching life? Do you understand that the life you have been given is to help you spiritually grow through the acceptance of life’s challenges?
Think about this!