Feast of Saint Anthony Zaccaria (5 July 2016)

In the Book of Revelation we read these words addressed by the sacred author to God our Father: You have created all things. By your will they came to be and were made.

Now, let’s make that more personal and more applicable to ourselves. Let’s paraphrase it by saying: By your will I came to be and was made. For all eternity, God has known that he was going to make you. He knew the exact moment when your body would be conceived and he would create your immortal soul to infuse into that body. He knew exactly how he would make you, with what characteristics, talents, personality traits, strengths, weaknesses, and all the other elements that go to make up each human being. He knew every moment of your life, every opportunity you would have, every grace that he would give you, all your good works and your sins.

Each of us has a unique set of fingerprints by which we can be identified and set apart from any other person on earth. If that is true of our fingerprints, how much more true is it of our personalities.

I like to think of our human family as a great symphony orchestra, each person playing a different instrument. When you attend a symphony concert, you see the musicians playing violins, violas, oboes, bassoons, French horns, English horns, harps, trumpets, clarinets, flutes, piccolos, glockenspiels, drums, cymbals, etc. Without each of those instruments, the music would be less rich, less varied, less beautiful. And so with us; each of our personalities is an instrument that God has given us to play in the great symphony of human life, whereby we can give him praise and glory. No one else can give him the adoration and praise and honor and glory he expects of you. Either you give it to him, or he will not receive it.

Think of that often, my dear friends. Try to use your personality in such a way that you will make your contribution to the great human symphony which rises up to the praise and glory of God.   Thank you for seeking God’s truth. God bless you. Father Victor Brown, O.P.

Note:  This message was composed some years ago