THE ALL-SEEING EYE

A SERMON FOR THE 15th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Be not deceived, God is not mocked!  Words taken from today’s Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians. 

Our first lesson as Christians is that God is omniscient.  That’s a long word which has a simple meaning:  God knows everything.  From his throne in heaven, God sees all things, and knows all things.  All that we do is as open to God as though he were right here with us watching our every move.  Which indeed, he is.

God sees us.  This thought should be enough to stop us from doing any evil.  The idea that God is watching us should be enough to stop us from committing any sin at all, whether in word or deed, or even in thought, because even those innermost secret thoughts are as open to the all-seeing eye of Almighty God as even our outward deeds. He penetrates the windows of our soul and sees what lies beneath.  God truly sees us.

We are the focus of God’s attention from our birth to our deathbed, and yet in spite of that, there are those who live and act as though they are invisible to our Almighty Father in heaven.  For them, there is no God, no one to see the evil they do.  And so this evil that they do replaces God, it becomes their only source of happiness.  They live, or think they live in a world without God, and so they seek their happiness elsewhere.  They seek after the only things they know, the things they can see, the attractions of this world, things which can give only a brief, passing, fleeting happiness--pleasure, riches, power.  These become their gods.

It’s all a delusion of course.  They don’t find any real happiness in these false gods.  Sure, they might pretend to be happy.  Some of them have even usurped a word in the English language that actually means “happy,” and they use this word to describe them and their unnatural vices.  They make a big show of how “happy” they are, with displays of witticism, a flamboyant lifestyle, that is designed to prove to the world how “happy” they are.  But a more miserable and depressed community of people you will never find, which is evidenced by the disproportionate number of suicides among them.  How can they be at peace with God if they cannot even be at peace with themselves, with their conscience, even with their own self-identity?

These and all the other poor people who seek happiness in earthly pleasures, natural or unnatural, are essentially without God, whether they admit it or not.   They defiantly turn their backs on him.  And with their backs turned to him, they can never see him, never find him.  In fact, they soon stop looking for him.  Instead of trying to find happiness where alone it is to be found, they turn around and face the opposite direction away from God.  Away from him who alone can bring them to eternal joy in heaven.  The delusions they find to replace God are nothing but vanity, nothing but the illusion of happiness, and no matter how happy they pretend to be in their material world, they will never find that true joy that comes from being at peace with God. 

That peace finds its source in our faith, hope and charity. We have faith that God is there to watch over us, faith in God’s mercy who will forgive us our trespasses so long as we strive to do his will, so long as we continually repent for our sins of weakness.  We have hope in the resurrection, in his promise to us that if we do his will and obey his commandments we will be rewarded with eternal union with him in heaven.  And we have charity, a burning love of God that is itself our reward, as it turns our heart and mind towards our Divine Lord, and away from the delusions of this world’s pleasures.

Just as God sees us, we see God.  Or at least we think we do.  Each of us has his own vision of who God is.  Most of us do not see God watching over us as a threat, but as the ever-vigilant and loving eye of God, watching over us, caring for us, providing for our every true need, protecting us and our loved ones from harm, our only sure defence and helper.  But those who have turned away from God, how do they see his ever-watchful presence?  He is the one who, deep in the bowels of their conscience, they know full well will one day pass judgment on them and their sinful deeds.

Make no mistake, says St. Paul.  God is not mocked.  Let’s not look down upon those poor ignorant beings who live their life as though it was their only chance at happiness.  They got to that point originally by simply giving in to their fallen human nature, yielding to what they see as pleasures they are entitled to, but in reality simply falling into temptation.  Unfortunately, by giving in to that nature, they eventually find that it is not enough.  They eventually turn to more serious crimes, either willingly or as a result of their original lapses.  These new crimes often go against human nature—unnatural desires, self-mutilation, abortion, murder, and so on.  They do so because no earthly pleasure can ever properly satisfy the desire that burns within them, and they are willfully oblivious of the consequences, whether it be abortion or murder for example, or even hellfire itself.  Little do they know, but that desire is the eternal flame of God’s love within them, a flame that will continue to burn with an insatiable appetite.  But unless this flame is directed towards the God from which it comes, it will eventually consume them and continue to burn even after they die and are judged and condemned.  It is a flame that will never be extinguished for all eternity, directed either towards God in a fire of love, or to themselves with the incinerating flames of destruction.  They are to be pitied for their ignorance, let God do the condemning.

For us, let us be reminded that our happiness is to be found in God alone.  We too have that flame that burns within.  It is the burning desire to be united with God.  And as Catholics who stay true to the faith that our Lord Jesus Christ revealed to us, we have the opportunity to quench that flame, by finding that union with God even in this life.  We have the Most Blessed Sacrament, which provides us with a few brief moments of that everlasting union that will be ours in heaven if we persevere in the grace it gives us.

Do whatever it takes to make sure you may be able to receive this Sacrament.  No sacrifice should ever be too much to make to come to Mass, at least on Sunday, and receive Holy Communion.  Make your commitment now to be faithful to God’s commandments, and especially to the law of attending Mass on Sunday.  Make it your priority.  Follow the commitment of our Blessed Mother at the Annunciation, when she committed her life to God.  And don’t ever think that God isn’t watching.  He who seeth all things sees us.  He knows our deepest and our darkest secrets.  And he is not mocked.