Here we are at the beginning of a New Year, at the countdown, we might say, to the Jubilee year. This is the year dedicated to the Father.

God, whom we call Father, is source of all being, supporter of all being, lover of all being. We see this God when we look at Jesus Christ whose coming as God and human enables us to appreciate the way God wants to relate and does relate with us, if we allow that to happen.

In that last phrase, "if we allow that to happen", we see an important aspect of God's relationship with us; reverence. God so reverences us and our freedom that he waits. He waits for us to respond. He waits for us to grow. He waits for us to understand. God forgives, not seven times, but seventy times seven times, forever. God loves each of us unconditionally and unceasingly. All God asks in return is our love; our love which expresses itself in our attitude of reverence and respect toward all of creation.

The dictionary defines reverence as 'deep respect tinged with awe'. It is that to which God's love calls us; that to which our very nature, since we are made in the image of God, calls us. We are to look on the world with reverence, find the presence of God there, and tend it carefully. We are to see the human family, our sisters and brothers, with God's eyes and reverence it as God reverences us. We are to use our gifts thoughtfully and carefully so that they truly serve to build up the community.