Father Cummings Homilies
Excerpts


God Makes All Things New Again

God promised to make all things new again. It's a constant promise made by God, from the lips of Isaiah to the triumphant cry of Christ risen from the dead: "Behold, I make all things new." (Rev. 21.5) The ability to make things new again, even better than the original creation is a prerogative of God. God Himself is ever new - He never ages for He is eternal. Moreover, because He is infinite, we will never cease seeing new insights of his beauty and magnificence; for all eternity we will never be bored. When we say that God is immutable, unchanging, this is not to say that He lacks life, but rather, that He is so alive that He does not lose any of his perfection, but is always new.

Only things that are in contact with God get a share of His ever new-ness. Thus the Church, the Bride of Christ, is, after two thousand years, no less young and beautiful than she was at first. That is why her teaching office is likened to the householder mentioned by Christ who brings out of his treasure what is old and what is new (Mt. 13.52). In other words, we are always discovering new depth and new ways of presenting the timeless, unchanging deposit of faith revealed by Christ. The Church's teaching is always fresh.

Now not only the Church as a whole but each one of us, her members, is in contact with God. We have his divine life within us. We walk in newness of life (Gal.6.4), following a new commandment (I Jn. ), destined to sing a new song of praise to God forevermore. That is why as we mature in the Christian life, we become like children - more innocent, more joyful, more simple, more vigorous and full of life. It is chiefly in mercy that God makes us new. Mercy does not deny or ignore the sin; it overwhelms it with love. Because even our sins are part of God's Providence, that is, they can bring Him glory by being the occasion for the exercise of his Almighty Mercy, we should never be despondent about our past. St. Paul, a persecutor of Christ, and enemy of the faith was able to "forget what lies behind" and strive for ever greater heights of holiness. God made his sinful life redound to the glory of God.

As St. Augustine - a great sinner himself at one time - put it: "The penitent should ever grieve and rejoice at his grief". It is a bitterness suffused with love which produces the sweetness of an incomparable consolation. For we know that grace abounds more than sin, that our sins fit - like the treachery of Joseph's brothers - into a greater plan of God that cannot be ruined, and that we ourselves are called to be made new. Here on earth to some degree and perfectly in Heaven for the praise and glory of the God of mercy.