Sometimes people ask me why I like to be called Father Michael. There is a simple reason. Growing up, my family called me, and still call me Mike. Which is great. However, there was always one person who always called me Michael. That is my Godmother.
My Godmother has always been a sign of unconditional love for me. In fact, whenever I was in trouble as a child, or my parents were telling my Godmother about the last bad situation I got myself into, my Godmother would always say, “Not my Michael! My Michael is such a good boy. He would NEVER do anything like that!” She always gave me the benefit of the doubt and always showed me unconditional love and acceptance. In her eyes, I was her Godchild, and that meant she always saw the good in me. My Godmother also has an unconditional love for all animals.
She works at St. Columbkille in Parma, Ohio. She helps run their Vacation Bible School in the summer. The kids all got a surprise when someone dropped off an entire box of kittens. Yep, you heard me, live kittens.
Knowing that my Godmother was so good with animals, they told her to come and take a look at the kittens. “NO WAY!” she said because she just knew once she saw them she would want them.
One by one, the kids were in the parking lot picking kittens out of the box. There was one left that no one would take. Again, they called on my Godmother and asked her just to look at the kitten to see if it was okay. Finally, she gave in, and walked up to the box looked at the tiny little kitten. She was so moved at how adorable it was that without thinking she picked it up. The little baby kitten immediately nuzzled itself up to her chest, close to her heart. She looked down at the kitten and that was it. She was finished. That kitten was hers and she took it home.
We hear about this motherly and nurturing side of the love of God in
The Prophet Isaiah:
Oh, that you may suck fully
of the milk of her comfort,
that you may nurse with delight
at her abundant breasts!
as a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.
God is the same way with us. We yearn to feel this love from God. Just like my Godmother, (it was finished when she saw that precious kitten) so you are adorable to God. Just like the moment she saw that kitten and held it up to her chest, she was done. She was all in! She was not taking that kitten anywhere but home. So it is with God and you. Even when you feel rejected, or abandoned by everybody else, when God sees you, God just cannot be helped. Like my Godmother, He cannot help but pick you up, comfort you, and hold you close to His heart and feed you.
Coming to Church today is like being in the cardboard box. This is the moment for God to look at you and for you to nuzzle up to God. Right now, in the Church, it is like you are in the box. God just cannot get enough of you. And as you come forward to receive Communion and take the Body and Blood of Christ into you, you are so close to God. You are like the kitten being held by my Godmother.
As you nuzzle close to God, God cannot help but want to hold you close and take you home.
When we allow ourselves to be home in this place, the world becomes less scary. Suffering becomes less daunting. Separation becomes less lonely, and we find that God cannot get enough of us!
You are home here with God, like my Godmother with the kitten nuzzled up to her chest. God has you close, and He just cannot ever let you go. You are God’s child and you are home.
