Human Destiny
by Fr.Gus Carter
10/2/05

"Eye has not seen and ear has not heard nor has it entered the human heart what God has prepared for those who love Him." These are familiar words to almost any Christian. They are the words of St. Paul that are addressed to each one of us. Our real goal in life is beyond anything we can think or imagine. This is why Christian philosophers call humans transcendent beings. We are made to reach a destiny that is beyond our comprehension. We are made to share divine life and to share divine love. All this is possible, we believe, because Almighty God has chosen to give us an existence that is based on love. Every person in this gathering is loved by God.

Because of our exalted destiny, because of our being images of God who is able to know and to love, we humans are the most important entity in the entire universe. We are called in Christian theology "transcendent beings." We exceed all the limitations and possibilities that seem available to anything created. We will never come to the end of our capacities to know and to love. We are not God, yet because of God's gift of transcendence we are almost infinite beings. God's most astounding work of creation has been to make creatures who can share in divine life. Jesus Christ is the image after whose likeness we are formed. He has shown us how to live in such a way as to lead lives that are open to eternal love. Through baptism and the sacraments that love becomes part of our lives now.

We can see how the parable of today' s Gospel can refer to us. The prophet Isaiah tells us of a carefully planed and executed place to grow grapes. We are that well-nurtured field. The owner of the vineyard, God, has certainly created us with great love and exquisite care. Instead of producing the fruit expected of us, we humans abuse our own gifts and by our actions make it hard for others to produce the appreciation and love expected of each human being.

Henri Nouwen, the noted modem spiritual writer, thought that the greatest human tragedy is that most people do not realize that they are beloved of God. Each of us has been specially chosen. The very fact that we exist is a sign that we are chosen and beloved of God. St. Augustine used the marvels of the human mind and heart to reflect on the amazing kind of creature we are. We might start with the wonders of human anatomy as a place to appreciate ourselves.

Astronomical numbers boggle our minds and give us a hint at the magnitude of the created universe. One comparison I have read about is that there are 1 X 10 to the fortieth power particles in the universe, one followed by forty zeros. The number of connections in the human brain are 1 X 10 to the eightieth power, one followed by eighty zeros. We humans are truly astounding. We are able to speak such numbers but we cannot grasp them with our minds. We find hints of human transcendence even within our own physical world.

We can also learn to appreciate ourselves by appreciating others. We can see the good qualities in others because they are in ourselves. When we see them in others, we can rightly claim them in ourselves. St. Paul tells us how to appreciate ourselves: "Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. " Mahatma Gandhi said that when we do violence to others, we do violence to ourselves. Hence, respect for others increases self-respect. Respect and appreciation of others will bring us "the peace of God that surpasses all understanding."

Because the Lord is infinite, He is able to choose all in a way that excludes no one. Even in the midst of mistakes and criticism, we must continue to see ourselves as beloved. I will conclude with a rather lengthy quote from Nouwen: "We must hold on to the truth that we are the chosen one. That truth is the bedrock on which you can build a life as Beloved... In the midst of painful reality we dare to reclaim the truth that we are God's chosen ones, even when the world does not choose us ... our preciousness, uniqueness and individuality are not given us by those we meet in our brief chronological existence, but by the One who has chosen us with an everlasting love, a love that existed from all eternity and will last through all eternity."