In today’s 1st reading we learn about prophets. Prophecy is one of the ways God communicates with his people. He has been doing this all through-out the ages. In the book of Deuteronomy, the people are warned that when they enter the land God provided for them they should not learn the unjust ways of the people who previously lived there but to honor God’s ways. Moses reassures them God will raise up for them a prophet like himself to teach them what God requires of them.

There are several characteristics about a prophet we should know 1st a true prophet will not assume the role of prophet on his own but he will be raised up by God. 2^nd the prophet will not be an outsider but will be raised up from among his people 3rd The Lord himself will put his words into the mouth of the prophet so the message proclaimed will not be the message of the prophet but the message of God and the 4th prophet speaks on behalf of God in his words in his name and with his authority anyone who disregards God’s word will be held accountable. finally people will know a true prophet because he will be steeped in religious tradition, faithful to its requirements and always reliant on God for direction and courage. He will be committed to the communities wellbeing and he will be known by his willingness to step aside when the work of God is being handed over to someone else. 

The same criteria is true today for those who speak out on behalf of Jesus that everything they say and do will always give honor and glory to him. I was so taken back by todays responsorial psalm as it speaks so beautifully about those who listen closely to the word of God thats spoken to them. the psalmist proclaims If today you hear his voice harden not your hearts but sing joyfully to the Lord  Let us acclaim the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving joyfully singing psalms to him, bowing down in worship, kneeling before the Lord who made us (listen to those words again) joyfully singing psalms to him bowing down in worship, kneeling before the Lord who made us. He then goes on to say for he is our God and we are the people he shepherds the flock he guides. O if today we would only hear his voice our lives would never be the same. Many people often want to hear glory and praise music as they claim it lifts them up and makes them (as the scriptures say) people of good will but if it really lifts them up why don’t they thank God and give him praise and glory all the time? 

We recite the Gloria every Sunday saying Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to people of good will and then we say to God we praise you we bless you we adore you we glorify you we give you thanks for your great Glory and then we praise his son Jesus Christ saying you alone are the holy one, you alone are the lord, you alone are the most high Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit in the Glory of God the Father. To worship, praise and give God glory is what we should do every day for all he has done and for all he continues to do for us.  Our 2^nd reading reinforces our need to praise God by telling us that we can’t get caught up in the world and that even though we want to please our family we can never be too distracted from giving honor to the God who created us. We need to remember the words of the psalmist reminding us that we need to come into Gods presence with thanksgiving, joyfully singing psalms to him bowing down in worship and kneeling before the Lord who made us

To give thanks and praise should be part of our everyday life. How often do we thank our loved ones for all they do for us. How will we ever thank God who we don’t see if we don’t thank those we do see? We begin by thanking our parents and acknowledging our children’s achievements. We need to give praise and thanks to people for the good they’ve done for us and for loving us. If we remember to give them thanks we will remember to give thanks and praise to God but one’s thanksgiving often depends on the attitude we have towards life. A journalist interviewed two bricklayers at a construction site and asked each of them what they were doing the 1^st man said I’m just an underpaid and overlooked brick layer just wasting my time piling bricks one on top of anther when he asked the other bricklayer what he was doing he said I’m the luckiest person in the world. I get to be part of a great and important project. I get to turn single bricks into magnificent structures. People see what they want to see, One man’s grateful to contribute to society while the other man sees his life as a waste of time.

Fr. Peter Faber, a Jesuit priest who lived in the 15^th century mourned because people were rarely grateful for the generous will and boundless charity of God by which he had first created the world and then redeemed it and then prepared for us for eternal glory and in all of this he still graciously cared enough to think specifically and - distinctly about each one of us. He also said that in several texts St Paul speaks of prayer with thanksgiving as if there was to be no prayer that thanksgiving wasn’t a part. St Gregory of Nyssa said that if our whole life long we conversed with God without distraction and did nothing but give thanks - we will be - just as far from adequately thanking him as if we never thanked him at all. For time has three parts the past, the present and the future. If we look at the present it is by God that we are now living. If we look at the future - God is the hope of everything we expect, if we just look at the past we realize we would never have been if God had not created us.   

St Paul tells us that the fact we were born was his blessing and after we were born our life and our death are also his blessing and whatever our future hopes maybe - also hangs upon his blessing, yet we forget to thank him. The lord told St Catherine of Siena that thanksgiving makes the soul incessantly delight in him It frees us from negligence and lukewarmness altogether and makes us anxious to please him more and more. Our lord also gave St Bridget of Sweden an increase of thanksgiving for the sacrifice of the mass. He tells her My body’s offered daily on the altar so people may love me - so much more and call to mind my blessings. St Bernard said Happy is he who at every grace he receives returns in thought to him in whom is the fulness of all graces for if we show ourselves grateful for what he has given us we make room for still further graces in ourselves and if we speak to God in thanksgiving we will receive grace more and more abundantly  

I’d like to conclude with the words of Fr Lancisius. I urge all who serve God  fervently and faithfully to return to him thanks with a particular affection and zealous gratitude at least four times a day for the personal blessings he has been pleased to bestow upon us,  in the morning at mediation, in the middle of the day or before dinner, during our examination of conscience and at bedtime. 

If today you hear his voice harden not your hearts but come into his presence with thanksgiving joyfully singing psalms to him bowing down in worship, kneeling before the Lord who made us. Gratitude instills in us joy. When we show appreciation for what others have done for us it not only makes us a better person but reminds us of the one we need to be most grateful to - the God who gave us life