This morning, my grandson helped me to shake off the cobwebs and opened up a deeper understanding of the liturgy of life.

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - I awakened feeling very old this morning.

As I have done for almost three decades, I chose to make what many spiritual writers have called the “heroic minute.” Upon opening my eyes I immediately made the sign of the cross and gave my “Fiat” of surrendered love to the Lord who had called me to one more new day.

I know, at least on an intellectual level, that every day is a new beginning, an invitation to “begin again.” But somehow, my offering this morning did not have the usual liberating impact it often has upon my spirit. I felt like I was enmeshed in cobwebs.

All of that changed after I went down the stairs for my morning cup of coffee. There, in his high chair, filled with the energy of a dozen men, was my grandson. He smiled as he saw my face and gave me a precious gift! That is all it takes anymore to turn a grump into a grin! How I love to look into his bright young eyes and see the wonder of life reflected as always new.

To a child, life is new every morning, without any real effort. He or she receives the world, in all of its beauty, as if for the first time! I propose that just as the world is a gift for children, so it can be again for each of us. That is one reason Jesus told us to become as children. (Mt. 18: 1-5)

We can ask for the gift of spiritual childhood. The great spiritual writers extolled this gift. I was able to open up to this grace last Sunday because a little child helped me to perceive the deeper meaning of life, everything is a gift

After the encounter with my grandson (and a good cup of coffee) I went to pray the Liturgy of the Hours as I do every day. There I encountered the God of love with a new freshness because of the inspiration of a child. I also perceived another connection with my grandson. I have noted with great interest how, even in his spontaneity, he is predictable. He has his pattern of activity every morning also. He has his chair and his way. So it is with each one of us.

Life is a Liturgy. It has its beginnings and its ends, and all in between it is filled with instruction, invites us to repentance, calls us to make an offering, orients us toward communion and equips us for mission. It has its seasons and its times; celebration, mourning, repentance, encounter, offering, giving, receiving …and all of them are invitations to deepen our communion with the Lord who has called us into existence in love, for love and through love.

Through learning to understand the pattern revealed in the liturgy of our lives, we can grow in love and we are enabled to become like children. There is a pattern to daily life which remains clouded from view if we do not learn to pry open the eyes of our hearts. By coming to see the pattern and gratefully participating in it we find the grace that the every moment has to offer. This is also true across the spectrum of the years assigned to us before we are called to the fullness of communion with the Lord.

As I age, the richness of the liturgical life of the Catholic Church has unfolded like a flower for me. I love to pray the Morning “Office”, the Liturgy of the Hours. They provide a structure not only for my prayer but also for my day. The Sunday Divine Liturgy (the “Mass”) has become the center of my worship and the source of grace which informs my whole week. I draw nourishment at the Ambo, where the Word of God is proclaimed, and at the Altar, where the Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation are given as heavenly food for earthly men and women. Unlike natural food stays ever available as nourishment throughout the week that follows.

It is precisely in its “sameness”, its predictable pattern that Liturgy provides a sure anchor in a volatile world so often rocked by unpredictability. In being present at the Eucharistic Sacrifice we mere mortals participate in the eternal Act of the Love made manifest on Golgotha and learn to transcend times limits and enter into its gifts. Liturgy forms a framework into which we are invited into God’s love story. He who is Love, created us for communion. Even after we exercised our freedom wrongly and made the wrong choice, He did not give up on us because He is Love. He came into our midst and through the Paschal Mystery created us anew.

Now all who have been reborn into Christ through Baptism continue with Him on His mission for the whole world. The Church carries forward that redemptive mission of Jesus Christ until He comes again. Through her Sacraments His Divine Life is mediated to mere mortals and provides the means for all men and women to enter into this communion of love with the Father, in the Son and through the Holy Spirit. We live our lives now in the Church while we travel on mission into the world.

Living the liturgy makes life an ongoing adventure. We are called to respond to His invitations to selfless love. As ...