Because God is so awesome, so . . . everything, the "Alpha and the Omega," as John says, we can know only a bit of God, and even this we do gradually throughout our life's journey. To know anything of God is really a gift.

Jesus, God's Word and God's Son, is our main source for knowing God. Jesus is God's greatest gift to us, and because through his life, both in his words and in his actions, in his very being, he revealed God to us. Because of Jesus we can know more about God, and through Jesus we are even put in touch with God. All of this is gift. All of this is grace. Thus God is worthy of worship.

Those who realize this are naturally moved to gratitude-thanksgiving for this wonderful gift of God in our lives. In the strictest sense, then, God alone is to be worshiped. We praise and exalt God for the divinity that is his alone. And in giving worship to God, we humble ourselves; the good that is in us is completely the gift of the Divine One. We honor other people, respect them for their human dignity, and even praise or hold in high regard their human achievements. But never do we worship another human, for as with us, the good that is found in them is the gift of the Divine One.

Here again Jesus is key. Just as Jesus helps God reveal himself to us, so Jesus helps us respond in thankful worship to God. Jesus' life makes God's saving actions known to us, and we unite with Jesus to give thankful worship to God in the Eucharist. As the song says, "Deep down I know, I must thank God."

© Harcourt Religion Publishers/BROWN-ROA