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It is only in recent centuries that humans have come to accept that the earth in which we live is not the centre of the universe.

While the Greeks a couple of thousand years ago suggested that the planets might circle the sun rather than the earth, it was only after the 16th century Polish astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus presented this clearly that people accepted this understanding.

Today it’s hard to understand how our ancestors could have misunderstood something that is to us so obvious.

But then each of us can have the same misunderstanding of reality when we think, speak and act as if we ourselves are the centre of our own existence. We fall into the trap of thinking that we are the protagonists, the chief actors in our own life story, forgetting that a human can be fully human only when living in relationship with Jesus Christ.

We are not our own centre. We are created to be centred on and totally dependant on God.

We find our human health and happiness when we live with this awareness.

The image of the hub of the wheel comes to mind. Only when the hub of the wheel is in the centre can the wheel run smoothly.

Only when we let God take central place in our lives can we live fully.

Too often we focus on ourselves, even when full of good intentions we seek to improve ourselves working to overcoming our imperfection and weakness. But when we shift our gaze to God, everything falls into place.

So I believe Paul in today’s first reading when he doesn’t accept his hearers ideas about themselves. Paul is not too interested in who they think they themselves are. Instead he wants them to know who they are in God’s plan and from God’s point of view.

I imagine Paul pointing at them and shouting the first words of today’s first reading:

“You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you.”

An Invitation:

• Take Paul’s message as your own mantra for the day, adapting the wording slightly to show you are accepting what he says as fact. Make a point at least once an hour throughout the day of repeating aloud three times:

I am God’s work of art, I am becoming a saint. God loves me.
I am God’s work of art, I am becoming a saint. God loves me.
I am God’s work of art, I am becoming a saint. God loves me.