Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.

 

God promises the people of Israel
through the prophet Jeremiah
that though they are in exile
a time of deliverance is close at hand.

Everyone will know the joy of returning home,
even the blind and the lame,
even mothers with their children
and those about to give birth.
All will know the blessings of God.
All will know that God is their Father.

 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.

It all seemed too good to be true.

It was like a dream.

God was doing great things for them,
bringing them back home
even though they had been far away
for far too long.

They had been lost in a foreign land,
but God was bringing them home once again!

 

I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.

 

Bartimaeus had been blind for a long time.

He couldn’t work.
He could barely take care of himself.

Most people thought that he must have been cursed
for something he had done.
Why else would God have made him blind?

There was nothing he could do but beg,
and so he begged,
for days, for weeks, for months, for years,
and he lived on whatever people threw his way.

But then he heard that Jesus was coming.
He had heard what people had been saying about Jesus,
and so he begged one more time.

“Son of David, have pity on me,”
and “Master, I want to see!”

No one expected a miracle,
no one except Bartimaeus.

The man who had never seen Jesus,
but who had heard all about him,
he expected a miracle.

 

Amazing grace…

I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.

 

Some of you know a bit of my story.

I failed third grade, not once but twice.
For several years I was treated as a failure,
as if I would never amount to anything.
People around me had given up,
and so did I.

I barely tried.

Then my grandfather died,
and my family moved to a different neighborhood,
to a different parish,
to a different school.

And there I met the Sisters and Missionaries of the Precious Blood.

They never treated me like a failure.

They treated me like everyone else in the class.
They welcomed the stranger
and invited me to do things I never imagined doing.

And I stand here today
because of them,
because God put them in my life.

I once was lost,
but now am found,

was blind but now I see.

 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.

The Companion movement has been an example

of God’s amazing grace
in so many of our lives.

We, Missionaries of the Precious Blood,
have been richly blessed by your presence in our lives.

I’ve heard time and time again
how the Lord has done great things in your lives

Because you’ve been called to be

Companions of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.

You and I have all experience God’s amazing grace
or we wouldn’t be here today.

We’ve all been led to a relationship

with the Precious Blood communities
by the grace of God,
and all of us can say with the psalmist today,
The Lord had done great things for us;
we are filed with joy.

 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.

 

Some of you will be making covenant for the first time.

Some of you will be renewing the covenant you have made.

All of you will are here,
because you’ve experienced God’s amazing grace
in one way or another

By your relationship with the Missionaries of the Precious Blood
and with your fellow Companions.

May the covenants we make and renew,
may the Word we hear today in the Scriptures,
may the Body and precious Blood we share at this table,
be a blessing for us today
and enable us all to sing of that amazing grace
each day of our lives.

 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.