We live in a throw-away generation. Just look at how we treat material things: If a new one comes along, discard the old one. If you lose something, just replace it with a new one. When something is of no value, then just throw it away.

The sad reality is that this is also how we treat people. Just look at the office. When you grow old and do not produce as much as you used to, they find ways to retire you. People are treated differently depending on economic class, the color of their skin, looks, the material things they have, their titles, the place where they reside, and the way they speak.  The list can go on and on and on. No wonder so many people go through life doubting themselves. 

Hence the messages of the Gospel are so beautiful: that no matter who we are, we are very special and unique in the eyes of God. Three proofs of such:

1. There is no one else in the world that is like me. Science has proven that each person has a special DNA that no one else has. The biometric security protocol is proof that our fingerprints, our faces, and our eyes are unique and no one else has the same.
     
2. The is no other life story like me. We are born into this world because God has a mission, a purpose, and a calling for each of us. No one has the same life story. Each person’s story is unique and special. Two persons may have the same title, and their lives may have similarities, but their stories are very different.
    
3. God desires each of us to be with him in heaven. The Bible tells us that, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that anyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”. Hence, the challenge and the reminder is to live each day to the fullest not forgetting that there is eternal life. St. Philip Neri said the best way to be prepared is to live each day as if it were the last day of your life. In that sense, you would know what is important and what is fleeting in life.

That is why in this Mass, we remember the quote on how special we are as far as God is concerned:

In God’s eyes, love is never absent; In God’s heart, forgiveness is never impossible; In God’s embrace, no one is ever alone or forgotten.