Tag: <span>God</span>

May 27, 2021May 14, 2021

The “Who” Behind The “How”

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Science, in all its aspects, is wonderful. Human eyes have found a way penetrate into the minute subtleties of reality and discover, not only how they function, but how to combine and adjust them for healing and for technological breakthroughs.

Science has told us much about our micro-reality, and much also about our macro-reality, including the positioning of the earth in the midst of a vast solar system and a universe that is much vaster still.

It has revealed to us secrets about the code defining all life, DNA, and the processes by which the miraculous biological phenomenon/process sustains itself without external drivers.

Science tells us the “how” of nature, but it does not tell us the “who.” It is not just the existence of the material world that begs the question, “who made it.” Nor is it just the complex variability. It is the intelligibility of the universe, especially such incredibly harmonious and impossibly coordinated elements as the self-sustaining process of life, that begs the question, “who.” Far from there existing any conflict between this question and science, the very foundation of science–the wondrous intelligibility of the universe–is precisely what bids us seek out the Mastermind.

As it happens, given that we have a personal God who in various ways has reached out to us, the investigation of this “who” is not itself properly speaking a scientific one. Rather, we have the luxury of its being a relational investigation: a “getting to know you,” so to speak.

The author of today’s first reading has enjoyed some form of this interpersonal connection. He speaks of God in the most personal tones, as he praises the work of His hands. In all of the daunting complexity and splendor of nature, he recognizes the craft of this Person.

In today’s gospel, this encounter becomes much more intimate, as Bartimaeus receives from the hands of Jesus the healing of his blindness. He who formed the very concept of the eyeball and its function of apprehending nature so marvelously restores, person to person, the sight of this blind man.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: In today’s meditation, consider for a moment that you have the opportunity to meet and interact personally with the Creator of the universe. Pick an element of creation that particularly inspires awe for you, and think, that the One who came up with the very idea for that awe-inspiring creation–and the way to make it a reality–wants to engage in friendship with you. Praise Him for His work.

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January 31, 2021January 20, 2021

A Mighty God

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Today’s readings are full of the power of God: of His serene and holy fury.

The admonition in the first reading, that those who prophesy an oracle that He has not commanded them to speak will surely die, should give pause to all of us who purport to speak in God’s name. It is not that we should not speak; rather, we must take care to remain united intimately with the vine through the sacraments and daily contemplative prayer, so that the fruit we bear may not spoil. This goes not only for priests and preachers, but for parents as well.

Then, in the gospel, we see witnesses awestruck as Jesus serenely but firmly commands the demon to come out of a possessed man. The witnesses may not realize it, but they are in awe before the living God.

Because of God’s infinite mercy toward those who approach Him with weakness but love–for example, St. Peter, St. Mary Magdalene–we who approach Him daily with the full and sincere gift of ourselves need not fear Him, flawed as we are.

But for all His seemingly endless patience with the affairs on earth, and bearing in mind His mercy, we must also take seriously the admonitions throughout Scripture. He is not a God to be toyed with, or to be taken lightly.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Contemplate God’s glory and power, signs of which we see in today’s readings. Praise Him for the unfathomable combination of His omnipotence and justice, and His goodness and love. Consider those who choose a path of indifference to God, in spite of His serious warnings; tell Jesus that you are willing to undergo whatever sufferings His path may bring you, offered for the sake of their conversion.

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September 25, 2020September 8, 2020

Time and the Timeless

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

God “has put the timeless into their hearts,” the first reading tells us, even though we never fully discover the full scope of this work that He has done.

What is the timeless? Well, if we are to believe St. Paul, there are three things that last: Faith, Hope, and Charity (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13). Of course, faith and hope remain in eternity only with respect to their objects–God, and the possession of God–and thus, it may be said, far from disappearing, faith and hope are fulfilled forever in eternity.

So, these are the timeless, these are the lasting, these are the unchanging. By contrast, the first reading cycles through a list of contrasting pairs. It states that as regards everything else, that which is passing and not timeless, there is an appropriate time for each extreme: birth/death, sowing/reaping, tearing down/building, etc.

In the end, the three things that last drive us in different directions in this passing world, depending on circumstance–in particular supernatural Charity, that is, the virtue that moves us to give ourselves to God and to the welfare of neighbor. Take child-raising, for example. Sometimes, the loving thing is to embrace and show affection. Other times, out of love for our children and motivated by their long-term welfare, we adopt a stern stance and apply balanced punishment.

We call the virtue by which we judge the right (and loving) course of action “prudence.”

But far beyond human prudence, that is, common sense and sound judgement, there is the infinite ocean for us to explore of our relationship with God, whereby the Holy Spirit–with His infinite creativity and pure, rich love for humanity–can instruct us in paths to follow on our adventure through time that our human prudence would never suggest to us. There is no limit to the depths of love that we can plumb in the heart of God.

Consider, for example, the Holy Spirit’s creative solution to the impossible blind alley of sin that the human race had chosen: Create a maiden who, retroactively preserved from any touch of sin by her Son’s posterior sacrifice, gives her pure “yes” in full freedom to the re-entry of God into the world–this time, in the flesh, to take on sin and take it to its defeat and demise, and then rise victorious.

You don’t find more creative–or effective–solutions than that.

While striving to practice good judgement, if our prayer life is constant and committed and we are in a state of grace, we can grow in the degree to which that good judgement is more about listening to and adopting the counsel of this Sweet Guest of the Soul, rather than arriving at reasonable decisions through dry analysis. So it is that the saints display a wisdom that exceeds anything reachable by human effort alone.

So, God is about the timeless. He places the timeless in our hearts, and He helps us in our time through the Holy Spirit.

But today’s Gospel passage reminds us that God is no longer only about the timeless. He has subjected His own eternal self, incarnate in flesh, to the vicissitudes of time, and time’s very different demands of us at different moments. For Christ, too, there was a time to embrace, and a time to correct; a time to be born, and a time to die…and, a time to rise from the dead. Today He forewarns the disciples about His time to die, and they don’t like it. They want the timeless God, unconstrained by the shackles of our temporal limitations. And yet, it is by taking on our time, with all its constraints and vicissitudes, that God redeemed within us our ability to regain access to the timeless, and soar to its endless heights.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Explain to Jesus how hard it is sometimes to make the right decisions each day and to judge, in difficult circumstances, the right path forward within the concrete, complex, imperfect realities of time. Ask Him to send you the Holy Spirit in a “double portion” (cf. 2 Kgs. 2:9) to guide you to beautiful, creative solutions as you traverse time’s paths.

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