Encountering the Word
Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.†Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. [Full text: John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30]
Contemplating the Word
From one perspective, this is a reading about what the people ‘know’. The people claim they do not know who Jesus is. Jesus responds that it is very clear who he is and, if they do not know, it is because they choose not to know.
Knowing God, it must be admitted, can be a little complex. When it comes to God we need to make use of imagery and symbols, as concepts can only take us so far, and are ultimately inadequate. As perhaps our greatest theologian, St Thomas Aquinas, remarked: anything we can say about God is more untrue than it is true. For example, we say God is ‘Father’ and this is true. However, God is more unlike any father we can imagine than he is like that father. Or we can say God is ‘Mother’. This is also true…but only if we understand that God is more unlike any concept of mother that we have than he is like it.
Arguably the most accurate description of God is ‘God is love’ (see 1 John 4:8), but even this becomes an unlikeness because our understanding of love is woefully inadequate. We must not presume that what God means by love is what we mean. Love is the force that called the universe into being. It creates, it destroys, and it wields a power that outshines even the brightest sun. Love, as we typically understand it, is often a faint echo of the reality that is the love that is God. Yes, love consoles and it heals. But it also challenges, cries out for justice, and will not rest when it sees the one it loves in danger. Love is both a calm sea and an erupting volcano.
These Lenten readings confront us with this challenging dimension of God’s love. Dare we contemplate the thought that God is looking into our hearts and lives, and pondering what he needs to cut away (see Luke 13:6-9)? He desires to remove anything in us that is not a reflection of his love.
That which is not of God cannot exist in God’s presence. He is looking with love into your heart, seeking to find the fruits of the Holy Spirit. He cannot be fooled or bargained with. He desires to have you with him for eternity, and is looking to see if you have the capacity to be with him there. What does he find?
Being the Word
In light of what we have been reading and discovering throughout this Lenten program, we can say that we are to be people whose hearts are intent on discovering and responding to the presence of God in our midst. It is in this context that, I hope, the following reflection makes sense.
Recently I was visited by a couple of very nice young women from a more recently established Christian denomination. The conversation started out promisingly enough – I was asked if I believed in God. When I said ‘yes’ I was told that was surprising as (according to my guests) most people today are agnostics. However, I was reassured that it appeared that I was not ‘most people’.
We were off to a good start, until I was invited to agree that the world is in a bad state and that we should be worried because God is coming back at any minute to sort it all out. I tentatively noted that I did not agree. My guests wondered how a person could believe in God and yet not believe that the world was about to be punished. Recognising that the two women were quite perplexed, I felt the need to explain myself. I put it this way:
‘To be fixated on the thought that God has a future plan for dealing with the world and with the harm caused by humanity is to fail to recognise God’s current plan. The kingdom of heaven is among us. If we are attentive we see signs of God at work all over the place. Every act of kindness and compassion, every parent who wants something better for his or her children, every teacher wanting to pass on knowledge and an appreciation of life is inspired to do so because God is at work in their lives. They may not recognise that they are working in accord with God’s plan for the world, but they are. Every good act is a participation in the life of God and performed in response to and in the strength of God’s grace. The future is God’s business. As Jesus said, ‘you do not know the day or the hour’. Our job is to focus on today and to co-operate with what God is doing here and now.’
Recognising that God is at work and that his kingdom is amongst us is the catalyst for our participation in mission and evangelisation. Catholics don’t have to point to a God who is watching over us from a distance with a plan that’s about to come down on us like a ton of bricks. Catholics witness to the reality that God is here amongst us by the joyful quality of our lives and the hope that we share. If that is not your personal experience of your own faith, then the challenge to ongoing conversion is one that you might like to think about.
This provides the context for the final part of Archbishop Prowse’s handy summary: we are all called to proclaim that message all of the time. Because our evangelical stance is grounded in who we are, we can see how it is entirely possible to proclaim our faith all of the time. If our understanding of mission and evangelisation were entirely dependent on the words we use, then proclaiming the message all of the time becomes daunting and even impossible.
Spend a few minutes in prayer to the God who is as close to you as your breath. Ponder the reality of God’s presence and contemplate the thought that God has something for you – a plan that is as unique as you are. Don’t worry about what that plan is nor about what you are to do. Your role is simple: sit in God’s presence and wait for him.
Remain silently in God’s presence for as long as you feel inclined or opportunity will allow. Then bring before God any sincere prayers of intercession that you have. Instead of asking God to do things for you, ask that he might achieve whatever he wishes through you.
Finish by praying the great yet simple prayer of praise to the Blessed Trinity: Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
