(The Nationalist, 3 December 1999)
Sometimes it seems as if God is more absent than present. If God is there at all, he seems distant and remote, so far removed from us that there is no contact. Where is God into today’s secularized world, preoccupied as it is with power, position and possessions?
Perhaps we can find God first of all in the ordinary events of human life as, for example, when we experience hope in the face of hopelessness, fidelity to promises, holding firmly to values, trust instead of cynicism, enduring in struggle, rising after falling, acting above selfishness, being a fool for moral reasons, avoiding power-struggles, loving without a sure reason, acting on conscience, and accepting death serenely. Isn’t there also something of God in a baby’s smile, the enjoyment of a good meal with friends, the majesty of a red sunset, the feeling of being clean and fresh after a shower, or of being rested after a good night’s sleep?
It’s worth mentioning in passing that the Jewish book, the Mishna, says that God will call us to account for every pleasure which we did not enjoy.
In the Gospel, Jesus very often tells his disciples to wake up, to watch, to look, to see. He complained about their inability to see what was in front of them. When they did see something they usually failed to see its significance. They would not have noticed that a vineyard is not just a garden with vines in it but a place where the miracle of water being turned into wine goes on all the time.
And God is also present in other situations: wherever two or three gather in his name; in the quiet but insistent voice of conscience speaking from the sanctuary of the soul; in the beauty and grandeur of creation which can lead to contemplation of the creator; in the Bible which is the word of the Lord; in the silence of quiet personal prayer without words, thoughts or ideas, but only love; in the sacraments which are unique moments of God’s presence in a sinful humanity; in the church, the community of the disciples of Jesus, sinful yet struggling; and especially in the Eucharist when Jesus in his totality is present to the one who receives in faith.
The English poetess, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote that:
‘Earth is crammed with Heaven and every common bush on fire with God.
But only he who sees takes off his shoes.
The rest sit around and pluck blackberries.’