Blog # 225 'Hearing' God's Message

Blog # 225 'Hearing God's Message' Why is it the moon a light in the sky for one person and a message from God about Himself and us to another person? Why does one man driving a truck from one city to another, see only corn growing, or cotton, and this same man's companion sitting next to the first one on the same front seat in the same truck, passing from the same identical first city to the same identical second city see God growing food and clothing for His people in the cotton and the corn? The reason does not seem to be that one man is more intelligent than the other no more than you or I do not speak Russian, not because we are lacking the intelligence of a ten-year- old Russian boy who does speak the language, but rather that we have not had the background he has had,and the experience of learning the Russian language. Somewhere along the line a person who now sees God and hears God's message in the world around him or her has had an experience similar to that of a young man and woman on a beach who know for the first time a special love for one another. To commemorate the occasion, to attempt to make it endure, to symbolize it, they take away two small shells. Those shells are the two shells now glued to one another on the mantel piece in their living room, which, in the same physical dimensions but with the added background of the knowledge and experience of husband and wife, and fastened together by the 'glue' of their love, mean so much more than before they found one another on the beach. . Once we have personally discovered God in creation it is possible for all of creation to speak to us of God. It is a beautiful experience. I would not know how many people we meet today have had it, but I believe it is offered to all. What I am writing about is seeing all that exists in a gifted faith based way, God's presence to us in the things and oersons God has created and placed around us, guiding us, calling us, developing us, rewarding us, punishing us, in our everyday world and in our everyday experiences. It is a mysterious gift and I suppose we will have to leave the answer to the questions I asked at the beginning of this blog to God. Based on this I can see more clearly why God instructed us not to judge one another as to guilt even though we may witness someone doing something wrong. The distinction we recognize between a sin and a mistake can be useful here. Anyone of us can make a mistake. But only those who know God can sin. The meaning and urgency of the command Jesus gave to His first disciples and renews to us that we share the faith we have received with those around us who have yet to believe in Him ( Matthew 28:18-20; John 17:18) throws significant light on God's answer to those questions. No matter where we go or what we experience God is there waiting to be revealed in faith. This is the message and truth we are sent to live and to share through prayer and our union with Jesus in the gift of Sanctifying Grace, a limited human share in His divine life and love..

Blog # 66 SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS

Blog # 66 SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS GOD. What did you think of that first paragraph? God. It almost looks like a typographical error, just three letters sitting there all alone. Yet what you and I think of God is the key to what we will think of the meaning and value value of the life of Jesus, and of the Church, of ourselves, and the world around us. That first paragraph turns out to be a large one! The task of the Christian today as always is to reveal the name of God so clearly that others might discover its meaning, to do the work of God so well that others might have hope, and to love God so thoroughly that others might approach God as a friend. But today that task is somewhat different from what it was even a relatively short time ago. When I was a boy I was told by those whom I trusted and loved, my parents and teachers, that God was more lovable, more precious, more valuable than anyone or anything else. But all He had to compete with at that time was what I could find within walking distance of Eighty Seventh Avenue in New York City. Years ago in Chicago I was talking to a youth of sixteen and he told me he could go up to two hundred miles on his Honda for an investment of two dollars and a half. God for him, had to come out on top of a whole lot more than He did for me when I was a boy! In the light of this, we who represent God as believing Christians can take two different stances. We could threaten and warn our youth to get off their Hondas for fear they will discover something better than the image of God we have given them, or, we could ask them questions like: "What have you discovered of value and worth up to two hundred miles away?" Then we take their testimony as to what they have found and measure it against our notion and experience of God to discover whether we ourelves have experientially identified God as more valuable. Only then we can go to the modern world with the confidence we have witnessed in Jesus and only then will the Scripture text which speaks of the beauty of the feet of those who bring the Good News be fulfilled in us. ( Isaiah 52 : 7).