"WOULD YOU RATHER BE A FISH...?"

What a life! Get a life! That’s what it desperately wanted. That’s what it frantically sought as it made futile attempts to break free and widen its horizons. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the gold fish as it languidly,aimlessly swam round its glass globe, doing nothing more exciting than blowing bubbles as I gazed at its secure prison/ home on the window-sill opposite my room. What a boring existence, watching the world go by and not being part of the action!

Periodically the poor fish’s frustration would reach breaking point. Its patience would snap. It would summon all its energies and make a giant leap for freedom –only to crash-land panting, gasping for breath. As it lay helpless on the floor it was strand, totally out of its element. Fortunately, at that very moment, I passed by, noticed its predicament, rushed to its rescue and returned it to its watery home in the bowl. Once more it was back in its element...cramped though it was,  it could breath; it could blow bubbles. Though its life was limited, at least it was safe! True, it had to face down our cat as it sized it up as a tasty snack. But that eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation did not seem to make our goldfish neurotic.

Very different was my reaction to my tedious, drawn-out illness while working in Spode Conference Centre.   Great was my frustration during the A-Level Scripture courses. I had started them. I used to lead them. I longed to join the action. Being a tutor, working with such lively youngsters, was stimulating. And I learnt so much while teaching. Then there was the joy of making friends, joining in the lively liturgy and trying to beat the teenagers at table tennis. I really came alive during those courses!

But then illness put an end to all this –at least for a couple of years. During that time I could identify with the gold fish in its glass bowl. Both of us could gaze longingly at the world around us. By no choice of ours we were placed in this safe, but very limited environment. But neither of us could join the action. Like the gold fish, I longed to leap out, to break free. Sad to say, the result of my own attempt to escape was just the same as that of the golden fish.   Neither of us could cope with the freedom for which we both longed. Out of water the poor fish lay exhausted, gasping for breath, as it lay on the floor. The same was true for me. My attempt to become involved in the world outside the confines of my room wore me out and set back my recovery. Both the fish and I had to be put back into the limited, safe environment in which we could survive.

I had to learn and accept that this must be what God was asking of me at that time. Instead of feeling frustrated at being unable to do what I had loved I had to learn to find fulfilment in what was possible and learn to love that. That meant having to work through negative self-pity to a positive approach to life. Not an easy task. We certainly need God’s help to reach the serenity St. Paul described in his letter to the Philippians, when he wrote,

"I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am," (Philip. 4. 11).

 

The same is now true with the inescapable limitation resulting from the frailty of old age. Instead of envying the vigour of the youngsters in my community, I must find fulfilment in what is still possible for me. It’s so reassuring to remind myself that Jesus achieved most –the salvation of the world –when He was helplessly nailed to the cross. The sick and frail can identify with Him, and He with us. We can even share in His work of salvation in a way impossible for healthy, active youngsters.

I think God wants the goldfish to teach me to make the best of the opportunities and situations in which I now find myself, where I can still find fulfilment within my limitations. That’s far more positive than wasting my time and energy hankering for what is no longer possible. I would only make a fool of myself if, as an octogenarian, I tried to behave like brethren young enough to be my grandchildren. 

 

Incidentally, I think we only really appreciate something when we lose it. That’s certainly true of the vigour of youth. I agree with George Bernard Shaw, when he said, "Youth is wasted on the young." Now it’s up to me to find the advantages of frailty and old age. Perhaps the youngsters are not yet ready to appreciate them!   OR US!!!!

Isidore O.P.

DREAM TEAM

Talent Scouts: eagled-eyed, sharp-eyed searchers, explorers. These are shrewd people who know a good thing when they see it…some gifted person who appears to be full of promise…a good investment…someone who is worth giving a chance with good money. This talent spotting, talent nurturing becomes big business when it comes to modern team sports. Cricket, football, basketball – to name just a few. Superbly talented persons are brought together to develop their individual skills.

 

Every manager of a sport's team – would give the world to be able to produce a Dream Team – dazzling in performance, unrivalled in successes. ‘A DREAM TEAM!’ Just think of it , ‘A DREAM TEAM! My friend Wikipedia tells me, ‘The 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team, nicknamed the "Dream Team", was described by American journalists as the greatest sports team ever assembled.’ Now, the Father had sent His Son into the world to launch a project which would change the whole course of human history…nothing less than to promote and plant the Kingdom of God on earth! If He were ever to succeed in this He would surely need a ‘Dream Team’ to assist Him.

 

The obvious place to find suitably gifted recruits would surely have been Jerusalem...people fully at home with the Sacred Scriptures, devout men quick to learn and experienced in the fine arts of persuasion and teaching; also people skilled in administration and in the astute management of finances. Very different was the strategy of Jesus - strolling along the shore of the Lake of Galilee; casually preaching, healing a few and personally inviting one or two to tag along with the group that was hanging around Him. St. Luke tells us that a while later Jesus spent a night in prayer. Then He selected from these disciples a dozen of them and appointed them to be a kind of core group. It would seem that the most important thing was that they should learn to believe in Him and acquire an attachment of loyalty to Him. As for qualifications, these chosen ones were fishermen expert in the trade, one, the tax-collector, had a certain competence in financial matters. Not much for Jesus to work with here; with all their wrangling and rivalry, they did not give Jesus an easy time in forming them into a team. Their terms of reference would be to proclaim and promote to the world the Good News that is Jesus Himself; to bring to mankind the Good News of the conquest of sin and death by the crucifixion and death of Jesus; guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit they were to establish on earth the Reign of God – one of truth, life, holiness and grace, justice, love and peace. Most surely a daunting task. Such a DREAM TEAM would have to be quite literally out of this world. Jesus never expected to find a Dream Team to work with, nor did He ever expect to be able to create one…glittering with talent….faultless in character. He never had that advantage…He has never granted it to us. Recently when preaching on this theme I asked my congregation in Barbados if they ever had a dream team of clergy in the diocese; a dream choir in the loft, dream organizations, groups or individuals in the parish; or, a dream team in the Vatican. To keep you happy I wish sweet dreams to one and all.

But don’t despair; don’t drown yourselves in cynicism. It’s never been a matter of what we do with our talents, which may be considerable, but what Jesus does with our talents; what He does with us through us and even for us. Unless we’re humble we might choke on these words of St. Paul, "It is not that we are so competent that we can claim any credit for ourselves; all our competence comes from God," (2 Cor. 3.5 ) If we have a very deep faith in Jesus then we shall be greatly assured that He said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing," (Jn.15.5) and we can even stand tall as we take to ourselves what St. Paul wrote to the Church of Ephesus,(2.10),  "We are God's work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life,"  

 

From all this I unravel that Jesus never expected to have a DREAM TEAM above criticism and condemnation coordinating and promoting Church’s mission of evangelization and sanctification. The very people He chose at the beginning and then His Church itself – in every aspect and dimension of its life - would always be in need of repentance and renewal.  

Only in Jesus, the Founder and Head of the Church, is to be found absolute and unquestionable perfection. And Jesus is no dream…He is for real.

Peter O.P.




　

　

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY

My twin brother and I were recently ordained priests. Dad and mother decided they wanted to give us a holiday to remember before we received our posting. So they hit on the idea of us touring the glorious countryside in the family car. Dad was supremely confident he could find his way with the assistance of a road map.  But the time was bound to come when we would be lost...and so it did. Nothing to do but ask one of the ‘locals.’ What to make of his advice, “I wouldn’t start here, if I were you?”

I’m of a mind we get similar worldly-wise, bewildering, advice in politics when a member of the Opposition makes some scathing comment as he criticises the Government’s economic policy. Of course, his own party would never have been so crass as to get the country into such an economic mess, in the first place.  There’s a certain art in giving advice that sounds profound but which is absolutely useless – whether it be to a lost innocent traveller abroad, or the Chancellor of the Exchequer trying to solve the country’s economic problems.

But God shows more respect for us lost sheep, who have gone astray, for us people who walk in the valley of darkness.  He knows we don’t need telling   we should not have sinned and so made such a mess of our lives in the first place.    Instead, God comes to us where we are and helps us to get where we should be...that is en route “From Here to Eternity.” Those of a certain vintage will recognize this as the title of a certain film, which I happen not to have seen. No matter! It serves my purpose well as the title for my present ramblings. “From here to eternity” admirably sums up God’s whole plan of salvation.

He comes to us where we are –our ‘Here,’ and leads us to where we should be heading -‘Eternity’ with Him.  That’s why the Son of God entered our sin-locked world as a human baby –not to condemn us, but to save, so that we could enjoy the “glorious liberty of the children of God.” He entered our world and shared our human life, so that we people could enter His world and share His divine life.  That’s how much He loves us!

My thoughts immediately turn to three wise men, the Magi -highly respected scholars renowned for their knowledge of astrology.   Building on that interest, God used a star to guide them towards Bethlehem...   a long journey into the unknown.  When the star halted its course they came across a newly born infant, to all appearance no different from any other baby. God enabled them to make the enormous leap of faith of believing this child to be truly God.   The wise students of the stars, the Magi, believed, worshipped and welcomed this babe -the creator of heaven and earth!

Like the Magi, we are called to make a journey of discovering Christ.   God will lead each of us by a different route, depending on our backgrounds and interests.   Certainly most of us have already set out on that journey of learning to know and love Christ.  None of us has yet completed that journey, nor will we, till we see God face to face in heaven.  In the meantime we, like, the Magi must follow whatever star God uses to guide us in discovering His will for us at any particular moment.

My way of meeting God is to be sensitive to the pointers He uses to lead me from where I am at the moment to eternity with Him.   The same must be true for you.

Isidore O.P.

Peter and Isidore wish our readers every blessing for the New Year

The next posting will be on 17th Jan.

GETTING IN FOCUS

 

Isidore, my twin brother, and I joined the Dominicans in 1950. How clueless we were about what we were getting into! Coming straight from Grammar School we were prepared for everything and prepared for nothing. Our attitude was that we would ‘give it a go’ and see where it led us.

First surprise - for reasons known only to God and to our Novice Master - we had to dip our two feet into a basin of water and then make wet foot-prints on the polished floor. These were closely examined to see if any of the candidates to the Order were flat-footed! Could it have been that in those days God’s flat-footed children would have obviously been disqualified from becoming good preachers?!  Anyway, after more than sixty years we’re still preaching. Twin Isidore reminds me of the famous musings of the prophet Isaiah,” How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation,” Isaiah 52:7.

A feat beyond compare for both of us to be accepted into THE ORDER BECAUSE OF OUR BEAUTIFUL FEET…!”  And now I ask myself WHO NOSE what is the criterion for the other great Religious Orders in accepting new candidates? Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?
With a return to sanity the Novice Master had us candidates get our eyes tested. With honest realism the optician advised Isidore and me that our eye-sight was so poor that we’d best forget pursuing a bookish career and consider working on the land!  The powers-that–be ignored this advice; and so did we twins.  Through a mixture of foolish stubbornness and being well-focused in our determination we have persisted in preaching to this day.  For me personally there was a price to pay -  headaches, blackouts and even nose-bleeds as I glued my student eyes to the printed page.
For me everything depends on being well-focused.  Our focus was becoming and remaining Dominicans was of supreme importance to us…something we couldn’t to do without…something that demanded hard work and persistence....and still does! We had set our hearts on a life-determining, life-shaping, goal. I put it down  to an urge and a surge to become and remain Dominicans.

My Christmas thought is that the shepherds and the Magi had this urge and surge. They put aside all else and made their way to the stable outside Bethlehem. They had to discover for themselves ‘What child is this?’ that a choir of angels or a moving star had provoked them to seek out...to pay him honour.

As for that nasty man, Herod, he had a devilishly sharp focus.  Word soon reached him that these Magi were going through Jerusalem asking the whereabouts of the ‘infant king of the Jews.’ Such a child would have been an obvious threat to the royal family of King Herod. The possibility of this coming to anything had to be snuffed out, IMMEDIATELY!  Herod’s focus of having this ‘rival’ tracked down was as sharp as the tip of a sword.  The outcome …the Massacre of the Holy Innocents!

What does ‘bringing this season into sharp focus’ say to you and to me? Surely our being very clear what is the ‘must-have’ about Christmas that has the greatest importance for us; then having the stubborn determination not  to let  anything prevent us from enjoying it.
Look  at this time of the year! So much agitated activity.  The very air seems to be crackling with intensity and bustling excitement. Mostly everywhere is decorated with ‘all things bright and beautiful.’ Pounding music all but bursts our eardrums!  Many would think it stupid to ask, ‘Why all the ‘tra-la-la?’ Their instant reply would be, ‘Who needs a pretext, an excuse, for having a good time?’

Others would chime in, ‘Jesus is the reason for the season.’  And the reply would surely be, ‘That may be your reason, but it’s not mine, nor that of most other people!’   From within this  mêlée  of swirling messages and enthusiasms  I sense an urgent need to pluck out of this confused mixture of moods and messages the golden nugget of radiant, dazzling truth…such as “In a nutshell Christmas is …; the nitty-gritty of Christmas is…; or “Stripped down to the bare bones Christmas is all about  shepherds and Magi – their  sharp focus, my sharp focus, discovering the Child in the manger...Jesus, the Son of Mary, Jesus the Son of  God.”

We Christians have seen these past few as a build-up to Christmas – the celebration of the Son of God being born into our world – the human family.

In this lies godswaymyway for me, you, and many more, to have a deeply spiritual and enjoyable Christmas. God has brought me to see the pressing need for us to get Christmas into clear, sharp focus.  Without this sharp Christmas focus, how on earth are we going to fulfill our Christian duty and privilege of   ‘telling it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born?’

Peter Clarke O.P.

Peter and Isidore wish all our readers and their families  every blessing  for Christmas and the New Year

A JOY SHARED

An evening to remember!  I was left to myself, with no-one making any demands on me. So I switched on my radio as I relaxed in my comfortable armchair. What a delight to stumble upon John Rutter’s ‘Requiem!’   Until then this had been unknown to me.

In my enthusiasm I rushed out -the next day -to buy the CD of the music.   I had to hear it again! I had to share my ‘discovery’ with my brother, Peter, in Grenada, in the W. Indies. He was likewise thrilled with the CD I sent him.   I was delighted that Peter shared my enthusiasm. His enthusiasm, his enjoyment certainly increased mine.

It’s said that a problem shared is a problem halved. Surely ‘a joy shared is a joy doubled.’ That must be equally true! That was certainly true, when I introduced my brother to this beautiful music.

Some years later, when our brother Chris died, the ‘Requiem’ by John Rutter would draw Peter and me especially close.   At the very hour I was celebrating our brother Chris’ Requiem in England Peter, in Grenada, had sought out the peace-filled seclusion of a rocky peninsular reaching out into the Atlantic.   There, sitting in his car, he recited the Breviary Office of the Dead with the CD of Rutter’s ‘Requiem’ comforting him in his solitary sorrow. He was separated by thousands of miles from the rest of the family. That beautiful piece of music, which we both loved, helped to bring us especially close in our shared grief for our deceased brother.  It was a real blessing that I should have accidentally stumbled across that music and then shared it with Peter.

This incident made me think of the excitement of discovering a brilliant young footballer, or, perhaps, singer. Eagerly we want to tell our friends about him or her.  We urge them to come and see for themselves.

 

That’s precisely what happened in an incident recorded near the beginning of St. John’s Gospel (1. 35-42).  When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he pointed Him out to a couple of his followers. “Behold the Lamb of God,” he exclaimed.  That aroused Andrew’s curiosity.  So he and his companion followed Jesus and asked Him where He lived. When Jesus invited them to ‘come and see’ they went and spent the day with Him.   Andrew then went back and eagerly told his brother, “We have found the Messiah.”  Gripped by Andrew’s enthusiasm Peter went with his brother to see Jesus for himself.   That shared discovery completely changed their lives.

This idea echoes the title and theme of Pope Francis’ recent Apostolic Exhortation entitled, “The Joy of Evangelization.” Jesus is Good News, the very best of news.   Like Andrew, we should be so excited about Jesus and what He has done for us that we can’t help but want to share Him with our nearest and dearest and with all those we encounter in our daily lives!  Like the apostles, we should long for everyone to welcome what means so much to us – our personally discovering Jesus and becoming attached to Him. Like the women who first saw the risen Lord we should feel we must rush and share this Good News.  It’s too exciting, too important for us to keep to ourselves!

 But we all know that our wildest enthusiasms can become jaded;   familiarity can breed complacency.  Interesting, isn’t it, that Pope Francis criticizes those of the clergy who look as if they’ve just come from a funeral?  He even calls them –us- “sourpusses!”  Could it be that we’ve lost our sense of wonder and excitement at the Good News? If so, we won’t be all that eager to listen to it or share it.  Gradually our awareness of Jesus can become like dull background music or drab wall-paper to our lives!

If I’m to meet God I must ask Him to keep alive my love and enthusiasm for the Good News about Jesus Himself and the salvation He has achieved for us through His death and resurrection. What an awful thought that Jesus could be relegated to being no more than a footnote to our lives!  Only with enthusiasm that ‘fires me up’ will I be eager to spread the Gospel and enjoy doing so.

 Having been a member of the Order of Preachers for over sixty years I can vouch for the ‘Joy of Evangelizing’ –powerfully expressed in Pope Francis’ ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ –‘The Joy of Evangelizing.’ It’s a real tonic.  It refreshes our appetite to “taste and see that the Lord is good,” (Ps. 34. 8). I strongly recommend it –especially during Advent when we celebrate the Good News of the coming of Our God!   May this inspire us to enrich other people’s lives with what gives meaning to our lives –God’s greatest gift -Himself.

Isidore O.P.

	,

?A BIRD OF PARADISE?

I’m a grumpy old man, especially early in the morning. I can think of a number of people who would agree with that – most surely my twin brother, Isidore.  By the time you’ve finished reading this blog you’ll probably think the same. And you wouldn’t be far wrong. I suffer from ‘crack-of-dawn’ peevishness. And no wonder!  In The Prayer of the Church we’re required to chant a hymn that goes like this,

‘We sing for you a morning hymn to end the silence of the night.

When early cock begins to crow and everything from sleeps awakes,’….!

  When early cock begins to crow and everything from sleeps awakes,’….!  For weeks now  there’s been an insolent cockerel that took up residence in the presbytery and the parish church  grounds.  I wonder  which was the worst of its many sins – leaving a tacky, slippery mess in the very areas people most frequently had to walk? Or at about 2.30 each morning  ‘blowings its top’ with a strident shrillness that jarred my nerves and inspired uncharitable thoughts?

 The words choked in my throat when I’ve been required to sing about crowing cocks  awakening deeply sleeping me?   If this was the best it could do for a mating call it must have been a hard-up hen that would have fancied him! You notice I refer to this bird THAT WAS, not the one THAT IS? For the past few blissful days this groan-leading, not cheer-leading, bird has not been around…And now we have a blessed hush and a clean yard to greet each new day.

From early childhood all of us must have learnt,

‘All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.’

But, ever  complaining me asks, ‘What about those insects that sting and bite -that cause inflammation or infection?  What about the sly mongoose or foxes that steal our chickens? And what about the bad rainy weather that washes out a cricket match; and the bad dry weather that shrivels the plants in my garden?  God made all these as well as the storms, the floods, the droughts, the earthquakes, the famines and diseases that make life insecure for so many people. In God’s good creation I find so much more to grumble about …things that bring so much misery to so many people….things that are inconvenient to me personally.

      And yet, who am I to complain to God about anything that He has made? How dare I presume  I could have made a better job of creation than had Almighty God Himself?  So I have problems – not with God, but with my understanding God; in my coming to terms with some of the things going on in the world that He has made, the world He sees to be so good.  While I’m still in this sour mood I ponder upon the awful woes that human beings inflict on one another. No need to name them. They advertize themselves on every newscast.

Siblings to one another within the one human family, each made in the image and likeness of God, inflict misery on one another in the home, in the neighbourhood, in the war-zone. And yet every single one of us is ignited with a  spark of the divine, with the brightness of God Himself who is love, who is just, who is kind who is holy.  As for myself I must confess  I do have immense difficulty in coming to terms with some of those ‘made in God’s image and likeness!’ I would be a conceited fool if I ever thought for a moment that everyone found  it easy to get on with me. I’m still disturbed that all of us beloved children of God find it  difficult  to be beloved to one another. Worse still, sometimes this is the last thing we want!

I ask my God, my loving, wise Heavenly Father, ‘How can all this be?’   As for my own personal grouses and grievances, I’m coming round to admitting that my big mistake is to believe that everything in God’s creation is designed for my convenience and contentment, a world that in its entirety is at my service. And so I complain whenever anything or and anyone fails to come up to my expectations, causes me inconvenience or annoys me. And this is the height of individualism, of selfishness. This is a form of idolatry – making myself a god unto myself, as well as creating for myself a mean and cramped existence.  How many of us do this to ourselves?

It is so easy for us not to recognize that each and every thing in God’s creation has its individual destiny. That includes each one of us.  These particular destinies are woven into a spectacular fabric – a grand design –so vast that only the Creator can understand and appreciate it.  Each item, each person, that God has made has its own identity and integrity – from mini mouse to mighty mountain. Each in its own way and all in their togetherness and interaction proclaim God’s glory.

But wait a moment, we human beings – you and I and billions like us – are free to  proclaim the glory of God with the totality of our lives…or not to do so. Sadly the sinful shabbiness in our lives does nothing to honour God.

 I suspect that  I need to come to terms with the fact  that God has His own reasons for creating rowdy roosters.  I must humbly accept that they may have nothing to do with me. Perhaps I need to look at God's bigger picture. He has made the cock with the need to make an early start to the day, a need to proclaim he's up and about, a  force to be reckoned with! I insist I don't have that particular need to be on the rampage even before the sun has thought of showing its face. For reasons of His own God obviously thinks otherwise.   

Once I’ve come to terms with this I’ll have a glimmering of understanding of what is  going on in God’s creation.  

In a rooster! Through a rooster! For heaven’s sake!  

Godswaymyway!!!!  Weird!!!!!   

Peter Clarke O.P.

 

 

 

                   

   

WHY DOES HE BOTHER?

A friend of mine gave his son an expensive metal detector for Christmas.  This, he thought, would give the child hours of excitement, hunting for hidden treasure.  It would be the envy of his friends; it would get him out of the house, into the fresh air, and from under his parents’ feet.  A truly inspired, loving choice of a present.  And how did the child react?  Well, he took his metal detector into the garden.  After an hour’s search the child had found only a useless bent nail –certainly nothing valuable.  Disillusioned, the child impatiently put his expensive toy back in its box and never used it again.
 

  Naturally his dad was disappointed; his son didn’t appreciate the present he’d been given.  He wasn’t even grateful for it.  Sadly his dad wondered, “Why did I bother?” I bet we’ve all felt like that.  We’ve gone to considerable trouble to help someone.  Or we’ve been generous and thoughtful in choosing a present.  And what do they do?  Criticise or ignore us for what we’ve done for them!  Exasperated, we wonder why we ever bothered with such ungrateful ‘so and sos.’ We think they don’t deserve to be shown kindness and care.  But we know that Jesus taught us to give without expecting any return –even a ‘thank you.’  We hope their ingratitude won’t stop us loving and caring for them.  I’m sure I’m just as ungrateful as anyone else. 
 

 My reactions to how ungrateful all of us can be towards each other led me to ask myself, “What about the ungrateful way we treat God?”  He’s given us all that we have, all that we are.  He’s gone to such lengths to make it possible for us to share His life and happiness. And how do we behave?  We can be so rebellious. We rarely say, “Thank you.”  We can take Him for granted; we can totally ignore Him.   Meditating on the last sorrowful mystery of the Rosary –the crucifixion -a blinding, earth-shattering question leapt to my mind.  Quite simply, “Why does God bother with us?   Why does God bother with me?”  
 

As I wrestled with this question I realized that as God set creation in motion He fully realized all the implications of what He was doing.  He knew we would rebel against Him; but He knew that His love for His creation would not allow us to destroy ourselves.  In creating us God knew He would have to take drastic measures to rescue us from our ‘self-destruct’ mode.  That would mean the Son of God becoming man, living amongst us and allowing His own creatures brutally to execute Him on the cross.   Amazingly, in creating us, God, in His wisdom, took all this into account.  Why did He say a resounding, “Yes,” not “No” to the very idea of creation?
 

Such thoughts provoked the question, screaming for an immediate answer, “Why did God bother, when He knew we’d cause Him so much trouble?” Why did God chose to bring so much unnecessary aggravation upon Himself?  Or as the Psalmist exclaimed, “What is man that you are mindful of him, mortal man that you care for him?” (Ps. 8. 4).  And the only answer I found to the question, “Why did, does, God bother?” was to be found in the simple word ‘love.’  , Theologians have a saying –goodness, of its very nature, reaches out and spreads itself.   In other words, God’s so generous-hearted He wants others –us people –to share His life and happiness.   Wonder of wonders, in creating us He realized what that would cost Him.   He was prepared for that.  That’s how much He loves us!
 

Even though we people frequently rebel against Him God refuses to abandon us.  Humanly speaking, we almost seem to push God to breaking point, to destroying His own creation.   But then the prophet Hosea has God conclude, “My heart recoils within me;    my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger;    I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst,   and I will not come in wrath,” (Hosea 11. 8-9).^* In spite of all our faults, God loves us too much to destroy us.  More than that, God has a reputation to maintain. He couldn’t allow the ungodly to despise and accuse Him for being incapable of saving those He claimed to love!
 

Instead, God is like the most loving of parents; He’s prepared to go to any lengths to save us, His children, from self-destruction. His love is utterly unshakeable; it’s not brittle or fickle.  St. John’s Gospel puts this beautifully, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  (Jn. 3 16-17).
 

During Christmastide the Church rejoices in the wonder of God’s saving love -so great that the Son was prepared to live among us, die for us and rise from the tomb –simply so that we could share His divine life and happiness.  We sing, "O admirable exchange..” God became like us, so that we could become like Him; He shared our human life, so that we could share His divine life.  Then, at the Easter Vigil, we exult in God’s mysterious wisdom.  He knew that He could achieve a greater good by allowing evil than by preventing it. Ecstatically, paradoxically, the Church sings, “O happy fault (original sin) that merited such and so great a Redeemer."
 

So what’s the best –the only answer -to the question, “Why did, does, God bother with us?”     In his Letter to the Romans St. Paul was filled with a sense of wonder at the mystery of God and His dealings with man, “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!   ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord?     Or who has been his counsellor? … To him be the glory for ever. Amen,” (Rom. 11. 33,35).
 

Paul, the greatest of all theologians, was forced to admit that He couldn’t understand the mystery of God.  After all our agitated searching for explanations we are reduced to humble silence.  We can best meet God in quiet stillness of mind and heart, as the Psalmist assures us, "Be still, and know that I am God," (Ps. 46. 10).  Paradoxically, the better we get to know God, the more we realize how little we understand Him.  The mystery of divine love, the mystery of any love, defies and transcends analysis and explanations. I’m more than content with that. I just thank God for the wonder of His love.  God’s love for us is the best, and only answer to the question, “Why did He, why does He, bother with us?” 

 

Isidore O.P.