In a recent re-run of Castle, James Brolin made a guest appearance as Castle鈥檚 father. He saves Alexis from kidnappers, but in a tender moment he reveals himself to Castle. In a scene reminiscent of Luke Skywalker鈥檚 meeting with Darth Vader, Brolin says, 鈥淚 am your father.鈥�
Brolin continues explaining how he followed Castle鈥檚 career and family, and in a very moving way he says, 鈥淚鈥檝e always been proud of you.鈥� In that moment I realized that my own father is proud of me. I sensed his presence, though he left us 45 years ago. I almost felt his touch. And I realized that is how God loves us. And He is always proud of us.
Picture Jesus and the disciples walking past a vineyard. Perhaps, as some of you have seen a vineyard all dried up and waiting for the new season鈥檚 rains, Jesus saw the opportunity to reveal God鈥檚 closeness to us.
We should be able to sense the Father鈥檚 touch in a physical way. 鈥淚 am the true vine and my Father is the vine grower鈥� I am the vine and you are the branches鈥� (John 15). Our union with Jesus is that intimate. And God鈥檚 life comes to us through Jesus.
In a reflection on listening to Jesus, Fr. Brendan McGuire says: 鈥淚 will give you a metaphor that kind of helps break this open. When I was a kid, I was the youngest of 12 children. Our dad used to come in from a day鈥檚 work鈥� he would sit down and all of us鈥� would look to climb up on Dad鈥� jumping and playing on him.
鈥淪ometimes, he would be tired and he wouldn鈥檛 want us jumping up and down. So I figured this out that if I saw him tired, I would climb up and I would not move鈥� And as I just lay there, he would hold onto me because then none of the other brothers would get up on him鈥� he would just grab me and protect himself against all the other children. 鈥淲hat I often noticed about this was鈥� lying on his chest, I would be so quiet I could hear him breath, and there were times that I would listen to that almost heart beat, and I would listen and hear, and when he spoke it was very different.
鈥淲hen you are that close, you hear things that you do not normally hear. You hear nuances that you do not often hear. In fact, there were times when he would whisper and no one else could hear it but me because I was the only one that close 鈥� listening right on his chest.
鈥淚 believe that is a perfect image of what God wants from us. He wants us to be so close to His heart, to lie on His heart鈥� and rest and listen carefully to His voice. Sometimes, He just whispers. And that whisper is just for us. Most often the whisper says something very simple, 鈥淚 love you; rest in me.鈥� But because we are so busy jumping and playing in life, we miss that very powerful voice that assures us that God loves us.鈥�
Like little Brendan McGuire, we should have this relationship figured out by now. Maybe God wants to hold us close and give us a rest from the busyness around us.
