You can tell the size of your God by looking at the size of your worry list. The longer your list, the smaller your God. Author Unknown
Did you leave Easter 2012 with an absolute trust in God? I'm still reflecting on messages I gleaned during this Holy Season. Abbot Peter Novecosky at the State Convention of the Knights of Columbus April 22 shared this gem: "If only God would show us his hands, his feet, his side, his miraclesit would be easier to bring our children back into the church."
An early mystic in the church, Abbot Peter pointed out, prayed for a vision of God when he was a child. If only he could see God. He grew up to see God in all creation!
The mystic, like the strict empiricist, has a kind of knowledge which is indisputable. No one can deny what the mystic sees any more than one can deny what the sensory observer sees. (Writings of St Bonaventure)
Father Brendan McGuire in his Holy Thursday reflection tells the story of a homeless man who died of cancer. For much of his life he was a derelict, a drifter, who in his own view was worthless, worse than worthless.
He figured his cancer was a just punishment from God. He had earned it in his own mind. He hated himself because of his homosexuality, because of his alcoholism, because of his drug addiction and because of what he had done to himself and to others.
He figured he deserved his cancer and that God was punishing him. When he came to the chemotherapy one day, he talked with a woman who was dying of breast cancer. He learned that she was one of those good people, a church lady, a pillar of society.
He liked her and they became friends. They shared their stories and enjoyed each others' company. But he was puzzled by her cancer. It was very obvious to all that she loved God and God loved her.
As the weeks went by he realized maybe the best explanation for her cancer was that it just happened. As more weeks went by he thought that if the cancer happened to her, maybe the cancer just happened to him and was not a punishment for the life he led.
The connection struck like a thunderbolt. It had just happened to her, and God still loved her; and it had just happened to him, and God loved him.
It was real. God loved him! In the months that followed, he lived as a believer
He had many visitors before he died, and everyone who knew him among the homeless dropped by to see him.
Everyone who visited him understood that God loved him and that he was loveable. That is the message that Christ wants us all to hear. God loves us. We are loveable. Now that is a message we can take from this year's Easter.
