Years back, as a young priest of theology had a dream, to write a book on the question of faith. His hope was to shed some light on why God is hidden to us. Why don’t we see God physically? Why doesn’t God simply show himself to us in such a way that it would remove all doubt?
One day, he called his mentor, now a professor
emeritus, what he thought on the issue: “Why does God hide himself?” He asked,
“Why doesn’t God just appear, physically, beyond doubt, and then we wouldn’t
have to have faith, we would know God with certainty?”
His friend’s took the priest by surprise: “Your
question is an interesting one,” he said, It’s the one that Philip asked Jesus.
The answer, therefore, that I will give you is the same one that Jesus gave
him: ‘You can look at all you have seen and heard and still ask that question?
To see certain things is to have seen the Father!’
To ask a question like this is like looking at
the most beautiful day in October, seeing all the trees turning colors, and the
harvest of the corn in full blossom and asking a friend, ‘Where is autumn?’ To
see certain things is to see autumn. To see certain things is to see God.”
With those thoughts in mind, I would like to
offer a set of questions about the veil of faith:
• Have you ever kept silent, despite the urge to
defend yourself, when you were unfairly treated?
• Have you ever forgiven another although you
gained nothing by it and your forgiveness was accepted as quite natural?
• Have you ever been good to someone without
expecting a trace of gratitude and without the comfortable feeling of having
been “unselfish”?
If you have had such experiences, then you have
had experienced God, perhaps without realizing it.
The people of Holy Family are working hard this
week to prepare for their annual fund raising project. The Spaghetti Dinner
features over a hundred homemade gift baskets, woodcrafts and even Fr. Matt’s
autumn photography. The parish families cordially invite all the Sonshine
friends to join their families, co-workers, neighbors and friends in the
celebration to support the ministries of this faith community. If you asked me
where is God in all this, simply look at all their hard work in preparation for
this event and you will know what God look like.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that
they experience God daily without realizing it. See you next Sunday at the
Spaghetti Dinner and Raffle.
