Where is God?
The shootings in Charleston and Chattanooga… Genocide of
Christians and Yazidis in the Middle East… Boko Haram kidnapping, raping, and
pillaging in Nigeria… Parents abusing and killing their children… So much hate,
so much pain, so much suffering. Where is God in all of this? Where can we turn
to find Him?
Whether it is as far away as the other side of the world or
as close as the loss of a child, suffering can lead us to doubt His presence. The
deeper our pain, the greater our suffering, the easier it is to think that He
has abandoned us. Even Christ felt that abandonment, crying out “My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)
Despite our feelings of abandonment, we are taught that
God is ever with us: “Where can I hide from
Your Spirit? From Your presence, where can I flee?” (Psalm 139: 7) In Matthew, we are reminded that Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, “God
with us.” (Matthew 1:23) But that
knowledge is a cold comfort when we cannot feel His presence. We are taught to
ever turn to God, in our rejoicing, in our pain, with our every request. But
where can we turn to find Him?
There is so much noise, so much busy-ness, so many
competing voices in our lives, that finding and hearing God is a constant
struggle. We forget that we are not the only ones with difficulties hearing His
voice. When Elijah went to Mount Horeb, “a strong and heavy wind was rending
the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord – but the Lord was not in the
wind. After the wind there was an earthquake – but the Lord was not in the
earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire – but the Lord was not in the
fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound… A voice said to him…”
(1Kings 19: 11-13) The Lord speaks in a still, small voice, one that we can
easily miss amidst the competing voices.
Most of us have neither the inclination nor the ability to
retreat into the desert or climb a mountain seeking God. The daily demands of
our lives preclude it. Where, then shall we go to feel His presence? We can
turn to our Bibles, finding His words in Sacred Scripture, but even those words
can feel far away, part of another time. How much better would it be to see
God, to be physically in His presence, to hear His voice? None of us is
guaranteed to see or hear Him, but we can find Him, physically present, in any
parish, anywhere in the world. Almost every day bread and wine are transformed
into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. At the Last Supper, “Jesus took some
bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it
to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ And when He had taken
a cup and given thanks, He gave it
to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins,’“(Matthew
26:26) words echoed by the priest during consecration. With those
words ordinary bread and wine are transformed into so much more – the Real
Presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the act of receiving
Communion, we physically receive Him into ourselves. At Eucharistic Adoration,
we are invited to sit quietly in His presence, to pray, to reflect, to pour out
our hearts to Him, to listen.
To most of
us, Eucharistic Adoration is strange and unfamiliar. What do we do? Why should
we go? Just as our relationships with our family, friends, and spouse are built
by spending time together, so is our relationship with God. At Adoration we can
escape from the ringing phone, the dings of new e-mail, the constant updates of
social media. There we can sit quietly, speaking to Him. We can pour out our
hopes and fears, worries and anger. God wants to hear all of it; unlike a
friend or a spouse, He will never tell you that you’ve said that before or
imply that He is tired of listening to your worries or complaints; He never
tires of listening to us. We can just sit there in quiet or read, knit, or crochet,
keeping our hands busy and minds clear, just so that we are there, spending
time with Him. It doesn’t matter if we can only spend a few minutes at a time
or if we can spend an hour or more; God wants us to spend time with Him.
The most
important time we can give Him is going to Mass. With so much going on and so
little time, it can be challenging to make Mass a priority. It can be even
harder when we feel like we’re not getting anything out of it. So why bother
going? Christ Himself tells us “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink His blood, you have do not have life within you. Whoever eats My flesh
and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”
(John 6:53-54) We go to Mass to be nourished, to be fed with the bread of life
that we might never go hungry. (John 6:35) We go for the “spring of water,
welling up to eternal life,” that we might never be thirsty. (John 4:13-14)
Even when we don’t feel like we are getting anything out of Mass, we are being
fed, being nourished by God’s greatest gift.
Where is God?
He is there, waiting for us to return to Him, “with your whole heart, with
fasting, and weeping, and mourning.” (Joel 2:12) He is waiting, “God of all encouragement,
who encourages us in all our affliction.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) Where can we
find Him? In the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man,
we find Him.
All Bible
verses use the New American Bible translation.
