God's ever-present Love

We live in uncertainty; economic, political and social conflicts leave us scrambling for some guarantee, or at least some lessened risk of disaster and failure.  But our Christian faith gives us one thing we can count on, the one thing we absolutely need.  In good times and in bad, good health and sickness, celebration and grief, even when we are inattentive to God, careless about prayer, filled with self-love and indifferent to other people – we have always “the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”   Even when most inattentive, careless and indifferent, I trust St. Paul’s assurance that nothing “will be able to separate us” from God’s ever-present Love. (Romans 8:31b-39)

Jesus models exactly that faith, that trust in the Love of God ever-present to Him. (Luke 13:31-35).  Warned that King Herod wished Him to be killed, Jesus refused to be safe, to deny His mission.   “I must continue on my way,” He asserted – and headed towards death in Jerusalem – and His Resurrection, and our salvation.  Jerusalem, the actual city, is the religious, political and cultural capital for Jesus in the first century, and an argument could be made that the “unwilling” Jerusalem also represents our religious, political and cultural situations in the twenty-first century.  

While we are not living in a time or place where people may not want us physically dead (except, of course, unwanted or ‘inconvenient’ children) there is much adversity in our lives and cultures that makes being a Catholic difficult.  I have met many challenges to my faith.  People who question, people who judge, people who see scandals, or mistakes, or simply don’t understand the fundamental tenets of my faith have all posed challenges and have made me ask not only why I’m Catholic, but really what that means.  And in my understanding, those questions are answered by that final line: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

I’ve sought to deepen my understanding of my faith, but even on a fundamental level I’ve sought to show people my faith through my actions.  I may not need to explain teachings or dogma for people to understand what it means to be Catholic.  The goal is to live the mission, for people to see Jesus and to see what it means to be Catholic through me; through all of us.