For one year in my lifetime I did not go to church. On a mountain top landing zone in VietNam I did not go to church, not because I did not want to, but because there was no church, no building, no priest, no gathering. The rest of my life I have gone to church every weekend, with the exception of illness. I know who I am. I know where I am going.
All of us have asked ourselves, Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Why do I need to work so hard to achieve my goals? Why is it so hard to be loved? What is the meaning of death? What will happen after death? These questions are part of our life. These questions will lead us to God.
“The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God.” How do we find God? God first pursues us and this causes us to search for him. There are a couple of ways which every person can come to God—by Creation and the human person.
We find God through creation. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Look around at Lake Superior, at the stars, the plants and flowers growing in spring time. All things around us point to an intelligent creator, not something formed out of pond scum. I think that without God sustaining all created things, they would cease to be.
We find God through the human person. “I praise you, so wonderfully you made me.” We guard our freedom and develop our conscience and live to become happy. The more we become happy the closer we come to God.
If this is true why have so many people not found God or don’t worship him? I think because there is a great deal of suffering and pain in the world, we become disheartened because we cannot imagine a God who would allow pain and suffering.
Indifference toward God is another reason why some don’t grow closer to God. All consumed with themselves, they ignore God. Our own scandalous behavior drives some people away from Christians. They do not want to be with people who have little concern for others.
Some stay away from God because they find obeying God too difficult, or they don’t have time to think about obeying God. I do think that each of us deep down has a yearning for God, even if we try very hard to not listen to the yearning. Many of us reach out to God on our death bed, while years before we had no time for God.
There is a move toward secularism in the United States. We are only too glad to read of a sinful priest, to read of a failed church, to see religious families torn apart, to read of religious wars. These things prove to us that we do not need God. These things allow us to focus on our own selfish interests.
Our natural power of reason allows us to think of God, however education and learning lead us to a deeper knowledge of God. The following meditation gives us pause.
“Where did I find you, that I came to know you? You were not within my memory before I learned of you. Where, then, did I find you before I came to know you, if not within yourself far above me?… Late have I loved you. O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!…Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. …You were with me but I was not with you…You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you; now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me and I burn for your peace.”
Through the use of reason, we can learn much about God, from both creation and conscience. God will freely share his mystery with us. Throughout our history God has shown himself to humankind. Historical events lead us to God, but it requires our faith to see his action in human existence. It remains for us to grasp the love of God. Knowing our faith and sharing it with others is a responsibility of every Christian. We should join with other thoughtful people who raise basic questions such as: Who are we? What is the meaning of suffering, evil, and death? Why has modern progress not eliminated them? What is the value of our country’s achievements in light of their cost to human dignity? Questions that develop our faith. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
When will we all find God?
1U nited States Catholic Catechism for
Adults. Fourth printing July 2006
2 Psalm 19:2
3 Pslam 139:14
4 St. Augustine, The Confessions, bk 10.
5H ebrews 11:1
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Deacon Peter Mueller of St. John’s Catholic Church in Grand Marais.
Leave a Reply