Conversations About God
I recently had a conversation with a co-worker who kept referring to God as “the universe”. The universe is trying to tell me something or the universe is guiding events in my life.
My response was that it was God doing these things and God made the universe and that God is not the universe. I left him with a perplexed look on his face.
Of course when we think about the sheer and almost infinite vastness of the universe it can be difficult to imagine that there is something or someone holding it all together, let alone that this someone created the universe out of nothing as Christians and others believe.
If we think of God as out there somewhere in the universe we will never really be able to make sense of it. Science has tried and keeps trying. Humanity desires answers to these questions, and we should keep on seeking, but it is above the natural world.
We recently welcomed our sixth grandchild into this universe. As I held this tiny little child, so tender and so beautiful in my arms I was overwhelmed with this miracle of life and I was so grateful for this wonderful gift. Newborns are always a new beginning. It never ceases to amaze me. I also thought of Jesus as a newborn in a manger. God. In a manger. This is about as mind blowing for me as God creating the universe out of nothing.
In Philippians 2:5-8 St. Paul says that Jesus did not count equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself. Emptied Himself. Probably the greatest understatement in history.
So God, maker of all that exists, breaks into the cosmos and becomes one of us. For you. For me. He loves us so much that he made himself almost nothing, empty. Jesus becomes the victim for our sins in order to free us from sin. By dying for you and for me we are reconciled to God and we become adopted sons and daughters. If we are sons and daughters then we are heirs.
What an inheritance. We receive this gift through the sacraments starting with baptism. The sacraments are all about intimacy with God, the touch of Jesus in all of the sacraments. But most especially in the Eucharist. Where under the humble species of bread and wine, they are transformed into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. All the mysteries of the universe, creation, newborns, of you and me and of all existence are in that Blessed Sacrament on the altar. Then what happens? We eat it. We consume it into our bodies and our souls and our hearts.
This is the most amazing and mind blowing miracle of all. And yet how often have you and I taken this mystery for granted, or we don’t really believe it, or we don’t act as if we believe it. We need to ask God for the grace of the Eucharist to transform us, to become what we eat, to become like Jesus.
To see, to taste and to touch Jesus and to let Him touch us in the deepest and most profound way possible.
I have not spent nearly enough time, wasting time in a holy hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament in my life. I look at Him and He looks at me. He listens, He speaks, He heals, He forgives, but most of all He loves.
I pray that my co-worker will find God one day, only to realize that He was looking for him all along.
“Truth Himself Speaks Truly or There’s Nothing True”
St. Thomas Aquinas