[PICTURE: ISAIAH RECEIVING HIS CALLING AS PROPHET BY TIEPOLO]
5th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME--2/7/10
by Msgr. Eric R. Barr, S.T.L.
READINGS: IS 6:1-2, 3-8; LK 5:1-11
I. Getting In Touch With God
A. So many people say that want to be in touch with God. It might be a good idea to use these readings we just heard to see if the Scriptures have any insights for us on how that might happen.
B. It seems that both the first reading and the Gospel have something to say towards this issue. The first reading has the prophet Isaiah praying in the Temple and God coming to talk to him. Sounds to me like God is saying, “If you want to experience me, come to the place where I am most easily found.” In the Gospel today, Jesus is clearly saying, “When I call your name, no matter what you are doing, drop whatever you are doing and hear my voice.”
C. There is a lot of common sense here that we often refuse to recognize. In our day and age, we think that getting in touch with God has to be esoteric, difficult–that we need some secret answer in order to touch the Divine. Secondly, we often feel that we are the ones who have to do the work to find God, that the elusive God is just out of reach, dancing out of our field of vision, daring us to try and find him.
II. The Da Vinci Code
A. The strange ways we try to search out God didn’t start with the The Da Vinci Code, but that book and movie was so popular that we might as well use it as a great example. Remember, it was a thriller that says the Church has hidden lost Gospels that would help us reach Jesus much more easily, that the Church did this deliberately and that it seeks to keep this information from its people. It says a lot of silly things but its basic premise is that the Church is the problem when it comes to people touching the divine. The Church is the real obstacle. It was just one of many books and movies to say that we don’t need the Church or any religion to find God–in fact, this type of stuff we read or see on the Discovey Channel always tries to make us think that religion is the problem not the solution.
B. But that’s not what the first reading says. Isaiah was a Jew and a priest. He knew, his religion told him, that the place where God was most present was in the Temple in the Holy of Holies. So Isaiah goes there to pray and guess what? He meets God. He touches the Divine. He has a spectacular religious experience. And all he did to receive it was do what his faith told him to do–pray and be open to the touch of God.
C. Now maybe you read the Da Vinci Code. Great little thriller. Basically full of erroneous information. Maybe you’ve seen one of these countless movies talking about the end of the world or how to find God in a new and different way. But if I want to touch God, I’m not going to believe this kind of claptrap. Far from being the problem, the Church is the source and the way for most people to touch God. I come to Church to pray. I come to Church to receive the sacraments. I come to Church to experience God and just like millions of other people, I find that behavior works! What a surprise! Jesus told us to gather together, to have the Eucharist and he promised that if we did that we would be able to experience him. That’s what the Church does and it works! The lesson? Maybe I don’t have to go searching for strange and bizarre ways to encounter God. Maybe the Church was right all along. Maybe God can truly be found here. It worked for Isaiah. Why wouldn’t it work for me?
III. My Efforts Or God’s Efforts?
A. Many people think they have to put all this effort in to find Jesus. If I read the right book, if I try this new spiritual discipline, if I join this new religion–I’ll meet God. Others think all that is too hard and don’t do anything. They leave Church, they leave their faith, they become spiritual couch potatoes saying that God can come and get them. But once again, the Scriptures, this time the Gospel, tells us that meeting Christ isn’t going to happen under those circumstances.
B. Jesus makes it clear that an encounter with him is not a strange or rare thing. He comes and meets us in our daily activity, just like he came and me the disciples at the seashore as they fished. The important thing to remember is that the disciples listened. They heard his voice, caught the note of the divine in it, and listened. And they followed him. The only effort they expended was to follow when they heard the call of God.
C. Sometimes, we think we can manipulate God, deciding how he should contact us and what that contact is going to consist in, as if God was some genie in the bottle waiting to do our every wish. We seek spiritualities that make God act on our terms. Others of us refuse to respond to the voice of God at all. The fact remains, God speaks to us in our daily life–through prayer, through loved ones, through friends, even through our work–and all we have to do is recognize his voice. When that voice of God in daily life matches the Scriptures we read and the faith we know, we can depend on its truthfulness. We know this from experience. Ordinary folks have spoken wisdom to us–the same wisdom we find in the Bible, or from learned theology professors, or from the wise priests we have known. When that happens, when in our ordinary life, people say extraordinary things, we know they are transmitters of God’s voice, and we listen to what they have to say. And frankly, even in the ordinary days, sometimes God just speaks in our hearts, and because we always have our ears half cocked to listen, oftentimes we hear him speaking to us, and we do what he asks. You know this is true. And it all happens in the embrace of the Church and Catholic faith that has been given to us. We’ve already got the gift of seeing God in daily life and in sacraments–why can’t we treasure this tremendous window God has given us to contact him in ordinary life?
IV. Two Things Learned Today
A. You want God? Then look for him in the places your faith tells you to find him–Church and Sacraments. You will definitely contact him there.
B. You want God? Start listening for his voice in your daily life. In many ways he speaks to us throughout the day. When you hear his voice, follow his path.
C. These are the ordinary ways of experiencing God. And though they are ordinary they will change our lives, for no one can touch God, no one can hear God without profoundly altering the way they live. May God touch each one of us as he touched Isaiah. May God speak to us in the ordinary, so we will be able to do extraordinary things.
The church and the sacraments are the only way to fine tune your head, heart and soul to the Lord in this exstremely noisey and busy world. By opening oneself to them you will find God in everything. God will be found even in times of pain or struggle, he can be felt in the mercy and the kindness of others. He is in the face of everyone you meet. Just look for him in all you see and hear and especailly in the person you are each day.
Posted by: Dragonfly | February 05, 2010 at 10:52 PM
please i would like to read the reflection from your site everyday before i goto work if you allow to post daily it would be grateful and honor for me and it can help a lot in my spiritually as a christian thanks god bless.
Posted by: susan dizon | February 16, 2011 at 05:54 PM