Readings:
Tobit 11:5-17
Mark 12: 35-37
Reflection:
God is dead! God is total fiction! God is some kind of ancient answer to many basic questions about ‘why we are here on earth’? How can we guarantee that we stay on the ‘good side’ of God? Watch out; God is a Judge! Because of fear, we obey His rules!
These are just a few of the thoughts that have been flowing around the world for hundreds of years! However, the critics of ‘God’ have never had it so good with modern media and bias selection by Media Companies and clever IT people.
In the first reading from the Old Testament today, we see in concrete ways that our God’s loving kindness and compassion are manifested in and through the day-to-day lives of people who have ‘faith’. We need to explain this vital notion of faith before we go any further. Faith has a lot to do with SEEING! Seeing the saving hand of God at work in ourselves and others. It’s a kind of SEEING that is not only visual but also a holistic experience of the body, mind, and spirit. This kind of SEEING, when it happens, runs through us like a ‘thrill’ that’s come true! It’s like a tremor which has its seat within our guts! We FEEL it! It has the power to change us and enhance our wholesomeness to the point where we become living instruments of God among all people.
How have we seen the saving hand of God in our life today?
Kevin Walsh is a priest in the Diocese of Parramatta in Sydney. He has been formed in the Passionist tradition, and Ministers to the Aged, the Sick, the Dying and the Bereaved.