Tag: Love

No Strings Attached

“No strings attached” means without limiting conditions or restrictions. For example, I loan you some money without setting a deadline for paying me back. Or, for example, I agree to overlook something negative that you did, without requiring that certain other positive things be done.
   If you’re tried in a court of law, you’re adjudged “Guilty” or “Not Guilty”. And, if you’re adjudged “Guilty”, there probably will be certain conditions or restrictions placed on you. In the worst-case scenario, you could be sentenced to death, long-term imprisonment, or severe fines and other penalties.
   When Jesus was being crucified, as they were nailing him to the cross, he prayed “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34)
   What do you think of Jesus’ decision? Naïve? Lacking in experienced judgement? Unsophisticated? Simplistic? Credulous? Dumb?
   No, you probably wouldn’t dream of using words like that in reference to Jesus’ behavior. But, in practice, you also probably wouldn’t be so generous in forgiving as was Jesus, were you in a similar situation.
   You doubt it? Well, just think of the Gospel story of the return of the prodigal son or, as it is often called, the parable of the lost son. (Luke 15: 11-32)
   What do you think of the Father’s decision? Naïve? Simplistic?
   What do you think of the older son’s reaction to the situation? Just? Balanced? More thought out? Reasonable?
   It’s reasonable to take cognizance of someone’s history of behavior when making a decision. However there is a huge difference between a reasonable legal judgement and an act of forgiveness.
   You might say it’s the difference between law and love, especially between the law of God and the love of God.

   Paradoxically, the law of God is love! And, love can defy logic, prudence, and practice! Love isn’t naïve or simplistic; it’s not something earned or merited; it’s a grace, a gift—by its nature not deserved.
   Mercy, pardon, forgiveness, forgetting by their very nature have “no strings attached”. They are gifts freely given, unconditional.
   If abused, it is against their nature to be withdrawn—but they may not be repeated!
   What is the best course of action if someone who has ignored your advice, squandered your hard-earned money, and has been out of touch for a long, long time suddenly reappears, appears to be contrite, and asks for forgiveness and to be reinstated in your good graces.
   Before you act or respond, first ask yourself are you thinking of yesterday’s person or today’s person? Are you thinking of the person who was or the person who is? To be alive means that we are constantly changing, that we are ever developing.
   Today’s person is not one hundred percent yesterday’s person—maybe better, maybe worse—but never exactly the same!
   In a court of law, what is being ascertained is always about yesterday’s person, about what that person actually said and did.
   Jesus wasn’t—and isn’t—so interested in what each person was before. His boundless mercy is rooted in his concern for what each person is right now, today, not yesterday.
   Thanks be to God that our final encounter with him, our “last judgement”, will not be a measure of our yesterdays, just of the still existing, ever-changing person that we are at that moment of encounter—in other words an experience of mercy and of love!
   No strings attached!



12 March 2023

Neronic Behavior

“Fiddling while Rome burns” is an old expression meaning to be absorbed in lesser matters while vital and more important matters are ignored and unaddressed.
   It’s associated with the Roman emperor Nero, no hero nor exemplary figure in our received history. Curiously, even the word “fiddling” by itself can also be used with a somewhat similar meaning.
   Going back to Nero, how could the powerful head of the great Roman Empire have been so indifferent to the plight of the people of his burning capitol, so absorbed in his personal pleasures? You want to know how? It’s easy; look in the mirror!
   How many times have we behaved somewhat like Nero? How often have we let ourselves be absorbed in our secondary matters, good though they may be, while leaving far more important and significant matters unattended to, matters involving the life and well-being of others who were trusting in our concern, aid, and care?
   That’s Nero-like behavior!
   May God forgive us for our selfishness and indifference to the plight of others—for our fundamentally flawed behaviors, for our selfish, self-centered concerns, for our frequent deafness, dumbness, and blindness.
   Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
   This wasn’t a mere suggestion by Jesus to his disciples for their personal growth and maturation, nor a guideline for a more responsible lifestyle.
   Jesus was speaking in the persona of Moses when he said “I give you a new commandment.”
   And, the commandments given by Moses were not his desires nor plans but the explicit will of God for his people.

   “Love one another” is far more than a counsel to avoid “fiddling.” It is a direct, unavoidable demand and obligation. It requires our total commitment and even sacrifice.
   It is the overriding, incontestable command of our Maker. It is the absolutely necessary guideline for each and every day of our lives!
   Nero wasn’t a fire-fighter. He didn’t take any serious personal risks. Ultimately he was indifferent to the plight of so many others. He opted for his self-absorbing distraction of music-making, ignoring the life-threatening plight of his people. His behavior clearly contradicted the command of the Creator, as we understand it.
   How Neronic are we, you and I?
   I think there is a little bit of Nero in each of our lives, a temptation to ignore the plight of others who look to us for concern, for guidance, for help, for care.
   “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
   You know, as good and as pious as you or I may be or think we may be, we may be seriously mistaken.
   The early followers of Jesus chose death over ignoring his command. For them, there was no alternate behavior to “have love for one another.”
   Every time we fail to obey Jesus’s new commandment we give counter-witness to his mandate, to the will of God.
   That means that every time we fail to assist and support another as best we can we give counter-witness to this same mandate of Jesus, to the will of God.
   Oh, Lord, burn all my violins if they have become more to me than your will. Help me always to love others as you have loved me!




12 February 2023

A Loving Heart

I want a loving heart more than sacrifice, knowledge of my ways more than holocausts.
   (An antiphon from The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman rite)

   In chapter 11-12 of his Gospel, Matthew tells how Jesus is challenged in Jerusalem by the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders (11:27). They sent some Pharisees and Herodians to ensnare him in his speech (12:13). Some Sadducees, also joined in (12:18) . . .
   One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
   The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
   And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” (12:28-34)
   This scribe really understood the radical teaching of Jesus. The Judaism of that time gave great importance to Temple sacrifices of all kinds including burnt offerings.
   For devout people, animal and vegetable sacrificial offerings in the Temple and rules about clean and unclean food were the most important of their religious observances.

   Jesus, when asked which was the first of all the commandments of God, said there is nothing more important than love—love of God and love of neighbor.
   The scribe who commended him clearly understood how startling Jesus’s response was—Jesus placed love ahead of all the other commandments, all the Temple sacrifices, and all the other religious observances and practices of his day.
   Do we realize the radical nature of Jesus’s teaching? Do we understand the overriding importance of love in the scheme of things? Remember, at his last supper, Jesus made this his legacy commandment:
   I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. (John 13:34)
   As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
   I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
   You are my friends if you do what I command you. (John 15:9-14)
   This is the highest priority for a follower of Jesus—more important than any other commandment, rule, custom, practice, religious devotion, preference, or teaching.
   Better to miss Mass on Sunday than not love! Better to live together without marriage than not love! Better to be unorthodox than not love!
   I want a loving heart more than sacrifice . . . more than holocausts.


11 September 2022

Surrender to God . . .

Committe Domino viam tuam, et ipse faciet.” (Ant. 1, Office of Readings, Tuesday, Week II, of The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite).
    In the approved English edition, it’s translated as, Surrender to God, and he will do everything for you.

    Surrender.  1. to yield (something) to the possession or power of another; deliver up possession of on demand or under duress.  2. to give (oneself) up, as to the police.  3. to give (oneself) up to some influence, course, emotion, etc.  4. to give up, abandon, or relinquish.  5. to yield or resign (an office, privilege, etc.) in favor of another.  6. to give oneself up, as into the power of another; submit or yield.

    I like the translation of the antiphon. It could have been something more literal like, Commit your way to the Lord . . ., but Surrender to God . . . (The Grail translation) is much more evocative and emotional.
    The antiphon introduces the first part of Psalm 37, which is filled with great advice relating to this total surrender:

    – Do not fret because of the wicked; do not envy those who do evil . . .
    – If you trust in the Lord and do good, then you will be secure . . .
    – If you find your delight in the Lord, he will grant your heart’s desire.
    – Commit your life to the Lord, trust in him and he will act . . .
    – Be still before the Lord and wait in patience . . .
    – Calm your anger and forget your rage; do not fret, it only leads to evil.

    We’re usually continually caught up in a myriad of distractions, concerns, worries, plans, frustrations, regrets, disappointments responsibilities, and other such like.

    What a relief it can be to just surrender. No, that’s not a copout nor a failure nor an irresponsibility. Surrendering to God is an honest admission that we are but limited creatures who inevitably are inadequate without divine help.
    Not surrendering to God is
delusional, foolish, and self-destructive. God is not an enemy, but a friend. All that is good and meaningful and satisfying about our lives is rooted in our conformity with the designs of our maker.
    Surrendering to God, to the one whose love created and sustains us, is not a relinquishing of our life and liberty but a fulfillment.
    What an illogical, if not insane, course of action it is to try to live our lives ignoring our creator’s will.
    Surrendering to God is not a negative act but a positive one. It enhances and expands our lives. It requires courage, strength, generosity, and wisdom. It’s not for the weak, fearful, foolish, for the spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind.
    The Latin verb, committo, committere, also lies behind our English word, commitment, meaning an act of pledging or engaging oneself; dedication or allegiance; consignment or confinement.
    Somehow or other, commitment has a sort of legal flavor, somewhat abstract, associated with obligations and responsibilities.
    On the other hand, surrender sounds more like an act of heart than just of head, a total giving of all that one is, not just an acceptance of one more duty or responsibility.
    Lord, give me the wisdom, strength, and courage to surrender to you!


4 September 2022

What the Lord Requires of You

   You have been told, O mortal, what is good,
     and what the Lord requires of you:   Only to do justice and to love goodness,
     and to walk humbly with your God.
(Micah 6:8)

   To know what the Lord require of us is a never-ending quest through the entire course of our lives.
   Traditionally, as a child, we may have been taught that part of the answer was to obey the commandments and laws of God and of the Church. In practice, it also usually included to do what our parents, family, clan, friends, fellow believers, fellow citizens, and others who influence our lives told us was right and proper.
   In the previous verses Micah posed the question with some examples of the traditional answers of his time:

   With what shall I come before the Lord,
     and bow before God most high?
   Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
     with calves a year old?
      Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
     with myriad streams of oil?
   Shall I give my firstborn for my crime,
     the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
(Micah 6:6-7)

   He used some extreme examples of types of sacrifices that were considered possible requirements of God.
   We do something similar ourselves in raising our children, when we give them long lists of does and don’ts, sometimes in great detail.
   No wonder that we tend to think first of guilt and sinfulness when the question of what the Lord require of us comes up.
   Look at our traditions and rituals. What an emphasis we give to the negative, to sacrifice, atonement, mortification, and giving up pleasurable things when we think about how we stand with God and what he requires of us.

   Jesus taught us to address God in prayer as a father, as a loving parent, not as supreme being, master of the universe, or an all-powerful and demanding judge and ruler.
   Hopefully we may have been blessed by having a loving parent and so have some positive appreciation of this image of God. And, even if we had a parent limited in his or her ability to love and care for us, we probably yearned for and imagined a better.
   With good parents, we have only to reach out to be embraced, consoled, understood, accepted, and loved. We never doubt their limits to respond compassionately and forgive our offenses. We even reluctantly understand the fairness of some of the restrictions or punishments they placed upon us.
   We’re not fundamentally afraid of a good parent, nor totally concealing our behavior. We instinctively trust them to be merciful and forgiving.
   Micah might not have had precisely this kind of image and understanding of God, but he certainly would have understood it.
   As a prophet and teacher he was accentuating the positive, encouraging focusing on the underlying nature of the Lord, and trying to liberate those who heard his word from being over whelmed by their failings and need for punishment and atonement.
   It’s strange, isn’t it, that, even though probably we all more or less always knew this, in practice we still often tend to act as though God is to be feared and judge ourselves more harshly than we may deserve.
   It’s almost a kind of egoism, that we can be so unforgiving of our limitations and so imagining of deserved punishment for them.
   Remember, what Jesus requires of us is to “Love one another as I have loved you!”


5 September 2021

Apostolic Development Officer

No, St. Paul was never called that, even though to some extent he was a fundraiser.
   He once appealed to the Christians in Corinth to be generous in providing aid to the poor Christians in Jerusalem (2 Cor 8-9). His appeal is a beautiful reflection on the nature of charity, practical and realistic as well. Here are a few excerpts:

   – I am not saying this as an order, but testing the genuineness of your love against the concern of others.
   – You know the generosity of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, although he was rich, he became poor for your sake, so that you should become rich through his poverty.
   – I will give you my view of the matter: this is appropriate for you as you were the first, a year ago, not only to take any action but also even to desire the project. Now then, complete the action as well, so that the completion from your resources may match your enthusiasm.
   – For as long as the enthusiasm is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what a person does not have.
   –  It should not bring relief to others and hardship to yourselves; but there should be a balance—your surplus at present may fill their deficit, and their surplus may fill your deficit, so there may be a balance…(8:8-12)

   – But remember: one who sows sparsely will reap sparsely as well, and one who sows bounteously will reap bounteously as well.
   – Each should give as much as you have decided on your own initiative, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver… (9:6-7)
   – The one who provides seed for the sower and food to eat will supply and increase the produce of your righteousness.(9:10)

   Making charitable contributions is not just about having a deduction in your income tax. It’s also not just a gesture that will enhance people’s esteem of you when publicized.
   Giving also shouldn’t be determined by the worthiness or the attractiveness of the recipient. Many an old story told of helping a repugnant person who turned out to be the Lord, illustrating the judgement story in Matthew’s gospel: “…whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
   Frequently the demands on our generosity are unplanned, unsought, unexpected, unattractive—and also can be annoying, delaying, distracting, and even a little intimidating.
   How much, how often should I give, contribute, donate to needy persons or good causes? At least as much as you judge to be really needed and you can.
   Charitable contributions, gifts, and assistance to others are not according to a scheduled or traditional amount. And, we’re not expected nor required to rashly exceed our means, especially at a cost to those who depend on us. But, it can be commendable to sacrifice of ourselves to assist others.
   “Love one another as I have loved you.” This new commandment Jesus gave us has no fixed quantity or limit.
   Sometimes our easiest gift may be money. Giving time, attention, presence, ear, support, respect can be harder.
   How will you know if you have fulfilled his mandate and loved as he loves you? Not until you have nothing left to give except your very life itself, and you do!


29 August 2021

The Fairest One of All

   Come, let us sing to the Lord and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us.
   Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving and sing joyful songs to the Lord.

   Is this a good description of how we relate to God? Singing? Joyful? Praising? Thanking?
   Alas, more often than not it’s something like,
   “Let us cringe before the Lord and beg forgiveness from the One who judges us. Let us hide from him in fear and trembling, with sorrow for our failures, overwhelmed by our guilt.”

   I will bless your name for ever. I will bless you day after day and praise your name for ever.
   The Lord is great highly to be praised, his greatness cannot be measured….

   The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.
   How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures.

   Why are we so masochistic? Why do we tend to be so self-destructive? Why do we seem to find pleasure in self-denial, self-accusation, shame, and the like?
   Why, when we have a choice of what path to take, do we choose the way to the garbage dump over the flower garden?
   We need to learn to stop looking at and evaluating ourselves first and foremost. We have to learn to stop imitating the evil queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, who asks, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”
   Why don’t we learn to look first at God and see wonder, beauty, and goodness instead giving a priority to a morbid fascination with our own limitations, failings, and weaknesses?

   Why is that we scurry to find new concealment when the stone that covers and weighs down our lives is removed?

   Great are the works of the Lord: to be pondered by all who love them.
   Majestic and glorious his work, his justice stands firm for ever.
   He makes us remember his wonders. The Lord is compassion and love.

   Excessive preoccupation with our own ignorance, weaknesses, and failures is a dead end street. Our Maker knows each of us better than we can know ourselves. We are imperfect, but, even so, we are loved.
   The child who is scared, hurt, crying, or overwhelmed, sometimes reaches up with arms outstretched to be picked up and held tight in an embrace of security and love.

   “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

   Let’s not think of the “Last Judgement” as a court room scene. God is not to be imagined as the All Powerful seated on a throne above. There is no prosecutor pointing the finger to each and every one of our failings nor any human jury to tender a unanimous verdict of guilty.
   We need to learn to imitate the helplessness of the little child who knows no other recourse then to reach up. We need to reach out with complete trust to the One who is the very source of love itself.

   Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.


11 July 2021

The Doctrine of Fallibility

I don’t think that there ever has been a solemn, ecclesiastical definition of the doctrine of fallibility. You know why? There’s no need to.
As anyone with even half a grain of common sense knows, human beings are fallible.
That means that they can be deceived or make mistakes or fall into error or do something wrong (in traditional religious terms, they can sin).
I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude or offensive, but you are fallible. And, to be perfectly (?) honest, I’m fallible, too. You might say, it’s part of the human condition.
Don’t be unnecessarily ashamed! It’s the way God made us, so to speak. It’s the nature of a created being, It means we all have limitations, we all are less than perfect.
Yes. Even you. Even me.
I remember this being discussed in a Theology class years ago. The teaching was that, except for a special act and provision of God, no human person has been, is, or can be without sin.
Has there ever been a “dispensation from fallibility” for a human person? Yes!
– Mary, the mother of Jesus: By a special dispensation of God, she was born even without “original sin” and by the grace of God never sinned during her whole life. (Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.)
– The Bishop of Rome: If and when he speaks ex cathedra, in the fullness of his authority as successor of Peter and head of the church regarding matters of doctrine, he cannot lead the people of God astray. (Doctrine of Papal Infallibility.)
Many people would not agree about such dispensation or even think in such categories. Generally, we accept that human beings, being limited and therefore less than perfect, are fallible.
But, oh how shocked we sometimes can become in denouncing another’s failures!

All throughout human history, because we know about human fallibility, there have been social structures designed to moderate or react to the damage it can cause.
Training, apprenticeships, compulsory schooling, accreditations—rules, regulations, decrees, laws, judicial decisions, edicts, constitutions—legal punishments, classifications, competitions, disputes—they’re all needed in a world of fallible people, no matter how high their ideals and standards may be.
It really is hypocritical when puffed up with “righteous” indignation, we profess shock or surprised dismay by the failings of another. Failings are part of the nature of people.
Rather than entertain ourselves with the failings of others (which we often do), our challenge as fallible persons is how best to react to the manifestations of their fallibility.
All of our training, restraining, and punishing social structures are not enough. We also, each and all, need to have and bring to the table personal understanding (insight into what makes the other person tick), compassion (empathy for a fellow fallible), forgiveness (not forgetting, but remembering that failing is part of “doing what comes naturally”), and love (pardoning, empowering, and revitalizing).
There’s an incident near the end of Jesus’ life that his followers know well yet often forget:
When he was being crucified, so were two others—criminals. One mocked Jesus; the other asked to be remembered when he came into his kingdom. Jesus’ response to this very fallible thief was: “Today you will be with me in paradise.”


21 February 2021

Life Giving

It’s a curious arrangement: the day after Christians celebrate the birth of the Messiah, most commemorate the deacon Stephen, the first to die because of Jesus.
According to Acts of the Apostles, Stephen was filled with grace and power. Steeped in knowledge of the Jewish scriptures, he debated openly in Jerusalem with fellow Jews from various parts of the Roman Empire about the life, teachings, and identity of Jesus.
Some men made false charges of blasphemy about Stephen to the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish religious authority.
After hearing his testimony and witness to Jesus, the Sanhedrin adjudged him guilty and condemned him to death.
At that time, way before electric chairs, guillotines, and firing squads, capital punishment took the form of stoning the person to death, and so he died.
We hail Stephen as the first “martyr” (Greek for “witness”) to die, to give his life, for Jesus. Although his life was taken, Stephen had first chosen to give it away in service to his Master and the truth.
In the early years after the death of Jesus, many of his followers died similar deaths, giving their lives rather than betray their Lord and the truth. It was the era of martyrdom.
Over the centuries countless people have chosen to give their lives for God, although without becoming martyrs in the sense of being executed for their faith.
More often the gift of one’s life takes the form of years of generous, loving service of others, of a slow, patient, and persevering giving of possessions, time, freedom, and other assets and resources in the name of Jesus and fidelity to his teachings and example.
It’s a paradox in a way: The life worth living is a sacrificial life, for it is a life of giving and forgiving. It is a life of love.

Giving one’s life to save another’s often takes the form of a shockingly dramatic act of heroism, of extraordinary generosity—and rightly so. But, the slow, gradual, persevering giving of one’s life to save another’s also is heroic but less acclaimed.
Loving one’s innocent, helpless baby daughter or son is almost “doing what comes naturally”, although it’s not necessarily a universal pattern of behavior.
Loving one’s spouse usually is the root or the fruit of a good marriage, even though the love may wax or wane.
Loving all one’s extended family is often challenging and, alas, not always successful. Sometimes the price, the cost is too high!
Loving one’s nearby neighbor is more a matter of respect, correctness, and friendship; only sometimes does it seem to be a kind of love.
Loving the distant neighbor, fellow-citizen (or immigrant), foreigner—here’s where the notion of “love” hardly seems applicable!
Loving everybody, giving of one’s life for everybody or for anybody—that’s a bit much. Often, we consider it more stupid, senseless, or naïve than heroic!
When Stephen was dying, he prayed for his stoners, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
When Jesus was being nailed to the cross, he prayed for his executioners, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”
At the last supper, the Lord’s legacy to his followers was, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Don’t get tired giving life. It’s the only really good way to live!

(Available in
Spanish translation)

27 December 2020

Lord, Please Let Me See

Now as he [Jesus] approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging … He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”… Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.” (Luke 18: 35-41)

Saint Irenaeus was born in Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey) in 130 and became the bishop of Lugdunum, the administrative center of Roman Gaul and Germany, (now Lyons, France), until his death in 202.
He was one of the first great scripture scholars; his work was important in establishing the canonical (official) books of the New Testament. His only surviving major work is his treatise Against Heresies.
An interesting section of the treatise—about seeing God—is included in the Office of Readings for Wednesday of the third week of Advent.
Irenaeus is clear that to speak of seeing God is paradoxical:
“The prophets, then, foretold that God would be seen by men. As the Lord himself says: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. In his greatness and inexpressible glory no one can see God and live, for the Father is beyond our comprehension. But in his love and generosity and omnipotence he allows even this to those who love him, that is, even to see God, as the prophets foretold. For what is impossible to men is possible to God.
“By his own powers man cannot see God, yet God will be seen by men because he wills it. He will be seen by those he chooses, at the time he chooses, and in the way he chooses, for God can do all things. He was seen of old through the Spirit in prophecy; he is seen through the Son by our adoption as his children, and he will be seen in the kingdom of heaven in his own being as the Father.”

When Irenaeus speaks of “seeing” God, he means more than looking at or upon God. But he doesn’t mean that “seeing” God means fully understanding God either.
As Irenaeus explains it, “As those who see light are in the light sharing its brilliance, so those who see God are in God sharing his glory, and that glory gives them life. To see God is to share in his life.”
When Irenaeus used the word, “glory”, he must have been fully aware of its use in sacred scripture to describe the manifestation of God:
– In the days of the Exodus, the glory of the Lord appeared as a cloud leading the people and as a consuming fire on Sinai.
– It was the glory of God that so filled the temple built by Solomon upon its inauguration that no one could see. And it was that selfsame glory that Ezekiel saw, in vision, leaving the temple centuries later.
– Simeon saw the return of the glory as he held the infant Jesus in his arms in the temple and blessed God.
The words were different, but Irenaeus echoed Paul, who, at the Areopagus in Athens, quoted one of the famous Greek poets, saying, “In him [God] we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)
Irenaeus was echoing Saint John as well: “… love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God … God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins … God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. (1 John 4:7-16)
Lord, please let me see!


20 December 2020