25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 

Who is God?

When I was young,

I thought that I had God figured out.

God is love;

God punishes sinners and rewards the good.

Very simple.

But as I got older

Life got more complicated.

I had more questions than answers.

Bad things happened to good people.

When I sinned, I sometimes got away with it.

Sometimes God seemed to be watching out for me

And other times God seemed nowhere to be found.

And as I grow older and begin to stare into the face of Eternity.

God seems more like a mystery than ever before.

This is what Isaiah is trying to tell us as he says,

“God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.”

“God’s ways are not our ways.”

“As high as the heavens are above the earth,

So high are God’s ways above our ways,

And God’s thought above our thoughts.”Is. 55:8-9

God is a mystery

A mystery of Love for sinners and those who do wrong.

A mystery of Forgiveness for we know not what we do.

A Mystery of Generosity Who pays those who work only 1 hour the same as those who worked 8.

A mystery of how bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ.

A mystery of when God chooses to act and when He doesn’t.

But even though God seems more mysterious to me than ever as I grow older.

God is also more real than ever.

For the God of my youth

Was more of my own making

As I thought I had God all figured out,

When I didn’t even have myself figured out!

Faith is not about figuring God out.

Faith is living in the mysteries and questions of life

Walking where you don’t know where you are going.

But trusting all the same.

Mother Teresa said if she had known what God was going to ask of her she never would have said Yes!

And look at the great things she did.

Do you think being assigned in inner city Detroit was my first choice as a newly ordained priest?

Yet it was a blessing beyond my wildest dreams.

God has ideas and plans beyond anything that we can imagine.

God’s ways are not our ways.

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts

And all I can say to that is,

“Thank God!”

For I have found with time,

My way is not always the best way.

And my thoughts are not always the right ones.

God Bless