29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A - 22nd October 2017
The God Question
A young man, not too sure about the truths of our catholic religion, fell in love with a devout catholic young lady, wished to convert and marry her in the Catholic Church. The parish priest asked him a few questions: “Is the Father God?” – ‘yes’ was the correct reply. “What about the Son – is he God?” “Reckon he will be, Father, when the old man passes on!”
So, who is God for you?
For some God is very near, who is in every Spring snow drop, in the dawn chorus, in the whispering of the aspen tree, or, in the rewarding smile of an innocent baby offered to all who take notice.
The God who does not care
For some people God may seem to be cruel. I heard a father once say that when people meet God they may have to answer for some of their behaviours in life. “Let me tell you, Father, that when I meet God, He will have a lot to answer for!” (He had many good reasons to speak that way.) Another mother said to me when her first baby died: “Your God took my baby.” Some told her that she would have an angel in heaven. She said that she could make a better heaven for her baby on earth.
Even Job questioned God and cursed God. He cursed the day he was born.
God makes a personal plea today to each of us.
It is as if God is saying: Just give me a chance: “There is no other God beside me – all is nothing without me.”
A simple question from the gospel
I know that I do pay my dues to Caesar but what do I give to the God who decided to make me a unique person in his image – I existed as a name in God’s mind before I was born. He arranged all the circumstances so that I would be born.
Fr Michael McCullagh C.M.
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