The feast of today reminds us that our God is a God of communion as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A God who is constantly loving and taking care of us. Who is Carmel Gordon? I mention her because she reminds me a lot of what is God like. Carmel lives in Shepparton and last year she was nominated as the mother of the year. After raising her own family who are all settled in their respective state of life and profession,. Carmel was not prepared to spend the rest of her life taking a back seat. She decided to take full time care of a severely disabled person. When I met her I asked her why she has taken this responsibility when she could just lay back and enjoy the rest of her life doing what she always wanted to do. Her reply was very simple. “This is precisely what I want to do. I am a mother. This is a call that God gave me. I am a person who keeps on loving and I want to continue to experience this gift. My call in being a mother is to simply love in the most practical and powerful manner”.
This is the very nature of our God. In his first letter St John says these words. “My dear people, let us love one another since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love”. (John 4:7-8). God made a promise to love you and me and He will always be faithful to that promise. Moreover, as Christians we have been asked specifically to base our life in love. St John continues “God is love and anyone who lives in God, lives in love”. (John ?: 4-16) Yet the love of God is very unique. It is not attached to any condition like the kind of love that we are often bombarded with from our society today. God’s love is a decision and it is made to endure for ever. God does not love me only when I am good or when I doing the right thing. He loves me in every situation of my life and he constantly invites me to respond by loving Him back.
When I had my conversation with Carmel, I also met the little girl that she has decided to take care of. We sat down for lunch and I just could not help noticing the patience and the understanding of Carmel. She prepared the food in such a manner that this child would not find it hard to eat. She constantly helped this little girl to feel at ease. If she dropped anything on the floor, Carmel would calmly pick it up. If some of the food ended on the table she would clean it with patience. If the girl got restless, she would smile at her and give her a hug so that she would feel secure and wanted. If this child needed anything, Carmel would readily oblige. Moreover, Carmel got to know this girl so well that she could understand what the child wanted to say even though this girl could not speak clearly to be able to be understood.
This reminded me of a second fundamental nature of our God. God does not give up on us. He is always there with us because of our baptism and confirmation patiently encouraging, healing, empowering, guiding and forgiving us.
One day the prophet Jeremiah was asked by God to visit the potter’s house because he wanted to teach him something very important. So Jeremiah went down to the workshop of the potter and this is what he observed. The potter was at his wheel. He took a bit of clay and poured water over it. Then he put his hands around this clay and he tried to fashion a vase. When the potter realized that the finished product was not to his liking, he did not throw the clay away but started all over again. With patience and with due attention the potter continued in this manner till the finished product, satisfied his expertise and his profession. Then God said to Jeremiah “House of Israel, can not I do to you what this potter does? It is Yahweh who speaks. Yes, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so you are in mine, House of Israel”. (Jer 18:5-6)
What a great lesson for us. God is patient with us. His intention is to help us realize and put into practice the gifts that He has given to us; the qualities that we are endowed with as we live our various responsibilities. Our God desires the best for us. He desires that we became more and more like Him so that we can continue His work. When we fall short, or when we frustrate His plan for us, He will not abandon us. He starts afresh with us and with patience and compassion He continues to form us and to mould us till we become what He desires for us. This is where the Sacrament of Forgiveness is so vital. It is the time of being nurtured and moulded by the loving encounter with this God. Moreover, along the way we meet various experience some not so pleasant and some very hard to take. There are also moments of grace that help us being fashioned with the heart and the mind of our God.
The most amazing thing is that we do not need to go very far to meet with our God. Yes our God is everywhere, in heaven, in the church, in the tabernacle and during the celebration of the Eucharist and the other sacraments, but what a blessing it is to experience God’s presence within us. It took St Augustine a bit of time to learn this. He wrote.
“Late have I loved you, O beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you. You were within me, but I was outside and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things that you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you, yet if they had not been in you, they would have no being at all. Why do I ask you to come to me when, unless you were with me, I would have no being either”.
What a great God we have. What He says to you and to me is: Love me back and in doing so we realize how powerful we are in Him.
God Bless.
