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God is Near
June 24, 2007
God is Near
by Robert Martinez
Robert Martinez is the Parish Ministry Coordinator and Youth Minister for Christ the King Parish in Hollywood. He is finishing up his Masters in Theology from Loyola Marymount University.
Saint Augustine said: “There is no people so great as the Christian people; none of them has a God so close to them as our God is to us.” However, we need the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the community of the faithful, the scriptures, the model of the Saints, the devotion of the Rosary, and the immense power of Jesus’ Divine Mercy to remind us of this. However, as someone once said, “Ours is a culture of forgetting.” I do not believe that we intentionally forget that, “God has not withdrawn from the world” and he is near; we forget because today more than ever- we are overwhelmed. The pressures of earning a living, family obligations, sickness, relationship issues, personal insecurities, and the overall havoc between nations and communities can blind our spiritual vision. In addition, attempting to be a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ can sometimes be an added pressure. Although, if we keep are eyes fixed on the “Christ” we can overcome any storm because he reminds us: “Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5). Jesus is near, God is near.
Trust plays an important role in apprehending this important message. Although, as mentioned previously, we are faced with a deluge of adversity that depletes our trust in God and the healing hand of Jesus. Therefore, we must cling to the master and teacher: “He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death.” Sr. Melanie Svoboda explains that being a follower of Jesus costs us something. “It costs us precisely what it cost Jesus, especially during his final days on earth. It required courage under duress, faith amid ambiguity and doubt, forgiveness in response to betrayal and absolute trust in Abba amid darkness and pain” (Living Faith, April). Today, perhaps more than ever, as someone once phrased, we harbor “fear of death, the dark, the unknown, and fear of each other.” Divine Mercy is the answer to fear, uncertainty, and darkness- trust in Jesus is the essence of the message of mercy.
In repeated revelations to St. Faustina, our redeemer makes it clear that the fountain is his heart, the water is his mercy, and the vessel is Trust: “I have opened my heart as a living fountain of mercy. Let all souls draw life from it. Let them approach this sea of mercy with great trust (Diary, 1520). On the cross, the fountain of my mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls- no one have I excluded! (1182). I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: ‘Jesus, I trust in you’ (327). The graces of my mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is- trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive” (1578). Trust is built through prayer, humility, submission, and obedience to the Blessed Trinity. These are some of the means that will enable us to trust that Jesus and the Godhead are accessible, as well as his living fountain of mercy.
As someone once said, “Life is a storm, sometimes you’re basking in the sun and others times you’re shattered on the rocks”; how do we recognize that “It is the Lord” in proximity (as Peter did when he recognized the risen Lord on the seashore), when our trust that “God has not withdrawn from the world” has diminished? Today, there is war, strife, violence, and natural disaster on a daily basis. The conflict in the Middle East will not subside soon- Plato once said, “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” Army Specialist Joe Schaffel, 24, who is being treated
for posttraumatic stress disorder after serving his second deployment in Iraq (and attended Catholic school in Sleepy Hollow, Ill), explains the real life challenges to his faith: “I had faith until I got to Iraq. I haven’t gotten it back since. Once you get there, you wonder how God could allow anyone to go through that” (Newsweek, May 7, 2007, pg. 28). We, who live in the comfort of our safe cities, must pray fervently for those who have lost their faith and trust in the God of Mercy. It is up to us who trust in the message of Divine Mercy to somehow convey to the world, amidst suffering and darkness that “God is always and everywhere near to man.” The Gospel of John testifies, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory as of the Father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
Msgr. Guardini, the Italian theologian, offers our soldiers and the world words of consolation and hope: “God is always and everywhere near to man. But to man by himself, his presence is inaccessible, blocked off. God alone can open up this channel. We believe he did this. The presence of the Father was all around Jesus. The Father was completely open with him, one with him in an infinity of love. We have listened to the words whence this presence can be heard speaking out. Heaven surrounded Jesus, the accessible presence of the Father. And Jesus has brought this presence to us” (Magnificat, April 2007, pg. 263). And we must bring this eu angelos (good news) to others- Jesus is near, God is near, his mercy is accessible to all in need.
The “Theotokos,” the God-bearer can play a part in drawing us closer to her son, as Fr. Peter Cameron explains, “The Blessed Virgin Mary comes to us at the Visitation so that the closeness with Christ that she shares will be our life as well.” Further, he says, “Mary visits us to bring us Christ’s nearness. By the birth she will soon bear, we are reborn.” (Magnificat, May 2007, pg. 3). In the Visitation, says Louis Lavelle, the believer responds “with total confidence and joy to one who would draw him towards an invisible presence, a presence from which he draws strength; for when another makes him aware of it, that presence ceases to be an illusion, a fiction, or a mere hope, and becomes the very presence of the living God” And the Holy Father writes, “Essential to the heart of faith is the joy in the Word become man, the dance before the Ark of the covenant, in self-forgetful happiness, by one who has recognized God’s salvific nearness. Transcending all problems…” Jesus calls us near, just like he called out to Zacchaeus in the tree long ago, “Hurry down…I mean to stay with you today.”
Finally, as previously mentioned, “Trust in Jesus is the essence of the message of mercy.” We must trust that our risen Lord has come, he is coming, he is present, and he will come again. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!” It is also important to trust that we are loved deeply by the triune God: By the Father, our creator, who is the source and sum of love; by the son, our redeemer, who is the evidence and proof of love; and by the Holy Spirit, our sanctifier, who is the energy and agent of God’s love. Once again, Msgr. Guardini poignantly explains: “We know that the Father loves us in Jesus. We have confidence in the grace of his love for us; we know that his eyes see us, his heart is turned toward us, and his hand leads us. We believe that heaven is around us…Perhaps it can be said that heaven is on its way to us as long as we do not keep it at a distance by our own actions…But all coldness, indifference, slothfulness, weakness, pride, covetousness- everything that sin is called- forces him back, bars the road to him. And heaven fights. Heaven wants to come to us. For heaven is only God’s love come home” (Magnificat, April 2007, pgs. 263-264). Jesus I trust in you!
Topics: Essays |