4th Sunday after Easter 6 May 2012 Sermon

4th Sunday after Easter 6.5.12 Goodness of God

There is a sign we often encounter that says, Please leave this place as you found it - meaning that we should tidy up after ourselves and leave everything neat for the next person.

We could imagine Almighty God saying the same thing to us as He presents us with a nice new universe.

As far as He is responsible the universe would still be as fresh and clean as when He first created it.

But we have defiled it by our sin.

The epistle (James) tells us that whatever is made by God is good. How could it be otherwise?

We are so quick to blame Him for everything, and so many demand from Him that He must fix everything before they believe in Him.

Yet it is our fault that anything is out of place. We have not left the place as we found it.

But it can be recovered. And this is where we are now.

Of course we should never have sinned, but since we have we must deal with the new reality.

Still, and more than ever, God sends His mercy upon us. It was a great act of love by which He created us. It is an even greater act by which He saves us.

At any point in time we can turn to Him. We have rejected Him to this point (speaking generally of the human race). We can turn to Him any time while there is still time.

Whenever we make an overture to God, whenever we turn to Him, it is like the sun breaking through the clouds; a new season begins, a time of grace.

We have only to ask and the grace will be there. Our sins can be forgiven and we can set about repairing the world.

We have been doing this partially in our own lives, though still slipping back into sin.

We have been doing this partially in our world though hampered by the obstinacy of so many who would rather complain about God than confess to Him.

Think of it: when something goes wrong for you – do you complain to God in your spirit or do you humbly ask for mercy?

The latter response is the one required.

We must go back to basic principles, back to the start. If we are walking in the forest and we get lost what better way to recover than to retrace our steps to the starting point?

The human race has been wandering in the forest (or desert) for as many centuries as we have existed.

It is time to go back to the start: which is a humble acknowledgment of God and His goodness.

And His goodness. We might grudgingly acknowledge his power but demur about His goodness.

If He is so good why does He let us suffer so much?

Because He is calling us back to first principles. Until we get back to the basic foundation we will continue to flounder.

It is a hard message to get across. The world thinks it has the right to try God, and to find Him guilty!

He does not know how to run a universe, they say.

But how would they run it? Any parent learns that you cannot give children everything they want.

Sometimes we have to trade one perceived good for another. I might want to stay in bed because I find that good. But it is also good if I get up and go to Mass. Of the two the second option is better. Sometimes we have to be forced to see the better option.

This is why God allows us to suffer. Not because He is cruel or remote but because He is leading us to better options. If He removes or withholds something good it is only so He can give something better.

And only one option works for every purpose: the humble complete submission of mind heart and will to the one true God. From whom all good things come.