3rd Sunday after Easter
25.4.21 Seeing God
A little while and you shall not see Me, and again a little while and you shall see Me (Jn 16,16)
Our Lord is preparing His apostles for the time when they must part, firstly the Crucifixion, and then His Ascension. They have to be strong to bear with separations, given how close they had been to Him for three years.
As for us, we never have seen Him in the normal sense of the term; but we can see Him with the eyes of faith; we can discern His presence and benefit from it.
It is vital that we take advantage of every possible way we can discern the presence of God and His holy will, and ask His help to fit in with that will.
Discouragement looms on all sides and in many ways, coming in the form of doubt, or fear, or disappointment, or any other negative factor.
We need to ‘see’ God, as in ‘perceive’ Him; to be aware of His closeness to us, and to have such trust in that closeness that we will prevail over all difficulties.
Generally, God wants us to know Him and makes Himself available to us to call upon in every circumstance.
However in one sense He does ‘hide’ from us. Godhead here in hiding … the words of a eucharistic hymn. He hides Himself under the appearance of bread.
We see Him there, but in a way that leaves us wishing for more. This is what He intends for us. We are the bride of the Song of Songs, looking for her Beloved. She spares no effort to find Him, because she knows all her happiness is invested there. (Songs 3,1-4)
We also need His help for a hundred different problems, and we seek Him out in that sense also.
In another way it is hard for us to see Him.
Because of all the sin in the world there is a lot of darkness in a spiritual sense, making it hard to see good behind all the evil and the suffering it causes.
If we lived holier lives we would see more than we have so far. We would become more familiar with His ways, and not be so quick to panic if things appear to be going the wrong way.
Our Lord expects His disciples to be faithful to Him; to have enough faith to trust in Him, even if we do not understand all that is happening.
This is the level of faith that we need. Our faith is in the person not in circumstances. The typical human reaction is that faith is higher when things are going well, and lower when going badly.
Our Lord does not mean to be hidden from us in this second sense – the result of our sin.
He wants us to leave the sin behind and come to know Him better.
He could at any time
make Himself more obvious, and He may yet do that through extra miracles.
Mostly, however, He makes Himself obvious enough to those who love Him, and are
prepared to seek Him.
This is so we can grow in faith and love at the same time.
Strong faith withstands all pressures and setbacks, and will influence others in the same direction. To teach others to find God is the best thing we can do for them.
Our Lord’s intention was that the Church would be a nucleus for spiritual renewal as it travelled to every corner of the word.
People would be persuaded - not forced - to join this Church.
The plan has worked
partially, but not as well as intended.
Many have lost patience with God, demanding more direct answers from Him. We must let Him organise His own methods, and give a good example to the world.
In a ‘little while’ we shall see Him without shadow, in Heaven!
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