Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Intimate Give and Take
We intuitively appreciate the difference between knowing a fact and knowing someone or knowing contentment, anguish, disease, peace, forgiveness and the like. In the first we know about something. In the second we know because of the effects on us of a person, contentment, anguish, disease, peace, and forgiveness. In the original languages of the bible, the verb “to know” functions that way.
In the Fourth Gospel Jesus spoke with his disciples at great length about knowing God. God is no object with quantities to be known and recorded in a data book. God is our Creator, who desires a relationship with us, as Jesus made known in his own person. Relation-ship-knowledge affects us. We know God by God’s affects on us.
St. Ignatius Loyola had a phrase we have come to know and use: “to find God in all things.” It is relational. We know when we find God in daily experiences by the affects on us; how our hearts are opened, like the listener Lydia’s was; how our sense of purpose is refreshed; and by the actions which promote our relationship with God among others.The knowledge we have of one another demands the we sustain our relationships, which is always a two-way street, intimate give and take. Jesus gives us his Spirit. Prayer and action on flowing from the values and examples of the gospel and the countless holy ones who have gone before us show us our part and encourage us not to fall away but to enjoy God’s life beginning now.
______________________________________________________________
Wiki-image of St. Ignatius by Pierre Lopez is used according to the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
No comments:
Post a Comment