It was the Sunday mass. I admit that I wasn’t paying much attention but looking around at the people there. Even when we get distracted God has a way of reeling us back in. As I was sitting at the back, I was noticing every person walking past, either late or keeping their children entertained. At one point the latter passed by. The verse from Matthew 7:11 came to me.
A dad and his child, just a toddler learning to walk paced the aisle as the dad tried to quieten the child and simultaneously listen to the priest. They came to a sliding door and I watched as the toddler tried to open the heavy door without her father’s help. As expected, she failed to open it alone and I could see the disappointment and tears filling up in her eyes. Instead of giving up and being satisfied with remaining on this side, she stopped, and looked up at her dad in expectancy. Her dad, understanding the look on her face, smiled, picked her up, opened the door and they passed to the other side together.
At that moment I couldn’t help but remember of God’s overwhelming love and the fact that He cares about our needs and gives them to us, provided that it will lead to our good, even if we don’t see it at that moment. I could just see the love of our heavenly Father being reflected onto an earthly father and his child. Just as he picked up his toddler in times of trouble and carried her to the other side in his arms, after asking for help, so will God take care of us and carry us to a place of refuge when we are overwhelmed by life’s worries and stressful problems, as long as we ask Him for it in thankful praise, filled with faith that He can help us so much more than we can fully comprehend.
“So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:11
Published: March 2017
Lord I Need You, Where Are You? - Questions From A Young Man
GOD QUOTES FROM THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH
"You made us for Yourself, O Lord; and our heart is restless until it rests in you."
St Augustine of Hippo
For me personally, God’s most clear and most effective conduit of his Spirit has always been literature.
“Lord . . . culture, custom, art, science, literature, can all serve as conduits of your Spirit . . . “ This is part of a prayer in my Lent and Easter book. Books have always been my great love, and grace rests on nature.
God has a heart as big as outer space,
a hoard from where all gifts are distributed
deserved or undeserved. Kibbutz of grace.
BIBLE VERSES ABOUT GOD
"God is light, and in him there is no darkness—none at all!"
1 John 1:5
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."
1 John 4:7
THE FATHER – offering us unconditional love,
THE MOTHER – promising us eternal tender care,
THE GIFT – giving Himself to us,
THE WORD – becoming flesh and dwelling amongst us,
THE TRUTH – bearing witness to Himself,
THE REVEALER – showing Himself as Love,
THE BROTHER – sharing our experiences of life,
THE BABY – so fragile in a manger in Bethlehem,
THE CARPENTER – leading a normal life in Nazareth...
If one is to ask various persons, if they believe in God, probably they will say 'yes'. If one is to ask, "who is God?" or "what is God?" there will probably be as many different answers as there are people! In ancient philosophy, God is described as the Unmoved mover, the all-knowing, eternal and transcendent. In Christianity, according to Scriptures, God revealed his name as YHWH: the God Who Is. From the very first book of Scriptures, God is seen creating the universe, the stars, our planet and finally the human being. So God can be called the Creator of heaven and earth. In the New Testament, we find Jesus Christ calling God as Father and revealing God to be a Triune God: Father, Son and Spirit. Hence, in Christianity, we speak of the Trinity. Throughout the centuries, God was experienced as the God with us and yet as the Totally Other.
TOP POPES' QUOTES ABOUT GOD'S GOODNESS
"I believe in God, not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God, there is God and I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation. Jesus is my teacher and my pastor, but God, the Father, Abba, is the light and the Creator. This is my Being. Do you think we are very far apart?"
Pope Francis to atheist newspaper editor of La Repubblica - Eugenio Scalfari, 2013