God in Our Midst
A Grateful Happy Heart
November 11, 2020
The Vultures Gather
November 13, 2020PITIK-BULAG: God in Our Midst
We may have the eyes to see physical things, but we don’t an inner eye to see things in the spiritual realm. Sad to say, in the midst of this dreaded pandemic, we continue to ask, “Where is God in our midst? Did He forget us in the midst of the pandemic?”
Is God really absent? Did God really abandon us? Or we simply don’t have the inner eyes to see God’s hands working tirelessly for us nowadays?”
This is more or less the question of the Pharisee in our gospel today: “When is the Kingdom of God would come?” Without blinking his eyes, the Lord immediately replied, “The kingdom of God is among you.” (Luke 17:20).
God is working doubly hard in this lingering pandemic. This is crystal clear to those who have faith in God. The Lord always answers our prayers. But sad to say, we want Him to answer us according to our ways. We want a quick solution to the pandemic and quick healing to all infected. We want God to directly intervene in our midst. Prayers granted. He intervenes a lot in our daily needs. Yet, we don’t see His Presence in our midst. Unfortunately, we don’t see God working hard through those countless humanitarian efforts being done, through the frontliners and volunteers, through those countless anonymous donors who already donated millions of pesos for the poor. On the other hand, we can’t understand why the pandemic is taking too long. We demand a quick solution. Thus, in the process, we don’t really appreciate God silently working to restore order in this pandemic.
Like the Pharisees, we are totally or partially spiritually blind to see God’s intervention in our present crisis. There are many reasons for our blindness. The four gospels reveal many instances, especially in the resurrection narratives, where individuals are totally blind to see Jesus in front of them. In our gospel today, the Pharisee’s failure to see Jesus as the manifestation of God’s Kingdom lies in his false expectations. The religious leaders believe that the messiah will come to establish an earthly kingdom, ruled by an earthly KIng, and not a heavenly King.
It’s noteworthy to note that the Lord mentioned the necessity of the Son of Man to suffer and be rejected by His people. To remind everyone, including the Pharisees and the disciples, that suffering, pain, sacrifices, and even death are realities of life. We cannot run away from suffering and pain. We need to undergo the process of purification of ourselves through suffering to see God in our midst. We need to accept that life is not a piece of cake or a walk in the park. Diamond needs to be cut. Fire purifies gold. While suffering and pain purify one’s heart to be able to see God in all things. Spiritual maturity is mainly the product of self-emptying, sacrifices, trust, and service.
Consider the following scriptural texts to understand spiritual blindness:
1. The Emmaus Disciples (Luke 24: 13-35). The two disciples fail to recognize Jesus walking with them. The fault lies in their false expectations and false understanding of a messiah.
2. Mary Magdalene (John 20: 11-28). Mary fails to see recognize Jesus and calls Him the gardener. The fault lies in her great sadness and grief.
3. The Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10: 46-52). He recognized the importance of sight. He asked Jesus, “I want to see.”
What about you? Are you also asking, “Where is God in our midst? Why did God abandon us?” What are your expectations of God? Are you capable of seeing the finger of God in the midst of darkness, chaos, and uncertainties? If not, why?
One of the main reasons for our spiritual blindness is our false expectations and false notion of God. We have defined and boxed God in our minds. We cannot understand God allowing pain in this world. We cannot comprehend a suffering God. We cannot comprehend His silence in the midst of injustice.
We have closed our eyes to new realities and manifestations of God in our midst. We tried to control God as we relate to HIm. But God is beyond our control and beyond our understanding. We are invited to be humble and open our hearts to His will. Then, we can see God in all things and in all circumstances, especially in times of the pandemic.
– Fr. Willy M. Samson, SJ
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November 12, 2020
