“‘Our own hand won the victory;
the LORD had nothing to do with it.’”
For they are a people devoid of reason,
having no understanding." -DT 32:27cd-28
Tuesday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time
I used to be an atheist. For a short time, around the age of 20, I thought the idea of God was a foolish one for weak people. I thought I was really smart, a true intellectual because I had disposed of the need for this 'crutch' and I was still a good person.
I wonder sometimes when that changed in me and I can't pinpoint a day or an event or a specific turning point. My return was really more gradual. A quiet, still, soft voice, you might say, calling me back to Him. To this day I can't explain why God would call me back to His love and mercy. Maybe He is always softly calling all of us and we only hear it when we listen for it.
I do know this. I am a pretty smart guy with a good head on my shoulders and an engaged intellectual curiosity and now when I look around, I can't conceive of how I could not see God's work and power all around me when I was 20 or so.
I think about the monumental tasks we take on. Marriage, parenting, loving, opening ourselves fearlessly and giving to other people from our hearts. All of these things are extremely brave undertakings and cannot be successful without God's help.
But we do live in a nation that is boastful. 'Look at how great we are! God has nothing to do with it.' and we insist that since He has nothing to do with our greatness, that we must push God out of our society, out of our public square. We've become so arrogant that we think God is the bad guy. Does anyone remember the first two people who were deceived into thinking that? Does anyone remember who deceived them?
We think it makes us smart, enlightened and intellectual to push God out. We think it increases our reason, but in the end it will only stunt our achievements to our own, ordinary, human, limits. We become devoid of reason and with it, passes the extraordinary.
God Bless,
P.D.O.
No comments:
Post a Comment