We Never Lose God
- Fr. JC Rapadas, SVD
- Apr 27, 2020
- 4 min read
Moments
of doubt...
of problems and conflicts.....
of contempt.....
of abandonment, betrayal and rejection...
and even deliberate denial of the love of God can happen in anyone’s life.
People may lose the sense for God when they start to doubt him terribly, or even doubt that he loves them. Jesus also felt he was abandoned on the cross.
People lose God because they have become so familiar to the doctrines that the Church attach to him, or they become contemptuous of the way we have complicated God, or even contemptuous that people who are supposed to embody God here on earth does not seem to live up to his way of life, the life of Jesus.
SHARING: I remember a Seminarian confiding to me his struggle in the seminary; his inability and struggle to see Jesus, to see God in the study of Theology. According to him, theology is just mere human construct, but where is God in theology? We have complicated theology but we never delved into the real encounter, the real expression of God.
Most certainly, our being religious: priests and nuns, does not guarantee that we cannot lose our sense for God. When we do not obey, when we do not live simply enough, when we become antagonistic in the community, when we loss patience, when we miss an opportunity to love and give, when we do not share a sense of happiness, when we no longer contribute, when we no longer care, when we no longer find meaning in what we do, when we become expedient, we may lose our sense for God.
Our religious status does not guarantee that we can never loose our sense for God, sometimes the challenge could be more daunting for us, and sometimes the challenge might run deep.
Do we really lose God?
Certainly we never lose God. God never abandons us. It us who abandon our sense for God, -that is our inclination for God and for divine life. The worst form of the loss of the sense for God is Sin, it is the rejection of God, the refusal to accept and respond to his love and not bothering to love at all, and waning or compromising our way to holiness. (YouCat)
Our first reading presents to us ways on how we could lose our sense for God. Let us learn from the people who persecuted Stephen. These people were stubborn, they were hardening their hearts, they rejected the Spirit, they reject and scorn of the witnesses; in this particular context there was the rejection to listen to the testimony of Stephen.
Our Gospel readings guarantees us that we never lose God. The people asked for a stable, steady, unwavering, supply of food. Jesus responds and gives himself as the "bread-always", stable bread, the stable giving, the stable and unwavering food, unwavering satisfaction, unwavering self-giving. Isn't this the very essence and the very enterprise of the Eucharist?
In this light sisters and brothers in Christ, let us ask ourselves: what are the things that lead me to the loss of the sense for God? How could I prevent this? How could I find my way?
READINGS | APRIL 28, 2020 | TUESDAY
First Reading
Stephen said to the people,
the elders, and the scribes: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.” When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and Stephen said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”; and when he said this, he fell asleep. Now Saul was consenting to his execution.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (6a) Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. or: R. Alleluia.
Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety. You are my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake you will lead and guide me.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. or: R. Alleluia.
Into your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God. My trust is in the LORD; I will rejoice and be glad of your mercy.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. or: R. Alleluia.
Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your kindness. You hide them in the shelter of your presence from the plottings of men.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. or: R. Alleluia.
Gospel
The crowd said to Jesus:
“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?
What can you do?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:
"He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
So Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven;
my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.”
So they said to Jesus,
“Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
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