Thoughts On The Mystery of God

I’ve said a rosary each day of the last couple of days. Periodically, as a Catholic, there are events and incidents and accidents that lead me to into more prayer filled time. The events of this week has refocused me on the importance of prayer, the importance of faith, the importance of worship.

As human beings were are but very brief flares of life in a vast universe, a vast eternity that is beyond our ability to comprehend and that leaves us, if we are honest, ultimately, with merely faith and mystery.

I am not much of an individual who proselytizes his faith. I fall more into the category of the quiet faithful. I believe in God (insert the whole Nicene Creed* here), and I also believe that God is, fundamentally, Mystery.

Everything unfolds according to God’s plan, whether I know that plan or not. One of my favorite parables in the bible is the story of the faithful centurion (Matthew 8:5 – 8:13). I am simply a faithful soldier, going here and there, content in the sufficiency of my faith alone.

For all of those who have lost a parent, or are losing a parent, or will soon lose a parent, my thoughts and prayers are with you. It is not enough, but it is all I have, here and now, in this world. (And especially for you my love, and for your family.) When we lose a parent, when we lose a loved one, I remind myself of this – though we may, for a while, be apart from them, they are the ones who have, at last, gone home – while we are the ones who are still wandering. We may think of them as having left us, as having gone beyond our ken, as moving beyond the pale. But they are the ones who have woken up. To paraphrase Paul, they see clearly, while we see through a glass darkly. We weep for our lose, while they rejoice as being found, at last. It is a paradox of faith I guess. For myself, a faith that lies squarely in the Mystery of God.

*Nicene Creed

It dawns on my that some may not be familiar with the Nicene Creed, so let me lay a link here, for you, if you are interested. It is the fundamental profession of faith for Catholics. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11049a.htm