IN SEARCH OF THE REAL GOD

November 15, 2008

It has been said that God created us in his own image and likeness, and we have returned the favor. In other words, we have the tendency to assume God judges the way we judge, feels the way we feel, acts the way we act, wants what we want for ourselves, and is troubled about what troubles us.

Yet, it's possible that our most fervent prayer is resisting the will of God. We may pray for something that God knows will do us harm, or pray for God's help in avoiding a fate to which God is trying to lead us.

Many people today seem to be reassessing of God's identity and his will for us. There is a sense that the god who has been presented to us in the past is too small, not gracious or grand enough. We were told God condemned a lot of things that people today are not so sure are wrong. And little or nothing was said in the past about certain concerns, such as various forms of discrimination and injustice, to which we have all become sensitive today.

People have become more cautious in their thinking and judgments about God, and that is good, but it raises a couple of important questions. If we have been "making God in our own image and likeness" all along, who is the real God, beyond what our limited minds and expectations have conceived? What does God really want?

Modern people without abandoning their religious faith, are often answering these questions on their own. This course is fraught with dangers. Private opinion is no safe foundation on which to build our faith.

What is needed is a more active search for the truth, and the cultivation of the ability to think more deeply.

Christian faith is filled with unexplainable mystery. God is three (persons) in one (Godhead). Divine nature takes on human nature in Jesus Christ. Life comes through death, and those who avoid death forfeit life. On and on the paradoxes run. As St. Irenaeus pointed out, those who reject the mysteries of Christian faith usually do so in favor of a false clarity and precision. True faith can only grow and mature if it includes the elements of paradox and unfathomed mystery, of things we cannot explain but cannot deny.

In Catholic teaching, although we can obtain certain knowledge of God's existence, God cannot be known directly by the mind. God is known in the obscurity of faith, in the way of ignorance, in the darkness. This is not to say that God has not made himself known to us in ways our minds can comprehend. He has spoken through the prophets. He has worked mighty deeds. All creation reflects his glory. In the fullness of time he sent his only Son to make himself known as a saving God.

Nonetheless he remains shrouded in mystery. It is not unlike the case of knowing and loving someone in this life, say, our own marriage partner, and of feeling on very intimate terms with that person, while still recognizing that the innermost being of that person remains hidden from our view as an immense mystery. Likewise, the evidence of God's power and love are all around us, while his inner being remains hidden from view.

Doubt is not necessarily the enemy of faith but can be a stimulant to its growth by spurring our minds on to seek the fullness of truth. Faith in God, as he has revealed himself to us, on the one hand brings the peace of answered questions and resolved dilemmas, but on the other it brings restlessness, because every answer invariably brings new questions and puzzlements.

So faith is a process of unceasing interrogation. The Holy Spirit enters into our lives and puts disturbing questions. Without such questions, religion becomes hard, lifeless, boring, predictable.

But who, then, is the real God?

I will return to that question next week. My point for now is that we have to assume an attitude of openness and humility if we ever hope to cut through our own unexamined but erroneous presuppositions about God. We have to clear our minds, let go of expectations, and open our hearts. We have to hear God's word to us with fresh ears, and be prepared to be surprised. We have to acquire the joyful anticipation of children waiting for surprise presents at Christmas. Jesus himself told us that to enter into God's kingdom of delights, we must become like little children.

Those who "sit in darkness and the shadow of death", who, in other words, feel they have been in the dark about the real God, are not necessarily in a position of extreme disadvantage. A restless heart is vital. Faith is often a dark night. Confusion is an optimal point from which learning and discovery begin.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 11-Jan-2010 8:22 sitemap