Deacon Rick Lapierre
I remember my grandmother telling me how fortunate she was because she had seen the entire history of aviation. She remembered reading about the Wright Brothers first flight in North Carolina and in 1969 she watched on television as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. In the span of 100 years, we have gone from being a nation of farmers who rode carriages and horses and communicated primarily by writing letters, to where instant messaging with people all over the world is now possible by all. We can have breakfast here in Rhode Island and lunch in California.
Yet while technology has made wonderful things happen, hatred and violence still rule our lives. With progress and improvement has also come a loss of friendship and closeness. When I was growing up we never locked our doors and for many years I would leave my keys in my car so I could get to the fire station faster for a call. I never had to worry that when I came out in the morning I would find my car gone. When I graduated from Our Lady of Good Help School in 1963 there were nine of us in the class, and to this day I remember each and every one of them. Times have changed and we have changed with them.
However, there is that one constant in the universe. While Al Gore may take credit for creating the Internet, the physics of electricity that makes it all possible is the result of someone else's work. It is from the Being who has created all that we see and experience, indeed even ourselves. And while the agnostics try so hard to convince me that Creation is some kind of accident, I see the daffodils push their way to the surface every spring and marvel at the power and imagination of the Author of it all.
And this same Master Builder has created gigantic star systems stretching through billions of miles of space that challenge our imaginations as they are created, expand and collapse. From the smallest seed on earth, to the giant supernovas of far off galaxies, God is present. And in this recognition of Almighty Presence, when we compare Creation to ourselves, we can only bow down and offer Him our praise and thanks. I look at the complexity and magnificence of Creation and at the sorry excuse of my attempts to build a simple bookcase and I have no doubt who is God and who is not.
And indeed, if I were God, what would I do? There's a movie that's just come out that explores that theme called "Bruce Almighty" starring Jim Carrey. I haven't seen it yet, but from the reviews, it would appear that Jim Carrey's character is more interested in manipulating Creation for his own benefit than in making things better for anyone else. The writer of the movie may have been thinking about, but failed to grasp, a most essential attribute of God. This is the one attribute of the Creator that really stretches our humanity. It is what Jesus tells us so powerfully about God in this morning's gospel. It's called love.
In the second reading, the author of the first letter of John points out this fact to us. Just as I am unable to build a bookcase with 90-degree corners, I am also unable to love as God loves. My love, like my bookcase, is less than perfect. It is full of emotions and twists and turns and high points and low points. As I seek to know God more, I have to refine these less than perfect loves and try more and more to love as God loves.
How does God love? God loves as He builds, perfectly. There is no doubt in God's love, there is no requirement, there is no condition. There is only the desire of God that you spend eternity with Him. And what is this eternity like? It's an eternity spent in the presence of perfect love.
But I don't feel like God loves me. I mean, what about my pains? What about the sorrows of my life, the losses I've experienced? I hear the words and I sometimes even have the feeling, but the reality of life makes it kind of not real to me. We don't experience love sometimes because some of us do not yet know God. If we all knew God as fully as we could, then we would be following the commandment of Jesus to love one another. Listen again to Jesus' words from the gospel, "Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love."
This is a powerful statement and shows me exactly when I walk with God and when I don't. When I fail to take the opportunity to love, then I am acting fully human. When I use the events of life to further my own ambitions and do not take into consideration the effects of my actions on others, I have turned away from this command of Jesus. Jesus showed us what was expected of us. He showed us what love means. "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends."
When we feel that God doesn't love us, all we have to do is look at the crucifix and see what love really means. This sacrifice is something that parents who give all for their children understand. Often there is no return; many times there may even be rejection. But love still happens, and in that love we see the hand of God, because Jesus came to show us that God's love is perfect, without qualification or quantity. God loved us before Creation began and will love us when all of Creation is once again non-existent.
I would like to close with this prayer from an anonymous writer.
I asked God to take away my pride. And God said no.
He said it was not for Him to take away, but for me to give up.
I asked God to make my sick child whole. And God said no.
He said the spirit is whole, but the body is only temporary.
I asked God to give me patience. And God said no.
He said that patience is a byproduct of tribulation, it isn't granted but earned.
I asked God to give me happiness. And God said no.
He said He gives blessings, happiness is up to me.
I asked God to spare me from pain. And God said no.
He said suffering draws you apart from the world.
I asked God to make my spirit grow. And God said no.
He said I must grow on my own, but someday I would be with Him because I believed.
I asked God to help me love others as much as He loves me.
God said, "Ah, at last. You finally have the idea."
