How Long are God’s Arms?April 07, 2025

How Long are God’s Arms?

For the dozens of years that I was a student, I was able to pay close attention to my teachers by taking copious notes. That tendency still influences me as I take paper and pen to presentations that matter to me. In the past, reviewing the notes were great preparation for the inevitable test that followed. Today, my notes are sporadic as I write down only the thoughts that strike me, or catch my attention. So last Saturday when I was attending the talk by Nancy Schreck, ofm, with 140 other Sisters from eight Congregations of the Diocese of Cleveland at Magnificat High School, I had my notebook and pen ready to capture whatever might require further thought.

It was close to the end of her remarks, when Nancy asked the following question: “God, are your arms too short to save us?”

Today as I reviewed the three pages of notes that I gathered, that was the question that caused me to pause. I had the image of God’s arms reaching down out of the clouds but not being able to touch the earth. Is that really what I believe? Am I down here without any connection to my God? Without acknowledging it, do I keep what is on my mind and in my heart pretty much to myself as though letting God know of my frustrations and of my growing anxiety as I watch our democracy get torn asunder wouldn’t make any difference?

But that can’t be the case! In Psalm 115, David mocks the nations who challenge the presence of God:

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
But you are in the heavens, you do whatever you please.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see;
they have ears but cannot hear, noses but cannot smell.
They have hands but cannot feel; feet, but cannot walk.
No sound comes from their throats.
Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.

Am I letting the idols of money and influence and the lies that too frequently go unchallenged in our country take a separate place in my life rather than name them for what they are, seek the truth with persistence and work with others to address these concerns. I pray for the courage, that having put my concerns and misgivings in the hands of a God whose arms are never too short that I will come to know the actions that must be taken as God’s arms are long enough and God’s hands reach out to strengthen and embrace me.

Sister Anne Marie Diederich