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Where is God?

We’ve been up there in that “place” where we imagine God sits and waits for our prayers, consoles our fears, and decides our fate. Our astronauts have not seen God “in those heavens” we call space. The question is – where is God if he is not “up there.”

Imagine yourself digging in the earth, cultivating an area to plant flowers. You sit down on sacred earth. The soil is rich, so you discover some healthy worms. Soon, of course, a robin flies down near you, very close, waiting to grab a worm. You remain very still. You realize the robin’s little heart is beating and so is yours. You also are both breathing in air. A Presence is recognized as you realize that both of you are sustained by God breathing in you – a moment out of time. You experience wonder, intimacy, with living life, living love. Holy fear (awe) comes upon you knowing that God is this close, in this moment of sacred synchronicity. God of stillness, of presence, so close in the movement both you and the bird.

We now know that the earth is billions of years old, is alive, is evolving, and at its very core since the beginning, is the cosmic Christ, breathing through it, and moving it toward fulfillment (Omega.) We have discovered that the pattern of evolution is ultimately the same pattern as the Paschal Mystery (life/crisis/new life).

Perhaps God is really the deeper reality sustaining all life. Then, the earth is sacramental. The absurdity or the frightening reality is that God is as close as that robin, as the living reality all about you.

The question now is – do you want God that close?

“Let the sea and what fills it resound. The world and those who dwell in it; let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains shout with them for joy.” Psalm 98

Just pondering…….

Sister Mary Joan Grisez