Easter 2007
Making a Pathway For God
I have always been impressed with the way God can take small beginnings and do something worthwhile with them.
When I was a small child, we lived in a big picturesque farm house in northern Iowa . The setting was much like the kind one sees pictured in magazines. Our family lived in half of the house, with our grandparents occupying the other half. Every week, my aunt, also my godmother and daughter of our grandparents, used to come and tidy up the place. I can still see her shaking out the rug and having a conversation with our mother about the “holy will of God”. (Not just the will of God, but the “ holy will of God”.) Although I did not know what the will of God was, I figured it must be important since all the adults were impressed with it. Little did I know that God’s will, in all its different guises, would be following me all of my life.
Through the years, I have come to realize that the desire to do God’s will is a hidden longing deep within the heart of most people. There is an unspoken sense that following the will of God will lead to completeness and peace, even if the end result is not what we would have chosen from the beginning.
The fascinating thing about all this is that frequently we feel that we do not know what God’s will is. However, if we examine the dilemma in depth, we might find that the God among us is not as hidden as we might think. My belief is that God acts quietly and oftentimes imperceptibly right where we are. As John Macquarrie points out in The Humility of God , God is never an absentee God. Ours is a God who continuously acts for our good in the human situation, even before we come to pray. Sometimes, though, it may seem difficult to understand just how God might be acting where there is suffering and pain. Still, God is there.
Our task, then, is to create a pathway for God to act and to get through, even though what we offer may be a small pathway. It could be as simple as a phone call or a conversation with another person. God can do great things with small acts of trust. St. Teresa of Avila points out that we should take comfort in knowing that there is great power in one small step toward God. Sometimes, that is enough for God. God will do the rest. Rejoice! Easter, too, comes to us in small ways.
Sister Mary Jo Loebig, O.C.D