3/28/22 "Every Tear from Their Eyes"
The other day, I had a conversation with a woman on the topic of God. The woman, knowing that I am a Catholic, made the comment for the purpose of eliciting a reaction out of me, “I use to believe in God, but I don’t know anymore. I have difficulty believing in God when there are children starving and dying from diseases in the world.”
I didn’t say anything to her. I didn’t think there was anything that I could say at the moment that would convince her otherwise, so I felt it prudent to be silent and only listen to her.
In yesterday’s Gospel reading for the Scrutiny that is read for the catechumens getting ready to join the Catholic Church at Easter, the Disciples ask Jesus about a man being born blind. The Gospel of John tells us, “And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? ”Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”[1]
In truth, the woman who objected to the reality of God finds herself at a distance from the poverty of children in the world, but it’s an easy tragedy to draw attention to for an objection to the divine. The real reason for objection is personal for her, I knew it and so did the others who were listening to her. It’s difficult for those who have experienced personal tragedy to see out of their own sorrow, God can bring even greater good for His glory. It’s not a comforting message in the moment of tragedy and sorrow.
The first reading from Isaiah in today’s readings provides true hope in the Good News of what God will provide for those who put their faith in Him:
17 “For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.[2]
The people of Israel understood this passage to be a prophetic witness to the glorious restoration of a temporal Israel; however, the message finds itself echoed in the Book of Revelation and the Kingdom:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more[3]
The Good News is that the kingdom of God has come by way of the Incarnation of Christ Jesus and by way of the Church and its sacraments where we can experience Christ and His kingdom through the Eucharist. The Kingdom is also an end-times event in which by our mortal death or the second coming of Christ, by the grace of God, we find ourselves before the Divine face where, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”[4]
[1] English Standard Version Catholic Edition (n.p.: Augustine Institute, 2019), Jn 9:2–3.
[2] English Standard Version Catholic Edition (n.p.: Augustine Institute, 2019), Is 65:17.
[3] English Standard Version Catholic Edition (n.p.: Augustine Institute, 2019), Re 21:1.
[4] English Standard Version Catholic Edition (n.p.: Augustine Institute, 2019), Re 21:4.
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