But has the world become brighter, happier, or freer since it got rid of God? Has not this stripped man of his dignity, damning him to an empty freedom in which he is ready to do any kind of cruelty? God’s eye is frightening only when one regards this as dependence and servitude instead of recognizing that the love expressed in his eyes is that which makes our existence possible, that which allows us to live. “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” says the Lord to Philip and to all of us (John 14:9). The face of Jesus is the face of God. That is what God looks like. Jesus, who suffered for us and forgave his enemies while dying on the cross, shows us how God is. This eye does not threaten us: it rescues us.
Yes, we are entitled to rejoice that God exists, that he has shown himself to us, and that he never leaves us alone. It is a comfort to know the telephone numbers of friends and good people; this means that they are never very far away from us, never completely absent. We can phone them, and they can phone us. God’s incarnation in Christ tells us that God has written our names in his address book, so to speak. We can call him, without needing money or technology. He is always within reach of our voices. Thanks to baptism and confirmation, we belong to his family, and he is always on the line: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
Taken from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI, Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, 6 June 2004, in Values in a Time of Upheaval, trans. Brian McNeil (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2006), 163.
No comments:
Post a Comment