There are three distinct ways we can understand ‘God’ and appreciate the activity of God in our world.

We understand and appreciate God as Creator, the source of all that exists, the Almighty. We use the symbol of ‘Father’ to express God’s concern, care and compassion, and to evoke trust and reverence from us. We could just as well use ‘Mother’ for God is neither ‘He’ or ‘She’, and the word we use of God can never be used to define what God is. God is ultimately beyond our words and our images.

God reveals God’s self to us. We believe in a God who is loving and who has created us in love and so has formed an eternal bond with us. We are created in God’s image.

Jesus is the Revealer. He reveals God to us in his human life, in what he believed and the way he loved. Through Jesus who is risen Lord for us we know we can ‘walk without fear in God’s presence’. Jesus is the ‘Son’ and we are ‘brothers and sisters’, ‘children’ of God.

God is universal Spirit, recognised as bringing beauty from chaos, peace from turmoil, hope from despair, and union from fragmentation. Through the Spirit we know the power of love and forgiveness and eh sure presence of God deep in our own hearts. We are, as St Paul says, ‘temples of God’s Holy Spirit’. (cf Second reading for Second Sunday of the year) God is Love. We who bless ourselves in the name of this God are truly blessed.

Reflections for Sundays
God Is With Us
Michael Morwood MSC