5th Friday in Lent, March 22, 2024
Jer 20:10-13; Ps 18-2-7; Jn 10:31-42
I’ve seen a few movies and TV shows recently, that either show God’s presence or question God’s existence. Mind you, I do not particularly go looking for these arguments, but they are there. The last movie I saw, “Cabrini,” clearly showed God’s existence not only in Mother Cabrini, but in all the situations she encountered. The movie also portrayed man’s efforts to try and prove God did not exist. In a TV show series we watch at home, one episode was about a pastor’s son denying the existence of God. Even when presented with arguments for God’s existence, he still seemed to reject it. While the young man did reconcile with his sister, a God-fearing woman, it still gave the impression he did not believe. I found the show gave compelling arguments about God’s existence, yet it still showed the young man’s unwillingness to believe. What I thought was odd was, that the young man said, “It is my free will that chooses.” Interesting, because it is God, that gives us that free will. We were left with a paradoxical situation, a man’s free will, which is given by God, is used to deny God’s existence.
We hear in Jeramiah’s prophesy that he knows God exists and is with him. God is ever-present in his life. And much like us, God did exist for Jerimiah. “The Lord is with me,“ he proclaims, “like a mighty champion.” Jerimiah experienced God’s presence in his life and he warns those who do not experience or believe that God exists that they will experience the vengeance God takes on them. We know that God is merciful to those who believe, but for those who do not, well, I am not to judge, but go back and read Jerimiah’s words. It is not pretty. I wonder how that young man in the TV show ended up. I sure hope he made the right decision.
Jesus was struggling with a similar situation. Not that the Jews did not believe in God, in that they did not believe Jesus was who He said He was. They thought it was blasphemy that Jesus was saying He was the son of God. Jesus uses a great philosophical argument about who is called a “god,” but note that was with a lowercase “g,” not the big “G” for God. Suffice it to say, all it did was rile up his advisories more. So Jesus left them something to think about and left the area. And, because of this, more came to believe.
So here is a question for you, “How do YOU know God exists?” Take some time in the next couple of days and ponder that question. Do not answer it right away, just think about it and then spend some time in quiet. Look up to heaven and say, “God I know you exist because….” If you need to, have a piece of paper ready and write down what you say. As you continue to prepare for Easter, believe what you said, and hold that thought in your heart. So the next time you are confronted with the question of God’s existence, you can answer, “Because Jesus and I had a conversation about it, and this is what we talked about……”
Saint James Catholic Church 