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| Rev. Fr. Valantine de Souza SJ |
TRINITY SUNDAY (B) 3 June 2012
Matthew 28, 16-20
José Antonio Pagola
Jesus has not written any treatise on God. We never find him explaining any doctrine about him to the peasants of Galilee. For Jesus, God is not a concept, a beautiful theory, or a sublime definition. God is humanity’s best friend.
Researchers do not doubt a fact the Gospels make clear. The people who listened to Jesus speak of God and saw him act in his name, experienced God as Good News. They find what Jesus says about God as something new and wonderful. The experience he communicates seems to be the best news they can hear about God. Why?
The first truth they grasp is that God is the God of all, not merely of those who feel worthy to stand before him in the temple. God is not limited to a holy place. He does not belong to a religion. He is not the property of pious folk who make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. As Jesus said, “he makes his sun to rise on the good and the evil.” He does not exclude anyone or discriminate against people. Jesus encourages all to trust in him:”When you pray, say: Father!”
With Jesus they will discover that God is not exclusively the God of those who come to him full of merits. He listens preferably to those who ask for compassion from him because they believe themselves to be hopelessly lost. Jesus tells us that God is always looking out for the lost. It’s the reason he feels so close to sinners. So he assures them: “I have come to seek and save those who are lost.”
They also realize that God is not the God only of the wise and learned. Jesus thanks the Father because it pleased him to reveal to little children what remains hidden to the knowledgeable. God has fewer problems making himself known to simple people than to the scholarly who believe they know it all.
In the name of God, Jesus alleviated the suffering of the sick, freed those possessed by evil spirits, rescued lepers from being marginalized and offered forgiveness to sinners and prostitutes. This commitment of Jesus to the sick, poor and ostracized convinced them that Jesus considered God the best friend of the human being. Yes, he seeks only our good, and opposes only what does us harm. The followers of Jesus never doubted this truth: the God incarnate and revealed in Jesus is Love and nothing but Love for all.
- Translated by Rev. Fr. Valantine de Souza SJ
The first truth they grasp is that God is the God of all, not merely of those who feel worthy to stand before him in the temple. God is not limited to a holy place. He does not belong to a religion. He is not the property of pious folk who make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. As Jesus said, “he makes his sun to rise on the good and the evil.” He does not exclude anyone or discriminate against people. Jesus encourages all to trust in him:”When you pray, say: Father!”
With Jesus they will discover that God is not exclusively the God of those who come to him full of merits. He listens preferably to those who ask for compassion from him because they believe themselves to be hopelessly lost. Jesus tells us that God is always looking out for the lost. It’s the reason he feels so close to sinners. So he assures them: “I have come to seek and save those who are lost.”
They also realize that God is not the God only of the wise and learned. Jesus thanks the Father because it pleased him to reveal to little children what remains hidden to the knowledgeable. God has fewer problems making himself known to simple people than to the scholarly who believe they know it all.
In the name of God, Jesus alleviated the suffering of the sick, freed those possessed by evil spirits, rescued lepers from being marginalized and offered forgiveness to sinners and prostitutes. This commitment of Jesus to the sick, poor and ostracized convinced them that Jesus considered God the best friend of the human being. Yes, he seeks only our good, and opposes only what does us harm. The followers of Jesus never doubted this truth: the God incarnate and revealed in Jesus is Love and nothing but Love for all.
Tell all the world: God is our best friend
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