“Big Truths in Tiny Packages” by Colleen O’Sullivan

“Big Truths in Tiny Packages” by Colleen O’Sullivan

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the One who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the One who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. The Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So, what I say, I say as the Father told me.” (John 12:44-46, 49b-50)

Piety

May God have pity on us and bless us;
May he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation. (Psalm 67:2-3)

Study

There are all sorts of opportunities online at the moment for ways to occupy our time while we are self-quarantining at home. Already I have taken a short course in Ignatian Discernment that I think will be helpful in any future decision-making. Now I am doing a 30-day retreat, “Ascending with Ignatius,” which will finish up on Thursday, May 21, when we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord. The retreat follows the outline of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises.

Two days ago, on the retreat, we read and prayed with St. Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus. In the eyes of the world, this newborn child was utterly insignificant. He was born in poverty, such abject poverty that his bed was a trough out of which cows or horses would have eaten. If it hadn’t been for the choir of angels seen and heard by the shepherds in the fields, people would see Jesus as just one of the hundreds of babies born that night to parents of no means. In Bethlehem, God shows his propensity to appear in very small and seemingly ordinary ways.

Years later, in today’s Gospel reading, we hear Jesus’ frustration at what people see when they look at him. He’s performed seven great signs by this point in John’s Gospel, and still, people doubt that he’s any different from any other man. He tells anyone listening that every word he has spoken has been given to him by his Father. God sends the Son to be the light in a world of great darkness. God sends his Son to travel the pathways of first-century Palestine, but many choose to see just another itinerant preacher making his way from village to village. God sends Jesus to be one of us.  At the same time, Jesus is much greater than any of us due to His relationship with God the Father. Again, God appears in seemingly small and ordinary ways.

I don’t subscribe to the old saying that “seeing is believing.” Many people saw Jesus and had no idea at what or whom they were looking. Believing implies having a personal stake in what you see or experience. Believing means surrendering yourself to the more profound truth of what you see. In the context of faith, it means having faith in the One who sent Jesus into the world to save us. It means seeing the greatness in the very tiny and ordinary means God often chooses to use to interact with us.

Action

When you look back over your life, can you identify any seemingly insignificant moments when God interacted with you? What happened or changed as a result of that moment? Give thanks in prayer.