Isaiah 55:3

Can anyone doubt the nearness and goodness of God? Not the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament; not the apostles of the early church. Those thousands who were fed on two fish and five loaves by Jesus also felt the nearness and goodness of God. Those of us who feast today on the bread and wine that is the Lord himself cannot doubt the nearness and goodness of God, either.

We have to admit that sometimes we experience a dry spell, a dark night of the soul, a hollow feeling, a moment when God and His goodness seem remote and separate from our lives. Sometimes we may even receive the Eucharistic Lord in church, and walk back to our seats feeling nothing but the worries of our own little world. Thoughts about braces for the kids’ teeth, weeds in our lawns, home foreclosures and overdue mortgages, the summer heat, tensions at work or in the home, declining health, can occupy our minds. The list goes on. Sometimes these worries seem so great and so pressing that they squeeze everything else out of our heads and hearts. Even God’s love seems shut out. And sometimes we’re just a bit stiff-necked and hardhearted. When that happens, we tend to overlook the kindness of the Lord, or, out of habit, take God’s gifts for granted.

Our cussedness gets us into trouble with God also, and it tends to keep us there. God let the Israelites spend forty years in the desert so he could teach them, feed them, and care for them in a way a parent does with a wayward, wandering child. Stripped of everything else, ever so slowly we become aware that God is close, that God does care, that God gives bread to eat and wine to drink, that God heals our lives and dries our tears and soothes our anxieties. God promises us love and only asks for love in return.

This love-for-love, relationship is the covenant we entered into with God, at baptism. God shares His divine life with us, and we share our lives with God. Signs of God’s presence are all around us. The stars at night tell us that God is still master of the universe. The hug of a child reminds us of how gentle and delightful is the Lord. The soft breeze on a summer evening speaks of the soothing, invigorating presence of God’s Spirit.

The Eucharist reminds us that nothing can “separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus,”

God’s presence is everywhere around us. We only have to taste and see the goodness of the Lord all around us.

Fr. Hugh Duffy.