By Ken Rolheiser
听
听听听听听听听听听 Four rabbis had an argument, and three were in accord against the fourth. "Three to one, majority rules," they argued. The fourth asked God for a sign to convince the three.
听听听听听听听听听 The sky turned black, the earth shook, and a deep voice boomed, 听听听听听听听 "HEEEEEEEE'S RIIIIIIIGHT!"
听听听听听听听听听 "Well," said the fourth Rabbi.
听听听听听听听听听 One of the three shrugged, "So, now it's three to two."
听
How many times has God spoken to us? How many times has he听 proclaimed his love? How many times have we failed to grasp it?
听
A father once asked his little girl, 鈥淚f I was somehow able to go through all the little girls in the entire world and pick out just one to be my very own, do you know who I would pick?鈥�
鈥淣o, Daddy, who?鈥� was the girl鈥檚 honest reply.
鈥淚 would pick you!鈥�
听
And God has picked you and he has picked me. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:5).
听
More wonderful than human love, God surpasses even the love of a mother: 听鈥淐an a mother forget the baby at her breast鈥� Though she may forget,听I will not forget you!鈥� (Isaiah 49:15).
听
The NUMBER 1 reason to love God is that God loved us first!
The NUMBER 2 reason for loving God is that even before he created all earth鈥檚 beauty for us, he had a plan to share all Eternity with us. And for that he made us heirs to the Kingdom.
听
Now because God loves us as a parent he gave us some rules to save us. What parent would not stop a child from touching a hot stove? Out of love God commands us to know, love and serve God AND to love our neighbour as we would love ourselves. If we fall short of this ideal, God gave us some other commandments to protect us.
听
God made us, gave us all the gifts of creation and even asks us to pray for whatever else we need. And he wants to live with us forever! Now just in case we didn鈥檛 鈥済et it鈥� God has worked signs and wonders for thousands of years. Just for us to better grasp his love.
听
It鈥檚 hard to choose which of these signs are most significant, but there is a pattern. The Prophets revealed many of these signs: Moses鈥� burning bush, his dividing the Red Sea, the Passover鈥� Then there was Elijah鈥� well the Old testament was great, but nothing like the New.
听
Jesus Resurrection! His many miracles we can read about and hear about. And they are still going on. Check out Fatima, Lourdes, St Joseph鈥檚 Oratory in Montreal, the Eucharistic miracles. Listen to the stories that families experience when a loved one passes to eternity.
听
Consider Art and creativity! Why do we, of all created things, seek beyond reality and existence? Beyond design and function, to beauty and aestheticism?
听
How can we be anything but thankful when we consider the beautiful people God has created, not least among them you and me? And I haven鈥檛 even gotten to grandchildren yet!
听
The most amazing thing of all is that God gave us his beautiful Son, born of Mary, to be a sacrifice for our redemption. As in any great love relationship, we can only grow if we continue to work on it.
