Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”

What is revealed to the world in Jesus Christ is, in one sense, nothing new. What is new is the dramatic expression in a living human being who shared our life, suffered, died, and rose again. God did not begin to love human beings only with the birth of Jesus or only love them in Palestine. God has always loved creation and everything in it. The refrain in the first chapter of Genesis is that God looked on everything in creation and saw that it was good.

We can see the apparently tough approach God took with Israel as like the regulations parents use with growing children. God has never really changed the message; it has always been that God loves us and wills what is best for us, is with us. The packaging has been different depending on our receptivity or maturity.

In Luke’s Jesus, in the great Jewish prophets and in the apostles, we hear proclaimed one great assurance for all of us. We are not abandoned; evil, sin, war, and death do not have the last word.  In the death and resurrection of Jesus, in his whole life, in fact, we see how far God's love for us has gone.

Even elsewhere in another religion, in the great religious book of India, the Bhagavadgita, the god Krishna seems to witness to something similar speaking to his followers: “Listen to my words, for you are precious to me. . . . Keep your mind on me, be my devotee -- you will come to me, I promise, for you are dear to me” (18:64-65).

God is with us and for us; in a particularly concrete way the Eucharist assures us of that.

And, are there perhaps inklings of that love in other world religions?  

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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