I Met God Today

Fourth Sunday of Lent - - - ‘God loved the world so much’       ‘God loved the world so much’ In a very real sense, these six words from this Sunday’s Gospel say more than enough and there is nothing further to be said, nothing more one can add! While short, today’s excerpt is packed tight, complex and rich in meaning. It contains a summary of John’s Gospel and the opposites or polarities presented in it are found here too: darkness and light; acceptance and rejection; his own and not his own; belief and unbelief (see John 1:1-13). There is much with which one might spend time. But, let’s remain with God’s love.      God so loved the world Assertions of God’s love echo throughout the Scriptures from their beginning, from the first moments of creation: ‘God saw … it was very good’ (Gen 1:31). In today’s readings, God’s love is very much in focus. From Chronicles, written in the time of exile, we hear that God ‘wished to spare his people’ and ‘tirelessly sent them messenger after mess

Belfast, 24 Feb 2021 All things must We have cocooned and the world of nature with us Or rather we have taken its class, perhaps not learned and absorbed its lesson yet -      the graces of rest      not found in being busy for the sake of seeming busy - but sat grudgingly through the class, lived the lesson nonetheless And now Nature invites us to look again to turn the page alongside it and to study the next chapter unfolding like a butterfly but everywhere because not only winged insects cocoon All the earth does. To some extent if not completely soaking up the grace on offer to let it shine when the time to cocoon reaches its end as all things must. Only eternity does not. God only is without end.                                         Unfurl                                                        slowly                                                                       step outside                                                                                      when it is