How do you know God was present?

Can you remember a difficult or sad experience in your life? Where was God in that time? How was God present? How do you know God was present? As you think about it your memory becomes clearer. You can imagine the light, the sound, and even the odor of the experience. Everything you remember can be helpful in order to know God’s presence. Silent meditation will be helpful as you seek to know the presence of God. Is there a Scripture text, or an image of Jesus, or a hymn, or a Sacrament that comes to mind? Trust what comes to mind. Stay with it. Perhaps you need to go read the Bible text, or listen to the hymn.

Maybe you thought of Jesus going to see Martha and Mary after the death of Lazarus. You see Jesus talking with Martha, reassuring her about eternal life. Then you see Jesus as he weeps. You hear his strong voice: “Lazarus, come out!”

Theological reflection is what I have just described. This reflection brings our faith, spirituality, Scripture, imagination, memory, God’s grace, and our growing wisdom to the process of learning. The word “theology” is the study of God, or the search for language to speak about God. Everyone needs to do theology. As persons of faith we already do it every time we ask what an event, experience, or relationship “means” to us. We want to know meaning! Knowing God, not just knowing “about” God, helps us to determine, to discern, what life “means,” what life and life events mean.

There are many possibilities for connecting Scripture with our own experience. In the example above, we see the compassion of Jesus for the people. He is tender and powerful. As we confront sadness and difficulty, this is precisely what we need to remember about God. We are consoled. God is with us.

We must be life-long learners! Learning, often requires “unlearning” old ways of thinking and doing. The style of learning may change from formal courses to the lessons of daily living. We may use terms like “maturation” and “gaining wisdom” for learning in later life.

When difficult experiences occur, or perhaps joyful experiences, we are presented with the opportunity to think about, evaluate, analyze, and even pray over the experience in order to gain as much knowledge as possible. As we review the experience and ask, “Where is God in all of this?” we are doing an important spiritual task called “theological reflection.”

Peace, Fr. Andy