6 September 2019
Friday of the Twenty-second Week of Ordinary Time
How do we know the presence of the eternal God? How do we find the One before whom we are to offer our praise, reverence and service? St. John himself, after all, writes that “No one has ever seen God.” (John 1:18) Yet, while our near-sighted eyes cannot capture God with the sense of sight, He nevertheless draws near to us. He draws so close as to become what we can see, and hear, and touch. St. John continues, “The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.” (John 1:18)
The way St. Paul describes this to the Colossians is found in the first reading today. He says, “Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God.” (Col 1:15) In Him all is created, through Him all is reconciled to the Father. “For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell . . .” (Col 1:19) On this day when we recall the Lord’s Passion, that day on which the bridegroom was taken from us (as we hear in the Gospel, Luke 5:35), let us pray for the grace to contemplate more deeply the One through whose blood we have been reconciled to God. Jesus’ Passion indeed takes up all human suffering, yet we see more than just human suffering upon the cross. Let us pray for hearts that have been renewed by grace, that like new wineskins letting in new wine, we might with fresh reverence receive the love of God Almighty revealed in Christ crucified.