The God Who Cares
Thoughts on the First Readings – Joe Frankenfield
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom 11:22-12:23

For as far back as we can remember people have looked up at the night sky and found themselves in awe of its magnificence. The beauty and the regularity of the nighttime stars and the life-giving power of the daytime sun made the heavens the obvious home of ultimate power. Whoever could form and govern such immensity deserved all the honor and reverence that people could muster. The ancients found it totally sensible to pray that life on earth would echo the order and peacefulness that they observed in the heavens.

What do we see when we look upwards? We, or at least people of our generation, have flown to the moon and probed comets. We’ve photographed the edge of our universe and speculated about the existence of other universes beyond our powers to imagine. Do we still see the heavens as the realm of God? Do we still stand in awe of the Creator of such immensity?

We know the mechanism of starlight. We understand the nature of gravity. We watch stars being born and we’ve viewed the awe-inspiring destructiveness of their deaths. Some say that our knowledge has squeezed God out of the cosmos. We know how things work; things simply must be as they are. And yet. . . .
We look up at night and we are still thankful to see the sight. We look at photos of galaxies and nebulae and find ourselves pondering not how they could be but how astounding it is that we’re here – part of everything the universe is.

For centuries people have declared God’s growing irrelevance as problem after problem has been solved, unknown after unknown uncovered.

But faith in God isn’t about solving problems. God isn’t a solution. God is a promise. God is a call. God anchors our belief that we can become what we dream of being. God is the word that says we matter.