Does God really care for us?
Published Feb 7, 2021 12:26 am
THROUGH UNTRUE
Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P.
I have heard people phrase this question in different ways but with the same intense desperation. They want God's answer to their plea: “Awake O Lord, why do you sleep? Why do you hide your face?” (Psalm 44:23).
One time, a widow approached me after a funeral mass. With eyes brimming with tears, she asked: “Why did God allow my husband to be killed by robbers? Who will take care of us now?” Instinctively, I wanted to explain to her what I had learned about the theology of undeserved suffering.
But I restrained myself. I just listened and even cried with her. After more than 30 years in the priesthood, I have realized that it is better not to apologize for God’s silence over people's needless suffering. For, how can I be an apologist for God when, every time I am in deep pain and sorrow, I feel like I am waiting for a God who is taking a long, long time to arrive?
But perhaps He does not come because I am waiting for a God who fits my idea of justice, fair play, and love. I am waiting for a God whom I want, not the God who is.
Come to think of it, the God whom many of us want is someone who will be there to ease our grief, one who answers prayers according to our specifications, soothes our guilt and washes away our sins, gives us bread when we are hungry, heals us when we are sick. We want Him to punish those who have hurt us. We want a useful God who gives everything and demands nothing.
I once read a story of a man who, upon hearing the story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, declared: “I want to worship that kind of God, not the sort of a benign, tender, marshmallow, and undemanding deity who is there when we need him, and who is content with our attendance at Sunday Mass. I want to worship the God of Abraham who loves fiercely and passionately, and who expects us to love Him in the same way."
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus knows that people do not see Him as that kind of God. He must have felt a deep sadness when the disciples told Him: "Everyone is looking for you" (Mark 1: 37). He knows that people want Him because of what He can do for them. He is needed but not loved.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells the crowd who are scrambling to see Him after the miracle of the loaves and fishes: "I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me, not because you understood the miracle I just performed, but because you ate to your satisfaction. Do not seek for the food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which I will give you" (John 6:26).
Jesus wants us to stop seeing Him as a user-friendly God — easy to use, easier to discard. This is why, after ministering and preaching to people, He communes with the Father in prayer. As we read in today's Gospel, "rising very early before dawn, Jesus went off to a deserted place to pray" (Mark 1:31). He prays because He is compelled by his love of the Father.
Real prayer is not telling God: "I love you because I need you to care for me." Rather, we say: "I need you because I love you." Real prayer is seeing God as our top priority, not a mere option.
Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P.
I have heard people phrase this question in different ways but with the same intense desperation. They want God's answer to their plea: “Awake O Lord, why do you sleep? Why do you hide your face?” (Psalm 44:23).
One time, a widow approached me after a funeral mass. With eyes brimming with tears, she asked: “Why did God allow my husband to be killed by robbers? Who will take care of us now?” Instinctively, I wanted to explain to her what I had learned about the theology of undeserved suffering.
But I restrained myself. I just listened and even cried with her. After more than 30 years in the priesthood, I have realized that it is better not to apologize for God’s silence over people's needless suffering. For, how can I be an apologist for God when, every time I am in deep pain and sorrow, I feel like I am waiting for a God who is taking a long, long time to arrive?
But perhaps He does not come because I am waiting for a God who fits my idea of justice, fair play, and love. I am waiting for a God whom I want, not the God who is.
Come to think of it, the God whom many of us want is someone who will be there to ease our grief, one who answers prayers according to our specifications, soothes our guilt and washes away our sins, gives us bread when we are hungry, heals us when we are sick. We want Him to punish those who have hurt us. We want a useful God who gives everything and demands nothing.
I once read a story of a man who, upon hearing the story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, declared: “I want to worship that kind of God, not the sort of a benign, tender, marshmallow, and undemanding deity who is there when we need him, and who is content with our attendance at Sunday Mass. I want to worship the God of Abraham who loves fiercely and passionately, and who expects us to love Him in the same way."
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus knows that people do not see Him as that kind of God. He must have felt a deep sadness when the disciples told Him: "Everyone is looking for you" (Mark 1: 37). He knows that people want Him because of what He can do for them. He is needed but not loved.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells the crowd who are scrambling to see Him after the miracle of the loaves and fishes: "I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me, not because you understood the miracle I just performed, but because you ate to your satisfaction. Do not seek for the food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which I will give you" (John 6:26).
Jesus wants us to stop seeing Him as a user-friendly God — easy to use, easier to discard. This is why, after ministering and preaching to people, He communes with the Father in prayer. As we read in today's Gospel, "rising very early before dawn, Jesus went off to a deserted place to pray" (Mark 1:31). He prays because He is compelled by his love of the Father.
Real prayer is not telling God: "I love you because I need you to care for me." Rather, we say: "I need you because I love you." Real prayer is seeing God as our top priority, not a mere option.