Reflection 19 - On GOD’S MYSTERY OF LOVE through story
There are many questions that have been repeatedly asked down through the ages such as, “Where did we come from and where are we going?” I would not mind a dollar for the number of times, in my Religious Education lessons; I have been asked the question “Are the bible stories really true?” These types of questions have been asked by thinking students for centuries. The answers depend on our understanding of the type of literature we are dealing with, what our world view is and most importantly what our belief system is. It is true that today we are able to see ourselves as part of the whole in a way never dreamt of by our ancestors. As they say “we have come a long way”.
I don’t need to go into it here but our world view in years gone by was very primitive and inaccurate and it is good to realise that our world view today is a lot more realistic and gives us a more accurate picture of an evolving universe which is rapidly expanding in all directions. My bet is that in many years from now, people will have a different world view probably even more advanced than we have today. Science, like everything else, is moving at a great pace. Humans have made in the last hundred years, discoveries that have been nothing short of phenomenal. The involvement of God in creation still stands but advances in science and technology in the past century have exploded with new information about the universe being revealed as each year passes. We no longer speak of an unchanging static universe.
I said, back in reflection 16 “every culture and civilization has a story of the origin of the world which contributes to its fundamental understanding of relationships to God, to the world and to one another”. Genesis is just one of hundreds of attempts to communicate a human experience. Genesis after all is story; all be it a story of God’s love for us. I have come to realise that story is fundamental to life. The major experiences of our lives are couched in story because the bare recounting of facts rarely contains the depth of the experience we are trying to communicate. As we know the Bible is filled with stories which tell of our Ancestors’ experience of God. Just recently the media have been giving the Bible a hard time proving that many events that were said to have happened did not. I fear they are missing the point as the stories in the Bible are clothed in Mythical language, which implies a type of writing that tells of an experience rather than a happening. Not so much a retelling of facts but a retelling of an experience packed in a bundle of human emotions and hyperbolas. I saw a definition of Myth recently which stated that “Myths are things that never happened but always are” I like it and it helps me understand what the bible stories are trying to tell us.
The story of God’s intervention or if you like, of God’s love as experienced in story, started for us 13.7 billion years ago with the “big bang” as the first creative act has come to be called. Some quotes I would like to share here help to make us realise that the story goes on today. These were gleaned from the internet believe it or not.
• “Creation is not static, or a fixed event, but an ongoing act of creation and creativity”.
• “Evolution is a process that moves towards ever-increasing complexity”.
• “Einstein theory of Relativity changed the face of science forever”.
• “Some define G.O.D as “Generator of Diversity”.
The language of cosmology often sounds like the language of Myth and mystery. They say there are three cosmic principles.
1. The capacity for all living things to renew themselves.
2. The life moving force that points towards ever increasing complexity.
3. Communion, which in essence is all life’s tendency to move towards relationships.
“We are interrelated with all living things and these three principles are the life blood on which evolution unfolds and thrives. Indeed the very existence of the universe rests on the power of this ordering. Without these three principles there would be no universe as we know it.” When reading this it had me thinking that there must be a connection between these cosmic principles and our three Vows.
There is enough food for thought here for anyone. Let me finish this short reflection by quoting Elizabeth Boyle O.P. “I can assure the reader with a limited knowledge of science that we do not have to be professional musicians to be moved by the beauty of music or to appropriate its wordless eloquence for prayer. Reflecting poetically and receptively on scientific data as a sacred text, can go beyond analysis to enter into communion with the creative mystery at its heart.” In other words; we can discover God’s infinite love by just reflecting on the universe of which we are just a part. Till next time - Bro Peter T from Hilongos Leyte.