How close is the Divine?

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today encourage reflection on the magnitude of the desire of God to be in intimate relationship with people. The episode from Acts relates the conversion of Paul on the “Road to Damascus”. This road has special meaning in the description of human events. In common speech we speak of this place as symbolic for a radical change in direction and or behaviour. The initiator of Paul’s conversion is the Transcendent God. The events he experiences are his personal “strong hand and mighty arm”, of which as a learned Pharisee, he was deeply aware. The psalmist echoes that the actions of the Divine in our lives are instances of the eternal pattern of steadfast love and faithfulness which is Divine nature. The will of the Father is expressed in the Life of Jesus. The intimacy offered by Jesus, the Incarnate, through the power of the Spirit of the Transcendent is physical. It is cellular and molecular. It expresses Divine desire for closeness to people which is our being now in a Transcendent communion which is also eternal.