The Holy Mountain for all people

The psalmist in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today proclaims the hope that the saving power of God be known among all nations. We need to consider if we put ourselves in the position of attempting to give God permission to make this saving of all people happen. The passage from the Prophet Isaiah indicates that God invites the foreigner, eunuch and outcasts to the holy mountain of the Lord. Isaiah asserts that the house of God is a house of prayer for all peoples. The Gospel of John presents the conflict between Jesus actions and the behaviour expected of Him by the religious authorities. The particular issue of the control of people on the Sabbath comes to light. Jesus points out that John the Baptist had begun to open the minds and experience of the people to the will of the Father for them to live more intimately in the resonance of their indwelling Spirit with the Divine Spirit. Jesus is witness to a relationship to the Father as children of God and in life aware of the Presence, Immanuel, God with us. The awesome intimacy of this relationship is not limited to those who follow a particular set of rules from religious authority. The Scripture and our experience of God exhort us to be in praise and joy over the life we have been invited to share with God and at the same time we cannot allow that such a God would restrict any human from living in this relationship.