Evidence and examples

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary increase our understanding of the nature of the Divine and the response of people to being in relationship with God. The praise of the psalmist can set the stage as we imagine the eyes of God on us ready to be the opportunity in our lives for hope in the power of love, faithfulness and charitable action to deliver our world from the death of the famine in intimacy with God. The Acts of the Apostles documents the response of the early Church community to the difficulties in serving the widows of both the Greek and Aramaic languages. Many mark this response as the initiation of the Order of Deacons to be in service to the needs of the community and be living examples of the steadfast love of the Lord. In the Gospel of John the Divinity of Jesus is explicit. Friar Jude Winkler links the episode of Jesus example of power over nature in this passage as pointing to Psalm 23 and the Good Shepherd who leads us to still waters. The people in the passages today are real humans who encounter discord and disagreement and have fear for their personal safety and concern about separation from the Presence of God in their lives. The action of God does not wait until we have grown beyond our human frailties, it manifests as the means to transform our human needs to examples of Love.