One not like you

The psalmist in the texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary puts the accusation in the words of God that the people “thought that I was one just like yourself”. In this mindset about the Divine, we can find ourselves understanding how the practices of injustice and idol worship about which the Prophet Micah chastises the people of Israel may have developed as people redefine God as One who goes along with the practices of the society. We can ask for the revitalization of the gift of prophet, one who sees with the eyes of God, which is our baptismal heritage, and the practices which God opposes in our society will become visible. The return to the Covenant which Micah describes is both quite often quoted today by spiritual writers and quite often ignored. We seek communion with the will of God when we seek justice for the oppressed, act with kindness and compassion and live in humble awareness of the omnipresent God.Friar Jude Winkler reflects on the two signs of Jonah, described in the Gospel from Matthew, that are in front of the eyes of the scribes and Pharisees. The inability of the learned defenders of “the way we have always done it” to see that Jesus will rise again to complete His conversion work in the manner of Jonah and that those pagans, who are not blinded by mindsets which have created a self serving definition of God, did, are and will be those who see the Presence. A gift which helps the imagination in attempting to shed light on our relationship with God is our relationship with grandchildren. We get a sense of the ‘delight’ of God in people as we ‘delight’ in them. The power of this bond between grandparent and grandchild is deeply mysterious. We experience desire for the right things for them, acting kindly and gently and walking humbly when we are in their presence. What are we being shown here?