WEDNESDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER

12th May 2021

KNOWING GOD IS A PROCESS

Acts 17: 15, 22 - 18: 1;

Ps 148: 1-2, 11-12,13, 14;

Jn 16: 12-15 Once again, we are reminded that the Good News of Jesus is meant to be passed on, handed down. It is something in which we have been invited to participate. We continue in our understanding of the God Who wants us to be joined with Jesus through the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Then, we are asked to share with others what we have experienced. In the First Reading, St. Paul speaks to the people of Athens. He speaks of the “Unknown God” for Whom the Athenians have to build a shrine. Paul explains to them that the Divinity Whom they do not “know” is the one and only God Who is not far from them. St. Paul makes use of a shrine in Athens on the Areopagus Hill, which is below the Acropolis. The shrine is dedicated to the “Unknown God.” Paul tells the Athenians that the God Whom they do not “know” is now being revealed to them. This God is the creator and giver of life. He also mentions that even though they continually search for this God, this God is actually as close to them as the breath they breathe, for God gives them their breath (Pneuma = Ruah = Spirit). And they are children of this God. This God has been fully made “known” by the One Who has been raised from the dead – Jesus.

St. Paul meets some opposition. Not many of the “intellectuals” of Athens are willing to listen to him because he speaks of things that they cannot fathom, such as people being raised from the dead. A few accept the Good News and become believers. It does not deter St. Paul. He knows that he must continue to announce the message of salvation. Paul is not distressed over the lack of response from the majority of the Athenians. Thus, he moves on to Corinth where he will find a more receptive audience. He realizes that sometimes those who claim to “know it all,” have no real knowledge of what is most important in life – “knowledge” – a relationship with a God Who is revealing the fullness of the Godhead to them.

In the Gospel, as He continues His Last Supper Discourse on the night before He dies, Jesus reassures His followers that they will come to a fuller “knowledge” (i.e., understanding of God’s plan and a relationship with God) when the Spirit of Truth comes upon them. The Spirit will pick up where Jesus leaves off and will add to their ability to understand and spread the seeds of faith which Jesus has given to them. That is because this Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, is one with Jesus and His Father. The Spirit is just a further revelation of the God Who is not fully known except through a continued process of divine self-revelation to us and our feeble minds and a growing in a personal relationship with Triune God and with other believers.

“Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power, and love, Our God is an awesome God.” We cannot fully understand this God Who has not been, nor Who cannot be, known intellectually even to us who have been and are believers. Yet, we can “know” (in the sense of being in a relationship with) God, but that, too, is an ongoing, never-ending process. This God is continuing to reveal the awesomeness that is God. This God only wants us (every one of the creatures God has made) to be in a relationship with the Divine Awesomeness. May we continue to grow in our relationship with the God Who seeks to be “known” by us and may we be willing to enthusiastically share our relationship with others.