Nothing can Separate us from the Love of God
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings for Year A: Isaiah 55:1-3; Romans 8:35-39; Matthew 14:13-21
Today’s second reading is a passage to which I often find myself returning. It is Paul’s reassurance that “nothing can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in visible in Christ Jesus our Lord”. It is something that speaks to our fears and gives us hope whatever we might encounter
Paul lived in a culture where belief in various gods, spirits and supernatural powers was prevalent and used to explain all kinds of events and natural phenomena. The Magi who come to find the infant Jesus in Bethlehem because they have seen his star were most likely astrologers hoping to see in the stars a guide to the future. We live in an age where natural science has given us a much greater understanding of the forces at work in the natural world which God has created. However, many people still worry about supernatural forces at work. This can be true even of Catholics. Sometimes this comes from a lingering superstition but sometimes from an encounter with unexplained phenomena they are trying to understand. In such circumstances going back to Paul’s assurance of the sovereignty of the love of God over “angels” and “powers” can be helpful.
To these ancient fears have been added new sources of fear and confusion. The growth of social media has made it easier for these things to be spread. There are many examples of pseudo-science, conspiracy theories and “fake news” in circulation. A distrust in authority, mainstream media, mainstream science and mainstream religion gives scope to these things. Even for Catholics, with our belief in objective truth, reason and the faith we have received in the teaching of the Church, it is possible for these things to cause us to doubt.
Like the Christians to whom Paul was writing, the events we experience in our world and in our personal lives can cause us to be “troubled and worried”. We live in a time of great uncertainty. We have no clear idea of how, or when the pandemic we are going through will come to an end. We know it will have all sorts of effects for years to come both economically and in the way we conduct our lives. Many people do not know if they will have a job, how they will make ends meet or if they will ever be able to engage in those activities they value. That applies to us in this parish in our restricted celebration of the sacraments and our inability to gather socially and in order to deepen our faith. This is particularly a time when we need to hold on to Paul’s message of hope.
This is not the only source of trouble and worry. The idea of the “end of history” has proved an illusion. We face a world of conflict between nations and groups with the worries and fears that produces. In our own lives too, in addition to the worries of Covid-19, we experience the ordinary things of sickness, loss, broken relationships and economic hardship.
In all these things the passage from Romans is important. Whatever we experience our faith in Christ assures us that the love of God will triumph, even, as Paul tells us, in the face of death. Our faith is not a vague belief that God will magically put everything right. Neither is it some sort of psychological comfort blanket. It is a faith that there is nothing that can separate us from God and that, in the end, that is the one thing that ultimately matters. I we hold on to this faith we can face the troubles we experience and have the confidence to see in them ways of living out the Gospel and building up the Kingdom of God.
Fr Chris Pedley SJ