God's not hidden; we blinded ourselves (Sunday homily)

 What does Moses say in the first reading?

God’s commands aren’t mysterious.

They may be unwelcome, and hard to live by; but not hard to find.

I wonder if anyone here is like me:

If I can’t get my phone to do what I want, I say, “Stupid phone!”

If I start the coffee and come back 5 minutes later

and it’s all over the counter, what do I say? “Stupid coffee pot!”

See a pattern? It’s never a failing in me!

So it is with God’s Law.

If we find it hard to live by,

instead of considering that the flaw is in ourselves,

what do we say? “Stupid commandments!”

Before electric light was common, when you looked up at night 

you saw the splendor of the Milky Way.

Now, because of the wonders of electric light—and it is a wonder—

all that is invisible to us.

The galaxy didn’t go anywhere, and it isn’t any less brilliant.

Rather, we have blinded ourselves with our own invention.

And we’ve done exactly the same with God’s Law.

Our culture and society are evolving along paths 

no human society has ever ventured upon.

Never has any nation been so collectively prosperous.

Did you know we actually have “gourmet pet food”?

They offer “pet breakfast”; “pet appetizers”; 

and “restaurant-inspired” cat food.

So, right there: I didn’t know cats had restaurants.

I thought they liked trash cans!

See, this is pure human vanity.

Our technology tempts us to think we can do anything:

Control life from before the beginning, and when it ends.

At this stage of our culture,

we have convinced ourselves 

that everything can be reinvented and reconstructed:

Marriage, family, human identity, even human life itself.

But here is the weirdest thing of all:

That everything I just described is considered “normal.”

It’s not normal. Not even “the new normal.”

It’s the greatest experiment in human history.

And it’s a little early to congratulate our success.

We tell ourselves we’re finally “in control”—but are we really?

It suddenly occurs to me that here we find the answer

to one of the most difficult questions ever:

why does God allow poverty and suffering?

And the answer might be this: that when you and I face—

not from a distance, but right before our eyes—

a fellow human being, hungry, poor, in pain, 

perhaps entangled in addiction or other destructive habits,

this experience explodes the illusion of control.

What did our Lord say? “The poor you will always have.”

He didn’t mean, so don’t bother.

What he might have meant, however,

was that whenever we think you and I can handle anything—

look closely at the concrete reality of poverty and suffering.

You think we can fix anything? Well, we haven’t fixed that.

So much for our pride. Pride says, “we’ll fix it!”

Humility says, “we’ll see if we can help.”

And so it also occurs to me that God’s decision to enter history

by becoming one of us, in Jesus Christ,

is more important and more necessary than ever.

Just as coming face-to-face with human suffering and frailty

blows up the illusions of our power,

so the encounter with Jesus, God become man

exposes as hollow our claims that God is invisible: 

that we can’t find him.

You and I don’t have to find God. He found us.

The Light of God, like the light of the stars, is there, 

if only you and I humbly dim the lights of our own vanity.

Then we’ll see Him again.