God and Understanding

I went to Barnes and Noble last week to get some coffee and peruse the sale books. As I looked through the $2 bin, I was drawn to the artwork and title on the cover of "A Priest's Journal of Hope." After realizing that the writer, Philip C. Linder, was from South Carolina, I decided to buy the book...and I've been reading it at night before bed.

Regardless of what else I've read, I've come back to one particular entry each night. I find it especially appropriate in light of my last two posts...and I wish I would have written it myself. This is what it says:

"This life that we live has the potential to impose real difficulties and hardships upon us. Theologically, I know this is because we have our being in a fallen and imperfect world--we do not live in the Garden of Eden. I also believe with every once of my being that God sent His son Jesus Christ into the world to redeem us from this sin and imperfection--that when bad things happen, we have access to God through the forgiveness and eternal life that Christ died for on the cross. I know all these things, yet I do not understand God.

...Webster's dictionary defines understanding as: 'a mental grasp or comprehension'...How could I ever claim to have a mental grasp of God? What I do have is faith in God, and faith in God is very different than understanding God and all of God's ways. You see, understanding through faith takes on a whole new dimension and meaning.

Jesus said, 'Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid." (John 14:27). And it is St. Paul who ties this peace to understand with his words: "and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7).

These words tell you God's peace is greater than any of our attempts at understanding in the midst of life's difficult situations and conditions. And it is your faith and hope in that peace of God that makes it okay not to understand as the world so often requires." (pg. 11)

May we each live in such a way that the peace which surpasses all understanding radiates into a world that so desperately needs it...