5^th Sunday C, 2007.

In the second reading from the book of Revelations

St. John wrote that he was shown a time

when God would live among his people

and he would be their God. From that time there would be

no more sadness or tears, no more death and mourning.

This sounds like a time of happiness lived close to God.

This, said God, would require a new creation.

I think most of us would agree with that statement.

We often feel that there could be much more to our lives

as people of a community, people of a nation

and people of this planet earth. And there is so much

that we do not want and can’t avoid or get rid of

and there is so much that we long for but cannot get,

cannot attain. And this has been the same for a long time.

Paul and Barnabas said that ‘we all have to experience

many hardships before we enter the Kingdom of God.’

We probably agree with this statement as well.

We must not forget though that this is not God’s making.

We are born into this world that tries to get by without God

and we are initiated into this kind of life.

It can be a struggle to find God, to get to know God,

to sort out what the will of God really is.

It can be hard to change habits and alter priorities.

The new commandment of Jesus was that we should love

as he loved us, as we heard in the Gospel. It is of course not enough to read about the love of Christ in the Bible,

we must experience his love, we must receive his love.

To that end we must open up to him, show ourselves to him

and expose ourselves to him. Let him see us as we really are,

all the good and all the bad in us and let him love us as we are.

We are a package deal like most things in this world

and lovable and precious to God.