Most times when I read or hear the daily readings, I tend to focus on the gospel. But, something different caught my attention today – the Responsorial Psalm. It seems that normally I do not give much thought or reflection to the Responsorial Psalm (sadly). But, Psalm 139 resonated with me even as I tried to steer my attention away from it and towards the Gospel of Matthew.

Psalm 139 seems to be saying that we cannot hide from God, presumably when we have done something bad and are ashamed. What really caught my attention in Psalm 139, however, is the notion that God is everywhere. This stuck out for me because there seems to be so much suffering going on in the world these days and it begs the question, “Is God really there?” There is suffering in Haiti with the recent earthquake, suffering in Afghanistan as the Taliban takes over the country, and continued suffering in nearly every country on the planet as the COVID-19 virus and its variants surge again. So many of us ask, “If God is good, how can God allow so much suffering?”

These questions make me think about the first time that God showed God-self. Scientists usually refer to it as the Big Bang and they predict it occurred about 13.8 billion years ago. The incarnation of all that we can comprehend generated from one single moment. God is present in all that we know – all the trees, all the animals, all the people, and all the other
“stuff” we see, hear, smell, and touch. Further still, if this notion is true then God is also present in rumbles of an earthquake, the fears of a hostile takeover, and even the coronavirus itself. This isn’t to say that everything is God (pantheism) but that God is present in everything (panentheism) – even the tragedies and suffering. As the Book of Genesis tells us, everything comes from God and God said it is good!

The notion that everything is good is pretty hard to swallow when we experience suffering first hand. It’s probably one of the great mysteries of life. But, we know that God is always good and always present. And, if we read the gospel stories carefully, we also know that suffering is part of our life experience. Suffering and love may be the two great constants that we can continue count on and expect to experience throughout our lifetime. And, as we read the teachings of Jesus carefully, we come to understand that allowing ourselves to be transformed by our suffering (rather than suppressing, resisting , or transmitting it to others) leads us to closer relationality with God and to the experience of love.

God is everywhere – even when we try to hide. God is closer to us than our next breath during the good, the bad, and the ugly. Embracing the notion that God is incarnate in all that we know helps me to “know” in a way that is beyond my thinking mind. During our suffering and the suffering of the world, I pray that God helps us to “know” is a way that can transform the suffering in a movement towards love. May we all be present in thought and prayer for those suffering throughout the world.