It would be way out of line for me to even guess how God thinks. My limited intellectual skills do not come even close to the smallest thought that God has. Be that as it may, I have lately found myself wondering what God thinks about all that is going on in our world these days. Most especially what does God think about our reaction to COVID-19? What does God think about all the violence and discrimination that seems to be so rampant in our world? What does God think about the division and the seemingly constant bickering that is going on between even people in the same families? What does God think about all the fear, all the sadness, all the anxiety and depression that is such a large part of our lives these days?

I wish I had an answer for what God thought about all these things but, even with a Master of Divinity degree I would not dare to guess what God thinks. I think I can say, however, with a level of faith, and a level of confidence what God is doing during all that is going on in our world these days. I suspect most people who claim the name Christian and listen to the words of Jesus can describe what God is doing these days.

Jesus tells us, just before He ascends to heaven, that He will not leave us orphan, He will not leave us to stumble through the muck and mess of life on our own. Instead He will send us a new Advocate who will show us the way when we are lost, when fear, or frustration, or violence, or hate, or sin leads us down the path of ordinariness. He also reminds us that He Himself will be with us always until the end of time. In other words, God does not, even when it seems to us like He has, God does not abandon us. God is not a fair weather friend who stands close when things are going well, when we are meeting all the divine expectations, when the world is in pristine shape, instead God draws even closer to us when there is mess, when there is fear, when, it turns out, we need Him the most.

I have been thinking about this because I have heard the time we are living in described as a God forsaken mess. More than a few people have come to believe that God has finally decided that we need to be on our own. But nothing could be further from the truth. If this is a God forsaken time it is because we have forsaken God not the other way around. We have looked to wealth, to power, to government, to our own wisdom or influence to make sure that we get through these days unscathed. We have turned our backs on the promise of God the Son to be with us always, and we have ignored the promptings of God the Holy Spirit pointing out the way to happiness and extraordinariness.

There is no doubt that we are in the midst of unprecedented times and that there is no easy fix for what ails us. As true as this is, God has not forsaken us now nor will He ever. To remind ourselves of this we need to be conversing with God. We need to be letting Him know our fears, our needs, our thoughts, and our desires. We also need to be listening; because the remedy for not knowing what God is thinking is asking Him and then listening as He explains the length, breadth, and depth of his love for us.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Fr. Jack for the wonderful and generous way he helped me to move into the parish last year. It is not so easy to have a routine changed but Fr. Jack, ever the trooper, and first and foremost a good and holy man took on this new challenge with grace and generosity. I will truly miss his kind ways, his sense of humor, and his prayerful presence in the parish and in the rectory. I will, indeed, be sad to see him go, and I will keep him in prayer as he takes on even more responsibility in the diocese. Ultimately it is a change for both of us, as Fr. Jack can no longer say, you will need to ask the pastor, and I can no longer say, its Fr. Jack’s fault.

One last thing. With Fr. Jack’s departure at the beginning of August and Deacon Alex’s ordination not until the end of August there will be, for a short time, only one old cranky priest left to cover both parishes. We have been able to find help for the weekends, but this is not true of the weekdays. Thus, beginning the first week of August we will have a different daily Mass schedule which you can find online and in the bulletin. I appreciate your patience and understanding during this time of change. I also encourage each of you to continue to pray for vocations to the priesthood.