Catholica Commentary by Fr Peter Dresser: God is Big .... Real BIG! (Chapter 9: God, Our Universe and Ourselves Part 3)

"God is Big ..... Real BIG!" by Fr Peter Dresser (Chapter Nine - Part 3)

Fr Peter Dresser tackles two of the big questions in today's excerpt from his book: can we find a new image of God that has more relevant appeal to the educated people of the world today, and an exploration of the big question of life after death? He suggests, in relation to both questions, that perhaps we might learn something from Jewish perspectives.

Chapter Nine (Part 3): God, Our Universe and Ourselves

Trying to make sense of this mystery we call God...

The great search for some spiritual meaning to life continues. It seems to me that people are searching for a spirituality that is not being met through orthodox religion. I realise that Christians still flock to Church at Easter and Christmas but I rather suspect they feel that this is the appropriate thing to do and probably to appease the wishes of relatives! Christians come to Church and are presented with the historical Jesus or even Jesus the liberationist. Perhaps if they were presented with the Cosmic Jesus, their religion might take on more relevance and significance in this modern world. It is time for our religion to supply meaning in the lives of men and women and to satisfy and meet their spiritual cravings. We have to get back to our grass roots and as I have mentioned before, these roots in the Christian tradition anyway were Celtic and held fairly basic understandings of life and death. They were very earthy and almost pantheistic in nature. God is present where we are and is our partner in and through the universe we share and is therefore present in all the order and chaos of our lives and in every event that life dishes up to us. This is the kind of religious outlook that contemporary men and women might find appealing.

Such an approach brings into play the participation and interdependence and co-mixing of God with the Universe and ourselves and raises some important issues such as pain and suffering, issues that orthodox religion still finds difficulty coming to terms with. Even as I write these words, a high ranking church prelate in Australia speaking of a recent rail tragedy refers to the problem of evil that from the very beginning has defied human comprehension. In saying this he fails to understand that God is part and parcel of all the chaos as well as all the order of our cosmos. When dealing with pain or suffering orthodox religion tends to make statements such as God permitting or allowing such evils in our world and in our lives. Such thinking surely does God, even the orthodox God, a great disservice. After all, if he permits such suffering, is it not possible for him to prevent such suffering?

"When Bad Things Happen to Good People" by Harold S. Kushner

Available in Kindle and Paperback editions in the Catholica Spiritual Marketplace.

I tended a train accident in Orange some years ago when an express train ploughed into a car killing the female driver. I remember vividly the husband asking me why God did not prevent the accident from happening. It was the kind of question that the Jewish Rabbi Harold Kushner asked when he endured the tragic death of his fourteen-year-old son. His son's death prompted him to write a book entitled When Bad Things Happen To Good People. Kushner reached the conclusion that in the interplay between God and creation, God is not omnipotent. God has to allow for free will and for the randomness of the Universe. In other words it is not a matter of God permitting or allowing or causing. In the words of a current advertisement for a television news program, life happens; things happen. God is present in all the order of the Cosmos. God is also present in all its chaos. As someone put it a little more differently, the relationship between God and the cosmos is a relational one where God does not coerce but respects the freedom and the random behaviour of the other.

Our oneness with the universe gives a greater significance to the words of John Donne when he says that no man is an island entire of itself and certainly gives more poignancy to the formula used on Ash Wednesday when ashes are placed on the foreheads of the faithful: Remember man that you are dust and into dust you will return. But in any case what does happen to each of us now journeying along life's path when our journey comes to an end? What happens when we die?

What happens when we die?

The answer to this question is, quite obviously, nobody knows. As a result, various hypotheses have been presented. The beautiful Jewish understanding of God is that God alone is infinite and that we humans are definitely finite and our lives end with death. We do not know if there is any life after this. It should not trouble us one way or another. God alone is ultimately important. Our duty is to live one day at a time, to help the world evolve, to make the world a better place for our having been here and at death simply to acknowledge that our life is finished and to give full praise and glory to God. God cannot be manipulated by our mere human way of thinking. God must not be treated as some kind of puppet on a string. I guess the Jewish religion might also claim that if there were existence after death, then that is completely and entirely gratuitous on the part of God. We simply do not know – but more to the point we simply should not care! Eternal praise be to God! He is the beneficiary of our collective lives.

Reincarnation has been suggested as a response to life after death. It does have its merits. However for several reasons I rather suspect that it is not a viable option. Coming back as a cockroach – even a good cockroach – in an increasing endeavour to reach Nirvana seems to go against the whole idea of personal identity and, for traditional believers, God's compassionate forgiveness. Besides what would happen if the entire living structure of the universe were destroyed? There could then be no possibility of reincarnation because there would no longer be any life form to be reincarnated into.

The Christian perspective provides us with a full life, body and soul, after death either in the state of heaven or in the state of hell. Morris West stated that any after life would be a bonus and one finds the Christian life in an eternal heaven quite appealing. It was the kind of afterlife that Jesus spoke about and which people ever since have taken literally to a large extent. Heaven with its rooms and its banquets and fine wines offers a beautiful resting-place after our sometimes arduous earthly journey.

Whilst acknowledging the beauty of the heavenly kingdom, it does have the tendency to make the Christian yearn for and think more about life after death rather than the fact that there is life before death as well. For too long, I think, our prayers at Liturgy and elsewhere stress the passing nature of our present existence and that this world is merely a journey to the afterlife. We have tended to accent the heavenly inheritance rather than the stark reality of the present. An example of such a prayer occurred in this morning's Mass:

Father, you show your almighty power in your mercy and forgiveness.
Continue to fill us with your gifts of love.
Help us to hurry toward the eternal life you promise and come to share in the joys of your kingdom. [Twenty-Sixth Sunday Ordinary Time]

It would be nice, I think, if we could have the Christian after-life belief and yet live unselfishly and giving praise and honour to God according to the Jewish understanding. After all, I feel we have a kind of obligation to assist with the evolutionary development of our world and of our society rather than simply living like Simon Stylites forty foot up a pole awaiting our heavenly inheritance. But in any case what is the nature of this heavenly kingdom? [That's the question Peter takes up next week in this serialisation of his book.]

NEXT WEEK: Chapter Nine Part 4: "God, Our Universe and Ourselves"

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Peter Dresser grew up in Orange NSW. On completing his Leaving Certificate he studied for some years at Springwood and Manly Seminaries. His life journey has led him down diverse paths and he enjoyed the experience of many and varied employments including postman, public servant and factory worker. He has appreciated his exposure to different life styles and religions and his involvement with music and sport, particularly Rugby League. He eventually turned to teaching where he found an easy rapport with and respect for young people. Peter decided to continue with his studies for Priesthood and entered St. Paul’s Seminary. He was ordained in 1990. Peter's love for his Catholic religion dates from his very early years. His involvement with Science is only a recent phenomenon. His fascination with nature has always been predominant. His continuing pastoral concern is that the Good News proclaimed by Jesus be preached and mediated meaningfully in all its richness and fullness to the contemporary world. Peter holds degrees in Arts and Theology and a Diploma in Education. He produced this document in 2004 whilst Parish Priest of Kandos in Central West NSW. He now lives privately in retirement at Kandos where he spent six memorable years.

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[Index of Commentaries by Fr Peter Dresser]

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