Monday of
the 5th Week in Ordinary Time
February 9, 2015 8:30am
Today and tomorrow, we hear the
first account of creation from the Book of Genesis.
This is very familiar to all of
us.
One of my thoughts is that this
story of creation reveals a great truth about God.
The story teaches that God
controls and rolls back darkness, and then controls and rolls back water with
its death-dealing potential.
In doing this, God makes way for
light to enable us to see.
And God so orders water that it
will sustain life – all kinds of life.
What is implicit, maybe even
explicit here is that God is the source of light and life.
In fact, God is light itself and
life itself.
God is light and God is life.
I draw two conclusions from this
revelation in Genesis.
First, the light or enlightenment
for our journey on this earth is to come from God.
We are to seek this light from
God.
We do this by reading the
Scripture, the inspired Word of God.
And we do this by taking in the
guidance of the Church and the insight and wisdom of spiritual authors –
persons of faith who try to convey what God’s Word means and how it applies to
us today.
So we are to seek light from the
One who is light itself.
And my second conclusion is that
we need to respect life in all of its forms.
Genesis teaches that God is the
source of life and must be life itself.
So, all of life is sacred.
We are to care for, protect, and
do what we can to enhance all forms of life – from an unborn child in the womb,
to our frail elderly, to plant and animal species, to our entire environment.
All of this is part of respecting
life.
So, I draw all of this from the
creation story in Genesis.
