5th Week in Ordinary Time (B) : Saturday 13th February 2021

‘Where are you?’

This is the question God has asked humans for thousands of years. We avoid him. We hide from God because we are frightened or ashamed. We even convince ourselves that God is not present or does not exist.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and then they were conscious of ‘self’ — being separated from God and one another. This ancient teaching story tells us that most of life’s difficulties do not come from God but human choices.

In the story, Adam and Eve were banished from God’s presence, but at Easter time, we sing of a ‘happy fault’ and ‘necessary sin of Adam.’ Perhaps this exile was a long learning process for human beings. Maybe God knew that Adam and Eve would both disobey. But Jesus leads us back into that garden step by step.

God’s abundance and loving care were demonstrated in the miraculous feeding at the hands of Jesus. Humans see only lack — what they want but do not have. They are driven by fear of not having enough. Jesus took what ‘little’ they had and blessed it — and there was more than enough. If we could only trust in the generosity of God, our world would be less violent.

There is enough for all, if only we imitate the generosity of God. Being in harmony with God means an absence of fear and a sense of inner peace; this is what the garden of Eden is.

Lord, remove all fear and doubt from my heart.