God’s Stunning Revelations
BY ELLIE HIDALGO | July 25, 2022
Sunday’s Readings
Sunday’s first reading surprises me because we see Abraham rising up to defend the people of Sodom and Gomorrah against God’s possible retribution for their grave sins. Abraham lays it all on the line, pressing and persisting with God until God’s justice and mercy is more fully revealed—with even 10 good people in the city, God will spare the entire city.
It’s one of those crucial conversations in which the banter between Abraham and God clarifies a bit more the nature of God’s universe—one in which forgiveness is possible. It’s a stunning revelation. And it gets confirmed in the Gospel reading when Jesus centers forgiving one another as God forgives us in the prayer he gives us.
This July has brought more stunning revelations about the nature of our early universe with the release of the NASA photos from the new groundbreaking Webb telescope. Webb operations project scientist at NASA Goddard Jane Rigby has been quoted widely in the press:
“The universe has (always) been out there. We just had to build a telescope to go see what was there. Yeah, very similar feeling of, maybe, people in a broken world managing to do something right and to see some of the majesty that is out there.”
Even in our current deeply broken world we keep persisting and rising up, and with God’s grace, manage to do something right. And God’s beauty and majesty are suddenly revealed in ways much greater than we ever expected or understood before.
Can we dare to believe that we will be enough and that God’s love for us will be enough to sustain us on our human pilgrim journey barreling through the cosmos and co-creating the reign of God? We just might have this.
Ellie Hidalgo is co-director of Discerning Deacons, a project to engage Catholics in the active discernment of our Church about women in the diaconate and to contribute to the renewal of the diaconate for our times. Previously, she served as pastoral associate at Dolores Mission Church and School in Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles, CA. Ellie received her master’s in pastoral theology from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She is based in Miami, FL.
As the author points out, in the midst of this broken world we can do something right. Loving God and loving our neighbor is something right. We see a person holding the door for another, we see a person stopping to talk, we see a person waving a person ahead in the grocery line, we see a person letting the car into the space ahead of us. we see a person giving their undivided attention to another, we see a person offering coffee to another. So in the midst of today we ‘do something right’ We offfer ourselves to one another to make this universe beaautiful- filled with Holy Spirit’s grace and glory.
What positive and insightful words and reflection to begin my week. What a beautiful image to share from the Webb telescope to remind me of the infinitesimal love of God and how each of us carries a small spark of it to share with each other and together to ignite a fire. Thank you, Ellie.
Not all but most things we do right and some less right. Otherwise it is just impossible to come thus far. The Omniscient and Omnipresent Creator sees it all and knows it all. Praise the Lord.
I do not have a telescope, but I can admire God’s ongoing creation in the plants around me wherever I ran.