Dive In

 I read a wonderful reflection yesterday in Give Us This Day, the daily prayer/meditation book that I use.  The reflection was written by Father Anthony J. Gittins in his book, The Way of Discipleship.  Father Gittins died in 2023, but I am sure he would be pleased that I pass along his profound thoughts.

He said that he had been standing on Promontory Point overlooking Lake Michigan, thinking how vast -- almost infinite -- the lake is, how hard it is to "take it in," so to speak in its beauty and wonder.  It somewhat overwhelmed him as he tried to drink it all in.  However, a few months later, he stood on the same point and watched people all around him jumping and diving into the lake -- and he realized that although none of them was completely able to "take in" Lake Michigan, that immense body was able to take in each one of them, so that they were immersed and submerged in it (but not swallowed up or drowned.)

Father Gittins reflected that God is like that lake and we are the swimmers.  None of us can completely "take in" or comprehend God, but each of us can become immersed in Him without drowning or being engulfed.  We can experience God by throwing ourselves into His unfathomable depths, trusting that He will give us bouyancy and life.

Jesus, like the Rosetta Stone, translated the infinite and incomprehensible love and mercy of God into concrete signs of love, of healing, of forgiveness, of table fellowship.  He didn't ask us to try to comprehend it, but only to "dive into" God's offer of covenant love and friendship.  He even poured out the Holy Spirit as the means to enter into and submerge ourselves in the love of God.

Someone once said to me, "No one has ever proved to me the existence of God."  I wish I had been clever enough at the time to say, "If our small minds could comprehend the mystery of God, He would not be God. But we can dive into Him without understanding, and in Him we can find bouyancy and life!"