WE ARE GOD IN THE WORLD

When I was studying theology, one of the authors I had to read was Karl Rahner, an abstruse German (that’s probably redundant) Jesuit (which may make him even more abstruse!). It usually took me three readings before I could understand what Rahner was trying to convey. Sometimes I never did get it. Maybe that’s why he was a theologian and I turned out to be a simple parish priest.

One of Rahner’s deep but very-insightful and certainly profound observations was that when we are human in the fullest sense, we are “God’s existence in the world”. By that Rahner means – at least that’s what I think he means – God is in the world, God works in this world of ours in and through human beings. Whenever we do Godly deeds, we are being God in this world. God works in and through God’s creatures and God’s creation and really in no other way. Why? God only knows the answer to that; but what we do know is that is how God has chosen to act in this world of ours – for better or for worse.

Of course the “for better or for worse” all depends on how we human beings act. The burden for making this world the world God intends it to be therefore is laid upon our shoulders and it is a burden that we cannot avoid carrying. We may not want to carry such a load – who would? – but we have no choice. It comes with the territory of being human in the fullest sense.

In essence this means that when we begin to question why things are the way they are, when we ask why bad things happen to good people, we are really asking ourselves why we allow such bad things to happen. Being God’s existence in the world means that we have responsibility for what goes on in this world, for preventing the bad and for doing the good. God works in and through us.

It is a burden. There is no doubt about that. There are two ways of going about carrying this burden, or at least the attitude that should underpin everything we do. There is the positive attitude, if you will, and there is he negative one. On the one hand we can define ourselves by what we stand for, what we support. On the negative side, we can define ourselves by what we are against. Perhaps even more we can define ourselves by who we are rather than by who we are not.

It’s a mindset. When we choose to define ourselves by who we are and what we stand for, then we have the responsibility for living out those stances. We are doing something and not simply standing around opposing but doing nothing. We may be in error about what we believe is right, but at least we are acting and we are open, open to learning that we might be in error and open to change.

All this can be somewhat frightening as well. To think that whatever we do is a reflection of God in and to the world should give us pause. The responsibility can be overwhelming if we think we have to go it alone. But we do not because we have one another and because it is impossible. Jesus didn’t go it alone because he could not. That’s why he gathered a group of disciples of which we are a part. We are now God/Jesus to the world.