God Woos Us

One of the images of God in Scripture is that He is a loving, wooing, bridegroom and we are His bride. He pursues us as the bridegroom who is totally smitten by His bride, but He does not overwhelm us, He woos us. “He (God) is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction…” Job 36:16. In the same vein, Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them”, John 6:44.

In times when the Catholic world is healthy, God woos most of us through the channels of the family, the institutional Church, or the prevailing culture but what happens when we live in a time, in history, when those avenues can be so full of potholes, they become virtually impassable?

At the “Proclaim” praise and worship evening, at St. Benedict Parish, one young lady told her story of returning to her Faith and mentioned that the abuse scandal in the institutional Church had been a real barrier to her. It was her meeting and chatting with Father Simon and Father Alex, at her soccer club, that opened a pathway through her Red Sea. Interestingly, at first, she had no idea that they the two of them were Catholic priests. She was confused when they introduced themselves as brothers because of their appearances and ethnicities.  She just assumed they meant they were adopted. So, did God use her love of soccer, and the openness of Father Simon and Father Alex, as a dating app of sorts, to alure her to a place where He could then woo her?

God can use the gifts, talents, and passions that He created in us in order to lure His prodigal children back home. The rest of the verse from Job 36:16 says “…to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.” God is calling and wooing us “from” something “to” something better. A place of freedom. Our spiritual “promised land”. A place to stretch our arms and breath. A venue of restoration and redemption where the table of our soul’s nourishment is laden with the best of the best. All we must do is keep our ears alert for the whispers of that “still small voice” that is calling to us. As Saint Paul says,”So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word (the whispers) of God”, Romans 10.17.

Edmund Blair Leighton - A Wet Sunday Morning

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