One of the keys to trying to discern where a person is on his or her spiritual journey through life is to ask them his or her own personal view of God. Images of God gleaned from the words of an individual Christian can assist the spiritual director to help the true and ultimate Spiritual Director, the Holy Spirit of God, to guide the growth of the man or woman in formation.

Is our image of God one of a loving and caring Father who gently guides and orders the way of His beloved children? Is it of a good friend who cares for us and gives us good advice when we’re struggling to find our way? Is our image of God one of the Divine Physician healing the wounds which our sins and indecisions have made on our world-view? Is it that of the cosmic bridge builder who stretches Himself to bring us from desolation to salvation? All these seem to be positive and, for the most part, healthy images of God for a Christian.

Upon occasion, a spiritual director encounters a person whose image of God is that of the Divine judge or Divine policeman who is there to correct us and slap us down. Sometimes, our image of God might be that of a taskmaster who notices only our infractions and holds them against us.

In the first reading given to us today from the Book of Genesis, the patriarch Abraham, the friend of God, speaks on behalf of the people of the city of Sodom. Objectively, Sodom is a den of iniquity. So much wrongdoing is occurring, it is a walking scandal. Sin is deeply and truly present. And yet, Abraham is able to talk the punishment of the Lord down if only he can find a few good people in the midst of a crooked and depraved generation.

What is your image of God? The Lord we worship wants us to live lives that are holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our lives. God wants us to obey His commands, to love Him and serve Him in this life so that we might be able to live with Him in the life to come. We need to, as St. Thomas Aquinas advises us, “do good and avoid evil.” Yet, we should not lose heart when we do sin and fall short of the mark.

The Lord wants to save us. God is deeply, madly, truly in love with us! He has created us to be higher than the angels. The Lord has made us in His image and likeness, and despite the stain of sin in our lives, we are fundamentally good.

The arms of the Lord are open wide on the cross in an embrace of love for you and me. The Our Father which we are taught to pray today in the Gospel passage from the Evangelist Luke reminds us of this. Jesus’ own image, His very real experience of God is that of the loving and caring Father who gives us each day our daily bread.

It’s tough for us to realize how much we’re loved by God. We’re not worthy of this love. Nothing that we can do in and of ourselves can make us worthy of this love, except for the will of Love Incarnate Himself, Jesus Christ, our Lord. God is Abba, Father. As the song goes, we are “the work of your hands,” Abba Father. On our worst day, may we not lose sight of this saving truth.

    Readings:

    Genesis 18:20-32
    Psalms 138:1-2, 2-3, 6-7, 7-8
    Colossians 2:12-14
    Luke 11:1-13

Father Cush is on the faculty of Cathedral Preparatory Seminary, Elmhurst.