If
you think for a moment of some of the modern day people in our world who were
considered holy during their life-time: people like Gandhi, Padre Pio, Mother
Teresa of Calcutta, John Paul II, and there are many others. Why did people
flock to see them? Mother Teresa was just a very wrinkly little old lady and
yet everywhere she went she drew thousands of people. Why? We have
plenty of little old ladies here, so why did they go to her? Because she was close
to God; someone who was in tune with the ways of the Lord and who lived by
them. People who met her said it had a profound effect on them.
We
are attracted by holiness in people because it gives us a sense of the presence
of God. There is a difference between holiness and piety. Piety is when people
can be very devout and into all kinds of devotions etc. There is nothing wrong
with this, but it’s not the same as holiness. And just because someone is pious
doesn’t necessarily mean they are holy. Holiness is really about being close to
God.
We are attracted to holiness because
God is attractive. If He wasn’t we wouldn’t keep coming to mass, we wouldn’t continually
seek him out in different places. You may feel that you come to mass because
you are obliged to, or because it’s the thing to do, but that’s not really the
reason. You come here because God draws you here. God continually draws us to him, but gently.
He will never force us, and so we can resist if we wish. I have been told that
up to quite recently the biggest area of interest in bookshops was occult and
spiritual books. That is another indication of people’s search for God.
God has created us in such a way that
there is what you might call a ‘God shaped hole’ within us that only He can
fill. Nothing else will fully satisfy us. Material things will satisfy for a
very short time only. People will bring us joy for longer, but will never
completely fulfill us because they can’t. Only the Lord himself will satisfy us
completely because God has created us in such a way that we have a capacity for
the infinite. Only what is infinite will fill us completely.
So when we meet people who seem to be
close to God, we are drawn to them, because we want to get closer to God. We
can’t help it.
Sometimes
when people get married they are disappointed after a while because they don’t
feel completely fulfilled by their partner. No other person is going to
completely fulfil us, because we would be asking them to do what only God can
do. If we realise this it can be a great help, but if we expect another ‘mere
human being’ to fill this God shaped hole within us, then we’re going to be
disappointed.
In
today’s Gospel we are again presented with John the Baptist; this strange man
that so many people wanted to listen to. Jesus said that he was the greatest
man ever born of a woman, which is quite something to say about anyone. He was
a prophet, but also much more than a prophet. He was the one that God himself
sent to announce the coming of Jesus.
So
what did John say? When he saw Jesus he said to the people with him, ‘There is
the lamb of God… follow him, not me. He’s the one you want, I’m not.’
Those
words sound familiar. ‘Here is the lamb of God’… When the priest holds up the
host at communion he says, ‘Here is the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of
the world.’ It’s the same thing that John the Baptist said. John said, ‘Follow
him.’ Mother Teresa said, ‘Follow him’.
Padre Pio said, ‘Follow him.’ Our Pope says, ‘Follow him.’ He is the One we are looking for, but we
often don’t realise it. Jesus is the only one who can fulfil us, the only one we
need to keep our sights on.
The
world around us will change, but God won’t. The world around us will disappoint
us, but God won’t. ‘There is the lamb of God… he is the one to follow.’
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