Wednesday, June 29

The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime (pp. 149-152)

To read this morning's office, click here.

Our faith is profoundly personal. God reveals himself in nature, but that is not enough. God reveals himself in Law, but that is not enough. God reveals himself in the Temple, but that is not enough. God raises up kings and prophets and sages, but they are not enough.

It is easy for me, as a theologian, to spend my time learning "about" God by analyzing nature and what natural theologians say; or what the Law tells us; or what the Temple reveals; or what God has said through people. But, learning about God is no substitute for learning to know God personally. To do this I must turn all my study into worship, and all my research into relationship.

Not until God had made himself manifest, not until God had become in incarnate, not until God had become just like us, was God able to say, "It is enough."

God is a Person, and so his final revelation of his love, his grace, and his redemption is found in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Places, laws, natural beauty may reflect God, the way a sacred icon reflects God for those who use them in worship, but nothing tells us more about God than the Son.

In fact, we can say that we don't know God until we know the Son, who has disclosed God's very nature to us.

Our faith is personal because our God is personal.