What God Looks Like

Holy Thursday
April 18, 2019
Sr Phyllis Jaszkowiak

Listen here.

Jesus gives us a model to follow.  Don’t be afraid to be humble in doing the work the lowest paid people do, those we take for granted.  We should be willing to serve others, to clean up the mess others make, to take the last place, to wash people’s feet and sometimes bathe them when they cannot bathe themselves, or even maybe to get paid the least or not at all.  And through it all learn what God wishes us to do to make things better and more just for people, especially the least

Sr. Joan Chittister tells a story.  “Tommy, the three year old, seemed agitated.  He insisted on being alone with the infant brother who had now come into the family.  He was so intent on it that the parents began to question his behavior.  Was it love or was it jealousy?  Would he hurt the baby if he were left alone with him?  So they set up a baby monitor by the crib and left the room to watch for signs of distress.
 
“Sure enough, as soon as he was alone with the baby, Tommy went straight to the crib, shook the baby awake and said, ‘Eddie, I’m your big brother Tommy.  I want you to tell me what God looks like.  You know because you just came from there but I’m three now and I’m beginning to forget…’”
 
Jesus came to show us again what God looks like, who God is, that we come from God, and are made in God’s image.  It is something we need to be constantly reminded as we forget so easily.
 
Jean Vanier says, “Jesus, revealing himself as the least one in society, the one who does the dirty jobs, the one who is in the last place, calls his followers to be attentive to the least in society.  God is not out of reach, in the skies.  God is hidden in the ‘heavens’ of the hearts of all those who are in the last place.  The gospel message is the world upside down.”
 
Today Jesus shows us God, the One who lifts us up, gives us food for body and soul, cares for us, humbly serves us, loves us to the end, and gives life to us through the giving of self.
 
The Triduum is all about this God whom we follow, whom we love, who loves us, who is always with us, within us.  Let us remember, from tonight, what God looks like, and in our own lives show God to others.
 
Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB.  MONASTIC WAY.  April 2019
Jean Vanier.  DRAWN INTO THE MYSTERY OF JESUS, quoted in GIVE US THIS DAY. April 2019, page 221. Liturgical Press