July 28, 2008

Underwear

This morning at Mass, I dared myself to preach on this earthy image from the prophet Jeremiah:
For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins,
so had I made the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD;
to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty.
But they did not listen.

Too often we act like we have to reach up and grab God by agonistic prayer. In fact, God is just dying to be with us if we will only allow it. That's why the creation happened in the first place--that God might be incarnate in it and present to it. How close does God want to be? As close as your underwear.

Perhaps there's a vesting prayer to be written here. When we put on our underwear we could remind ourselves that this is how close God wants to be to us.

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