The Many Guises of God

Dear Friends,

On a day like today – Trinity Sunday – when we celebrate the Life of Our God, think of stories you have heard or experiences you have had in which the touch of God has become evident. I can give you an example of such a story.

A few years ago, 4-year-old Katie was disconsolate because her dog Scottie had died. One afternoon, as Katie’s mother, Mary, was getting supper, she thought she heard Katie talking with someone upstairs. Mary found Katie on the phone, earnestly telling someone about Scottie. When Katie became aware of Mary, Katie whispered: “I’m talking with God to make sure Scottie is in heaven and that God knows Scottie is there.”

Mary took the phone from Katie, fully expecting no one to be there. On the other end was an elderly woman’s voice. For a few moments, Mary and the woman talked. Mary thanked her for her compassion toward Katie.

When the phone bill came a few weeks later, Mary found that Katie had called a remote part of Nebraska. On impulse, Mary punched in the numbers again. This time, a young voice answered – a man who told Mary that the woman whom Katie called was his mother. She had lived alone and was quite ill at the time of Katie’s call. One of her great sustaining moments in those last months had been their conversation, and she had since died.

The question is: who was God in this situation? Was God the woman who consoled Katie? Was Katie the embodiment of God for the fragile woman? Both, I think. Each of these people needed tangible contact with God. Neither was disappointed.

God, who is creator, redeemer, sanctifier, Mother-Father, Word Made Flesh, Spirit On Fire – God who is the fullness of relationship – is our appreciator, rescuer, our confidant in moments of crisis, our assurance that, over the horizon of death, we will survive. God is the surprise who comes to us in may guises.

Today’s feast reminds us that our stories are interwoven with the very life of God. Our relationships mirror God’s very life.

At times like this, when we see relationships between individuals, groups and nations strained and broken, it’s good to remind ourselves that there is one who is the fullness of relationship. Just as Katie lost her dog and the Nebraska woman died, the people of Ukraine will suffer great losses. Like Katie and the senior woman, the suffering people of Ukraine, are gifted with the presence of God. God comes to them in every act of kindness, every gesture of healing or support. God is on the other end of the phone, the driver of the bus, the kind gravedigger who gently buries those killed in the war.

So too with the people of Buffalo and Uvalde. Those who died by violence in these last weeks were not alone in their dying. God shielded them, held them close and now holds close the grieving families.

Trinity Sunday makes us pause over and look lovingly on God and hold God close. 

~Sister Joan Sobala