Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, 1st Reading

As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.
Isaiah 62:5

Sociologists tell us that we are living in an age in which many people view God as being both close and distant. They believe in God, and that there is a moral order that he set up, albeit vague, and that we can pray to him. But for the most part God is placed to the side and used when He is useful. God doesn’t necessarily have a place in people's everyday existence and in the decisions they make in their lives. He is like a cosmic fireman’s ax, behind a glass that we only break in cases of emergency. The technical term for this is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD). The deism born from the Enlightenment taught that it was God who put the world on a shelf, like a freshly wound clock, to be forgotten about as the hands moved into a meaningless future. But now it is the world that has put God on the shelf, only to be referenced when it is deemed necessary for some personal need.

The saddest part of this trend is that MTD has been adopted as the default position by many Western Christians (in fact, it has been deemed the “American Religion”). The problem, of course, is that this is not the biblical view of the kind of relationship God wants to have with us. While Isaiah’s words were directed to the Israelite community as a whole, we can also see in them the essence of the individual’s relationship to God. God wishes to enter into an intimate union with the individual soul, not a simple service agreement. Infidelity to God and his commandments, especially through idolatry, is often referred to as adultery. This marriage imagery appears throughout the scriptures, but is too often overlooked. If we read the writings of the great mystics the higher levels of contemplation are often described in almost romantic terms, as a lover might speak of his or her beloved. God consumes them, and every part of their lives is effected by this bond of unitive love.

When we love that deeply there is no sacrifice we won’t make for the other. That person is always on our minds and we fear doing something that would lose their affection. Putting someone on a shelf means that the relationship is over, or at the very least is taking a lower position on our list of priorities. But when we truly allow God into our souls, not as a helper or even as a friend, but as the true passion of our lives, there is no putting Him aside. He is a demanding lover who expects that our devotion be complete, and He doesn’t tolerate rivals. Right conduct is not defined in vague terms, but is very precise. Yes, He is a forgiving, quick to overlook faults and eager for us to return when we wander, but He will also let us go if we really don’t want to live with Him in our lives. God is a lover, not a slaveholder.

As we enter into this new year, it’s a good time make an examination of conscience, asking ourselves where God is in our lives. Is He the passion of my soul, or someone akin to a repairman we call when the cable goes out? Do we rejoice in Him and allow him to rejoice in us, or have we put Him on a shelf?