Children

God is entrusting me to care for His children – to the best of my ability…

God the Father on a Throne with the Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus (Gottvater Thronend Westfalen)

What was the purpose of the Apostles?

Have you ever thought about that?

After all, God can raise people (including Himself) back from the dead.  He can start and end the world.  He can cure the sick and heal the broken hearted.  God is literally LIMITLESS…  That means that God has perfect capacity to do everything required for His Church.  He does not need a Pope or Bishops or Priests.  Nuns and Monks and Brothers are not needed either.

God can do whatever needs to be done without any need of us at all.

So, what is the purpose of the Apostles…?

I have been thinking about this a lot, because although I am not a priest or religious, I am certainly a disciple – an apostle – of God.  And this means that God must have some purpose for me…

And as I have been thinking about this I came across the words of the Gospel…

“Now it happened that as He was praying alone the disciples were with Him; and He asked them, ‘Who do the people say that I am?’ And they answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others say, Elijah; and others, that one of the old prophets has risen.’ And He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ And Peter answered, ‘The Christ of God.’” (Luke 9:18-22).

There is a sort of transmission of Faith there.

My mother always said that children learn from other children.  And my mother should know as she spent a decade as a kindergarten teacher and then decades as a mother and almost twenty years as a catechist teaching in primary schools – teaching children is her life’s work.  She often said that you could speak to a child day and night, but until that child sat and played with another child, then they would not be able to learn what you were trying to communicate.

And I have been thinking about that today.  You see, I think it is very similar with the apostles.  God does not NEED the apostles.  He can do whatever He wishes without any human help.  But, I think in many ways, that WE need the apostles.

And by this I mean, that we need to hear the stories from other flawed creatures to be able to – in our flawed, sinful and ignorant states – understand what it is that God is doing for us…  God could force it on us – but just as He comes to us in the form of bread and wine for our small state, He comes to us through His other children – because children learn best from other children…And it is in THAT that I can find my purpose.  You see, God knows what He wants and He also knows that He can deliver it with or without my help.  But He is providing me with an opportunity to speak to His other children – one child to another – so that together, we can work out exactly what we need to do.

And when you stop and think about that, it seems that my purpose is just so important to my Beloved God.  For He is entrusting me to care for His children – to the best of my ability…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.