From Ignatius House
Thu Sep 25, '14
All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full.
To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going.
(Ecclesiastes 1:7)
Dear Friends,
A grammar school teacher once asked my class, "Where does all of the water flowing down the Potomac River go?" That question, like many inquiries that particular teacher put before us, stayed with me for some time. Once when my Dad took me and another brother with him into Virginia on business. As we headed home, there it was beneath us as we crossed Memorial Bridge. The teacher's question came to mind. Then I asked a few question about the river, somewhat like the automobile commercial that plays on TV these days. "Dad, where does all this water go?" He replied, "To the Chesapeake Bay?" "But where does that water go?" I asked. His reply: "To the Atlantic Ocean." Thinking I might have led him to a trap, I asked "But where does the water in the ocean go?" He paused for a few moments and said, "You'd better ask your mother!" Not satisfied, I asked "Does it fall off the earth somewhere?" Laughing, he replied again, "You'd better ask you teacher!"
Running rivers are but one of those remarkable feats of the creative God. Somewhere behind the rain-filled clouds in the Washington area this morning, I know there is a ball of fire that has already risen above the eastern horizon. Surely you know the answers to these questions. However, do you ever stop to consider what is the "constant" factor in all of these feats of nature? What is there that makes that sun rise each day or those rivers to continue from the tiny rivulets usually somewhere at a higher elevation.
Another question: Is God the power He wants to be in the very center of my life, my universe? What is there in these events of nature that draws us closer to our Creator God? God is the "constant" in our lives if we but let Him enter. Like the USMC (Marine Corp) motto, "Semper Fi," Always faithful, God is there for us if we want Him ... if we want Him!
Did you ever trace a river back to its beginning? No river is as wide there as it is when it reaches the oceans or the seas. Where does all of that water end up or does it ever continue on somewhere, somehow? And God in my life began seventy plus years ago, just a little information at first but look where it has brought me today ... just as has happened in your life as well!
Oremus pro invicem!
Fr. Milt
