Before God created the world, it was all a formless void.
Minus God, creation is nothing, both the matter and form aspect of it.The riches that God has bestowed on creation
could be counted both in terms of the immense material resources scattered
throughout the earth and the wisdom, intelligence and purpose that God has
granted to man.For man always to be
rich in Spirit, he has to be in touch with God his author.
There is nothing that could afflict the soul of man with dryness, emptiness and wretchedness as self alienation from God the author of life.Christ the Son of God who is the Wisdom of God made visible, is our true author to God.Those days come in our lives when God seems so abstract and life tasteless.At such times, the tendency is for us to grope in darkness and to live at a shallow and purposeless level.At such times, the God of ultimate goodness invites us to leave our folly and vague way and encounter him in a practical manner through His Son Jesus Christ.Through Christ, the God who dwells in light inaccessible has got practical framework through which we have a person to person contact with Him and as such are able to enter right inside Him and drink from His riches.We have the structure of the Church and her teaching, the sacraments, the written Word of God and the codified commandments of God, all mediating God and His wisdom in the person of His Son Jesus Christ.
God wants us to come to our wretchedness, the come to Him through the structures that He has established and feast to our satisfaction.Hear the summon through the scriptures:“Wisdom has built herself a house, she has erected her seven pillars, she has slaughtered her beasts, prepared her wine, she has laid her table.She has despatched her maidservants and proclaimed from the city’s heights, “who is ignorant? Let him step this way” to the fool she says, “Come and eat bread, drink the wine I have prepared!Leave your folly and you will live, walk in the ways of perception.”(Proverbs 9: 1-6)
When we come to God in Christ, He will bring sanity and integrity into our lives, give us purpose, sense of direction and joy and even make our lives a pattern for those who have missed their bearing.It is only when we hinge our lives on Christ and His values that our lives start to be a means of salvation to others.So the Scripture admonishes us: ‘Be very careful about the sort of lives you lead, like intelligent not like senseless people.This may be a wicked age, but your lives should redeem it. And do not be thoughtless but recognize what is the Will of the Lord.Do not drug yourselves with wine, this is simply dissipation;be filled with the Spirit.Sing the words and tunes of the psalms and hymns when you are together, and go on singing and chanting to the Lord in your hearts, so that always and everywhere you are giving thanks to God who is our father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Ephesians 5: 15-20)
Those who encounter the Lord and drink from His fountain through His Son Jesus Christ never cease to sing His praises, they know how good the Lord is, they are so eager to teach it to others.The words of the following psalm sum their sentiments and their words of praise:“I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise always on my lips; in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.The humble shall hear and be glad.Revere the Lord, you His saints.They lack nothing, those who revere the Lord, His saints. They lack nothing, those who revere Him.Strong lions suffer want and go hungry but those who seek the Lord lack no blessing.Come, children, and hear me that I may teach you the fear of the Lord.Who is he who longs for life and many days, to enjoy his prosperity?Then keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.Turn aside from evil and do good, seek and strive after peace.”(Psalm 33)
For us to keep body and spirit alive and in the path of salvation, we must eat of Christ, and drink of Him.We must be nourished by His Words, we have to be fed from the table of the Eucharist.He became man and came to the world just for the sake of giving life and meaning to the world.Without Him we cannot live, without a true taste of Him we cannot flourish.For this, he states, “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.Anyone who eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6: 5 1)Despite the protest of the crowd He insisted:“I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you will not have life in you.Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day.”(John 6)
