In life, we are always curious, as well as amazed by
mystery. There is always something that we don't quite understand.
Even ordinary things that we take for granted like gravity
and friction have something to tell us but we don't usually look deeper at it
and hence we just pass it by.
Yet when we lose the sense of mystery in religion and our
faith becomes de-mystified through rationalism and familiarism, then God would
become just a concept.
In the 1st reading, we hear the prophet Jeremiah lamenting
of such attitude when he said:
"The priests have never asked, "Where is the
Lord?". Those who administer the Law have no knowledge of the Lord. The
shepherds have rebelled against the Lord; the prophets have prophesied in the
name of Baal, following things with no power in them.
Yes, God had become just a thing that existed only in the
minds of the people but not a reality in their hearts.
As Jesus would quote the prophet Isaiah in the gospel: For
the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing, and
they have shut their eyes.
When we lose the sense of mystery, then we also lose touch
with the spiritual aspect of our lives. Our hearts would also grow coarse and
our lives are like leaky cisterns that hold no water.
Hence prayer is fundamental and essential in our lives.
Prayer softens our hearts and makes us sensitive to the mystery of the presence
of God around us and also in us.
God has revealed Himself to us in the Bible. Yet God
continues to reveal Himself to each of us in a personal way.
May our prayer lead us to a deeper encounter of the mystery
of God in our lives.