Where is God ?

Given the complexities 2020 has brought with it, many have asked the question “Where is God?”.  This brief reflection has been adapted from a blog created by Paul Skippen, founder and editor of GPBS (Gather, Proclaim, Break, Send) 

The teacher was making a point while correcting a child by helping him recall that God is everywhere. The teacher asked the child, “Where is God?” The child was silent, so the teacher asked again, “Where is God?” Same response. So quite insistently again the teacher asked, “Where is God?” The child ran out of the room and hid in a cupboard. The principal saw the child run there and opened the door. The child was crying. “What’s wrong?” the principal asked. The child replied, “I’m really in trouble now. God’s gone, and my teacher thinks I took God!” 

God is never gone, of course, yet many of us, in the face of tragedy or loss or violence, have asked, “Where is God?” Facing these same issues, children look to us to answer, to reassure them that God is everywhere. 

That belief is central to the Catholic faith. God is explicitly in religion class or when we participate in Mass. God is implicitly present in all our words and behaviours – we speak and act this way because we believe that God is present. 

Where is God, then? God is in the classroom, on the playground, in the library, at family gatherings or in the car. God is in the staffroom, the kitchen and the workplace. We can sense God’s presence in the witness of our colleagues and children. 

Reflect on where you see God’s presence in your life.  

To Pray:  God, I know you are everywhere. Help me sense your presence so that others may also know and feel your presence. Amen. 

Megan Mahoney
Assistant to the Principal Formation & Identity