Homilies and Reflections

God – source of anxiety or peace

By Fr. John Bostwick, O. Praem.

"There is probably no God - so stop worrying and enjoy your life." I first ran across this statement some months ago. It was - as I recall - part of an advertising campaign in the UK. Frankly, I thought it was mildly funny and more appealing (?) than the harsh rhetoric of some of the aggressive contemporary atheists. Of course the gentle approach might well be more effective for their cause. A few weeks ago this bit showed up on our priory bulletin board and caused a minor uproar. Some folks were confused and/or offended. At least one of the brothers was concerned that someone - a guest or community member from another house might see it and take offense or get the wrong idea. No one had signed the posting and we do have an agreement that anyone posting something should identify himself. I did not post the item, but neither was I concerned about it, though I agree that it should have been signed.

I still think it is clever and, in its way, funny. I also think that behind the clever line is a distorted image of God. Why would the existence or thought of God be a source of anxiety and worry? For me, the opposite is true. It is precisely in God that I feel secure and at peace, in Him that life makes sense and in Him I find a sense of joy. But I can see that if ---if - one's sense of God is as an adversary, a "bloodhound on the scent of sin" in someone's memorable phrase, then perhaps this clever saying can be a source of relief. So much of the atheist rhetoric strikes me as a response to a "god" who does not exist, who is not the God of Christian faith, but an entity cobbled together from bits and pieces of Scripture and from the distortions littered through Christian history and the bad behavior of some Christians.

A saying attributed by some to St Anthony the Great is: "I no longer fear God, I love Him - and perfect love casts out fear." This comes close to what I experience and feel, at least on my good days. We speak in our prayers as God the "Lover of humanity", God who loves all He has created". How can the One who creates us, sustains us and loves us be a source of anxiety? The anxiety, where it is present - and it often is - does not truly come from God, but from the all too many ways we humans distort and obscure Him. I tell my students that in the end our religion and our spiritual lives should lead to freedom, communion, compassion and love. If our spiritual practice yields the opposite, something is wrong.
"Glory to God for all things!"