Perpetual Distractions

Thought on Sunday

from the desk of Fr. Ignatius Waters C.P.

Sunday 21st September 2014

What’s the point of having a ‘Thought on Sunday’ when it’s so quickly forgotten? Do you remember last Sunday’s thought? Probably not! And I probably would have forgotten it as well if I hadn’t come across a lovely story from the Hindu tradition that confirms my concluding remarks last week. And they were, “Our life journeys are different but, like Christy Dignam, all of us need to be shaken up and wakened up in some way!”

Here’s the story. God and a man are walking down the road. The man asks God: “What is the world like?” God answers: “I’d like to tell youbut my throat is parched. I need a cup of cold water. Please get me a cup of cold waterand I’ll tell you what the world is like.” The man heads off to the nearest house to ask for a cup of cold water. He knocks on the door and it is opened by a beautiful young woman. He asks for the water but she answers, “I’ll gladly get it for you but it’s lunch time. Why not first come in and have lunch? He does.

Thirty years later, they’ve had five children; he’s a respected merchant andshe’s highly respected and loved in the whole community. They’re in their house one evening whena hurricane hits the whole area. The man cries out, “Help me God!”  And a voice comes from the centre of the hurricane: “Where’s my cup of cold water?”

As with all parables, it’s better you reflecton it yourself. What does it say about the human condition? What does it say about our relationship with God? Here are a few thoughts to get you started. It seems that being human means we are constantly distracted. It’s not that we’re constantly aware of what’s really important in life but occasionally get distracted. No. It’s that we’re so preoccupied with the ordinary business of living that it takes a hurricane of some kind (like Christy Dignam’s cancer) for real awareness to break through. C.S. Lewis put it this way: “God is always speaking to us, but normally we’re not aware; we’re not listening.” So some kind of hurricane is needed!

Also, despite the hurricane, the story is essentially consoling. Even the hurricane has a loving intent. To wake us up! And if God asks for his cup of cold water only every thirty years, that’s not very demanding, is it? Remember Jesus said that as long as we give it to one of his brothers or sisters, we give it to him. And he did constantly remind us of the need to wake up to spiritual realities, at the same time reassuring us that God loves and understands us and is ever ready to forgive us. He understands our nature better than we do. He knows we get involved and absorbed in many things. So God must be more like loving parents or grandparents gazing on their children at a family gathering, happy they have full lives that absorb them and not demanding their constant attention.

                  I know not all parents or grandparents are like this!  But God is!