FRIDAY, May 1 Saint Philip and Saint James

I imagine God the Father Almighty seated on his heavenly throne and saying to himself one day, "I've tried every way I can think of to get their attention--speaking gently, speaking harshly, plagues,  the wilderness, manna, commandments, commandments again, healings, dreams in the middle of the night, prophets, military victories, military defeats, restoration, and I forget what all else. And they still don't recognize me. I can't think of another thing  to do.

"Except one thing. It sounds crazy. The heavenly host will scream if I even suggest it. But maybe if I went down there and assumed a body just like theirs, walked around, ate, slept, worked, sweated, caught colds and flu, and all the rest; maybe if I  put aside my divine omniscience and omnipotence and got acquainted with uncertainty, let myself be misunderstood, abused, maligned--if I became one of them--then my words would be more than words. Then I wouldn't have to tell them what I mean because I could show them. I could say, 'If you want to know what God the Father Almighty is like, then look here, look at this one man.'

"Surely then they would know me."

PRAY for the Diocese of Central Tanganyika (Tanzania)