One of the images of God in the Bible is that he is a loving, wooing bridegroom, and we are his bride. He pursues us as the bridegroom who is totally smitten by his bride, but he does not overwhelm us; he woos us. “He [God] is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction...” (Job 36:16). In the same vein, Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them,” (John 6:44).

In times when the Catholic world is healthy, God woos most of us through the channels of the family, the institutional Church, or the prevailing culture. But what happens when we live in a time, in history, when those avenues can be so full of potholes, they become virtually impassable?

At the Proclaim Praise & Worship night here at Saint Benedict Parish, one young lady told her story of returning to her faith and mentioned that the sexual abuse scandal in the institutional Church had been a real barrier to her. It was in meeting and chatting with Fr. Simon and Fr. Alex, at her soccer club, that opened a pathway through her ‘Red Sea’. Interestingly, at first, she had no idea that the two of them were Catholic priests. She was confused when they introduced themselves as brothers because of their appearances and different ethnicities. She just assumed they meant they were adopted. So, did God use her love of soccer to allure her to a place where he could then woo her?

God can use the gifts, talents, and passions that he created in us to lure his prodigal children back home. The rest of the verse from chapter 36 of the book of Job says, “...to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.” God is calling and wooing us from something to something better. A place of freedom. Our spiritual ‘promised land’. A place to stretch out our arms and breathe. A venue of restoration and redemption where the table of our soul’s nourishment is laden with the best of the best. All we must do is keep our ears alert for the whispers of that “still small voice” that is calling to us. As Saint Paul says, “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word (the whispers) of Christ,” (Romans 10.17).