Lumen Fidei #4: God of History

Source

From #12: Gothic architecture gave clear expression to this: in the great cathedrals light comes down from heaven by passing through windows depicting the history of salvation. God's light comes to us through the account of his self-revelation, and thus becomes capable of illuminating our passage through time by recalling his gifts and demonstrating how he fulfills his promises.

Every year, I attempt to go to a Passover Seder. At the Seder, the experience of the Exodus is remembered. A couple years ago, I went to one where the family let me keep a copy of the book of prayers that was used. Let me share a couple of them with you so you can get a taste of what the Seder is like:

Leader says: In every generation, each of us should feel as though we ourselves had gone forth from Egypt, as it is written: "And you shall explain to your child on that day, it is because of what the Eternal did for me when I, myself, went forth from Egypt."-pg. 17

Leader says: Tonight we have told the story of our Exodus from Egypt; we tell the story to our children so that someday they will tell it to their children and to their children's children. By telling the story again and again we express our hope that each of us will be a link in the chain that stretches from G-d to Moses and Miriam, to our grandparents and our parents, to us and to our children, our hope that each of us will be a strong link in that chain that stretches from generation to generation, like hands holding hands across the years.-pg. 23

In the Passover Seder, the diners don't just remember the Exodus as some good thing that happened to their people millennia ago. It's God's action in history. It's God's intervention yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

It's like the Eucharist. The Passover Seder and the Mass both make history present. They link us with everyone who has come before and everyone who will come in the future. God isn't some clock-maker, He didn't just do good things in some distant time and then disappear. God is here. God is still working. He's never left the building.

This is part 4 of a series where I share parts of Lumen Fidei that struck me. Here are links to the others.