psalm 42: no permanent house just mobile tents - 4th week easter monday

Today we meditate on our responsorial psalm, psalm 42.  Our psalm uses the image of a thirsty deer as the symbol of a person in constant search of God, a praying person seeking, longing for God.  Body and soul is drawn, aching as it were for something distant, something seemingly unreachable, and yet something very much needed, something which my whole being is longing to behold. 

As the hind longs for the running waters, so my soul longs for you, O God.  Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.  When shall I go and behold the face of God?

Psalm 42 reminds us that our search for God is a never-ending quest, a never-ending search.  One cannot say – I have already found God and so I will no longer struggle, I am already fully satisfied with myself.  One cannot say that.  I cannot say I don't need to seek him.  I have already found him.  I am already full.

In his homily Origen said that those who seek God should not build a permanent house but only mobile tents.  In spirituality do not build a permanent house but only mobile tents.  Why?  Because one who searches for God is always on the move, always covering new ground, and the further we go the more the road opens up to us, so many things yet to be discovered in God and in our relationship with him.

So indi ka magsiling, "ay 50 years na ako nga madre, mongha pa, nakilala ko na gid ang Dios.  This is it, I am already satisfied with what I have and with what I know and with what I have discovered about him.  Ok na ko."   Ay indi puede, iya ina hambalanon sang yawa agod nga indi ka na magpaninguha.  The devil will make you feel satisfied and contented.  But remember, even in your old age, even as you approach senility and loss of memory you will still discover an aspect of God which you have not come to know in your younger years. 

SO be like a panting deer, athirst for God, searching for God.  Every time you go to the chapel, every time you wake up for the day ask yourself, what will I discover about God today, what will God reveal to me today.  Be like a panting deer searching for water.