God's questions

At the roots of the first choice of dialogue.
The reflection of the Dominicans Timothy Radcliffe and Łukasz Popko

Dialogue is not obvious, yet necessary. Art to learn and welcome. Questions as the key to going deeper: a pedagogy also used by God. It is the common thread of Questions of God, questions to God, the latest book by the Dominican fathers Timothy Radcliffe and Łukasz Popko, one of the most read spirituality writers in the world. the first world, the second biblical scholar from the École Biblique of Jerusalem.

Father Radcliffe explains: It all begins with the question to Adam "Where are you?" and ends with Jesus' question: "Do you love me?". God's questions challenge us to a new way of thinking and being. God doesn't need information, but wants to give us new life. Our life is the answer.

What is the value of this dialogue?
Popko: Deep conversation never starts from scratch, but from a relationship of trust.
It is never a waste of time because the truth exists and man is capable of communicating it.
Dialogue with God is the same as what you have with friends.
With him we can open up and address the most significant, intimate and personal issues. The questions are fundamental but we struggle to formulate them. We are in a time where everyone has answers, but we are in difficulty when it comes to questions.
And this happens because real questions arise only from trust. The truth must be understood, faced, questioned.
The truth, as Jesus says, is the way, a path that unfolds over time. But the path to truth is already truth. We must give ourselves time to live and even suffer the questions, not settle for simple, immediate answers.

God says to man "Where are you?" and never “What did you do?”. It is the hallmark of a style…
Radcliffe: Yes. If we want to take a journey to happiness with God, we need to know where we are at that moment, to understand what the best path is. God asks an existential question to make us go deep and discover the mystery of love. God's questions are invitations to choose life and not death.
Popko: I'll add one more nuance. God's questions are always in the present, because they want to free us from the past to which we are often slaves. God always recognizes the freedom and dignity of children and reminds us that it is much more important to live in the present.
The risen Jesus asks Peter: "Do you love me?". I don't look at your past, I ask you now, in this moment.

God who asks for dialogue goes beyond any contrast between the human and divine spheres. We often think that God lives in the clouds…
Radcliffe: That's true, but God is never against us, he is always close. I discovered it firsthand when I was in Jerusalem. I discovered that God was not absent, it was rather I who was absent, to Him and to myself. It was a great joy to rediscover this presence. The same concept can be expressed in two ways: God is at the center of my essence, but at the same time a presence that accompanies me and walks like me.
Popko: Even in the Bible, in Lamentations God is seen as the enemy when Jerusalem is destroyed.
In reality, we are often our own worst enemies, because we follow the wrong plans. If God hinders them it is because they are not for our fulfillment. Perhaps certain oppositions are blessed.

Is there a method for accepting the challenge of this dialogue?
Radcliffe: We must begin with silence, understood as lack of speech, but also as peace of heart. Essential conditions for creating dialogue. When I pray in the morning, I start with silence to overcome the chaos and disorder. In fact, it is not possible to see oneself reflected in moving water. Only when it calms down can we see our image.
Popko: I also believe that we don't have to wait for peace and serenity for God to speak to us. God speaks to us in any situation, even in the midst of suffering and sin. Perhaps it is precisely in these moments that he speaks to us the loudest. God can find us in any condition, even in our chaos. We must never forget this.

Does God also speak in sharing between men, in the ability to share one's experiences?
Radcliffe: Sure. This is why we are holding a synod of the Church.
Finding each other and listening to each other precisely because they are different. Men, women, lay people, consecrated people. When people converse truthfully with one another, God manifests himself.
Popko: Conversation is a very profound term, it is a way of being of people who can move in the same direction, share the same horizon. This human dimension opens us to the divine dimension, because those who know how to speak with men also know how to speak with God. It is a virtuous circle: good relationships, dialogue and discussion with men lead to a good relationship with God. Conversely, knowing how to dialogue with God leads me to know how to meet others.

If we had to choose one, what is God's most important question?
Radcliffe: I think all the questions boil down to "Do you love me?" All the others help us enter the mystery of love, but that is the most important and decisive.
Before dying, a friend wanted to understand whether to convert or not. He questioned six Christians and six atheists. With him we arrived at the same question: "Was loving your wife an emotion or the beginning of infinity?".
In the end, before dying, that friend of mine understood that everything is based on love.

Questions from God, questions to God
In dialogue with the Bible.
by Timothy Radcliffe and Lukas Popko
Vatican Publishing Bookshop, 2024
Dialogue between two experts in the Holy Scriptures who investigate the meaning and existential significance of 18 questions from God to man and from man to God, both in the Old and New Testaments. A unique book, which compares one of the best-known Catholic authors in the world with a brilliant young biblical scholar, giving life to a rich and profound text.
 

«Listen to him!».
For a synodal spirituality.
by Timothy Radcliffe
Vatican Publishing Bookshop, 2024
Collection of Father Timothy Radcliffe's meditations at the Synod on synodality in October 2023. In his usual writing style, in which theological and spiritual reflection are intertwined, dialogue with contemporary culture in its different forms (literature, poetry, art, cinema... ) and anecdotes of daily life, Radcliffe portrays synodality as the style of the Church of the third millennium, as Pope Francis hopes.

By the editorial team
NPFOCUS June/July 2024