God does not make junk!

Many years ago my wife Suellen and I became involved in the Marriage Encounter programme as presenters. (Marriage Encounter is a mostly Catholic programme designed to help couples enrich their relationship - and to stop taking it for granted.)

One of the sessions has the title of this post as its theme - and it is a thought that has never left me.

Look at the logic: we are created by God and we are made in God's image. God is incapable of shoddy work. AND God loves every single perfect thing he created. That means that the part of each one of us that is created in God's image is perfect - and is wholly loved by God.

Because God does not - can not - make junk.

That is my underlying theology for running a Catholic school. Every single student, parent, teacher is made in God's image, is loved deeply by God (as am I), and is a wonder of creation. Each one of us is a marvel - and accepting this adds richness to our lives, and our community, and our world.

Take it a step further. God is love. God loves each thing he created. All the things he created are linked together through that love of God. AND in loving God, in relating to each other, we are roped together in a web of love.

We are in the season of Lent. As I have said many times, this is not the time for feeling bad about our sins and faults and failings.

Rather it is a time to stop taking ourselves and our relationship with our Creator for granted. It is time to remind ourselves as forcefully as we can that we are, in fact, made in God's image. And that is the important thing about our existence.

All the little comforts we have made habits of, and now take for granted, are not all that important. To do that, we give up some of them.

It is time to remind ourselves that we are tied to each other person created by God, and the knot that ties us is Love. To do that we give to people on the margins: people who need our help.

And it is time to remind ourselves that our relationship with our Creator is at the heart of all life. The way to do that is by dedicating a little time as often as possible to quietening our spirit, and then being with our God. Some would say praying - but being is enough.

And, if you want to do something really significant this Lent: while your spirit is quiet, and you are being with your Creator, remind yourself that you actually are wonderful, that you are loved absolutely by your Creator.

You must be, because you were made by God - and God does not make junk!