31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) : Sunday 30th October 2022

God is the “lover of life”, says the author of Wisdom. This insight marks a kind of transition in the passage we read today. The first part of the passage deals more with the physical world of which the human race is a part. The author wishes us to consider how small our great and wonderful universe is compared to God’s infinity: it is like a speck of dust or a drop of morning dew. The real greatness of our universe is not its physical size but the fact that God loves it, for He loves all that exists. For us, God’s infinite greatness is His forgiving and everlasting love.

When he acknowledges God as the “lover of life”, the author turns to our spiritual reality with the words “whose imperishable spirit is in all”. He thus re-formulates the doctrine of Genesis – that we are created in God’s image and likeness, and sums up the doctrine that all life comes from God. As God’s spirit, breathed into us at our creation, is imperishable, so our soul is immortal.

Lord God, as You are the lover of life, grant that we, created in Your image and likeness, will also always love life and, with all our talents, protect and foster the life of the weakest among us.