In Genesis, one sees that creation happened progressively. The earth was a formless wasteland and darkness covered the abyss. Then light was created and earth and the skies slowly change. The beauty of life progressively revealed God's love. God took His time--no miraculous happenings, no dramatic once in a lifetime moments, no shows.
Is that not how He works in us? We look back at the failures of life and see how wrecked we were with sorrow, loneliness, and solitude. Either our faith and hope were at work full throttle or we were humbled realizing that we did not have a relationship with God.
The good news is that the Holy Spirit was with us continually working in our lives. Every experience is an opportunity to grow. He molds and shapes us in the twists and turns of life. We slowly learn to give ourselves and our will to Him. We slowly come to communion with Him.
God works at His own perfect time and pace for a beautiful creation. If He wants He can heal us of our physical illness. If we want He can forgive and heal us of our sins. The latter is for our soul's eternal life.
Today we celebrate St Paul Miki and the 26 followers martyred on February 5, 1597. Brother Paul Miki and 26 followers were crucified and killed for preaching about Christ. Among them were priests, brothers, laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits, catechists, doctors, simple artisans, servants, old men and innocent children. The Catholic Church in Japan now in 2023 has 509,000 believers, 0.5% of the total population. Slow but steadily growing with complete freedom of religion.
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