… Where is God?… God is dead…
… (so said the philosopher Nietzsche)
My brothers and sisters, God be with you… My words today are wrapped in human pain… the pain of what is being planted in the minds and hearts of our children… a world whose job is to steal the conscience, feelings and faith of our children and our societies… questions going around among our children… playing with their destiny and their true identity:
that they are children of God…
Forgive me today… my subject is not a meditation, a prayer or a story… my words today are a jolt to the conscience of each one of us… our Church and its ministers… our parents and our children… our schools, our universities and our teaching… we are all responsible for our children’s pain… Listen to your children, be aware and pay attention to them… Many of our young people ask me today…
….. Where is God?….
…. (If he really exists… why doesn’t he put an end to injustice, war, evil, killing and sin?…) (There is no God.)
…. (Where is God? Why doesn’t he step into this world that is drowning in darkness… and save us?…) (God doesn’t exist.)
….. (Where is God? Let him show himself!…) (God is a lie; stop fooling us.)
….. (He says he is a God of love and peace… and hatred and fear are eating us alive….. Where is he?) (Prove to us that he exists.)
…. (You say and preach that he is a mighty God… a God who conquered death… Where is he?…) (God is dead… he doesn’t exist.)
You made up a God for us and told us he existed before creation… from eternity to eternity… but where is he?… Let him appear and we’ll bow down to him!… Enough, Father… stop exploiting our minds… God is dead…..
And so many questions that never end… Where is God?….
God is dead…. yes, my son, yes…. he’s dead… Do you know why?…
Follow me and listen to me….
My son…. did you ask how he died? Have you asked yourselves who killed him? Have you looked for the killer and the murder weapon?…. Have you examined yourselves: what is your part in the death of God?…
(At the beginning of the world God created the universe and said it was very good…. (Book of Genesis))
He entrusted everything to man and told him: I put you in charge of this whole universe, to serve it and protect it… But wait a moment! Tell me, didn’t God make a mistake when he said that… when he gave man authority over the universe?
Come with me, let’s climb up onto the rooftop of life and watch the film of our human history… Let’s read man’s commandments to God…
1. He gave us freedom…. we offered him our disobedience…
2. He gave us purity…. we offered him our sin…
3. He gave us knowledge…. we offered him our ignorance…
4. He gave us faith…. we offered him our ingratitude…
5. He gave us peace…. we gave him back our fear…
6. He gave us dignity… we offered him our humiliation and our shame…
7. He gave us strength and courage…. we offered him our weakness and our timidity…
8. He gave us love and faithfulness…. we offered him our hatred and our betrayal….
9. He gave us his Son…. we offered him the cross…
10. He gave us life…. we offered ourselves death…
These are God’s gifts to us… and these are how we are killing God…
These are God’s messages to us… and these are how we deny God.
These are God’s commandments to us… and these are how God died…
……….. This is God …………. and this is us ……..
And you ask me where God is? In you… look inside yourselves…
And you ask me where God is? In your faces… look within you…
And you ask me where God is? In your hearts… live in him and you will find him…
And you ask me if God is dead?… Let me tell you something…
Have you ever asked yourselves why we die? Haven’t you ever asked yourselves for a moment… whether God is asking about you, saying: where is this human being?…
What would you say if one day God said: (Man is dead)?… Be careful, my children… don’t let God die in you…
… My brothers and sisters, children of God…
Be sure that however far you go, however much you doubt and betray God… he will not leave you. Do you know why?
Because he loves us… yes, my son, yes… he loves us… God is a love that does not die.
Good night… you who are crazy about Jesus…
Fr. Boutros Akouri
