Where is God in this?

In today's Gospel (John 2:1-11) we hear the last words of the Virgin Mary recorded in the Bible, "Do whatever he tells you." John only mentions Mary twice: once at the Marriage in Cana where Jesus performs his first of seven signs, changing water into wine, then at the very end, when Mary silently witnesses the death of her son. Thus she is present at the beginning and end of his ministry, always directing people's attention to Jesus.

Last Thursday I had a chance to see "The Book of Eli" starring Denzel Washington. I don't recommend it. Oh, it's a great movie and guys will like it, but I think women may find it a bit too violent and gory for their taste. Then again, it's not any gorier than the Bible. The story takes place in the not-too-distant future after a nuclear war has ended all civilization as we know it. Thirty years after, there are few survivors, no government, no law and no religion. Eli Walker (Densel) has a mission to carry the last extant Bible to the west. All kinds of nasty people try to thwart his progress. Two quotes stand out: in one scene, when someone asks him what life was like "before," he replies, "We threw away things people kill for now." A KFC handy-wipe, shampoo, and especially water are valued more than gold. The other quote comes when Eli regrets not helping a woman being attacked and questions his mission. "I spent so many years saving this Book I forgot to live by it."

Which brings us to the third point of the week: the disaster in Haiti. Even as we celebrate today's Mass in the comfort of this church, there are people suffering and dying and buried in rubble waiting to be rescued. Others are seriously wounded, all are hungry and thirsty. With 80 percent of the population Catholic and with a death toll sure to top 100,000, it is only natural to wonder, "If God exists where was he when this happened?" We who believe God became human in Jesus know the answer: God is there, buried in the ruins; there bleeding and there dying. We say in the Apostles' creed that Jesus "descended into hell." Surely he is present in the hell on earth that Haiti has become.

But something wonderful also happened. For a brief moment, and maybe still for awhile longer, we were no longer Democrats and Republicans; Koreans and Americans and Africans; rich and poor, white and brown. Everyone in the world became brothers and sisters of each other and of all Haitians. No matter how much we may be suffering in our own lives, nothing compares to what they are going through. Even if we've lost a loved one, we had the luxury of affording them a dignified burial and didn't have to endure the indignity of anonymous bodies being thrown into a mass grave.

And the response of people around the world has been astounding. Never before in human history has there been such an outpouring of support and aid. And so today, through the Gospel, Mary instructs us still to "Do whatever he tells you." And elsewhere in the Bible Jesus reminds us, "Whatever you do for the least of your brothers and sisters, you do for me." Living by the Bible, the question is no longer what is God doing, but what are we doing?

For in putting into practice the words of the Bible, in doing what Jesus tells us to do, we not only defend the humanity of Haitians but we also save our own.