There’s a beautiful juxtaposition between today’s Gospel and today’s saint, St. Vincent de Paul. First the Gospel:
Luke 9:7-9
“Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening,
and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying,
“John has been raised from the dead”;
others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”;
still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.”
But Herod said, “John I beheaded.
Who then is this about whom I hear such things?”
And he kept trying to see him.“
Now compare that to St. Vincent who, on the other hand, chose for his motto, “God sees you.”
Which of the two men eventually connected with God? St. Vincent, of course.
These two alternatives show that Christianity is not a system of man’s search for God; it’s a story of God’s search for man.
Per usual, Peter Kreeft sums it up beautifully:
“True religion is not like a cloud of incense wafting up from special spirits into the nostrils of a waiting God, but like a Father’s hand thrust downward to rescue the fallen. Throughout the Bible, man-made religion fails. There is no human way up the mountain, only a divine way down. “No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.””