Creation or Creator?

Once again, Holy Scripture "hits one out of the ballpark" in today's reading. It is amazing how little men change as the centuries go by.

For all men who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know Him who exists, nor did they recognize the craftsman while paying heed to His works;

but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air, or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water, or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world.

If through delight in the beauty of these things men assumed them to be gods, let them know how much better than these is their Lord, for the author of beauty created them.

And if men were amazed at their power and working, let them perceive from them how much more powerful is He who formed them.

For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator.

Yet these men are little to be blamed, for perhaps they go astray while seeking God and desiring to find Him.

For as they live among His works they keep searching, and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful.

Yet again, not even they are to be excused;

for if they had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?

~Wisdom 13: 1-9

Today, centuries after Christ, people are still mistaking the creation for the Creator. People are still putting their trust in "stars (and) luminaries" without recognizing the One who created them.

People are still seeking God, as today's reading from the Book of Wisdom tells us--now, I think, more than ever. People are hungering for the Lord. What people are afraid of, though, is submitting to His authority. It is easier to get perceived "power" from objects that we feel we can control, than to submit our lives, the lives of our loved ones, and indeed our very selves to God's true power.

Are we praying only for the purpose of "getting" or do we submit our will to that of the Almighty? Are we praying only for the peaceful feelings it gives us, or are we obeying the Lord's call day by day, even when we do not feel it?

If Christ Himself prayed "Thy Will be done" and cried out "My God, My God, Why do You abandon Me?" how much more, then, should we be faithful to the Creator of all things when we do not feel Him near?