God's Ocean

At Mass yesterday, Monsignor quoted saying: “God’s ocean is so big, and our boat is so small.”  He called it as “a prayer,” which initially struck me as an odd description.  But in a way, it is precisely the sort of prayer of which the Old Testament, especially the psalms, are full.  Sometimes, of course, when we acknowledge God’s tremendousness, we do so as a preface to requesting something of Him: Grant us this or Spare us that.  But sometimes the prayer of God’s largeness is just that: an acknowledgement that He is big.  It is the sort of thing one must have well implanted in one’s psyche before one can appreciate the fact that He became small.

And of course, while the prayer of greatness may be a prelude to the prayer of petition, it works the other way around also.  A prayer of petition is, ultimately, only answerable by an exercise of God’s greatness, either in righting the situation about which heaven is stormed, or in resolving that situation into its place in the sea.  In either case, whether the petition is answered with a “yes” or the “no” which widens perspectives, the thanksgiving tends towards that acknowledgement of God’s tremendousness, the tremendousness that is so great that to voice it gratefully “is itself [His] gift” (Common Preface IV).

And the Lord answering Job out of the whirlwind, said: Gird up thy loins like a man … Behold behemoth whom I made with thee, he eateth grass like an ox.  His strength is in his loins, and his force in the navel of his belly. He setteth up his tail like a cedar, the sinews of his testicles are wrapped together. His bones are like pipes of brass, his gristle like plates of iron. He is the beginning of the ways of God, who made him, he will apply his sword. To him the mountains bring forth grass: there all the beasts of the field shall play. He sleepeth under the shadow, in the covert of the reed, and in moist places. The shades cover his shadow, the willows of the brook shall compass him about. Behold, he will drink up a river, and not wonder: and he trusteth that the Jordan may run into his mouth. In his eyes as with a hook he shall take him, and bore through his nostrils with stakes. Canst thou draw out the leviathan with a hook, or canst thou tie his tongue with a cord? Canst thou put a ring in his nose, or bore through his jaw with a buckle? Will he make many supplications to thee, or speak soft words to thee? Will he make a covenant with thee, and wilt thou take him to be a servant for ever? Shalt thou play with him as with a bird, or tie him up for thy handmaids? Shall friends cut him in pieces, shall merchants divide him? Wilt thou fill nets with his skin, and the cabins of fishes with his head? Lay thy hand upon him: remember the battle, and speak no more. Behold his hope shall fail him, and in the sight of all he shall be cast down. (Job, 40:1-2, 10-28)