One of the important elements of religion – especially ancient religions – is geography.  Where one

encounters God is as important as what one does.  Thus, mountain tops are most often the place closest to God.  Even in modern times we speak of God in heaven, which is a place above earth.  We point up casually when we think of where God is.  Even in our common speech, we often hear of “the man upstairs.”

Temples – dwelling places of God – are usually built on top of mountains – or at least the highest hill.  Thus, Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem is where the Jewish Temple was built.  Just below it is Mt. Zion, another sacred place.  Across the valley is the Mt. of Olives, important in the last days of Jesus.  Between the two mountains is the valley of Gehenna, a symbol of hell.  The highest place is heaven, the lowest place is hell.

Both of today’s Readings begin with a reference to a mountain.

In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah declares “On this mountain the Lord . . . will provide for all peoples.” In the gospel, Jesus “went up on the mountain” to preach, heal and feed the people.

In the land of the Bible, modern Israel and Palestine, there are really no very high mountains.  We would call them hills.  It is a land of vast open spaces, desert and mostly flat.

There is a hill – or mountain if one wants to use that term – in Bethlehem where one can stand and see for long distances.  One can see Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.  These places are very close – it’s a small area.

But there are “high places” and those places are holy.

Even in Christian history, churches were often placed on mountain tops.  A good example is the Cathedral of St. Helen in Helena Montana.

We can’t change our natural inclination to think of God “up there”.  But, if we think about it, in doing so we are limiting God to our imagination.  Most of our lives are lived in valleys, not on mountain tops.  And if we confine God to only the high places, we unconsciously remove the holy from our lives.  We confine God to a limited space.  But God, as the catechism states, is everywhere.

Not up or down or over there.  But everywhere.  Inside, outside, within.  God isn’t physical, God is spiritual, i.e., beyond the limits of space and time.

And so, having removed God from our consciousness, we have removed him from our life and ignored him, put him in a limited place.

When we begin to be aware that God is in us, in others, in what we loosely call the “lowly” then our horizons broaden and our encounters increase.

We will always say, Our Father in heaven.  But we also need to remember heaven isn’t even a place – it’s an encounter, a relationship.

If nothing else, when we give God more room, as it were, we then put ourselves in our place.  God is included in heaven, but his kingdom is on earth, not in the sky.

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