“Like”  is a word that appears in today’s readings, as it does over and over in the scriptures. Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ Mt 11:16

Is only his generation like children on the street competing with one another, arguing with one another, or is our generation like children as well?  

 Isaiah, the master poet, can’t speak without the word “like.” If you listen to God, our Teacher, he says in today’s reading:

 “ Your prosperity would be like a river,
    and your vindication like the waves of the sea;
Your descendants would be like the sand,
    and those born of your stock like its grains.”

The prophet cannot speak of the mystery of God and his promises without going to. the dictionary of creation to say what God is like.  

Our responsorial psalm today also use that word:  
“The one who follows you, Lord, will have the light of life.
and be like a tree planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers. “

“Like” is a word that approximates another reality. It’s the closest we can get to some truth beyond us, especially the mystery of God.  The call to care for creation today is more than a call to invent better technology. It’s a call to learn from creation again about what God is like.

We’re placing poinsettias and wreathes in our homes and churches, and figures of the Child, Mary and Joseph. We search for words and ways to understand the mystery we celebrate, but in the end they are all “like”. That’s what we have till we see.