God Seeks Us

When  I was growing up, I heard about seeking God, searching for him, desiring him, praying that he would reveal himself to me. I often felt that I was groping in the darkness for some sign that he was really present. 

St. Paul assures us: "You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is within -- the Spirit you have received from God." (1 Cor. 19)  If God is within us, we need look no further. Pope Francis, in a recent Apostolic Letter, reminds us, "Before our response to his invitation --well before! -- there is his desire for us." 

So long before we searched for God, he was seeking each one of us. He doesn't care if we are losers, criminals, uneducated, depressed, lame, sick, elderly, gay, Black or white - he wants to be with us. Remember the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector, who climbed a tree in order to see Jesus passing by in a huge crowd? It was Jesus who saw him in the tree and told him to come down, so they could share a meal that very day. 

God is always inviting us to be with him. It's mind-boggling that Jesus seeks us, wants to be with us. Many of us feel that we are not worthy, that we are too imperfect, too sinful. Yet God keeps sending out invitations that he wants to be with us. He knitted each one of us in our mother's womb (Ps. 138), and reminds us that he is the Good Shepherd, who searches for the lost sheep. He wipes away our tears and carries us on his shoulders.

So no matter what condition we are in, we are loved and held in God's warm embrace. We have been found!