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!  




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Limping to God I come to you, God, weather-beaten and limping, asking for forgiveness for all the times I have failed to be faithful and attentive to all those around me, especially the elderly who have run the race, the poor, the lonely and abandoned, who need my care and concern.     Is there any hope for these old bones? What will it take to change my limp into a surge of energy and a ready step? Teach me to become more caring, more responsive, more aware. Give me eyes to see and the will to act on my good intentions.   Water my dried up spirit and shriveled body, expand my shrunken heart. Give me eyes to see what you are leading me to do even as my bones creak and my legs become unsteady. Make me remember that I am here to serve, to listen, to be ready to be your hands and feet today.   Barbara Mayer, OSB    
Read more
Image
    “Wonderfully Made” When I took a college English course, our first assignment was to write an essay about whether we would rather lose our sight or lose our legs. It was a thought-provoking choice. If we became blind, we would miss seeing our loved ones and all the beauty of our world. If we could not walk, we would be hindered from traveling and moving around without help. I chose to keep my eyesight since I love to read and write and enjoy the variety and beauty that surrounds us.   Of course, I’m glad I didn’t have to make that choice in real life, but it was a thought-provoking assignment. It made me think about how much we take our bodies for granted. I began to think about all the organs, veins, arteries, canals, nerves, and bones we have in our bodies and how they all work together to keep us alive and healthy. It is not until we lose one of them that we realize how magnificent we are, created in the “image and likeness of God.” God loves each and every one of us as if
Read more
Image
  Overcoming Discouragement Sometimes discouragement and failure take over our lives, and we cannot seem to crawl out of our hole. Even if in reality they are not a true picture, we can be blinded by the seeming darkness.  It often takes another person to uncover what is hidden from us and to see through the cloudy picture.  I am reminded of a story about Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. He tells of how he felt his dream of starting a group for people with drinking problems was not going anywhere. Then unexpectedly Father Dowling, a disheveled priest, came to his door in the middle of a snowstorm. Bill’s caretaker told him that a “damn bum” was at the door. Bill was tired but agreed to see him and in doing so had his “second conversion experience.” Bil and Father Dowling talked way into the night, and Bill told of his “high hopes and plans, and spoke about his anger, despair and mounting frustrations.”  It turned out that the elderly priest had had similar feel
Read more