THIS is how we should feel with God.
We have to feel at
home with him because in the first place we come from him and we
belong to him. Our true, definitive home is God himself. He is where
we find our true rest, where we really would know who we are, what our
dignity is, what rights, duties and responsibilities we have.
Bluntly said, unless we feel at home with God, we actually
would not be at home no matter how much we feel we are with our own
ideas of home.
We therefore have to make certain adjustments in the way
we think, feel and view things in general, such that we always are
keenly aware that we come from God and go back to him as our home
destination every day.
In fact, in several liturgical prayers, we express this
truth quite clearly, as when we pray the following: “Go before us, O
Lord, we beseech Thee, in all our doings with Thy gracious
inspiration, and further us with Thy continual help, that every prayer
and work of ours may begin from Thee, and by Thee be duly ended.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Failing to feel at home with God can only mean one thing.
It would be as if we are vagrants in this world, homeless and quite at
sea as to what purpose and direction our life here on earth should
have.
It would be a situation replete with dangers, even mortal
dangers. We would be inviting a lot of temptations and easily fall
into sin or at least error and confusion, as we foray into our daily
life simply on our own. We would be prone to reprise what is mentioned
in the gospel about people not entering by the narrow gate but rather
by the wide gate that leads to destruction. (cfr Mt 7,13)
Yes, it’s true that while here on earth, we are like
travelers or pilgrims. We are not yet in our definitive home. The
Letter to the Hebrews tells us that clearly: “Here we have no lasting
city, but we seek the city which is to come.” (13,14)
But this does not mean that we cannot feel at home with
God right here and now. And that’s because even if God is in heaven,
he is also here on earth. And even if he is always a mystery to us,
that mystery has incarnated in Christ and continues to be with us,
ever adapting himself to our human condition, through the Holy Spirit,
making use of a variety of instruments.
There is the Church, the sacraments, God’s word in the
gospel and the doctrine of our faith, the hierarchy, etc. God comes to
us through them, as well as the things of nature that somehow can
already evoke the presence of God.
We have to learn to live with the mystery of God, knowing
that such mystery is true and real—in fact, the most true and real
thing in the world—even if we cannot fully comprehend it. What is
needed is to exercise our faith and to develop the appropriate and
working piety.
This is the challenge we actually have today. And we have
to contend with a variety of conditions that we need to clarify, if
not purify and correct. There’s atheism and agnosticism, for example,
not so much of the theoretical kind as of the practical one. There’s
a dominant layer of secularism in the world today that practically
puts God away from our daily and temporal affairs.
There’s also what is known as moral relativism where the
concepts of good and evil sit on shaky and shifty grounds, highly
subjective and prone to be reduced to what is merely practical,
profitable, popular, etc., or criteria that still need more solid
foundations.
Feeling at home with God all the time should be second
nature to us. It’s not a fantasy we are creating. It’s what is proper
to us. It’s what we need and what God himself wants.
Christ reassures us of this when he said: “Come to Me, all
who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke
upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls.” (Mt 11,28-29)
We have to learn to take these words more seriously. They
are not just nice words to hear. They are divine words that contain
nothing other than what is true, good and redemptive for us. They are
no bluff.
home with him because in the first place we come from him and we
belong to him. Our true, definitive home is God himself. He is where
we find our true rest, where we really would know who we are, what our
dignity is, what rights, duties and responsibilities we have.
Bluntly said, unless we feel at home with God, we actually
would not be at home no matter how much we feel we are with our own
ideas of home.
We therefore have to make certain adjustments in the way
we think, feel and view things in general, such that we always are
keenly aware that we come from God and go back to him as our home
destination every day.
In fact, in several liturgical prayers, we express this
truth quite clearly, as when we pray the following: “Go before us, O
Lord, we beseech Thee, in all our doings with Thy gracious
inspiration, and further us with Thy continual help, that every prayer
and work of ours may begin from Thee, and by Thee be duly ended.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Failing to feel at home with God can only mean one thing.
It would be as if we are vagrants in this world, homeless and quite at
sea as to what purpose and direction our life here on earth should
have.
It would be a situation replete with dangers, even mortal
dangers. We would be inviting a lot of temptations and easily fall
into sin or at least error and confusion, as we foray into our daily
life simply on our own. We would be prone to reprise what is mentioned
in the gospel about people not entering by the narrow gate but rather
by the wide gate that leads to destruction. (cfr Mt 7,13)
Yes, it’s true that while here on earth, we are like
travelers or pilgrims. We are not yet in our definitive home. The
Letter to the Hebrews tells us that clearly: “Here we have no lasting
city, but we seek the city which is to come.” (13,14)
But this does not mean that we cannot feel at home with
God right here and now. And that’s because even if God is in heaven,
he is also here on earth. And even if he is always a mystery to us,
that mystery has incarnated in Christ and continues to be with us,
ever adapting himself to our human condition, through the Holy Spirit,
making use of a variety of instruments.
There is the Church, the sacraments, God’s word in the
gospel and the doctrine of our faith, the hierarchy, etc. God comes to
us through them, as well as the things of nature that somehow can
already evoke the presence of God.
We have to learn to live with the mystery of God, knowing
that such mystery is true and real—in fact, the most true and real
thing in the world—even if we cannot fully comprehend it. What is
needed is to exercise our faith and to develop the appropriate and
working piety.
This is the challenge we actually have today. And we have
to contend with a variety of conditions that we need to clarify, if
not purify and correct. There’s atheism and agnosticism, for example,
not so much of the theoretical kind as of the practical one. There’s
a dominant layer of secularism in the world today that practically
puts God away from our daily and temporal affairs.
There’s also what is known as moral relativism where the
concepts of good and evil sit on shaky and shifty grounds, highly
subjective and prone to be reduced to what is merely practical,
profitable, popular, etc., or criteria that still need more solid
foundations.
Feeling at home with God all the time should be second
nature to us. It’s not a fantasy we are creating. It’s what is proper
to us. It’s what we need and what God himself wants.
Christ reassures us of this when he said: “Come to Me, all
who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke
upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls.” (Mt 11,28-29)
We have to learn to take these words more seriously. They
are not just nice words to hear. They are divine words that contain
nothing other than what is true, good and redemptive for us. They are
no bluff.
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