The hidden God

“Adoro te devote, latens Deitas.” So starts that famous

Eucharistic hymn composed by St. Thomas Aquinas. It means, “Hidden

here before me, Lord, I worship you.” And it continues, “Quae sub his

figuris vere latitas,” which means, “Hidden in these symbols, yet

completely true.”

            The words definitely drip with deep faith and love. They

also can trigger an impulse of faith and love if they are truly taken

to heart. With faith and love, God becomes vividly present to us,

though hidden in some sacramental symbols.

            The “hiddenness” of God is precisely meant to provoke our

response of faith and love. God only appears to hide from us not

because he wants it that way but rather because our natural powers

simply cannot discern him without the help of God’s grace through his

gifts of faith and love.

            Aside from our human limitations, the effects of our sin

also serve as a wall that makes us unable to see God. But in reality,

God only appears to hide from us. He is actually very much present in

us and around us. In fact, he always intervenes in our life.

            Remember St. Augustine’s testimony about this point. “Late

have I loved you…” he said. “You were within and I was in the external

world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into

those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I

was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if

they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at

all…”

            Of course, God is all around us as well as within us. He

is our Creator who has given us our very own existence and that of

everything else. He cannot withdraw from us, since the moment he

withdraws from us, we will lose our very existence. We will revert to

nothing.

            We need to learn how to discover God in everything. St.

Paul in his Letter to the Romans assures us that God is in everything.

We actually have no excuse why we cannot see him in everything.

            “What may be known about God is plain to them,” he said,

“because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the

world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature,

have been clearly seen, being understood from his workmanship, so that

men are without excuse.” (1,19-20)

            We just have to follow what Christ has advised us to do.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these

things will be given to you as well.” (Mt 6,33) We have to observe the

proper priorities in our daily life. We have to continually defend

ourselves from the many forces that try to make God not the first

priority in our life.

            Besides, we are asked to seek God with determination,

since many things conspire with our own weaknesses and sinfulness to

compete if not replace God in the proper order of things in our life.

            “Ask and it will be given to you,” Christ said. “Seek and

you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Mt 7,7) We

should not just be sitting pretty, waiting for some special

inspiration to come before we get to see the hidden God.

            In this regard, it might be good to develop an athlete’s

attitude in seeking Christ. An athlete will do everything—from

training exercises to diet to sleeping habits—to keep himself fit for

his event. That should also be the case in training ourselves to be

able to see God in everything.

            As St. Paul said, “Do you not know that in a race all the

runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to

take the prize.” (1 Cor 9,24)