SEEKING GOD
I
remember several years ago, I read the news that Alitalia, an Italian
airline company, teamed up with the Vatican for special flights that
would bring pilgrims directly to the holy sites of Jerusalem and other Marian and Eucharistic
pilgrim sites in Europe. To remind the pilgrims of the holy nature of
their trip, they planned to emblazon every seat of the planes with these
words in Italian, “Cerco il tuo volto, Signore.” It
means, “I seek your face, O Lord.”
I
smiled and remembered telling myself, “If I am on that plane and I read
those words right in front of me, I would also pray, ‘But not yet, O
Lord.’”
Humor
aside, why did I instinctively want to add, “But not yet, O Lord” to
the beautiful prayer, “I seek your face, O Lord”? It is because we
associate seeing and experiencing God only at the moment of death, and
death frightens us all.
Today’s
Responsorial Psalm is a fitting reminder. It says, “Lord, this is the
people that longs to see your face.” Seeing the Lord need not only be at
the moment of death (just make sure it is the Lord you will meet after
you die). Seeing the Lord is possible at every moment of our beating
hearts. Today’s Psalm continues, “The Lord’s are the earth and its
fullness, the world and those who dwell in it.” All of the created world
is a reflection and sacrament of the Creator. As one can sense in a
room its architect and in a masterpiece its painter, so can we sense in
the world the beauty and grandeur of the Creator.
We do not really have to travel far and visit the holy sites to get a sense of
the holy. Today, stop and smell the flowers, so to speak. Pause and
marvel at the serenity of nature. Most of all, reverence the persons you
meet — they are made in the image and likeness of God (cf Genesis
1:26). Fr. Joel Jason
REFLECTION QUESTION: If you say you’re too busy to even smell the flowers, then you may be too busy for the Lord.
Thank You, Lord, for the beauty of created nature. Most of all, thank You for creating me in Your image and likeness. Amen.
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