Finding God?!
We hear in the well-known saying, “Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus, Deus Aderit” which, loosely translated, means “Whether or not you ask for him, God is present.” This phrase, from the Latin, was attributed to Erasmus but it might be even earlier. And as Catholic Christians we know full well that while no one has ever seen God…God is here.

Even our Creed speaks to the invisible nature of God: “the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible…” for God can be found in the whole of His creation, and in this we include the idea of love. This is where God is not only truly found, but always found…in true Love. As God is the source of Love, it is then believed that in all love God is found. We as Catholics believe that this “invisible God who dwells in us becomes visible when we show love to one another.”

How do we come to know that God dwells within us? He tells us this. That if we remain in Him, He will remain in us. He is Love and therefore in Love we see and make God present—but not in just any love, but in Righteous Love or Love for pure purposes. Love that lifts the human spirit, the makes the human person whole, that recognizes the sacredness and dignity of the human person and its origin—God the Father. It is a love that leads to the height of excellence in the Four Loves spoken of by C.S. Lewis, Agapé: the Love that God has for us, Love that will not abandon us or forget us or fail to forgive us. Rather, it is a Love that makes us reach for the potential that God has inscribed in our hearts and souls—a Love that raises us from the animal kingdom and places us in the likeness and image of God.

At the celebration of the funeral liturgy, at the consecra-tion in the Mass, we incense the bread and wine which we be-lieve will become the spiritual body and blood of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a firm Catholic belief. Like-wise, at the end of the funeral Mass, we incense the remains in the casket as we believe that while we live and breathe, the Holy Spirit dwells within us making us the temple of God’s Spirit. This also is a firm Catholic belief. In us, there is the potential, for God’s Love to exist and be expressed in our righteous actions, if we but remain in Him.

Indeed, God is found in our Love. According to our Church, “An invisible God who dwells in us becomes visible when we show love to one another. As long as we are nice only to our friends or to those who are nice to us, no one has any idea that God is around. But when we start being nice to those who are nasty to us, when we start returning good for evil, when we forgive, when we start being patient, tender, thoughtful, and con-siderate of those who are stubborn, obstinate, and selfish, then people get the sense that God is close at hand. God becomes visi-ble.” In these acts of “Love” we, the disciples of Christ, transform the “world.” In the Johannine writings (John’s Gospel) the “world” represents both the earthly world and anything in oppo-sition to God. Jesus was sent into the world—in both senses of the word—and so are we, His disciples. We are sent, remaining in His love, to continue to transform the world and to show the presence of God in and through our actions and words of Love. In today’s first reading, the Acts of the Apostles, Judas’ replacement among the Apostles is sought. Requirements for the future apos-tle are listed in today’s reading…he must have “accompanied” Je-sus from the beginning, he must be a witness to His Resurrection, and he must have personal experience of the Risen Jesus…and there is also a requirement of those choosing the new apostle: it is not their choice but the will of God.

Significantly they ask the Lord to reveal to them whom He has chosen—tremendous witness to their abandonment of their own wills and preferences in seeking what is God’s will
As we attempt to be Christ’s disciples more than 2,000 years after He walked the face of the earth, let us pray that we show the invisible God to those around us in the Loving ways of our words and actions—a love that is righteous and not self-serving, a love the lifts up the human person and highlights their God-given and created dignity. We do this by stepping out of our own basically comfortable lives and sharing our love with those less fortunate. We also show this, and make God present in the world, by doing His Will rather than imposing our “wants” on other peoples or institutions.