Franciscan Media

The Church has given us the gift of the saints to show that God does great things in people’s lives. The saints, after all, were ordinary people, too. They needed to call on the Lord for help.

By actively praising God and giving thanks, our hearts will find the resting place that we so desire. Saint Teresa of Avila said this:
“Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing away:
God never changes.”

Jesus brings us a message that is startling and new: Each of us is called to be the dwelling place of God. Saint Paul, in his Letter to the Corinthians, says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” These are strong words! Jesus says, “I dwell in you and you in me.” This is radically new. We are, each one of us, the dwelling place of God. 

God’s plan is to bring everything together under Christ. And each one of us plays a part in that sacred plan.

Our faith is a beautiful, developing drama, a beauty whose end we cannot see. Starting with the first day of creation, the Word of God has been slowly emerging down the ages. The Word has become visible in the Incarnation and will reach its full revelation when Jesus returns in glory on the last day.

God knows the dangers that surround our souls. He doesn’t want anything to impede the goal of our spiritual life: union with him. God knows our every weakness and our need for continuous, loving guidance to avoid the dangers that threaten our chances of spending eternity with him in heaven. God longs to be in relationship with us. As a loving parent, he protects us and shields us from harm. Through Jesus, our Savior, he calls us his friends. His Holy Spirit moves in us, with us, through us.

Mary’s is the ultimate birth story. She walked through her life at Jesus’ side, loving him with a real human love and at the same time understanding his divine purpose. She bore the tension of living in perfect joy and complete sorrow as she watched her baby boy become our Redeemer. Mary continues to offer herself as an example of what we can be if we too will open our hearts for him to draw near and dwell in us.

When he created us, God placed inside us the desire to know him and to be united to him. Just as we experience physical hunger pangs when we need to fuel our bodies, we experience spiritual hunger pangs—angst that nothing in this world can satisfy—when we need to fill our souls.

— from the book Born to Soar: Unleashing God’s Word in Your Life by Melissa Overmyer