Your Life Will Never Be the Same

Does God still speak to us today? Often when I lead a retreat or day of reflection, I ask the participants this question. Most nod their heads, but when I ask if God speaks to them individually, their eyes reflect a quizzical expression.

The general consensus is that God speaks through saints and the authority of the Church, but not through the ordinary lay person.

How can we come to know God? God reveals himself through Sacred Scripture and the Sacred Tradition of the Church, but God also uses the created world and the human person to reveal himself to us. When someone says something that speaks to our hearts, or we receive a phone call at just the right moment, or are astounded by the delicacy of a baby's tiny fingers, know that it is God. He who knows every hair on our heads, each joy and frustration we experience, and every sin as well, loves us and wants to reveal himself to us.

The Catholic Catechism tells us that the desire for God is written on every human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself (CCC, no. 27). It's an invitation to enter into a loving relationship with him, which insinuates that there is dialogue between God and each one of us. Most of us feel comfortable talking to God, but to know him more deeply we need to listen as well. Most people have not experienced silence, waiting for a word from the Lord, or being docile to the Holy Spirit in such a way that their every movement is guided by him. Yet that is exactly what each of us is called to do, much like a beautiful dance where each partner relies on the other to create lyrical movement.

We enter into this relationship through Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father (John 14:6). It is our relationship with Jesus that draws us into the divine love of the Father.

Today, Jesus invites us to encounter him anew, to grow in our knowledge of and in personal relationship with him, and then to witness this Gospel truth to others by our words and actions. We do so by the power of the Holy Spirit, which we received at our baptism. When we surrender our lives to the Holy Spirit, we are able to see things in a new light with Jesus as our compass. We see God in ways that were previously hidden by our own blindness. And the good news is that God is initiating this relationship with each one of us, constantly placing the desire to know him on our hearts, and patiently waiting for our response.

Is this possible for you? What does it take? Ask God, the Lord of Life, to reveal himself in a new way, to open your eyes and ears to the beauty of his truth, and for the grace to surrender your life to his will. Spend time sitting in the presence of Jesus in Eucharistic adoration; meditate with Sacred Scripturethe Living Word of God; pray for openness to see God at work in whatever the day has to offer; and be still enough to listen to his voice.

Then watch out. Your life will never be the same.