It’s the darnedest thing: A grandson climbs a tree, and winds up teaching me something about the nature of God.
That’s not at all what Grandson #2 had in mind, of course. He was simply seeking adventure (or perhaps solitude) in the low-hanging branches of the red bud out near the garden. But as he clambered heavenward, I noticed how quickly he disappeared.
All-consumed he was, nearly invisible amongst a flourish of abundant leaves. Yet still detectable, his energetic spirit made clear by a joyful shout or two or three.
This is how it is (or how it’s supposed to be) with us as sons and daughters of God. That’s what we hear in today’s gospel passage: Jesus teaches us “Whoever loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
God in us, and we in God – all dwelling as one, like a boy hidden in the verdant branches of a red bud tree.
But how can this be? Surely we are not worthy of so great a promise, so great a presence in our broken and imperfect flesh and bones.
We are not worthy – and yet it happens. We know it, because God makes His dwelling in the holy ones around us. We see God there. The Holy Spirit gives us eyes to see through the thicket of leaves (the thicket of life) and perceive the Presence deep within.
I’ve been thinking in recent days about this miracle of grace because of the loss of two dear ones – my Aunt Rosemary and my friend Rick. Two far different people, but they shared one important thing in common … a life in the Holy Spirit, given them (at least in part) through their participation in Cursillo-based retreat programs – Teens Encounter Christ in my auntie’s case, and ACTS and Kairos in Rick’s. I was deeply blessed through the years by their witness – living proof that Jesus keeps his promises: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have told you.”
Their lives were lives of divine in-dwelling – a loving occupation … God in them, and they in God, like a grandson who’s seemingly become one with a tree.
And so this is what I wind up seeing: In Rick and Rosemary, an otherwise hidden truth becomes “clear as crystal”:
For Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.*
*From ”As Kingfishers Catch Fire” by Gerad Manley Hopkins, S.J.
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 