How Close Can We Get to God?
by Fr Richard Heilman | June 17, 2017 10:06 AM
Last night we had some terrible thunder storms roll though the area. As usual, my very large Bernese Mountain Dog, “Lady” (named after the Blessed Mother), turns into a trembling little “taredy tat” with the first flash of lightning. 😉
Her favorite spot, when we are up in my bedroom for the night, is a little 3′ x 3′ walk-in area. That’s her “storm shelter.” If it gets super stormy, she jumps up on my bed and presses against me so hard it’s like she wants to pass through me. Oftentimes, her face will lay alongside my arm, and I can feel the little tickle of her blinking eyelashes. I do my best to help her feel she is safe, but I also poke fun at her … “You big taredy tat!” 🙂
This weekend, we celebrate Corpus Christi – The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. This is an amazing time to give great thanks for this greatest of all gifts in the Most Holy Eucharist. Think about it … Christ wants to be “so close” to us that He, quite literally, passes through us.
Every time we receive our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, we are as close as we can possibly be. To prepare ourselves to receive Him we must, first, reconcile by renouncing anything that has kept us separated from Him at all. In other words, we must, first, receive His wonderful mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The word “reconciliation” is a powerful metaphor. The Latin word for eyelash is cilia. If you were so close to someone as to have your eyelashes touch with theirs (“with” being cum or con- in Latin), you’d be con–cilia. And if you were once that close, but had drifted apart and then returned again (“again” being re- in Latin), you would be re-con-cilia—you would be reconciled.
Yes, God wants us – ALWAYS – that close … eyelash to eyelash. Once we receive the words of absolution from the priest in the Sacrament of Confession, we are that close. Like my dog, Lady, we press into God, and He feels the tickle of our eyelashes against Him. But, that is not enough for God. He wants to “press back.” This is why He invites us to ingest His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. He wants to, not just be “near to us,” but He wants to be “in us” … as close as He can possibly be.
This is an amazing love.
Go to Confession! 🙂
Source URL: https://romancatholicman.com/wp/close-can-get-god/