20 — SEEKING GOD IN CREATURES

Presence of God. — I place myself at Jesus’ feet so that He may teach me how to seek Him and find Him in my brothers and sisters.

Meditation

1 — Necessary relations with our neighbor cannot distract the soul from seeking God if it has learned to regard creatures with an entirely supernatural gaze, that is, with a deep spirit of faith. With the eye enlightened by the light of faith, the soul seeks and discovers God not only present in itself, but also in all creatures and particularly in the neighbor.

“Creatures are like a trace of God’s step, in which His greatness, His power and wisdom, and His other attributes are perceived,” for each of them was created by God “through His Wisdom, which is the Word, His only-begotten Son” (J.C. C. 5, 3; 1). If this is true of all creatures, even inanimate ones, it is true in a most particular way of man, whom God willed expressly to create in His own “image and likeness” (Gen. 1, 26). The soul that lives by faith, in dealing with its neighbor does so always in relation to God and, instead of stopping at outward appearances, sees, serves, loves, in everyone without distinction, God alone. For it, men and women, of whatever race, nation, party, or social class, have only one face: the image of God; have only one name: children of God.

Unfortunately vice, sin, defects can more or less disfigure the divine image impressed in man, but the image remains and the spirit of faith knows how to find it; besides, even those who live far from God are still children of God, if not effectively by grace, at least by vocation to grace, that is, they are always capable of being raised, they too, to the supernatural state. Seeing God in all, no creature can distract the soul from recollection, from seeking God.

2 — Only if they remain on a purely human plane can relations with our neighbor disturb interior recollection in various ways. First of all, because the soul will easily become attached to creatures: not knowing how to see God in them, it will stop at their human qualities, at the feeling of sympathy and affection they arouse in it; it will seek in them comfort and satisfaction for the natural need to love and be loved. In this way creatures come more or less to invade and preoccupy mind and heart, taking from the spirit the precious freedom to remain oriented and recollected in God. And even when the time for direct dealings with one’s neighbor is over, the soul remains occupied and as if imprisoned by them, and therefore incapable—even in hours of prayer—of recollecting itself in God.

Moreover, if in creatures we see only human persons who more or less disturb us with their requests and demands, who often besiege us from morning to evening without leaving us a moment to breathe and be at peace, who annoy us by their defects, etc., dealing with them—even if required by our duties—will tire and bore us, and we will often be tempted to free ourselves from them, even under the pretext of defending our interior recollection. Whereas when the soul is fixed in the simple gaze of faith, every creature is for it a messenger of God: it brings God to it and leads it to God. And thus, through visible creatures, it goes to the invisible God and deals with Him.

Colloquy

How I would like, Lord, to learn to perceive and recognize Your face in every creature! You created all people in Your image and likeness; therefore all bear Your imprint, Your trace. Teach me not to stop at human appearances which can seize my heart, causing those affections that by force of my consecration must be kept for You alone, my God, to deviate toward a mere creature! When my gaze and my heart stop at creatures seeking in them satisfaction, fulfillment, and understanding, they go astray, they are distracted, they are tormented, and they withdraw ever more wearied and tired, because after much seeking and much loving they find nothing that can satisfy their infinite need for love.

Yes, I understand: as long as I do not know how to look at my neighbor with that one, simple, deep gaze of faith that makes me discover You in all, O my God, dealing with creatures—even when I do so out of duty—will always be an obstacle, an impediment to my interior recollection.

Give me, O my God, that clear and pure eye of which the Gospel speaks, able to go beyond the opaque covering of flesh and fix itself on that divine imprint that You Yourself have impressed in every person. Then I will no longer make distinctions between appearances more or less pleasant, attractive, or wretched, unpleasant, repellent: all this will disappear and in every person I will recognize Your face, I will serve and love You, my God. And then, how could I complain that my necessary relations with my neighbor, the services I must render to them, distract me from You? Does not faith tell me that in dealing with my brothers and sisters I am dealing with You, that in serving them I serve You? Did not Jesus say: “whenever you did anything to one of these least brothers of mine, you did it to me”? (Mt. 25, 40). As in mine, so in every soul in grace, You place Your dwelling; and if, sadly, not all people live in Your grace, all are nevertheless capable of receiving it, all are objects of Your merciful love, all are called, by vocation, to be temples of the Most Holy Trinity. And then, O Lord, if I desire to seek You in myself, why should I not know how to seek You also in my brothers and sisters?

Purify, O God, my gaze so darkened by human appearances, and make it capable of perceiving You and finding You in every creature.