God Within Us 

   “You were within me but I was outside myself, and there I sought You!  I ran after the beauty of the things you have made.  You were with me, but I was not with you. (St. Augustine, “Confessions”) 

   People sometimes spend a lifetime searching for God.  Unfortunately, many of them are searching in the wrong places.  Like St. Augustine they are searching outside of themselves when He has been there within them all the time.

   We read books, we watch movies, we go on retreats and pilgrimages in our efforts to find God.  While all of these things are of value in our spiritual life, they will be of so much more benefit if we realize that God is and always has been within us.

   I see God in so many things; nature, the love of friends and family.  I hear Him in the voice of the priest as he preaches from the scripture.  He is there in the laughter of a small child and the obvious love of a parent for their children.  He is there in the hearts of those in a committed sacramental marriage.  However, He is first of all there within me.

   Some of my best times are those I spend alone with God in the silence of my home.  I love going to Mass and spending time in the adoration chapel, but somehow I am closest to Him in the silence.  Simply to be aware that He is within me, sinner though I am, amazes me.  I read books, watch movies and hope to go on a pilgrimage to the holy land.  But I don’t need to do those things to find God; He is already here.

 

   “You have made us for yourself , O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” (St. Augustine, “Confessions”)