Searching for God

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from truth and turn aside to myths" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

The above passage comes from St. Paul's letter to Timothy.  It is relevant also today.  Some people in the Church are taken up with new age philosophies, strange teachings and also with reading up on the latest message from yet another unapproved visionary or locutionist.  But what are we looking for ?  We already have so much in our Catholic faith. 

We have the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and we also have Gods trinitarian presence within us by virtue of the Sacrament of our Baptism.  And somehow we just don't seem to grasp the treasures of our own faith.  But the Saints did.  And one of those Saints was Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity who understood Gods presence within us from our Baptism.   By Baptism God is substantially present in the soul as Trinity, and yet the soul is still its own substance.

The word 'Baptism' comes from a Greek word that means to 'plunge' or 'immerse'. To 'plunge' someone in water represents the person dying, being buried and resurrecting with Christ as a 'new creature.' (C.C.C. # 1214) Some call this Sacrament 'the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit' because Baptism results in a new birth of water and the Spirit. Without it, no one can enter the Kingdom of God. [Jn. 3:5] (C.C.C. # 1215) - Catechism of the Catholic Church

Elizabeth is a prophet for our time because she reminds us of a forgotten truth - we are not surrounded by God as by air, light or energy, he is present within us. God is at home in the human heart because of his care and love for us. Elizabeth's writings are filled with this awareness of the indwelling presence of God. She wished to "live through love in his presence" and to retire within herself to be with him. She was able to find the fullness of God's presence everywhere:

"It is there, right in the depths, in the Heaven of my soul,  that I love to find Him since He never leaves me.

God in me, I in Him, oh! that is my life!"


In an age of ever-increasing noise and activity, Elizabeth's message shines like a beacon of sanity and carries a message of hope. It is the message of God's love, of his presence in our lives, and of his invitation to intimacy.
She invites us to open our hearts to the reality within:


"He is always there, although you don't feel it;  He is waiting for you and wants to establish a 'wonderful communion' with you".


'God dwells within you, do not leave Him so often,' she advised. To another she wrote, 'It is wonderful to recall that, except for the vision of seeing God, we possess God as all the Saints in Heaven do. We can surely be with Him always and no one can take us away from Him. He dwells in our souls!' She often referred to the Blessed Trinity as 'my Three'.


I leave you my faith in the presence of God,
of the God who is all Love dwelling in our souls.
I confide to you:  it is this intimacy with Him 'within' which
has been the beautiful sun illuminating my life,
making it already an anticipated heaven.


And other Saints who understood Gods presence within the soul


St. Teresa of Avila who said  -  "We need no wings to go in search of Him, but have only to look upon Him present within us."


"Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desire, and his disposition live and reign there." - Saint John Eudes