God within you

Saint_Mary_of_the_Presentation_Catholic_Church_(Geneva,_Indiana)_-_stained_glass,_Behold_I_Stand_at_the_Door_and_Knock

Would God Feel At Home Within You? 

Saint_Mary_of_the_Presentation_Catholic_Church_(Geneva,_Indiana)_-_stained_glass,_Behold_I_Stand_at_the_Door_and_Knock

6th Sunday of Easter

Fr. Mark Gatto

Preached: May 22, 2022

Would God feel at home within you?  Jesus says, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”  That would be a good line to pray with for the next week.  “We will come to you and make our home in you.”  Just listen to those words.  Hear Jesus saying, “we will come to you and make our home in you.”  Meditate on those words.

The Holy Trinity wants to be at home within us.  This is an incredible mystery.  God wants to live within you.  So, I need to make myself a home for God.

How do I make a home for God within me?

Silence.  Times of silence is like opening the door of our heart to allow God in.

Prayer.  Any type of prayer is like an invitation to God to come within us.

The Sacraments.  When we celebrate the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, we are united with theBody of Christ in the Church.  It is like a celebration in which we invite loved ones to join us.  In each  Sacrament therefore we are inviting God to join us in a Sacred Banquet along with the whole church.

Caring for any person in need.  Jesus was very clear that whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do for him.  So, when we take time to listen to someone who is struggling, when we support someone dealing with depression, when we encourage someone who has gone through a loss, when we care for a family member who is sick, any time we do something to care for another person in need, we are doing this for Jesus.  This truly makes a home within us for God.

There are also some ways we can close ourselves off from God, so that God is not at home within us. This makes a good examination of conscience.  What do I do that might hinder us from being a home for God?

How do we speak to others?  Is it negative, putting them down, full of anger, and so on.  Would God be comfortable with how we speak to others?

How do we speak about others?  Am I gossiping about others, speaking about others in a way to make them look bad?  Would God be comfortable with our conversations about others?

How do we treat others?  That person in front of me is also loved by God.  Would God be comfortable with the way I am treating that person that God loves?

How do we spend our time?  Would God be comfortable spending time with us?

St. Catherine of Siena was a spiritual director to many people, including the Pope!  She wrote many letters to these people giving them spiritual advice.  In one of these letters she told the person: “Open the door of your heart, for it is really rude to let God stand at the door of your soul without opening to him.”

Open the door of your heart.  God is waiting to come and be at home within you. Make a home for God.  Live in such a way that God will be at home within you.  Do not doubt that God wants to be at home within you.  Open the door, do not let fear or doubt or your guilt or anything else stand in the way of opening the door of your heart and allowing God to come in and be at home within you.

Listen to those words of Jesus, “We will come to you and make our home in you.”

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