Be God’s dwelling home!

Upon reading volume 6 of The Book of Heaven, by Luisa Piccarreta, I came to realize how Jesus wants our souls to be the dwelling place of His very divinity. Here is the passage of November 18, 1904, which really struck me and spoke a lot to me:

As I was in my usual state, my adorable Jesus came for just a little and told me: “My daughter, when I came upon earth my heaven was my Humanity, and just as in the heavens one can see the multitude of the stars, the sun, the moon, the planets, and vastness, all placed in good order; in the same way, my Humanity, which was my heaven – image of the heavens that exist up above, in which everything is orderly – was to make the order of the Divinity dwelling inside shine forth, that is, virtues, power, grace, wisdom, and the like. Now, when the heaven of my Humanity ascended into Heaven after my Resurrection, my heaven upon earth was to continue to exist – and it is the souls who give a dwelling to my Divinity. Dwelling in them, I form my heaven, and from them also do I make the order of the virtues contained inside shine forth. What honor for the creature to lend a heaven to her Creator! But – oh, how many deny it to Me! And you – would you not want to be my heaven? Tell Me you would.” And I: ‘Lord, I want nothing but to be recognized in your Blood, in your wounds, in your Humanity, in your virtues. In this alone I would want to be recognized, so as to be your heaven, and to be unrecognized by all.’ He seemed to approve of my proposal, and He disappeared.

The bible itself gives us some encouraging verses to powerfully remind us that God living in us. In 2 Timothy 1:14 we find: Guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Hence, He lives within us as the truth. Secondly, God is living in us in a dwelling in the Spirit through faith. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:22: In whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Third, God lives in us through Christ in faith and grounded in love. In Ephesians 3:17 we find: And that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love. Fourth, God lives in us through Christ, who is the riches of God’s mystery and the hope of glory too. In Colossians 1:27 we read: To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Fifth, God is living in us because Christ, the Son of God, is faithful to us, His House. Hence, we are His House if we trust in and be proud of Him firmly. In Hebrews 3:16 we read: But Christ was faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope. Sixth, God lives in us if we keep His word. He tells us in John 14:23: If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Finally, God lives within us because we are God’s temple. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says to us: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

In his homily of October 7, 2013, Pope Francis show us the way of how you and me can let God live in us. He said:

I ask myself and I also ask you: do we allow God to write the history of our lives or do we want to write it? This speaks to us of docility: are we docile to the Word of God? Yes, I want to be docile, but are you able to listen to [his Word], to hear it? Are you able to find the Word of God in the history of each day, or do your ideas so govern you that you do not allow the Lord to surprise you and speak to you? I am sure that all of us today are saying … the Priest and the Levite were selfish. It’s true: the Samaritan, the sinner, did not flee from God!”. And so I ask that the “the Lord grant that we may hear his voice which says to us: Go and do likewise”.

Let us make our own this prayer to let God make us His dwelling place:

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, help me to know You and to love You.  Help me to discover the love You share within Your own divine life.  In that discovery, help me to also love others with Your heart.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I trust in You.

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap