By Breanna Cannon
Connecting Faith and Life
My family and I live out on a county road in a northern part of the diocese. A neighbor keeps horses in the pasture in front of our home. This past spring, a new horse was added to the team. A female foal quickly became the interest of our daughters. All spring and summer, our little girls worked up a relationship with the foal to be able to pet, feed and run alongside her from across the fence.
In August, after learning about the beauty of Saint Rose of Lima, our daughter's named the foal Rose. Those many hours outside all spring and summer had reaped the fruits of love and a friendship with Rose.
My husband and I were recently talking over the fence with the horses’ owner, Ruben. We mentioned to him how our daughters had taken to Rose. He chuckled and said he could tell the foal was receiving some special attention. Deeper in conversation, I realized, it was through special attention from these little girls that Rose grew to trust them. Maybe she related to their youth. It was almost like Rose knew they were there only to enjoy, feed and love on her.
As my young daughters had no clue that it takes time and patience to tame a horse, they were not intimidated by the process. To their anticipation, the horse they lovingly named Rose began to understand them and ultimately learned to trust and love them in return.
One day, as I watched our girls with Rose, it occurred to me that we are all like Rose in the eyes of God. He pursues us; He is patient with us; He wants to feed us the food of everlasting life – all because He loves us.
I have heard the phrase, “God meets us where we are.” I understand the sentiment but have taken those words to mean something a bit deeper. In the Incarnation, God sent His Son, as an infant, to dwell among us. Because of this, we are made close to God; we are made his sons and daughters through Jesus.
“In the Incarnation, human nature truly becomes the throne and the seat of God, who is thus forever bound to the earth and accessible to our prayers” (Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI).
God is always here. He gave us His son, born of a woman, to be with us in our humanity. God pursues us and wants to lead us with love. All we need to do is trust. Just as a child trusts his or her mother, we too must fully trust our Heavenly Father with all of our cares.
“O Jesus, You are always with us, ‘yesterday and today, and the same forever!’ (Heb 13, 8). Always the same in eternity by the immutability of Your divine Person; always the same in time, by the Sacrament of the Eucharist” (Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.).
Jesus is always present to us. He is in the people we encounter, with us in prayer, especially in adoration of the blessed sacrament, and He is the Eucharist we receive at the Holy Mass. Though we may be distracted and struggle to give our everything to God, He still gives us His son fully and totally today and every day.
Daily we are presented with opportunities to know and love God more. We all need to find some undistracted quiet time and invite God in to our lives completely, without reserve. Then, we need to run to Him in the Eucharist.
At this point in the season, when Rose hears my daughters outside on their swing set or along the fence, her head turns and she makes her way over to them. She waits for them. She wants to be with them; she wants the clover they have to feed her, and she enjoys the love they have to give.
The next time you hear, “God meets us where we are,” remember, He is already with us. God waits for us. We just have to turn our heads and move to Him.