Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
“The Spirit of the Lord fills the world, and that which holds all things together knows what is said” (Wisdom 1:7). These words echo the wonder of Psalm 139 “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”
There is something both overwhelming and intimate in knowing that the Lord’s presence surrounds us so completely. He knows us through and through. He knows our words before they are spoken, our desires before they are formed. He knows our wounds before we can name them. And yet, so often, we hide. Like Adam in the garden, we try to cover our shame and flee into the shadows of self-protection. We fear that our Lord’s gaze will see too much. Our sin, shame, woundedness, hurts, and sufferings are known. We mistake His knowledge for judgment, forgetting that the One who sees all also loves the most deeply, with an everlasting love.
God does not pursue us to overpower our will. He is not a tyrant forcing us into submission, but a Father who longs to heal. His power is not domination, it is mercy that lowers itself to lift us up. The more we run, the more we discover that His presence is already ahead of us, waiting not with anger but with compassion. When we finally stop running and allow ourselves to be found, we realize that the very presence we feared is our refuge. The Lord’s “right hand will hold us fast,” even in the darkness of our wounds. He guides us “along the everlasting way,” transforming our hiding places into holy ground, where His love meets us, heals us. For this is the God who ran to embrace His prodigal child while he was still far off, and who leaves the ninety-nine to find the one who is lost. He rejoices not in our perfection, but in our return. And when He finds us, He does not condemn us. He celebrates!
Reflection by Ezra, seminarian
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections