INTIMACY WITH GOD

INTIMACY WITH GOD

By: James Cervantes, MIC

There is one point that I want to share with you for this evening’s liturgy. 

It is “intimacy with God,” defined more specifically as the union of ourselves to His Word.

In our first reading, God instructs Jeremiah to buy a loincloth, put it on, to bury it, and after some time, to fetch it.  And he discovers that it has decomposed and rotted away—good for nothing!

What does God say this symbolizes?  The loincloth was meant to be a symbol of the intimacy or closeness the people of Israel were to have with God.  As the loincloth touched the most intimate parts of a man, so were the People of Israel meant to be with God. 

But what was the problem with the people?  It is pride.  Mainly, it was that they refused to obey his words.  So the intimacy that God was calling his people to was obedience to his Word.  So what does this entail?  What is the proper disposition? 

Allow me to illustrate with a personal story.  Before I entered the seminary I dated a beautiful and holy woman for two and a half years.  We were considering getting married.  We would go for long walks together and after walking we would hold each other and share our dreams and our plans.  After a while we would just be silent and gaze into each other’s eyes.  It was as if time stood still. // Then she would do a curious thing—she would smile and look downward, snuggle closer to me and look back at me.  Instinctively, I knew what this meant because she did it often.  It was as if she were saying, “Take me, I’m all yours, do with me what you will.”  Without saying any words, she was communicating to me that she was giving her heart, her entire life to me—to the fulfillment of our dreams and plans.  If you watch romantic movies you will see what I mean.  I share this with you because this is the disposition that God wanted from Israel….   And isn’t it also what God wants from us?

Now when we talk about intimacy with God, there are a lot of men and women who have exemplified this (humility and total surrender) throughout history—but WHO has exemplified it MOST PERFECTLY?  Mary, the daughter of the two saints that we celebrate today.    

Where and how did she respond to God so perfectly?  In the Annunciation.  In first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, the angel appears to Mary and says that she will bear a child, the Son of God.  In verse 38, Mary responds, “Behold, I am the handmaid (the servant) of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to your Word.”  This is the perfect response to God by His most perfect disciple.  Total humility, total surrender.  Then what happened afterwards?  The Holy Spirit overshadowed her and the Word became flesh—Jesus became present in her womb.  How intimate God became with her!  God was starting a new kind of intimacy!

In the seminary, we are privileged with many opportunities to enter into and deepen our intimacy with God.  But above all, we have the liturgy. In the Eucharist we have the chance to experience the DEEPEST POSSIBLE INTIMACY with God.  

How does God invite us?  “Take and eat this is my body.  Take and drink this is my blood.”  He didn’t say, “Look at me,” or “Sit next to me,” or even “Kiss me.”  He said “Take and eat…take and drink.”  It is as if he is saying, “unite yourself with me, let me enter into your life, unite your flesh to my flesh, your blood to my blood” 

In our First Reading, God described intimacy as a piece of clothing which could only remain outside of the body.  Now in the Eucharist, he comes as food, which is meant to enter inside the body.  Before, God used the loincloth as a symbol for intimacy.  Now, God surpasses all symbolism and offers his real body and blood to be united to ours.  Before, God wanted faithful obedience to his words.  Now, he wants faithful reception of his flesh and blood—essentially, his very PERSON.  Indeed, there is something new happening here.  Intimacy with God isn’t an abstract thought or concept, it is a real encounter with a living person.  It doesn’t get more intimate than this!  He is offering his very self—body, blood, soul and divinity to us!  He wants to enter into our very bodies, our very beings.  What a great privilege!  WHAT AN AWESOME PRIVILEGE!

Although we may never fully understand the mystery that takes place upon this altar, we can learn to respond with total humility and total surrender, and imitate God’s most perfect disciple who said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord let it be done unto me according to your Word.”  The intimacy that God desires, is a union of ourselves to his Incarnate Word.  It is a Eucharistic intimacy. 

So how can we achieve this deep intimacy with God?  It isn’t very difficult.  We don’t have to climb tall mountains, or spend time in the desert, or even go to the Holy Land…  The problem with the Israelites was that they refused to obey God’s words.  We just have to obey His Words and do what He tells us.  Eat his body and drink his blood.  It is so amazing that God allows us to enter into deep intimacy with Him by doing something so very simple—eating and drinking!