1 Kings 8: 22-23, 27-30
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands to heaven. He said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart.
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O Lord my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
God Walks Among Us
“But Will God Indeed Dwell on Earth?” (1 Kings 8:27)
In the Second Week of the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius invites the retreatant to meditate on the Incarnation. Imagining the Trinity looking upon a broken people and a world in turmoil, the Exercises invite us to imagine the three Persons choosing to become a human being, enter our suffering, and save us. The meditation reasserts a central mystery to our faith, that we do not believe in a God who exists in some distant manner, but in a loving God who chose to become incarnate and walk among us.
It can be easy in times of desolation to feel a sense of distance from God. In witnessing turmoil in our world and unrest in our own hearts, we may echo that same question from Solomon, “But will God indeed dwell on earth?”
Perhaps we might lean into that meditation from the Exercises, asking for the grace to see a God who is still looking upon our suffering with compassion, who is still desiring to walk among us.
—Noah Banasiewicz, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic and lecturer in the School of Communication at Loyola University Chicago.
Prayer
“God Would Kneel Down”
I think God might be a little prejudiced.
For once He asked me to join Him on a walk
through this world,
and we gazed into every heart on this earth,
and I noticed He lingered a bit longer
before any face that was
weeping,
and before any eyes that were
laughing.
And sometimes when we passed
a soul in worship,
God too would kneel
down.
I have come to learn: God
adores His
creation.
—Saint Francis of Assisi
Pray with the Pope
Pray with the monthly prayer intentions of the pope.