Today we celebrate the feast of St. Irenaeus, a second-century bishop and Father of the Church who may be best known for his frequently cited quote: “The glory of God is the human person fully alive.”

How do we give glory to God by being fully alive? We feel most alive when we encounter God through prayer, the sacraments, Scripture, our relationships with loved ones, music, art, Creation, and countless other ways. I always feel the presence of God when I gaze upwards at a star-filled night. Of course, light pollution, especially the wasteful fad of uplighting, makes it difficult to see the stars in most urban settings today. So, I wonder what Abram saw when God asked him to “Look up at the sky and count the stars.” In a preindustrial society, Abram’s night sky looked dramatically different from today. Perhaps that starry sky served as a greater reminder of God’s promise of land than the elaborate covenant ritual full of animal sacrifice and fire. Perhaps a nightly reminder of God’s promise filled Abram with consolation, making him feel fully alive.

While created things like the night sky can help us encounter God, they can also draw us away from God. When created things become the center of our lives, our focus turns inward. Love for God and for others is replaced by a love for created things. We become like the bad tree, incapable of producing good fruit. We fail to give glory to God because we are no longer fully alive. Instead, our lives become focused on created things, which are temporary, fleeting, and limited.

What created things help us encounter God? What prevents us from being fully alive?