Finding God.  We often spend a lot of energy in our days “looking for God”, almost as if God were playing “hide and seek” with us in the midst of our lives.  Just the other day I had a great conversation with my sister and she asked me at the end of it to pray for my niece and nephew that God would lead them in what He wants for them.  I paused later to reflect on this “work” of ours in trying to know what God wants.  That brings me/us to today’s Scripture.
 
In our first reading, Paul is speaking to the men of Athens telling them that the God he proclaims to them is a God who is really not far.  Jesus later tells us that “…the Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth.” In other words, the God of Love who created us has placed within our very beings His very being.  This indwelling Spirit is promised to guide us along the path of life.  The promise is given; all we need do is listen.  So, how do we listen to God and not “other gods”?

I once heard someone give a homily on the nature of God and human beings.  He said, “God is at least as good as you or I.”  That really strikes me when I think of my niece and nephew.  I know how deeply I yearn for the best for them: good friendships, a husband/wife who loves them for who they are, a life vocation that fulfills them.  So, if I want these good things for those I love, how much more must God want for them!  We often think of God as rationing out gifts; how infrequently we experience Him as lavishing us with gifts.

All of these reflections lead to the truth that God has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell within the deepest desires of our hearts.  The good that we want for those we love is, in fact, God’s desires within us; the evil that we hate in war and senseless suffering is our sharing in God’s agony; and the yearnings that we have for God alone are God’s yearnings place deep within us.

So, how do we find God?  The map has been given in our own hearts.  It calls us to take time regularly for prayer--prayer that includes honest conversations with God about our desires and our inner groanings.   It calls us to conversations with someone who will be honest with us and challenge us.  It calls us to the sacraments, to be in the midst of other Christians in this journey together, sincerely seeking after and finding God.   And mostly it calls us to ask for the grace that our desires be God’s desires.  Perhaps a question we might ask God is “What do you want?”  I suspect we’ll be surprised by the answer that comes to us.