All Worlds That Are And Are To Be

A few years ago, an airline commercial shown during Wheel of Fortune proclaimed, “At Mexicana Airlines, we think the world of you.” Immediately, the thought flashed through my mind, “At St. Peter’s, we see God in you.”

That moment of inspiration trumpeted a motto for my home parish. Telling my priest of the incident, he suggested working it into the vision statement we were writing, but as hard as I tried, it didn’t want to be a part of the statement. It wanted to stand alone, proclaiming: “We see God in you.”

This statement has become the touchstone of my relationships. My hope, my desire is to see God in each and every person I meet. For me, this statement is a distillation of the two great commandments of Jesus: love God; love your neighbor as yourself. My vision is that as I love others, they will be moved to pass on that love by seeing God in the “you” and “you” and “you” in their own lives.

When I write thank you notes to parishioners, I relate their gift of time and talent to the fact that I see God in them through their contribution. I'm seeing the fruit of that affirmation as these same people tell others, “I see God in you.”

When we personally, and as a church, see God in each other, we are indeed loving God, loving ourselves, and loving our neighbor “in all the worlds that are and are to be.”