God's Dwelling Place

O how lovely is your dwelling place,

dwelling of the Lord of hosts! —Psalm 84

We are especially attuned to the loveliness of our world when something unusual occurs, like a picturesque early snowfall. However, if Teilhard de Chardin is correct in saying that God has implanted a divine spark of love in everything created, the entire world is God’s dwelling place and it is lovely at all times, if we have the eyes to see it! Furthermore, if we truly believe that everywhere is God’s dwelling place, it follows that we should honor and fiercely protect all of creation so that the divine plan may be fulfilled, as God proclaimed through the prophet Isaiah:

For just as from the heavens

the rain and snow come down

and do not return there

until they have watered the earth,

making it fertile and fruitful,

giving seed to the sower

and bread to the hungry,

so shall my word be

that goes forth from my mouth;

it shall not return to me void

but shall do my will, achieving

the end for which I sent it.

                             —Isaiah 55:10-11

When our eyes are opened to the loveliness of the dwelling place we share with God, may our gratitude compel us to walk gently and, as St. Benedict instructs, treat all that we encounter as sacred vessels of the altar.