First Homily after his Ordination in 1955

I want to see God.
Did you ever wish for something? No? Well I did.
I've wished that the Grace and the Blessings of The Sacred Heart of Jesus be with you.
That the Peace of The Sacred Heart of Jesus would encompass you.
That the Merits of The Sacred Heart of Jesus would plead for you.
That the Love of The Sacred Heart of Jesus would inflame you.
That the Sorrows of The Sacred Heart of Jesus would console you.
That the Zeal of The Sacred Heart of Jesus would animate you.
That the virtues of The Sacred Heart of Jesus would be in your every word and work.
And that the joy of the Beatific Vision might one day be yours.

I want to see God in You.
Did you ever see God?
Did you ever see Him in the People you meet?
Did you ever see Him in the drops of rain?
Did you ever see God in the rising sun?
Did you ever see Him in the Moon, in the stars?
Tell me, because I want to see God.

I want to see God in all these things.
In each white host.
In every mention of The Holy Ghost.
In the light of day.
In the dark of night.
In the glow of each candle light.
In the souls I meet.
In the Saints I love.
In the Priests I greet.
In the Nuns I know.
In all that God creates.
In the pebbles of the beach.
In the waves of the ocean.
In the deeps thereof, I want to see God.

I want to see Him in the Psalms I sing.
In each verse, each word, I want to see God.

I want to see God, I wish it so much, to see Him in each thing I touch.
In the breath I breathe.
In the food I eat.
In the liquid I drink, I want to see God.

I want to see Him in my trials, my temptations.
I want to see Him thru my very falls.
I want to see Him in all of His churches.
I want to see Him in farthest East and deepest South, in far flung North and distant West.
In every acre of ground, I want to see God.

I want to see Him in the Vows I made.
In the Poverty.
In the Chastity.
In the Conversion of Manners.
And in my Stability.
I want to see God in my Obedience.
And I want to see God in the Perseverance therein.

I want to see Him through thick and thin.
I want to see Him in the Way of The Cross.
In the struggles.
In the falls.
In the risings.
In the meetings.
In the slander.
In the gossip.
In the roughness
In the follies of my life, I want to see God.

I want to see Him in Dryness.
In Humiliations.
In Victories, too.
In the millions of moments down thru the years, I want to see God.

In the struggles on earth.
In sickness and health.
In the lame and the bent, I want to see God.

In the Ill.
In the Blind.
In the Deaf.
In the Young.
In the Old.
In every living thing, I want to see God.

When I see Him, I'll tell you.
There is light and peace and sweetness in Him.
A splendid light before which the doctrine of the most learned men on earth is darkness.
A peace above anything that could be desired.
And a sweetness that surpasses all the consolations of the earth.

But I want to see God in sufferings, too.
In the things that disconcert.
In the misfortunes of daily living.
In the desolations I fancy.
In the feeling of forsakenness.
On those strange roads we all know, I want to see Him.

I want to see God at the end of the day.
In the profits.
In the losses of daily living, I want to see Him.

In the tortures of soul.
In the strain of my living.
In all the prayers I utter, I want to see God.

In the desert.
In the dryness.
In the little oasis of life.
In the little agitations, I want to see God.

In all the sacrifices I am asked to make, lengthy or short, I want to see God.
In everything material.
In all things spiritual, I want to see Him.

“Why all this?” you may ask.
Well, if I see Him I'll love Him.
For He is to my soul what air is to my lungs.
You see I need Him.
But He needs me, too.
Now my love like gold needs purification.
If I see God he will make all pure.
So help me fulfill my wish, I want to see God.

If I see Him in all these things I will accept all without regarding what He gives.
With gratitude for the simple reason that all comes from Him, impregnated with His love.
In the faith He gives I'll accept each day as He sends it, as a sealed package charged with His love.
Whether joyful or sorrowful, I'll receive it.

If I see God in all these things He will be the rule of my conduct, the guide of my whole life.
I will appraise at their correct value all temporal things whether good or evil in themselves.
God will be to me a comfort in every sorrow, a support in every temptation, a counselor in all prosperity.

If I see God in all I will realize His immutability, understand that in Him there is no change.
That in me alone there is inconstancy, a wavering in the fixed purpose of my vows.
Abandoning what I have once happily undertaken and forever for Him.
Allowing myself to be swayed by specious motives tossed about this way and that like reeds in the wind.

If I see God I will reflect upon the steadfast unchangeableness of God.
I will draw closer to Him if I see God.
And I will remain unmoved by the fickleness and luring vanities of the world.

Then I may, with Christ our Redeemer and all the saints,
(in the words of The Venerable Lessius “seek and live for God alone”)
comprehend to the full extent of my limited faculties
what is the length and height and depth of His perfections,
in order that being wholly drawn to Him in thought and affection,
I may become immersed in that boundless sea
and there lose myself and all created things,
paying heed to nothing else but Him;
that I may repose in Him alone,
possess and enjoy every good gift in Him.

For as His Essence is Infinite, so all the riches that are in Him are likewise Infinite and boundless. Who is so avaricious that the Infinite and Immeasurable God is not enough for him?
May I never therefore seek or desire anything outside Him.
May He be to me, in place of all things and above all things,
the God of my heart and my portion forever.

Consider that the limitless realms of God are destined to be our possession
without fear of losing them.
Let this thought carry us through life in our vows,
and prevent us from growing enamored of the goods of this life
whose possession is so precarious and short lived,
keeping a constant watch lest we be drawn into worldly ambitions.
I want to see God.