# Finding God in ourselves and others: celebrating Pope Francis' 80th birthday
*2016-12-16*

> Bill Young reflects on the 80th birthday of Pope Francis and explores the spiritual connection between recognizing God within oneself and seeing Him in others.

## A Birthday Wish for Pope Francis

Good morning, this is Bill Young, and welcome to the Prayer N Lunch podcast. Today is Saturday, December 17th, and it is the 80th birthday of Pope Francis. Happy birthday, Pope Francis! Our prayers are with you today. It is also the third Saturday of Advent.

I spent some time looking for the saints of the day, and while I didn't find a modern saint that immediately stood out, I realized that we have a living example in Pope Francis. I have always said that one day he will be a saint—hopefully not anytime soon, because you have to be deceased to be canonized—but we are so blessed to have a Pope who is a humanitarian and a lover of people, the poor, refugees, the homeless, the hungry, the sick, and the imprisoned. If that is not the mark of a saint, I don't know what is.

## Finding God in the Human Family

I am reading today from an Advent booklet titled 'Prepare His Way: Hope and Healing, Justice and Peace for Advent,' which features writings from Pope Francis, St. Mother Teresa, and Father Henry J.M. Newnan. The topic for today is 'Finding God in myself and in others.'

The reading is from Ephesians 2:19 and 22: 'You are no longer strangers and aliens, but citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.'

Father Newnan writes that one of the discoveries we make in prayer is that the closer we come to God, the closer we come to all our brothers and sisters in the human family. God is not a private God. The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is also the God who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being. When we recognize God's presence in our own hearts, we also recognize His presence in the hearts of others. If we see only demons within ourselves, we can only see demons in others; but when we see God within ourselves, we can see God in others as well.

## Brothers and Sisters, Not Rivals

Through prayer, we increasingly experience ourselves as part of a human family, infinitely bound by God who created us to share in the divine light. We are brothers and sisters, not competitors or rivals. We are children of one God, not partisans of different gods. To pray is to listen to the voice of the One who has called us 'beloved,' and to learn that this voice excludes no one. Where I dwell, God dwells with me, and where God dwells with me, I find all my brothers and sisters.

## Consecration and Prayer

The thought for today is to remember that each person is a child of God. To reflect this, we offer an act of consecration of our lives to Christ through Mary, praying that the Church may become the font of new life for humankind. We ask Mother Mary, the Mother of the Church, to help us consecrate ourselves and our suffering to Christ, so that we may share the same taste of new life that He has given us.

We conclude with our prayers: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. We pray specifically for Pope Francis on his 80th birthday. May he have many more birthdays, remaining healthy and making wise decisions. May his example show us how we, as sinners, can also become saints through the guidance of Jesus, Mother Mary, and the Holy Spirit.

*When we recognize that God dwells within our own hearts, we gain the eyes to see Him dwelling in every other person we encounter.*