A large parrot has taken up residence in our front yard. He joins the mockingbirds, doves, cardinals, crows, and egrets, as well as the occasional hawk, great blue heron, and assorted other birds both native and transient.. The parrot is bright green with patches of red, and being rather shy, he is fond of hiding in the pyracantha, where he disappears among the green leaves and red berries. Sometimes I inadvertently walk too close to his favorite spot, and then he flies out with a grand squawk, honoring me with a display of his magnificent colors.
When I think of how much I delight in seeing this parrot, I realize that God’s delight in creation is beyond my wildest imagination. Not only does God gaze on creation and find it good (Genesis 1), but, as St. Ignatius of Loyola says, God also dwells in creatures, giving them being and life. If we really took in the fact of God’s presence with — and delight in — all of creation, how would our lives change? How we would reverence ourselves and each other, the whole earth and all it contains!
[God] brought me out into a broad place;
he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
(Psalm 18:19)
When you say that God lives in us all, even Creation, what do you mean?
There is nowhere that God is not (even though we sometimes feel as if God is absent). I love this passage from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola:
‘…consider how God dwells in creatures; in the elements, giving them existence; in the plants, giving them life; in the animals, giving them sensation; in human beings, giving them intelligence; and finally, how in this way he dwells also in myself, giving me existence, life, sensation, and intelligence; and even further, making me his temple, since I am created as a likeness and image of the Divine Majesty.” (Translated by George E. Ganss)
Sorry to have taken so long to respond. You make a point. I do understand now. All i was concerned with was a doctrine that some people believe that creation or, let just say, animals should be worship because God lives in them. I see that’s not your position so thank you for your insight.