God Speaks to Us in Many Ways

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. —John 10:10

By: Ann Field, OSB

I once came across a book describing the senses of deep-sea creatures that never see daylight. Some of them have rows of lights like portholes along their flanks to enable them to see both prey and predators; others create a chemical reaction in their bodies to produce bioluminescent light. It was clear that every animal is endowed with the senses it needs for survival and the instinctive skills to use them competently.

We humans, having developed large and complex brains, depend less on instinct than on invention and planning, although we still retain certain primitive reflexes that protect us from danger. But like the other animals, we have been given senses perfectly tailored to our needs. Our five sense organs are all wonderfully designed and precisely constructed, and they work together to enable us to live our lives to the full, as God meant them to be lived. We take these senses for granted, of course, and perhaps it is right that we should, for we most often need to focus on what the senses impart to us rather than how they work. But in this pressured and highly technological age, we often fail to draw from our sense perceptions the full riches they offer to us.

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