As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been “Yes and No.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not “Yes and No”; but in him it is always “Yes.” For in him every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” (2 Cor. 1:18-20)

Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini

“God, deliver me from frowning saints.” (St. Teresa of Avila)

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Do you live your ordinary life as though God, in Jesus, has said “Yes” to you?

We are meant for intimate union with God; that is what the Holy Eucharist and the Daily Offices and our private devotions are for.

Intimacy with God is the “mystic, sweet communion” we sing about in church. We are meant to know, in “our selves, our souls and bodies,” that God loves us and desires every blessing for us.

Jesus’ Incarnation serves to make that fact — God’s “Yes” — not only concrete, but historical and lasting. Jesus lived and taught and died and rose at a specific time and place, sharing our everyday human life. His Ascension means that humanity is already and forever united with God in the ongoing, ordinary life of the Trinity.

Can people tell when they see you that God, in Jesus, has said “Yes” not only to you but also to them?

If you’re a “frowning saint,” why not make it your practice during the next several months of Ordinary Time to share God’s everyday, ordinary “Yes” in your smile and words, in your devotion and hard work, in your resting and your playing?