FOX NEWS
“And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will” (Romans 8:27).
This verse is evidence that God knows each person on Earth, a Jesuit priest told Fox News Digital.
The verse comes from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, the longest of Paul’s epistles.
The book is the “most systematic unfolding of the apostle’s thought, expounding the gospel of God’s righteousness that saves all who believe; it reflects a universal outlook, with special implications for Israel’s relation to the church,” said the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
“We have a God who not only notices but knows each and every one of us on the deepest level, better than we know even ourselves,” Fr. Jacob Boddicker, SJ, told Fox News Digital.
Boddicker was ordained a Catholic priest in 2017 and is a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He is currently serving at St. Xavier Church in downtown Cincinnati.
“What’s more,” said Boddicker, God “cares deeply about our needs and desires. He understands us, not merely because he is all-knowing but he understands us with his own understanding.”
His understanding, explained Boddicker, is his “own Spirit.”
The idea that God’s understanding is the Holy Spirit is compounded in other verses, he noted.
“Psalm 139 opens with the well-known verses, ‘Lord, you have probed me, and you know me: You know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar,’” said Boddicker.
In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul wrote, as Boddicker noted, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
“Many Christians know and believe that the Spirit of God dwells within them, but we often do not reflect on the truth that he does not dwell within us as in an apartment or a palace, but rather a temple: a place of worship and prayer,” said Boddicker.
This is important for a Christian to consider, he added.
Although humans are sinners by nature, they are “a temple wherein the Holy Spirit of God dwells, prays and worships.”
In Romans 8:26, the verse preceding the one explained in this piece, St. Paul reminds the Romans that the Holy Spirit “comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.”
“We might come to hear his prayers, and marvel at the love of God at work within our very selves.”
A Christian should think of both these verses, and “the truth that we are the Spirit’s temple: the same Spirit that knows the Heart of God knows our heart, and intercedes for us in his own prayer, and does so without ceasing from the sanctuary he has made of our own hearts,” said Broddicker.
The Holy Spirit’s intention for humanity is made evident by Romans 8:27, he said.
“We hear today that he intercedes for us according to God’s will,” said Boddicker, adding that in 1 Timothy, it is written that God “wills everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.”
“The very Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit of God, dwells in the temple of your being, pleading with the Father for your salvation, without ceasing,” Boddicker said.
“Perhaps, praying with these sacred passages, considering this beautiful truth, we might come to hear his prayers, and marvel at the love of God at work within our very selves,” he said.
