God comes to us through created things

Published: February 17, 2024

By Jeff Hines
Faith Formation Director

I’ve been listening to my old vinyl John Denver records lately.

This past Dec. 31 would have been John Denver’s 80th birthday. His song, “Rocky Mountain High,” is about a young man in his 20s who goes to Colorado and has a transcendent spiritual experience.

In the grandeur of the mountains, with his friends around the campfire, he finds new meaning in life. “You might say he was born again; you might say he found the key to every door.”

Denver did not set out to write a religious song, yet he followed the experience to its logical conclusion. He acknowledges God: “Talk to God and listen to the casual reply, Rocky Mountain High.”

This is a genuine experience of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “God speaks to man through visible creation.” (no. 1147)

The psalmist describes the same experience, “I raise my eyes toward the mountains. From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2)

Pope Benedict XVI explains the experience. He writes about the star that led the three Wise Men to Jesus: “Creation gives man an intuition of the Creator. It arouses the expectation, indeed the hope, that this God will one day reveal himself. And it elicits an awareness that man can and should approach him.” (“Jesus of Nazareth, The Infancy Narratives,” p. 100)

While God’s existence is clear in the mountains and the stars, he does not stay distant from us. He wants us to know him. The catechism says, “God never ceases to call every man and woman to seek him, so as to find life and happiness.” (no. 30)

Denver is quoted as saying, “The future of life on Earth depends on our ability to see the sacred where others see only the common.” Notice the sacramental language. It is the very definition of a sacrament. God comes to us through created things. He comes close to us in the sacraments. 

The creator, the Word who created the mountains and stars, shows us the way. He “became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14) He is Jesus. He lived and taught so that we can know him who created all things. He gave himself so that our spirit, connected with his spirit, can die and rise with him to new life.

The creator we encounter in the Rocky Mountains is the same creator we encounter in the sacramental liturgy, but now in the matter and form of small things: water, oil, bread, wine, hands, words and signs. The catechism says, “The liturgical word and action accomplish what they signify. The Holy Spirit makes present the ‘wonders’ of God and communicates the Father’s work, fulfilled by the beloved Son.” (no. 1155)

We can experience God in the mountains and the stars, but what next? We know we cannot stay on the mountain. We must return to the flatland of daily life, to our homes, our families, our work and our responsibilities. God is there to meet us in ordinary life.

To know God, we must be able to think sacramentally. Always be aware that God comes to us through created things. Go to Mass and look beyond the matter and form of the sacraments to encounter him who comes to us through them. Attend Mass weekly, expecting to “talk to God and listen to the casual reply.”

Jeff Hines is the director of the Office of Faith Formation for the Diocese of Little Rock. This article was originally published in Arkansas Catholic Feb. 17, 2024. Copyright Diocese of Little Rock. All rights reserved. This article may be copied or redistributed with acknowledgement and permission of the publisher.