A question worth pondering: Why did God form us with the human senses? Could it be that God was so pleased with the handiwork of his creation that he had a burning desire for us to experience it fully as well? Simply put, the senses are incontrovertible proof of a living God who desires us to be fully human—fully alive! Think of our senses as sufficient evidence of a relational God who wants us to delight rapturously with him in relishing a taste of heaven on earth!
Through the senses, we feel at home in the natural surroundings God created, and we feel more alive in our spiritual home too. Instituted by Christ, the Catholic Church is where our senses are stimulated to express our faith in God. Through the senses, we convey our longing to be in loving union with God now and in the kingdom to come, where the desires of our heart will be fully satisfied. Saint Paul assures us, “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
This true home God has prepared for those who love him awaits us. It’s where our entire being will be joined to God “in an endless sharing of a divine life beyond all corruption. Christ won this victory when He rose to life, for by His death He freed man from death” (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World [Gaudium et Spes], 18). By his resurrection, our merciful Savior solved a paradoxical riddle about the transitory nature of our human existence: We’re fully alive after we’re faithfully dead!
Empowered by the senses, live fully as though everything is a miracle. Live your life sensuously as a beneficiary of the greatest miracle of all—the victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Excerpt from Sense Ability: Spiritual Renewal Through Your Five Senses by Fr. Byron M. Miller, CSsR. © 2026 Liguori Publications (828911). To order, call 800-325-9521 or visit Liguori.org.