God's Grace

The Big Question: How Does One ‘Find’ God?

Elena Tafone

We’ve collected the responses of theologians, philosophers and authors as they’ve grappled with the question: how does one “find” God?

God is everywhere… and nowhere. It’s a contradiction many have struggled with on their faith journey. How do we “find” an entity who is everything? One that’s impossible to fully conceptualize? Here, we’ve collected the responses of theologians, philosophers and authors as they’ve grappled with the question: how does one “find” God?

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1 ^{of 10}

Thomas Merton, theologian

“The first step toward finding God, Who is Truth, is to discover the truth about myself: and if I have been in error, this first step to truth is the discovery of my error.”

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2 ^{of 10}

Mother Teresa

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence.”

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3 ^{of 10}

Blaise Pascal, philosopher

“There are three sorts of persons: Those who have found God and serve him—those who are busy in seeking him, but have not found him—and those, who not having found him, live without seeking him. The first are rational and happy; the last are foolish and unhappy; the other class are unhappy but rational.”

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4 ^{of 10}

Rev. James Martin, author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything

“Finding God often happens in the midst of a community―with a ‘we’ as often as an ‘I.’”

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5 ^{of 10}

Meister Eckhart, theologian

“Our best chance of finding God is to look in the place where we left him.”

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6 ^{of 10}

R.C. Sproul

“We do not “find” God as a result of our search for him. We are found by him.”

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7 ^{of 10}

Jeremiah 29:13

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”