Why can’t I hear, smell, nor see God?
God, by His very nature, is incorporeal; that’s just a fancy word that means “not having a body.” As we know, God is all-powerful, all-present, and all-knowing (omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient). If God is to have those characteristics, He must be purely spirit — without a body. Having a body would place limits on God, and then He wouldn’t be omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. Just take your body, for example. Your body has limits. You can only be in one physical place at once, but God, because He is purely spirit and not limited to a body, is not restricted to a single location or place. Thus, as I said, God is omnipresent.
God, by His very nature, is incorporeal; that’s just a fancy word that means “not having a body.” As we know, God is all-powerful, all-present, and all-knowing (omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient). If God is to have those characteristics, He must be purely spirit — without a body. Having a body would place limits on God, and then He wouldn’t be omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. Just take your body, for example. Your body has limits. You can only be in one physical place at once, but God, because He is purely spirit and not limited to a body, is not restricted to a single location or place. Thus, as I said, God is omnipresent.
Because God, in His essence, is not a body — is not physical — He does not have a bodily voice, or scent, or sight. In other words, it’s not possible to physically see God the Father. You can’t smell the Holy Spirit! Yet, we do use sights, smells, and sounds to signify God. Our liturgy is full of representations of God, which remind us of Who God truly is. Let me give you an example. I just mentioned that you can’t smell the Holy Spirit, but during the Rite of Confirmation, the one being confirmed is anointed with the oil of sacred chrism, which smells very sweet. That sweet smelling oil represents the sweetness of the Holy Spirit. Does that mean that the Holy Spirit actually smells sweet? No, of course not! But, that sweet smell does tell us something about the Holy Spirit Himself, namely that He is beautiful and lovely when He comes into our souls.
We would be remiss if we didn’t talk about one more very important part of this seeing, smelling, hearing God question. What’s that important thing we haven’t talked about so far? Because God knows that we are poor, sinful, distracted human beings who are not good about praying to a God we cannot see, God did something absolutely amazing. God took on our human flesh — our human nature. God became man. We’re so accustomed to hearing the phrase that we’re usually not aware of just what crazy words those are. GOD BECAME MAN. The infinite God of the universe was incarnate in the womb of Mary and was born as a baby. The Eternal Son of the Father, the Word of God, took flesh. He is fully God and fully man: Jesus Christ. The amazing Christmas miracle is that God became one of us.
Of course, since Jesus is a real man, He has a real body (now ascended to the Father). That body could be seen and heard, and even smelled! As a baby, He cried, was fed, and even had to have His diaper changed. What’s so amazing about that is that we humans had real and physical contact with the God of the universe. Jesus walked this earth and healed and fed people. He touched with His human hands, and people heard His voice. God came and lived among us. Amazing!
Now, you may be tempted to wish that you could have lived when Jesus walked on this earth some 2,000 years ago, but what you may not realize is that the very same Jesus, the Incarnate Son of the Father, has real and lasting contact with you in the sacraments. Jesus’ real Body and Blood is present in the Eucharist, for instance. That’s not an imaginary or invisible thing. Jesus is physically present, veiled under the form of bread and wine. When you receive Holy Communion, you touch Jesus, and smell Jesus, and see Jesus. Jesus, Who is both God and man, became man so that He could be close to you!
Father Paschal Pautler, O.S.B., is a monk and priest of St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman. Hailing from Birmingham, Father Paschal was educated by the Nashville Dominican Sisters at St. Rose Academy and then by the Monks of St. Bernard Abbey at St. Bernard Preparatory School. After graduation from high school, he entered the monastery. He was ordained a priest in 2023, and he presently serves as the Development Director for St. Bernard Abbey and Preparatory School.
