God has placed much of our true and full humanity in each and every heart. But we only begin to find it there. God hides fragments of our true and full humanity in other places.
This is probably easiest to see in relationship to our family and friends. We are human without them, but not fully so. They make us more human. You can say that God has placed a fragment of your true and full humanity in the hearts of your loved ones.
But the Bible tells us there is more. We are not fully human by ourselves; we are not fully human just with our family and friends. God hides fragments of our humanity in other places, as well.
We are not fully human without God’s Creation. God has hidden part of our true nature there. Scripture tells us that God has placed fragments of our humanity in the poor and marginalized. We can even say that a fragment of our humanity is in our enemy. Without forgiveness of those who wrong us, we cannot receive the fullness of what we are; we cannot become the fullness of what God calls us to be.
Jesus united in himself the fragments of our lost humanity, in his life, in his death, in his resurrection. Now he places those fragments in the sacraments and, in a sacramental way, in creation and humanity, imploring us to find our true selves, not only in our own hearts, but in the lives of others.
