XXIV — PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD

Presence of God. — O Lord, may I always live in your presence, with my interior gaze fixed on you.

Meditation

1 — The life of continual prayer is all the easier the more the soul knows how to preserve during the day the sense of God’s presence. We already know that God is always present in us, that we live, move, and are in Him; but while in the hours of prayer we seek to become more vividly conscious of this great reality, when returning to our occupations this awareness little by little fades, and often we find ourselves living as if God were no longer present to us.

The practice of God’s presence consists precisely in procuring that, even in the midst of our work, the Lord may always be present to our mind and to our heart. This exercise can be done in various ways: with external helps, such as an image or a crucifix that we carry with us or keep on our work table, whose sight will often bring us back to the thought of God; or by using imagination to represent the Lord inwardly as near us, something that corresponds to reality because, though Jesus’ Humanity is not physically present to us, it always exercises a real influence on us in the communication of grace. We can therefore very well represent this action of Jesus in us as his continual accompanying us. We can also keep the remembrance of God alive by a thought of faith: for example, I can cultivate the thought of the Trinity’s continual presence in me and seek to perform all my actions in homage to the divine Guests; or I can consider my duties as so many manifestations of God’s will and thus, in fulfilling them, seek to unite myself to this divine will; I can also practice seeing all the circumstances of my life in the light of faith and therefore disposed by divine Providence for my good. This will lead me to embrace everything willingly, continually repeating to the heavenly Father: I am content with all that You do for me.

2 — The practice of God’s presence particularly suggested by St. Teresa of Jesus to those who aspire to divine intimacy is that which aims at keeping the soul in intimate contact with God present within it. “We must withdraw within ourselves even in the midst of occupations,” says the Saint. “Even if only for a moment, the remembrance of Him whom I carry within me is always of great profit to me” (Way 29, 5). One could object that this method is more suited to one who lives in solitude than to one who lives in continual contact with others; yet the Saint applies it, in so practical and simple a way, precisely to this second case: “If [someone] must speak, let him think that he has to speak within himself with Another [that is, with God]. If he must listen, let him remember to lend ear to a voice [God’s voice] that speaks to him more closely. And he will finally realize that, if he wishes, he can always remain with his God... If he can, let him recall it often each day, or at least from time to time” (ibid., 7).

Any professional or worker can adopt this method in all his relations with neighbor. And nothing prevents him from using it also in an inverse sense, that is, applying it to God’s presence in another’s soul. If, unfortunately, God is not always present by grace in all men, He is however present by his Essence, that is, as Creator and Preserver of their being. Thus a teacher can always consider God present in his pupils, a doctor or a nurse in his patients, a shopkeeper or a seamstress in clients as in any other person; this will inspire in us sentiments of benevolence, charity, and respect toward all persons with whom we deal, and will lead us to care for and serve them not only for our own profit nor even only from a sense of duty, but in homage and in relation to God whom we recognize present in them. It is, in sum, a matter of seeking, serving, and loving God present in our brothers. This exercise, joined to that suggested by St. Teresa, will effectively help us maintain continual contact with God, whether we consider Him present in our own soul or in that of our neighbor. “If you accustom yourselves to being with so good a Friend,” says the Saint, “and He sees that you do so with love and that you seek every means of pleasing Him, not only will He never fail you, but, as they say, you will never be able to get Him away from your side” (Way 26, 1).

Colloquy

“O Lord, You in me and I in You, let this be my motto! How beautiful this your presence in me is, in the inner sanctuary of my soul! Grant that my continual occupation may be to re-enter my interior in order to lose myself in You, to live together with You. I feel you so alive in my soul that it is enough for me to recollect myself to find You here, within me; and this is all my happiness.

“O Lord, may I live with You as with a friend. Help me to keep my faith awake, to unite myself to You through all things. I carry heaven in my soul because You, who satisfy the blessed in eternal vision, give yourself to me in faith and mystery.

“Grant, my God, that my soul may be a little paradise where You can rest with delight; help me therefore to remove from it all that could wound your divine gaze. And then, may I live in this little heaven, always with You. Wherever I am, whatever I do, You never leave me; grant that I too, then, may always remain with You; that at every hour of day and night, in every joy and every trial, in every work and every action I may know how to find You in me.

“My God, Holy Trinity, be You my dwelling, my nest, my father’s house from which I must never depart. May I remain in You, not for some instant, or for some hours that pass, but permanently, habitually. May I pray in You, adore in You, love in You, suffer in You, work, act in You. May I remain in You in presenting myself to any person or thing, in applying myself to any duty, pressing farther into your divine depths. O Lord, each day may I go farther along this path that leads me to You; may I let myself glide down this slope with a trust wholly full of love” (cf. E.T. Letters I, 1).

“Grant me, O Lord, to imitate the angelic spirits who, while they are with us, do not cease from divine contemplation. Grant that I may deal with and serve my brothers, considering and enjoying You in them, and directing my heart to You. And when it happens that I move away from this noble exercise, help me to return to it at once, making every effort to succeed, so that, with your divine help, I may always live with my heart fixed on You” (cf. St. Bonaventure).