BE AWARE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD

Another way of increasing our sense of the Presence of God, is to perceive Him in all His creatures.

St Therese of the Child Jesus loved to contemplate the image of her Creator in the flowers of the fields and in the stars of the firmament.

God has created all things for our benefit and He is Present in all things.

He sees what use we make of them and can judge whether we employ them to honour Him, Who is our beginning and our end.

The ray of Divine Beauty,which shines in every created thing, should attract us towards its Creator and cause us to adore and serve Him.

Whenever we meet a learned and holy person, moreover, the reflection of God’s Power and Goodness, is even more compelling.

“Learn to love the Creator in the creature,” says St Augustine, “lest the thing which He has made should grip you and you should lose Him by Whom you also were created” (In Ps 19),

In other words, let us learn to see the Creator in all His creatures so that these may not enslave us but cause us to love Him, Who is our highest Good.”

cardinal antonio bacci

THE PRESENCE OF GOD

The third way of remaining attentive to the Presence of God is to contemplate Him living in ourselves.

While it is true that God is present everywhere, He dwells in a special manner in the human soul which is the masterpiece of creation!

When our souls are adorned with His grace, His delight in us is unbounded.

“I will dwell and move among them. I will be their God and they shall be My people” (2 Cor 6:16).

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you” (1 Cor 3:16).

God dwells among us, therefore and lives in us as in so many temples.

We should recognise His Presence and listen to His Voice, furthermore, we should adore Him, love Him and pray to Him.

Then, we can sincerely claim to belong entirely to Him.

(by Cardinal Antonio Bacci)

 

GOD WATCHES OVER YOU, DAY AND NIGHT

You may sleep but God will place Himself at your side and watch over you continually: I will rest with Him and He will be a comfort in my cares and grief (Cf Wis 8:9,16). When you take your rest He does not leave your bedside. He remains there, always thinking of you, that if you awake in the night He may speak to you by His inspirations and, receive from you in return, some act of love, of oblation, of thanksgiving. Thus, He desires to continue, even in the hours of the night, His sweet and gracious converse with you.

Sometimes too, He will speak to you while you sleep and make you hear His Voice, so that, in waking, you may put into practice that which He has spoken: I will speak to Him in a dream (Num 12:6).

He is there also in the morning, to hear from you some word of affection, of confidence; to be the depository of your first thoughts and of all the actions which you promise to perform that day, to please Him; of all the griefs, too, which you offer to willingly endure for His glory and love.

But as He fails not to present Himself to you at the moment of your waking, do not fail, on your part, to immediately give Him a look of love and, to rejoice, when your God announces to you the glad tidings that He is not far from you (as once He may have been, by reason of your sins) but that, He loves you and would be beloved by you.”