As St. Augustine points out, however, we cannot really be “on our knees all the time, or prostrate ourselves continuously, or be holding up our hands uninterruptedly” (Expositions of the Psalms 33-50, 9-10).
Instead, St. Augustine says we offer an interior prayer --the prayer of our heart. He says, “If you do not want to interrupt your prayer, let your desire be uninterrupted. Your continuous desire is your continuous voice. You will only fall silent if you stop loving” (Expositions of the Psalms 33–50, 9-10). Now I do not want you to think Augustine is saying prayer is a kind of prayerful positive mental attitude, elsewhere he notes,
Therefore we pray always, with insistent desire, … But, we also pray to God in words at certain fixed hours and times, so that we may urge ourselves on and take note with ourselves how much progress we have made in this desire, and may rouse ourselves more earnestly to increase it. (Letter 130, p 390).
The most important thing in our prayer is our heart. God invites us to share our heart and our desires with him. We need to make a habit of lifting up our heart before God. Then we need to ask him to purify our desires according to his will. “Draw near to God” St. James reminds us, “and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
Tonight I would like to share some thoughts about building an awareness of God’s loving presence in our prayer and in our life. This awareness is not just a technique for prayer, but the very foundation of our prayer life.
God makes himself present to us in four ways: through his all-seeing but loving gaze, through his power, through his essence and ultimately in his indwelling presence.
His Loving Gaze
First, we have traditionally said God is present in his “presence,” but we understand this in a restrictive way. God sees everything. The eyes of God are always upon us. The writer to the Hebrews notes, “No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account” (Hebrews 4:13). For some this might create the fear that God is constantly looking for our mistakes.
We must remind ourselves that God’s gaze is always loving and merciful. In the parable of the prodigal son, the father is watching and sees the son returning from a long way off. He runs to meet him, and immediately treats him with love and mercy.
What does this mean for our prayer and our heart? Throughout the day, we can frequently call to mind God’s loving gaze upon us. When we fully grasp this truth, it leads us to desire to purify our intentions. It leads us to seek God’s approval for all our thoughts and actions.
His Power
Secondly, God is present in his power. By this, we mean that nothing happens in the world that is outside God’s control. While God does not cause evil things to happen, nothing happens that God does not at least permit. Everything that happens is in some sense from God’s hand. Further, what he allows is mysteriously used for good. We must learn to trust in his love and mercy in his plan for us. St. Paul tells us, “[God] chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him” (Ephesians 1:4). Before the first moment of creation, God already had a personal plan for each one of us.
In our human relationships, the people we love can betray us, and they often break our trust, but God is always faithful and has a plan for our ultimate good.
Since God already knows all things, and will act according to his divine purpose, prayer is not a time to inform God about things or to persuade God. When we pray for a favor, and Gods grants this favor, we have not changed God’s mind by our prayer. Instead, God has moved us interiorly to pray, and made us aware of something he had already chosen to give.
His Essence
Third God is present in his essence. As composite beings of body and soul, we often think of ourselves as a body with a soul, but more correctly, we are a soul, with a body. Our soul is the eternal, rational part of our composite being. It is far more important than our body.
By his divine essence, God is not only causing us to live, but to exist. We are given life when God shares his divine essence with us. It is impossible to think of this as something distant. God, in his divine essence, is the very foundation of who we are. Everything we do, and every aspect of who we are, shares in his divine essence. Without his essence, we would literally cease to exist.
In St. Paul’s missionary preaching to the Athenians at the Areopagus, he says ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’ (Acts 17:28). If we wish to relate this truth to our prayer, it would teach us that God is not spread out over all of creation, but knows us individually and personally. He knows us by name. In fact he knows us better than we even know ourselves.
In our human relationships, we might have closer friends who know us better than others, but no part of our life is hidden from God. He is never distracted or focused elsewhere. In terms of relationship, we have everything we need, or could ever desire from him.
Perhaps fear might enter our heart. We might think, “I’m not that important, why does God care about me?” This is to misunderstand who God is. Unlike us, he is not limited by his attention, or focus, he is always fully present and has revealed his unwavering love for each one of us as individuals. There is no need to play favorites, or take turns with God.
His Indwelling Presence
Finally, God’s presence by his indwelling is the most important and intimate form of knowing him. If it is possible to think of something more personal than what we have already discussed, God’s presence by his indwelling is even more personal. The reason is that when God dwells in us, we then dwell in him. We are not just held in existence by his presence; we live in him and share his presence.
Jesus says, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:23). We understand this to mean that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit will indwell us.
By his watchful care, and by his power and essence, God guides and sustains us, but by his indwelling, he makes his home in us. Furthermore, the first three ways are available to all of creation, but the indwelling of the Holy Trinity is only available to a Christian in the state of grace.
God’s indwelling presence makes us friends of God (John 15:15) even more the very bride of Christ.
In taking up residence within our hearts, this does not mean that God takes up room within us, pushing what is us, out of the way. He expands our hearts so that we become more, without giving up anything of who we are. We are changed but without being diminished in our individuality. He builds upon and transforms our nature into something new.
As St. Paul tells us, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). He also notes, “All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Imagine what would happen tonight if each one of us were to believe God’s promise given to us by St. James. “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). What would happen in our lives, in our families, in our parish community?
For a more detailed treatment of this topic, see Practicing the Presence of God
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