How to live the presence of God?------------------------
On the last but one day of a directed retreat I gave recently in Nairobi, during the Eucharistic celebration, I shared with the retreatants one of the many ways of practising the presence of God in our daily life.
As the participants were all of them belonging to a Congregation of Religious I was inspired to share with them the following way of living the presence of God. The context of sharing was the last but one day's Eucharist of the retreat.
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If someone were to close his/her eyes and say "I do not see God in my life", would that person ever be in a position to experience the presence of God in the daily events of his/her life? Not likely. In God's providence of course the possibility of His breaking into one's life in an extraordinary way is always possible. But that is not the ordinary way.
"Open your eyes" the Lord would whisper in your heart, "and see me labouring, protecting and nurturing your life today". This calls for deep faith in God who trusts me in spite of my limitations.
Then I shared with them following:
"As I take part in the daily Eucharist,
if I open my ears of my heart to the various prayers and readings of the celebration of the Eucharist,
I will certainly be touched by a phrase or a verse from the sacred readings or prayers of the celebration.
Let me take note of the particular phrase or verse and consider it as the "WORD OF LIFE" for the day.
Let me suppose the verse that strikes me is the following:
"Bless the Lord, O my soul;
and all that is within me ,
bless his holy name." (Psalm 103:1)
I open myself to the healing touch of this verse. When the Mass is over and I enter into my daily schedule of activities I can repeat this verse in the silence of my heart whenever an opportune moment suggests itself in the course of the day. It may be a joyful moment when someone tells me a word of encouragement. It may be when someone misunderstands me and criticises me or gets angry with me. It may be a moment of tension, some struggle, a mood out experience, a negative self talk or a deep mental agony.
With great faith, hope and love I pray,
"Bless the Lord, O my soul;
and all that is within me ,
bless his holy name."
I repeat the verse whenever I am inspired to do it. If I think that I have a tendency to forget, I can write it down and keep it on my table or in my pocket. It will not take too much time either.
However busy I am,
this way of praying the presence of God is available to me.
My willingness and readiness is all that is necessary.
I can be sure that the loving presence of God will overwhelm me with its miraculous healing power.
If I practise this method daily, and at the end of a particular day if I spend a few moments in examining my consciousness I will be surprised to find that the experience of the loving presence of God has positively influenced my thoughts, words and deeds for the greater glory of God.
"O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever!"(Psalm 118:1)
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NB: Even if one is not able to take part in the daily Eucharist, still this method of living the presence of can be practised. Take any passage from the Sacred Scripture and read it attentively or listen to any devotional hymn and allow yourself to be touched by any phrase or verse. Relive that phrase during the day as it is suggested above. You can be sure it will work. The Lord is with me twenty four hours of the day, seven days a week.What is important is that I make an effort to be in touch with Him.
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Sure enough this is a very simple method. The sceptics would not heed to it saying: "It is too pious and outlandish".
Let us remember that in spiritual experience, the simple prayer with great faith, hope and love can lead us to profound experience of God. Why don't we give it a try. If you are a practitioner of this form of prayer in any of its form, I will be happy to have a short write-up on your practise and experience and I assure you that your writeup will eventually published in this blog pending of course your permission to do so.
Let me request you to contact me using the E-mail id given at the end of this post. Thank you very much indeed.
May the Lord's loving presence touch you and heal you! May His name be phrased fore ever more!
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Sense of humour
First Day of School -
This little girl comes home from her first day at school and says, "I'm never going to school again!". Her father asks why. She says, "The teacher said the 5+5 = 10. Then she said the 6+4 = 10, and 7+3 = 10 and 8+2 = 10 and 9+1 = 10." The father asks, "What's your point?" "She needs to make up her mind!'
Found Money -
#1: "Last Sunday I found a wallet packed with money down by the church." #2: "Did you give it back?" #1: "Not yet. I'm still trying to decide if it's a temptation from the devil or the answer to a prayer."
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