A Thought on Presence

Well, folks, the Olympics are over.  That's okay, though.  For just as inspiring as the Olympics were over the last couple of weeks,  we know that the Spirit continues to provide us with inspiration and presence in all of our goings-on.  This week, I've tried to give a little insight into a thought I've had recently on the word "presence."  This presence refers to God's presence, our presence, and just generally being present in life.

Each night before I go to sleep, I ask God about presence.  -- By the way, thank you, Mom and Dad, for teaching me to pray before going to bed! -- My usual prayer asks God that I might always feel God's presence in my life.  I enjoy this prayer as it helps me remember that I am a small piece of a much greater work.  However, the other night I mistakenly switched the prayer around asking God to always feel my presence in God's life.  I quickly realized the error of my words and resorted back to my usual prayer because I did not want to entertain words that might put myself on the same level with the presence of God.  But, upon reflecting on the mistaken word order of my prayer, I realized that asking God to feel my presence could be just as powerful a prayer as my wanting to always feel God's presence.  But how?

How could my presence in God's life be equally as important as God's presence in my life?  Well, I believe in a living God.  This living God is not just a supreme being that dishes out miracles and blessings whenever we ask.  A living God is a mutual participant in our joys, sorrows, successes, and failures.  A living God is a savior, a companion, a friend, a confidant, a teacher, a healer, a teammate, etc.  As a result, I think it is okay to want God to feel my presence because if God does feel my presence, then maybe it is a sign that I'm striving to be an equal living part of our relationship.  This is not unlike the bonds we have with family and friends where we want to be present in their lives just as much as we want them to be present in ours.

In the Catholic tradition, we believe that the communion which we receive each time we go to mass is the True Presence of Christ.  Does receiving the True Presence of Christ in our bodies and spirits empower us to be "truly present" to those we encounter on our life journey?  If not, what can we do to become a more recognizable presence of that which we receive through the Body of Christ?

In short, claiming that God is our everything only works if we are also trying to be everything possible for God.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.