Before you can love a person you have to start with simpler things and gradually build up your skill — start with a rock, a cloud, a tree.
~ Carson McCullers

Brother Lawrence, the unassuming but now memorable Carmelite monk of the 17th century for whom the kitchen was a sanctuary and the pots and pans holy vessels, bequeathed to us a saying that is at once wonderful and enigmatic: “practice the presence of God.” This maxim suggests both being aware of the constant presence of God and being present in the way God is present. In the latter sense, what we are invited to practice, what we are invited to learn by doing, is the intention of God’s will and the orientation of God’s heart.

The Presence that God is, the I AM that Moses encounters on Mount Sinai, is not merely something factual, not simply something there like a table or a lamppost. The Presence of God refers to more than just the existence of God. The Presence that God is, is always a relational, dynamic Presence, a Who, not a What. The divine presence (Shekinah in Hebrew) is the communication of God’s desire to be in relationship. The Shekinah is not merely the absolute glory of God but the Indwelling Presence of God oriented toward, for, and with the community and the world . The Presence of God is the immediate and eternal giving-of-God and refers to the active, liberating, and loving goodness of God. It is toward this capital “P” Presence to whom we are actively trying to be present, open, and responsive in our relationships. And it is this goodness or Godness that we hope to radiate and offer in our presence to others by offering ourselves as a conduit through which the giving-of-God happens..

Understood in this way, our prayerful, attentive presence before the Blessed Sacrament, for example, is more than adoration. It is the training ground where we learn to be really present to the Real Presence. What this means is more than just attention before an object the way an assembly-line worker watches intently for blemishes on products passing by. To be present to God who is Real Presence has less to do with mental concentration than it has to do with openness and receptivity. To allow ourselves to be susceptible to and acted upon by that which we behold—whether the Blessed Sacrament, a daffodil, the photo of a hooded and humiliated prisoner, the hummingbird, light playing on the water of a pond, a child at play, or the agony on the face of the Syrian mother on the front page of the news — is to participate in the presence of that which we behold. It is to participate in the history and life-being of that person or thing.

PRACTICE & REFLECTION:

Prayer mantra: Not presents– presence.

Be well friend,
Dan