After a week of dreary weather, the sun came
out in full force today, and it is as if God has reappeared in the play and
warmth of light. Of course, God was there all along in the grayness of the sky
and the large black grasshoppers I disturbed while cleaning up the garden with
Sr. Alberta, but I was unable to connect with that manifestation of God. In his
Prayer for Wisdom in the November 2017 issue of Give Us This Day, Hosffman Ospino prayed, “Lord grant me your
wisdom … to cherish your life-giving presence in a world charged with your
grandeur.” I want that wisdom too, not just to be able to see how the world is
charged with God’s grandeur when it is not immediately apparent, but to cherish God’s faithful and life-giving presence.
In Chapter 7 of his Rule, Saint Benedict uses God’s constant
presence as an inducement not to sin, because we are “always seen by God in
heaven; [our] actions everywhere are in God’s sight.” Consequently, we find
ourselves wishing we could escape God’s gaze. However, as we grow in spiritual
maturity and learn more about the nature of God, God’s presence becomes
something to be desired, not feared. As Ruth Burroughs noted in her book Interior Castle Explored, “It can never
be said too often that God is always present, always bestowing himself in the
measure that he can be received. On his side it is total gift; it is on our
side that the check lies…. God continually offers intimacy, permeating our
being as he permeates all that is…. At any moment, therefore, we can we can
turn to our loving God who is closer to us than we are to ourselves.”
It takes humility and strength to let go of our own limited vision
and submit to what Ospino calls “the power of [God’s] transforming and generous
love.” However, when we are finally able to do so, we can offer God the
ultimate thanks “for loving me into existence and, in light of that love,
calling me to be with you, now and in eternity.”
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