Called or Uncalled, God Is Present

The Rule of St. Benedict says, “We believe that the divine presence is everywhere (RB 19:1).” This statement is astounding. It means, for example, that the divine presence is in me, even when my thoughts and behavior are less than divine! It means the divine presence is in people whose brokenness leads them to injure others and exploit the earth! How can that be?

God told Moses “I am who am,” which means God is being. God is in everything that has being. The fact that we are not aware of God’s presence does not mean that God is not present. It means we choose to create a persona that does not reflect God within us. It means that we have internalized images of God (e.g., demanding, judging, angry, punitive, capricious) that make us believe we would be happier in our own self-serving, self-created world.

When we constantly receive the message that we are not worthy to be in God’s presence or receive God’s loving attention, it feels almost scandalous to consider that God chooses to live in us. Yet, as Carl Jung observed, “Called or uncalled, God is present.” If we truly believe that, or at least suspect that it might be true, we would do well to create a new message for ourselves so we can internalize and begin to live out of God’s presence. A simple meditation I came across recently is to breathe in as we say “God is in me” and breathe out as we say “I am in God.” If we breathe that in and out often enough, we will begin to believe it is true of ourselves and other people as well. Then we can treat ourselves and others with kindness and compassion even as we confront our/their destructive behaviors.

God says to us through Jesus, “I am here. I am with you. We are one.” It is not too good to be true, for God’s goodness has no limits. Believe, and live the good news.