Is it normal to not feel God's presence around you?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mjb472012
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

mjb472012

Guest
I noticed that when you pray daily, read Scripture, and live for Christ, you can feel God’s presence around you. It gives you joy and peace. But I also noticed that these pleasant feelings also go away for no reason. My priest says this is normal, but what causes this? If you don’t have knowledge of any sins, but yet you no longer feel God in your life, is something wrong? Please help.
 
I am scared of that word, “normal”, except, of course, when it is used to signify orthogonality 😉

But yes, just like the priest told you. St. John of the Cross describes this feeling rather well in his “Ascent to Mount Carmel” as something that belongs to the path that we follow, the Way of the Cross on the footsteps of Christ.

Be always aware that it is you who are not feeling God’s presence - and if that is His will, then there is a very good reason - but God is still there, or rather, you are still in God.

This is a good time to grow closer to Confession and reception of the Eucharist. If this feeling persists, you may want to ask your confessor about some spiritual direction.

This beautiful Spiritual Canticle may bring you some comfort.
  • Where have you hidden,*
  • Beloved, and left me moaning?*
Do not send me
any more messengers,
they cannot tell me what I must hear.
*
 
R_C said:
I am scared of that word, “normal”, except, of course, when it is used to signify orthogonality 😉

But yes, just like the priest told you. St. John of the Cross describes this feeling rather well in his “Ascent to Mount Carmel” as something that belongs to the path that we follow, the Way of the Cross on the footsteps of Christ.

Be always aware that it is you who are not feeling God’s presence - and if that is His will, then there is a very good reason - but God is still there, or rather, you are still in God.
This is a good time to grow closer to Confession and reception of the Eucharist. If this feeling persists, you may want to ask your confessor about some spiritual direction.

This beautiful Spiritual Canticle may bring you some comfort.
  • Where have you hidden,*
  • Beloved, and left me moaning?*
Do not send me
any more messengers,
they cannot tell me what I must hear.
*
Click to expand...
Of course, you’re only in God if you are in Grace. God is always in you regardless–one of life’s many paradoxes.
 
ChibiViolet said:
Of course, you’re only in God if you are in Grace. God is always in you regardless
Click to expand...
I think you meant the other way around.

No matter what, we are always in God, “for in Him we live and move and exist”.

On the other hand, it is in the state of Grace that God dwells in us:
Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
Click to expand...
 
It is “normal” for this to happen, but it is not necessarily “good”. The Lord told us that even those who have never heard the Word of God should stand in awe of His Creations on Earth constantly. It is a great practice to be constantly aware of His Presence by meditating on the beauty of the Earth. Every second we think of the Lord, He sees that we are good and forgives our sins. Every second we think of our Mother, She thinks of us and pleads to Her Son for the forgiveness of our sins.

A great practice to feel His presence is to wear or carry an image of Him or His Mother. I wear the brown scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and every time it flaps in the wind or itches my skin it makes me think of my Mother and Brother.
 
mjb472012 said:
I noticed that when you pray daily, read Scripture, and live for Christ, you can feel God’s presence around you. It gives you joy and peace. But I also noticed that these pleasant feelings also go away for no reason. My priest says this is normal, but what causes this? If you don’t have knowledge of any sins, but yet you no longer feel God in your life, is something wrong? Please help.
Click to expand...
If you are doing all you should be doing, prayer, sacraments,…then when good feelings do not accompany these things consider it a part of the journey of faith. The Lord wants us to continue to pray and make acts of faith and trust in Him regardless of how we feel. That is how we grow in faith…we continue to do what we are supposed to even if we feel nothing at all.
 
Another way to approach your question is to point to practices that can help us become more aware of the ways that God is present in the people and events of our lives, even difficult or painful experiences.

One such practice is the “daily examen,” which is a key feature of contemporary Jesuit spirituality, particularly the idea of “finding God in all things.” This form of prayer is well explained at:

ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-examen/

I’d also recommend “Examen Prayer: Ignatian Wisdom for Our Lives Today” by Fr. Timothy Gallagher, OMV. It’s clear, well-written, and very helpful.

Examen prayer basically involves looking back over the past day (or week, or year, or even your lifetime) and reflecting on where or how God was present to you during the day, then recalling and reflecting on that person or event so as to come to a fuller understanding of the manner in which God is acting in your life. After practicing such prayer on a daily basis for a period of time, say 15-30 minutes a day, it becomes easier to discern God’s presence ane the way that God is working in your life and leading you. I used to do it at bedtime. You can also combine daily examen and journalling.

This form of prayer is also a great way to prepare for spiritual direction. For example, before going to see my spiritual director, which I did on a monthly basis, I would look back over the past month and reflect on the ways that I experienced God’s presence, on what I thought God was asking of me, and how I responded to God’s presence and call in my life.
 
mjb472012 said:
I noticed that when you pray daily, read Scripture, and live for Christ, you can feel God’s presence around you. It gives you joy and peace. But I also noticed that these pleasant feelings also go away for no reason. My priest says this is normal, but what causes this? If you don’t have knowledge of any sins, but yet you no longer feel God in your life, is something wrong? Please help.
Click to expand...
The feelings are only in you mine created by yourself. Some people feel fear when they see a harmless spider, the spider did not create this fear, it was the person feeling the fear who created it. You actually do not feel God but because you know God is present, you may start to feel something.
 
Andre1000 said:
The feelings are only in you mine created by yourself. Some people feel fear when they see a harmless spider, the spider did not create this fear, it was the person feeling the fear who created it. You actually do not feel God but because you know God is present, you may start to feel something.
Click to expand...
God’s presence is like no other feeling.

The divine touching the soul with his love, is a transforming experience that one will never forget, but will hunger for the rest of their lives.

Apparently, you never experienced it, so you’re speaking about something you know nothing about…

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
God’s presence is like no other feeling.

The divine touching the soul with his love, is a transforming experience that one will never forget, but will hunger for the rest of their lives.

Apparently, you never experienced it, so you’re speaking about something you know nothing about…

Jim
Click to expand...
How do you know, that the origin of this feeling has not been you. This feelings are also described by people of false religions, they have been touched but it was not Jesus.
(This is real) I have a relative who claims to have been super close to God and God touched him. How did he experienced it, he smoked marijuana.
In the Bible(1.Korinther 2:9) stands that no eye saw him and no ear heard him, and I say why should we feel him.
 
Andre1000 said:
How do you know, that the origin of this feeling has not been you. This feelings are also described by people of false religions, they have been touched but it was not Jesus.
(This is real) I have a relative who claims to have been super close to God and God touched him. How did he experienced it, he smoked a marijuana.
In the Bible(1.Korinther 2:9) stands that no eye saw him and no ear heard him, and I say why should we feel him.
Click to expand...
Having experienced it, I have no doubt about it being God’s presence.

Only those who have experienced it, have the knowledge.

Jim
 
That “feeling” is a spiritual consolation, and it’s completely normal and expected to go away from time to time. Catholicism isn’t supposed to be a religion based on feelings. Spiritual consolations occur from God as a means to encourage us to pray and be dependent upon him. He will strip them away from time to time, which is referred to as spiritual dryness, as a means to test us and strengthen us so that we learn to pray and depend on God out of perfect charity, and not because it makes us feel good.
 
Deo_Gratias42 said:
That “feeling” is a spiritual consolation, and it’s completely normal and expected to go away from time to time. Catholicism isn’t supposed to be a religion based on feelings. Spiritual consolations occur from God as a means to encourage us to pray and be dependent upon him. He will strip them away from time to time, which is referred to as spiritual dryness, as a means to test us and strengthen us so that we learn to pray and depend on God out of perfect charity, and not because it makes us feel good.
Click to expand...
So true. John of the Cross and other saints state that we should not seek spiritual consolations nor hold onto them if they occur.
 
If it is a feeling it can be experienced. If it can be experienced it can be observed by others. If it can be observed it can be measured. If it can be measured we can establish experiments to determine the frequency and intensity of the experience of God. We can also see if there are other ways of inducing this feeling that do not involve the invocation of God (drugs for example); and work out if one person’s god(s) is the same as another’s.

This would also allow us to establish a ‘normal’ or ‘ambient’ experience of God’s presence, so the OP’s question would have an answer, and the comments validated or not.

I stress that I am not arguing against what people believe in. I am taking a scientific statement ‘I feel this and recognise it as God’ and developing a scientific way to approach this claim.
 
Hokomai said:
If it is a feeling it can be experienced. If it can be experienced it can be observed by others. If it can be observed it can be measured. If it can be measured we can establish experiments to determine the frequency and intensity of the experience of God. We can also see if there are other ways of inducing this feeling that do not involve the invocation of God (drugs for example); and work out if one person’s god(s) is the same as another’s.

This would also allow us to establish a ‘normal’ or ‘ambient’ experience of God’s presence, so the OP’s question would have an answer, and the comments validated or not.

I stress that I am not arguing against what people believe in. I am taking a scientific statement ‘I feel this and recognise it as God’ and developing a scientific way to approach this claim.
Click to expand...
Very true.
Because you measure the feelings and not God directly, you can simplify it with God=feelings.
Many religions have this feelings, even the false(from a Catholics perspective) ones. That is why Modernism(Modernism states that God = feelings) leads to religious relativism(according to Holy Pope Pius X).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top