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Mi_Rose
Guest
I do not pray to feel God’s presence. I feel God’s presence when I pray.
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ModernCatholic
Guest
I took this from an answer to another question but I thought it was related so here:
We mustn’t become obsessed by feelings. For a nicely prayed rosary or a joyfully celebrated Easter Vigil, God may reward us with warm fuzzy feelings but that is not why we pray. We don’t pray for God’s presence we pray for God’s sake. What is the point of feeling God’s presence if you only love him for that? This is a very easy way for demons to come into the life of an inexperienced believer who believes that signs and miracles and feelings are the way to the heart when that isn’t true. And you’ll find really quickly that although the initial conversion and acceptance into the Church is very charismatic (meaning overwhelmed with feelings of “love”, joy, etc. and being filled with the Holy Spirit and being very dynamic), God tests us like fire by taking away all these feelings to see if we love him for who he really is and not for the gifts of happiness he gives us. Praying to feel God’s presence is essentially stalling our spiritual life when God is really calling us to a deeper conversion of heart and a deeper relationship with him for who he really is, since God loves us just for who we are and not for what we do for him.
We mustn’t become obsessed by feelings. For a nicely prayed rosary or a joyfully celebrated Easter Vigil, God may reward us with warm fuzzy feelings but that is not why we pray. We don’t pray for God’s presence we pray for God’s sake. What is the point of feeling God’s presence if you only love him for that? This is a very easy way for demons to come into the life of an inexperienced believer who believes that signs and miracles and feelings are the way to the heart when that isn’t true. And you’ll find really quickly that although the initial conversion and acceptance into the Church is very charismatic (meaning overwhelmed with feelings of “love”, joy, etc. and being filled with the Holy Spirit and being very dynamic), God tests us like fire by taking away all these feelings to see if we love him for who he really is and not for the gifts of happiness he gives us. Praying to feel God’s presence is essentially stalling our spiritual life when God is really calling us to a deeper conversion of heart and a deeper relationship with him for who he really is, since God loves us just for who we are and not for what we do for him.
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Shakuhachi
Guest
Since God is present always and everywhere, we feel that presence all the time and don’t recognize it. It actually transcends what we think of as consolation or desolation.
Tis_Bearself
Patron
When is God ever going to leave/ not be present to a person in sincere prayer?
He’s ALWAYS there.
People who do not feel his presence are having a problem feeling that He is “there”. The problem is with their own feelings/ their own blocks. God Himself is not truly absent. He never leaves his children.
He’s ALWAYS there.
People who do not feel his presence are having a problem feeling that He is “there”. The problem is with their own feelings/ their own blocks. God Himself is not truly absent. He never leaves his children.
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