The Signs of God's Presence

[springbreeze]

Dear friends

Here is a reflection I thought some of you might like to have a read at.

** The Signs of God’s Presence
By the late Father Kilian McGowan, C.P. Used with permission, from the Passionist Priests, to help spiritually guide the layman.

With the increased emphasis on self-analysis today, even the average person is anxious to know what makes him tick. Here we are concerned with the most effective element in the make-up of man. This spirit destroys what is ungodlike in our character and molds us in the image of God. It helps us apply God’s eternal plan to our everyday life by inclining us to think and to judge, to will, and to act according to the Divine will. It is the Spirit of God!

Regarding God, this spirit constantly reminds us of our obligations to know God as He truly is-a God of love. It strives to repaint in our memory the portrait we have of God, so often discolored by ignorance, misunderstanding, sentiment, and prejudice. It’s really surprising how many of our difficulties arise from a misconception of what God is truly like.

The spirit of God invites us to reflect carefully-and to do this often-on the revelation God makes of Himself in His Sacred Scriptures, in His teaching Church, and above all, in the words and actions of the Incarnate Son of God. We must know God as He really is. Only then will He be seen as a supremely attractive goal of our thoughts, desires and activities.

Regarding our neighbor, the spirit of God makes us penetrate beneath the more apparent external traits of our fellowman to discover beneath a child of God…a brother or sister of Christ…and a potential saint. Gradually it purifies our soul of the spiritual blindness caused by envy or jealousy, or passion. It makes us aware that personal profit or pleasure should not be the measure of our love for others.

Regarding our everyday life, it teaches us how to transform an ordinary day of commonplace actions into twenty-four hours of meritorious supernatural endeavor. How does it do this? By inspiring an oft-repeated desire to waste no actions-to use every activity for the glory of God and the sanctification of self. Thus, in an average day anyone can make a hundred advances in the love of God.

In regard to yourself, it revamps your thinking, causing you to look upon yourself as a unique individual whose basic mission in life is to reproduce a likeness of God that no other person can do. God has given to each the talents and abilities to achieve this life-project. Everyone has what it takes for holiness, but not everyone makes good use of what he has!

It teaches you how to use all things: health or sickness, success or failure, appreciation or misunderstanding, etc., for your spiritual profit. It shows you how to combat discouragement; it feeds you with renewed courage; and helps you to use your failures as stepping stones for spiritual progress.

The Spirit of God inspires you to put God first and yourself last in all things. It promotes peace and joy even in the midst of bitter crosses. It is indifferent to human respect and opinions, making the will of God the norm of its actions. It has no yen for the sensational in the spiritual life, being content with the ordinary means of holiness.

It’s manifest, above all, in an ever-present and truly effective love of God and our neighbor. For God is love and His Presence will always be shown bu a selfless love of others. This, before all else, shows of what spirit we are-for as St. Paul says, “The charity of God is poured forth into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.” (Romans 5:5).

It makes you realize that holiness is not just a dream beyond your reach-it is reality available to everyone who wills it! And it is the Spirit of God who causes you to will it effectively! **

I hope you enjoyed reading this (I did) and may the Holy Spirit remain with you ever in consolation and fellowship.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[gardenswithkids]

The prayers and reflections you have posted lately about the Holy Spirit have really touched my soul. I printed out what you said about the Holy Spirit being the secret to happiness on another thread, and that prayer is now on my refridgerator door. You added much to my experience of Pentacost this year.Thank you Springbreeze!

 

[coralewisjr]

Thanks, springbreeze! If you haven’t already, I recommend subscribing to the free daily Cukierski Family emails. cukierski.net The reflections are written by the same priest. God bless you!

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne

 

[DBT]

springbreeze:

Regarding our everyday life, it teaches us how to transform an ordinary day of commonplace actions into twenty-four hours of meritorious supernatural endeavor. How does it do this? By inspiring an oft-repeated desire to waste no actions-to use every activity for the glory of God and the sanctification of self. Thus, in an average day anyone can make a hundred advances in the love of God.

Very nice post. You’ve reminded me with this quote the joy I find in Brother Lawrence as a spiritual guide. He expresses identical sentiments to what you share here.

On a seperate matter, I was thinking for quite sometime this morning about the part I bolded in your quote above . . . long before I read your post. It’s funny, but thoughts of YOU popped into my head several times. It seems we had identical thoughts . . . at the same time.

Oh, the Lord is mysterious isn’t he.

Dave.

 

[DBT]

And what I was thinking was this:

I had this sense that you might be suffering . . . maybe at your isolated status in Carmel (you are isolated, right??). And it occurred to me, in thoughts very similiar to the quote provided, that these “hundred’s of quiet communions with the Lord each day” might be one key to living the original Spirit of Carmel . . . even in an isolated status. I thought of it as like being one of the original hermits . . . if only in a wholly interior way. These “communions” are our hermitages.

 

[springbreeze]

gardenswithkids:

The prayers and reflections you have posted lately about the Holy Spirit have really touched my soul. I printed out what you said about the Holy Spirit being the secret to happiness on another thread, and that prayer is now on my refridgerator door. You added much to my experience of Pentacost this year.Thank you Springbreeze!

Dear Gardenswithkids

I am humbled!

I didn’t write this piece here that I posted; that was written by a Priest but it touched me and I thought I would share it with anyone who wanted to have a read at it.

Thank you for your kind words.

I was thinking this morning, that every year I draw something different from every Mass and every season on the liturgical calendar. It’s as though God leads me in tiny baby steps into ever deeper intimacy in understanding and enlightenment of His Eternal Mysteries and of the Mystery of the Truine God. As I grow more closer in friendship and understanding of the Holy Spirit I found light switches go on in my mind and heart leading me deeper into Love.

This year Pentecost has been a real journey in faith for me and the Holy Spirit has become my deepest and closest friend. I have realised just how much He means to me and how He shapes all of my life in Himself conforming me very gradually to the like-ness of Christ, this of course will take all of my life to achieve and I can only pray that by the end the Holy Spirit will keep me ever faithful until death.

I have realised that the Holy Spirit, the gift of Love from Father and Son, so powerful a Love it is a Person of the Holy Trinity, this Love that convicts heart, spirit and mind to God and leads all actions, this Love has for me become all consuming and I cannot find words to express my sincere gratitude for the gift of the Holy Spirit at Baptism and Confirmation.

I intend this year to make a real committment to the Holy Spirit by meditation and prayer, by thought and action however small and by sincere effort by God’s grace to come to know Him better, to learn a little of the Mysteries of His ways and through Him come to know, love and serve God and my brothers and sisters better with more sincerity, committment and purity of heart, mind and spirit.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[springbreeze]

coralewisjr:

Thanks, springbreeze! If you haven’t already, I recommend subscribing to the free daily Cukierski Family emails. cukierski.net The reflections are written by the same priest. God bless you!

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne

Dear Corinne

Thank you for your post. That is where I got this reflection from and I’d recommend the site to anyone looking for spiritual reflections and meditations.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[springbreeze]

DBT:

And what I was thinking was this:

I had this sense that you might be suffering . . . maybe at your isolated status in Carmel (you are isolated, right??). And it occurred to me, in thoughts very similiar to the quote provided, that these “hundred’s of quiet communions with the Lord each day” might be one key to living the original Spirit of Carmel . . . even in an isolated status. I thought of it as like being one of the original hermits . . . if only in a wholly interior way. These “communions” are our hermitages.

Dear Dave

Good to hear from you, thank you for your post.

Strange to have the same thought on the same day! But then everything is possible in God!

Yes you are right I am an isolated. I manage to meet with the Sister in charge of my formation twice monthly which I find is ok and fulfills what is needed by me. Lately though this hasn’t been possible as she is on her leave and has gone home, I have missed her and her instruction, but I am sure once she returns we will pick up where we left off.

I don’t find being an isolated Carmelite a hardship because I am ‘internal’ in respect of spirituality, making alot of time for reflection, meditation and prayer. I can thank God for that, He being my constant companion and this has also helped me to practice the Presence of God. God is the best spiritual director! I do have a priest who is a wonderful spiritual director and find his conversations leave me with alot to think and reflect on.

Though you are right I am suffering, but only in health, so that is no hardship as it is God’s will.

There are so many small ways in which to serve God that I find I am constantly busy in prayer whether it is action, word, deed or thought. I was thinking that though Love is complex it can be in the most simplest of ways that Love is given and received and in all it’s simplicity the true depth of Love is seen.

This interior life is akin to a hermitage as you say and I loved how you phrased this! Though lonliness is always a companion for all people to some extent, I don’t find lonliness in day to day living being very busy with family, friends and work. To go to the centre of my being, my soul and find that I am not even lonely there as my Lord resides there is great consolation for the isolated Carmelite. I find it is essential to find myself out in the deep ‘alone’, I find out there in deep waters, God is even closer with me, than when He lets me rest on the shore. It is out in the deep ‘alone’ that I have found that I have grown and when I bring these things to my meetings with my spiritual director I find in those things I was not led astray but confirmed ever deeper in faith.

I find in this stillness and silence a place where I find deeper communion with God and in the ‘wilds’ of this ‘solitude’ I have not found a desert, but a rich and plentiful field.

I honestly believe that the Lord provides exactly for what we need and will not let any soul be in a position that they cannot tolerate and He grants graces accordingly so that every situation by the power of the Holy Spirit, is always a blessing. We just have to trust in Him even if the way is hard and even if it is not always evident where He is leading us.

I like to be out in the ‘deep waters’ it is there I can stretch my full self out and travel spiritually, my Lord will not let me drown!

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[DBT]

springbreeze:

He being my constant companion and this has also helped me to practice the Presence of God.

And . . .

There are so many small ways in which to serve God that I find I am constantly busy in prayer whether it is action, word, deed or thought

What a wonderful summary of the entire concept of Practicing the Presence of God (underline emphasis mine from original quote).

Glad to hear you are well.

Dave.

 

[springbreeze]

DBT:

What a wonderful summary of the entire concept of Practicing the Presence of God (underline emphasis mine from original quote).

Glad to hear you are well.

Dave.

Dear Dave

Cast your nets out into the deep waters, there you will find the greatest catch!

Where we do not expect to find God’s Presence, there is the place we do find Him, in the silent, deep and still waters, there He is.

It is the trust in God that He is always with us, that is His promise until the end of all time. God is Present in the small and in the great of all creation, nothing escapes His hand.

It took great faith for the apostles to cast their nets out into the deep and trust Jesus’ word for a fruitful catch. If we are to be fruitful, we must go into the deep and purely trust the Word Incarnate, there in those stark waters though it may seem hard and impossible, there we find the greatest growth and spiritual riches, there we experience the Presence of God so clearly because it is the place where we least expect to find Him, though there we do find Him and there we are busy in prayer which is always a prayer of trust which in turn creates a life of prayer, faith and trust.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[ATeNumquam]

Thank you, all who have contributed so beautifully and prayerfully to this thread.

It has been a blessing for me to read it.

Dave - what a wonderful thought “These communions are our hermitages”.!!
It’s another way of saying “When you pray, go to your private room … and close the door …”

And I wish Brother Lawrence was more widely known! How simply and accessibly he embodies the spirit of Carmel!

Sorry to have strayed from the thread topic somewhat!

 

[WhiteDove]

Thanks for the beautiful post, Springbreeze. It echos my own longings.

 

[DBT]

ATeNumquam:

what a wonderful thought “These communions are our hermitages”.!!
It’s another way of saying “When you pray, go to your private room … and close the door …”

Yes!

And the best part is “your private room” goes wherever you go.

Good to see you again ATeNumquam . . . I hope all is well.

Teresa, sorry if I’m straying from you thread

 

[springbreeze]

DBT:

Yes!

And the best part is “your private room” goes wherever you go.

Good to see you again ATeNumquam . . . I hope all is well.

Teresa, sorry if I’m straying from you thread

Dear Dave

No need to apologise. I think this thread has simply evolved and I am enjoying reading where this reflection has led others to ponder and meditate upon. I’ve especially enjoyed your posts Dave, thank you very much.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa