One can only try with all ability to describe the presence of God. I feel God’s presence at mass during the blessing of the bread into The Eucharist. Also, at times when I’m at home praying together with my wife. When Gods presence is made known to me, I feel a breeze around me; light and pure but consisting of immense power. This breeze is of pure humility but also at the same time the greatest strength and power. I imagine when Jesus was on earth that others sensed this feeling around him as they were privileged to physically be in the presence of God. This wondrous presence I feel at first around my hands then it envelopes me. Once receiving the Eucharist Jesus settles into my heart resting his peace there. This peace and presence are always stronger in mass, if I have just previously had my soul cleaned in confession.In Heaven we get to be before God the Father. Because of his humility his Son is shown to the earth but God the Father doesn’t physically appear on earth like Our Lady has over the last 2000 years. He is the creative source of love which doesn’t need to point to himself. It is just there waiting for us to embrace via his gift of loving free will. So, I could sum up Gods presence in two words: Power and Humility. This presence contains mystical knowledge not imparted by words.
Lent for me has for many years had a spiritual quality about it. Something is different in the air. Jesus wants us to point towards his suffering, his atonement paid for our sake. God the Father wants us to also realize the big sacrifice that this was to him.He gave us his only Son as a payment for our sins. As Sister Faustina said in the Divine Mercy ‘For the sake of his sorrowful passion’.
Through Jesus’s suffering this lent we can draw closer to the Father. For me this closeness has taken years to cultivate. At first it was easy to be in love with Jesus but I was just focused on Our Lord. Then in the last year Our Lady has been close to me in thoughts and words that come through my wife and in quick inner visions .I sense her smiling gentle concern which makes me think of her also with a smile. She is selfless and united in her sons suffering.
Only in the last few months have I felt more drawn to God the Father. The Father of us all. Jesus mentioned to my wife last year that ‘The Father is the most loving of all Fathers’. The enemy of his Son has tried so much to blot out the sanctity of Fatherhood. He knows it can lead to blocking out God the Father from our lives and hearts. The free will gift is then ignored as many don’t understand it. Then many perish.
I have had an inner locution of God the Father mentioned previously in another blog. He wanted to show me that he was present during all my trials but I never knew this. I can ask and beg for ‘this and that’ in request but that isn’t always what he wants to hear from me. He wanted me to know that he watches my life and feels sorrow when I feel sorrow. It was a loving Fatherly ‘telling off’. I received this vision once I had returned to my seat after receiving his sons broken body in the Eucharist. Our human limitations and impatience can characterize our relations with God. We want our pains and crosses to flee.Not realizing as Catholic’s that we pay in loving suffering for the sins of other souls who our lost in sin and don’t know Jesus. As Catholics we have received the full truth and with that comes responsibility.
With our lords suffering on good Friday, we can cry for Jesus’s suffering and unite our pains with him. This can lead us closer to God the Father who in great knowledge and love knew the immense suffering needed so that he would not lose us. Also, with many in the church talking about St Joseph this is now topical. Joseph’s path was to put himself last. To put himself in the background for the love of others. This I think is often the role of the Father on earth. His role is of sacrificial love.
This lent in our hearts and prayers visualize God the Father as the father of us all watching our lives and waiting for our prayers. He is everywhere but also in a sense in the background in the limited world we live in. Once we find him here on earth then later in heaven, we will live united to his will in peace and happiness.
This is a very timely post for me. I also feel like God the Father has been drawing me closer to Him these past few months. Funny, because I can’t recall that I have felt particularly close to the Father my whole life except for when I was a small child, and now finally I am starting to understand how much He loves me! The image that comes to my mind when I am praying is of kneeling in front of the Father seated on his throne while being wrapped in his warm embrace. I think of Him as having a very round tummy because it’s comforting to wrap your arms around, you know? At least that’s how I imagine Him. We owe Him the utmost reverence, yet He is so approachable and loving. 🙂
Yes, I think it’s a positive spiritual sign when deep love for The Father occurs. Everything points to The Father.
Reblogged this on Mary Refuge Of Souls and commented:
A beautiful testimony about approaching God the Father through His Beloved Son in the Most Holy Eucharist and in meditative prayer. God bless, –a soul