IS it possible to experience God, to
feel his presence, to
know his will and to participate in his own life? To all these
questions, the answer is a loud yes.
Not only is it possible, but also, first of all, it is
God’s will. Besides, he has endowed us with the power that would
enable us to achieve these feats.
God as our Creator and Father always intervenes in our
life. He is never away from us even if we fall into the state of sin.
We only lose him definitively in hell. But in our whole earthly
sojourn, he is in us, right deep in the core of our existence.
That’s because he is the giver and maintainer of our
existence. For as long as we exist, God is in us. Our existence does
not depend on our biological constitution alone, nor on food and air
and health only. Even before these things become indispensable to us,
it is God who gives and keeps our existence.
And since we have been made in his image and likeness, he
links with us through our intelligence and will, through our thinking
and loving, and thus he comes to us as objects of our innate desire
for truth, goodness and beauty.
That’s why we have to be most careful in the exercise of
our spiritual faculties—how we are thinking, judging, reasoning,
loving, etc. These human operations have to be firmly grounded on God,
and not just made to be mainly dominated by the twists and turns of
our bodily and natural conditions.
Our thinking and willing, our knowing and loving should be
properly engaged and not allowed to just drift anywhere, and
especially when they are given only at the instance of our instincts,
emotions and passions. They have to be properly inspired and directed.
The need to experience God has become an urgent necessity
these days because the spiritual and moral health of our life, taken
individually and collectively, depends on this fact and on no other.
Pope Emeritus Benedict emphasized this point sometime ago.
In an address to some lay faithful, he said the following:
“How do we reawaken the question of God so that it becomes
the fundamental question?...The question of God is reawakened in
meeting those who have a living relationship with the Lord. God is
known through men and women who know him. The way to him passes, in a
concrete way, through those who have met him.”
This is just but natural. God is not just an idea, a
theory, a philosophical or theological term. Christ is not just a
historical figure nor an object of curiosity. God is alive. In fact,
he is the very foundation of reality and of life itself. It’s not in
his character to stay away from us or to hide from us or to play hard
to get.
Thus, the Pope Emeritus said that God should be the
central point of reference in our thinking and acting. He warned that
ignoring God will harm our humanity. “A mentality that rejects every
reference to the transcendent has shown itself to be incapable of
preserving the human,” he said.
“The spread of this mentality has generated the crisis
that we are experiencing today, which is a crisis of meaning and of
values before it is an economic and social crisis,” he added. How
true!
God actually engages us every moment of our life. This is
what providence is all about. We have to learn how to correspond to
that continual divine governance, by learning how to pray, how to know
and follow his will, how to offer whatever we are doing to him, how to
live in his presence all the time, how what we are doing at the moment
fits in his plan, etc.
For this we need to study well the doctrine of our faith,
to have recourse to the sacraments, to develop the virtues, and to
commit ourselves to a certain plan of continuing piety so that
whatever may be the circumstances of our life, we can manage to be
with him always.
To live with God is not an impossibility. Nor is it meant
only to some gifted if not strange people. It is for all, though we
need to help one another, since to achieve that condition involves a
lifelong process with endless stages, aspects and possibilities.
To experience God should be second nature to us. With the
proper attitude and skills, with the relevant plans and virtues, this
is always possible. Nowadays, the world needs people who have direct
experience of God!
know his will and to participate in his own life? To all these
questions, the answer is a loud yes.
Not only is it possible, but also, first of all, it is
God’s will. Besides, he has endowed us with the power that would
enable us to achieve these feats.
God as our Creator and Father always intervenes in our
life. He is never away from us even if we fall into the state of sin.
We only lose him definitively in hell. But in our whole earthly
sojourn, he is in us, right deep in the core of our existence.
That’s because he is the giver and maintainer of our
existence. For as long as we exist, God is in us. Our existence does
not depend on our biological constitution alone, nor on food and air
and health only. Even before these things become indispensable to us,
it is God who gives and keeps our existence.
And since we have been made in his image and likeness, he
links with us through our intelligence and will, through our thinking
and loving, and thus he comes to us as objects of our innate desire
for truth, goodness and beauty.
That’s why we have to be most careful in the exercise of
our spiritual faculties—how we are thinking, judging, reasoning,
loving, etc. These human operations have to be firmly grounded on God,
and not just made to be mainly dominated by the twists and turns of
our bodily and natural conditions.
Our thinking and willing, our knowing and loving should be
properly engaged and not allowed to just drift anywhere, and
especially when they are given only at the instance of our instincts,
emotions and passions. They have to be properly inspired and directed.
The need to experience God has become an urgent necessity
these days because the spiritual and moral health of our life, taken
individually and collectively, depends on this fact and on no other.
Pope Emeritus Benedict emphasized this point sometime ago.
In an address to some lay faithful, he said the following:
“How do we reawaken the question of God so that it becomes
the fundamental question?...The question of God is reawakened in
meeting those who have a living relationship with the Lord. God is
known through men and women who know him. The way to him passes, in a
concrete way, through those who have met him.”
This is just but natural. God is not just an idea, a
theory, a philosophical or theological term. Christ is not just a
historical figure nor an object of curiosity. God is alive. In fact,
he is the very foundation of reality and of life itself. It’s not in
his character to stay away from us or to hide from us or to play hard
to get.
Thus, the Pope Emeritus said that God should be the
central point of reference in our thinking and acting. He warned that
ignoring God will harm our humanity. “A mentality that rejects every
reference to the transcendent has shown itself to be incapable of
preserving the human,” he said.
“The spread of this mentality has generated the crisis
that we are experiencing today, which is a crisis of meaning and of
values before it is an economic and social crisis,” he added. How
true!
God actually engages us every moment of our life. This is
what providence is all about. We have to learn how to correspond to
that continual divine governance, by learning how to pray, how to know
and follow his will, how to offer whatever we are doing to him, how to
live in his presence all the time, how what we are doing at the moment
fits in his plan, etc.
For this we need to study well the doctrine of our faith,
to have recourse to the sacraments, to develop the virtues, and to
commit ourselves to a certain plan of continuing piety so that
whatever may be the circumstances of our life, we can manage to be
with him always.
To live with God is not an impossibility. Nor is it meant
only to some gifted if not strange people. It is for all, though we
need to help one another, since to achieve that condition involves a
lifelong process with endless stages, aspects and possibilities.
To experience God should be second nature to us. With the
proper attitude and skills, with the relevant plans and virtues, this
is always possible. Nowadays, the world needs people who have direct
experience of God!
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