Jesus already dwells in the depths of your soul. He is continually speaking to you, even when you are not attentive to Him, just as a father speaks to his newborn infant even though the infant most-likely cannot understand him. God continually communicates Himself to you in the depths of your soul, and Prayer is a turning of our mind, our imagination, our memory, and our will to His Presence within us. Prayer is an attentiveness to the Presence of God who dwells within you. You do not need to search long and far to find Him, for He is already within you. The more we turn all of the powers within us, our mind and will, toward this loving Presence, the more we open our hearts to receive the Love that God has for us and the more we know the One who loves us with an immensity of love that, when we Encounter Him, transforms us, purifies us, strengthens us, humbles us, pierces us, and sets us on fire.
When we approach the Lord who already dwells within us, we do not approach Him as, sadly, some Christians do – acting as if He is our slave and desiring Him to submit to our will. No, as Catholics, we approach the Lord with great humility, recognizing that we do not
deserve the Love that He has for us, and we desire our lives and wills to be conformed to Him and His will. When we go to Pray, and are attentive to the Loving Presence of God dwelling within us, we are also attentive to three things, as in any relationship: who it is we are speaking with, who we are, and what we are saying or asking.
Firstly, you come recognizing with whom you are speaking: that you approach the God of all creation, of all Power, who created everything out of nothing and sustains all things in being, who chose you to exist and pours His love into you with the deepest love you will ever know. We recognize that we approach the God who is entirely Other than us, and yet at the same time dwells within us, and we are called to have wonder and awe at the beauty and glory of God within us.
Secondly, we recognize in humility that we do not deserve the love that God gives us. We recognize that we are creatures who are broken and in need of God’s grace and Salvation, and we also recognize that in a wonderful way, we are made in God’s own glorious and beautiful image and likeness and so we can move forward in confidence to receive His love.
Thirdly, we are attentive to what we say to the Lord, speaking from our heart, giving Him our desires, our emotions, our hopes for the future, our sufferings, and our struggles all within the context of understanding who God is and who we are. May we let these beautiful truths draw us deeper within ourselves to encounter the God who dwells in us.
Fr. Tim
Parochial Vicar