Living in the Presence of God

The fulfillment of the soul is to find God, and to live in His Presence. Finding God means finding the pearl of great value of the Gospel. Blessed is He who finds God in his life, he has found the treasure of infinite value that gives hope, peace and joy in this world and the fatherly reassurance of salvation for our next life. But to find him is merely a path, a way of desire, and this is what Jesus has offered us. It is like walking on a tight rope, with the danger of falling into the abyss at anytime. Jesus has promised to help us when he said: I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

To live in the Presence of God means to be made righteous and justified by our faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God, who has offered us salvation if we repent of our sins, deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily and follow him. Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Since we have offered our intelligence and our flesh to sin, we must renounce that sin and accept Christ as the ruler of our lives, we must desire to learn from him who is meek and humble of heart. No one can be in the Presence of God unless he or she repents of all past sins, and come before Him with a sincere and contrite heart. Sincerity means identifying sin and feeling ashamed of it, it really means a commitment to change, which is very difficult, and can not be made alone. Holiness is not something that any human being can acquire by prayers or charity works only, it is a state of the soul which only God can measure.

Prayer is conversation with God and we need to pray always without losing heart (Luke 18:1), prayer is the fuel to the fire of our faith, no prayer, no fire; no fire, no light; no light and we are in darkness.

When God refers to tithing or to paying ten per cent he refers to giving 10 per cent of our time to Him in prayer and good works, this means over two hours daily dedicated to prayer and other religious activities. But we gladly spend countless hours behind the television set feeding our souls with garbage than spend time with God. Our sanctification means giving time to God in prayer, to people in need as we do good works, it means also giving alms and sharing our good fortune with those less fortunate, it means sharing our happiness by smiling and being pleasant to everyone, it means becoming the light of Christ in this world of darkness.Humility is the key to the treasure of wisdom and holiness bound within, it can be open after long perseverance. But many are mistakenly covered with a false humility that attracts the praise of men.

It is very common for spiritual people to fall into the trap of believing in their own humility and holiness which in reality is a false belief, the destruction of the soul. Unless God builds the house, the builder works in vain (Psalm 127:1). My opinion, or the opinion of others regarding my humility or my closeness to God is of no value, what really matters is how God sees me. He is my creator, he is my judge and he is the dispenser of the grace that makes me holy, therefore I have to be with Saint Paul working my salvation with fear and trembling, since there is nothing good within my flesh, and the only goodness in me is the spirit of God that is always accusing me of sin. Being guided by the spirit to do what is good and to hate what is evil, the souls embarks in a journey in the Presence of God.

The road is narrow and difficult, only a few will find it and even those who find it may easily go astray if they don't persevere. To live in the Presence of God, we must live our faith by prayer, the reception of the sacraments of the Catholic Church and works of charity. Let us come before God many times during the day to praise him and thank him for his infinite majesty, glory and mercy, let us come confidently to be blessed by him.