Presence Project Week 10
As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us. — 1 John 3:24
I prayed so much that I turned into prayer. — Rumi
Learning:
Even a saint, however, might blanch at Brother Lawrence’s declaration, “Ah, how sweet it is to suffer with God!” Yet this ‘sweet suffering’ is neither an oxymoron nor is it masochistic. The idea is that if you are fully surrendered, fully abandoned, and fully living every moment in the glorious loving presence of God then whatever circumstances you find yourself in will seem blessed and filled with love.
So Lawrence teaches, “Adore him in your infirmities, offer him your sufferings from time to time, even in the midst of your greatest pain.” And he assures us, “If our love is great, we will love [God] equally in pain and consolation.”
We would be wise to notice that this teaching comes from his final letters in the last years of his life after decades of living in a state of constant, mature, loving adoration of God. ‘Sweet suffering’ will sound like craziness to a novice, but it promises a most beautiful benefit to the one who achieves the goal of union with God.
“The soul thus inflamed can live only in the presence of its God, a presence that produces in its heart a holy ardour, a sacred zeal and a strong desire to see this God loved, known, served, and adored by all creatures,” which is the second greatest commandment being fuelled by the first.
Practicing:
With your spiritual partner or in your journal, continue to reflect on these questions…
- This week I sensed Sacred Presence when I…
- This week I savoured God’s Presence when I…
- This week I found it hard to notice the Sacred because I…
- This week when I sensed and savoured God’s Presence it made me feel…
- This week I sensed God’s Presence in an unexpected place…
- I’m finding I tend to “notice” when I’m…