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Good evening Father Angelo,

I am writing to you today, 21 August 2021, memorial day of St. Pius X, who I believe is a role model for all priests, bishops, and popes. Basically, I wish for you to become like him, like St. Pius X. I will pray with this intention tomorrow at the elevation of the Holy Host, hoping that you may feel the benefit of my prayer…

Well, I now move on to the question: I ask you for advice about feeling or better yet, always living in the presence of God when one is among other people or is not praying. For instance, how do you do that yourself?

Thank you as always, dear father, tomorrow I will certainly do what I told you! And finally – since I read that it can be done – I invoke the blessing of God Almighty upon you by the intercession – in particular – of St. Pius X, of the Curé d’Ars, of St. Dominic, of the saints who are role models for the consecrated, and finally of the B.V. Mary and all the Saints.

Answer from the priest

Dear Son,

1. God said to Abraham, our father in faith: “I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless”(Gen 17:1).

An old translation reads: “I, God the Almighty: walk in my presence and be perfect.”

“Be perfect”: perfect in always being in the presence of God. In union with God.

2. St. Thomas wonders if it is possible for man to always be in the presence of God, that is, with his mind and heart steadily set on God.

He answers by saying that union with God is perfect when one is loving with all the possibilities that he has.

“This happens in three ways.

First, so that a man’s whole heart is always actually borne towards God: this is the perfection of the charity of heaven, and is not possible in this life, wherein, by reason of the weakness of human life, it is impossible to think always actually of God, and to be moved by love towards Him.

Secondly, so that man makes an earnest endeavor to give his time to God and Divine things, while scorning other things except in so far as the needs of the present life demand. This is the perfection of charity that is possible to a wayfarer; but is not common to all who have charity.

Thirdly, so that a man gives his whole heart to God habitually, viz. by neither thinking nor desiring anything contrary to the love of God; and this perfection is common to all who have charity” (Summa theologica, II-II, 24, 8).

3. The second way of always being in the presence of God as far as the necessities of life permit is particular to those who live in a monastery or in a convent.

They live a life of union with God in mind and heart. Such life is called contemplative.

Dominicans, for example, should be like this.

4. Those who live in the world cannot stay united with God in such a way, because they must take care at all times about so many things, the most diverse ones, and must focus on what they are doing, above all during work, especially when it requires accuracy.

Such people are asked to be united with God by preserving his grace and by having the readiness of mind to distance themselves from everything that is contrary to his will.

That is the kind of presence of God that is required of the lay, of those who live in the world.

5. But beyond the question of how one can live in the presence of God, it is more helpful to ask what one can do to stay in the presence of God.

St. Francis de Sales in Philothea offers excellent ideas, starting from a very peculiar experience of the presence of God, as meditation should be.

He writes: “To put yourself in the presence of God, I propose you four ways, which, at the beginning, can be useful to you.

1. The first way is a lively and focused awareness that God is present everywhere: God is in everything and everywhere and there is no place or thing in this world that does not manifest his presence; we are like the birds, who are surrounded by air wherever they direct their flight: wherever we go or stop, God is present to us.

Everyone knows this truth, but not everyone is careful to become aware of it.

The blind, even though they do not see the prince before them, do not for this reason fail to behave respectfully if they are made aware of his presence; however, since they do not see him, they easily forget about his presence; as a result, they even more easily forget to maintain a respectful demeanor. We are like that, Philothea: even though we know that God is present, we do not see him; faith reminds us of his presence. Since we do not see him materially with our eyes, we very often forget about him and behave as if God were very far away. We well know that he is present in all things, but we do not think about it, and therefore it is as if we did not know it.

That is why, without exception, before meditation, we must awaken in our soul the focused awareness of the presence of God. Such was David’s thought when he wrote: If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, there you are. Jacob’s words should also be taken with such meaning as he, when seeing the ladder, says: How awesome is this shrine! Truly, the Lord is in this spot, although I did not know it! He means that he was not thinking about it; he well knew that God is present everywhere.

Coming back to prayer, you must tell your heart with all your might: dear heart, God is right here!

2. The second way to place yourself in the presence of God is to think that God is not only present in the place where you are staying, but he is especially present in your heart and in the depths of your soul, to which he gives life and strength, as heart of your heart and soul of your soul; just as the soul is in fact diffused throughout the body and is present in every part of it, and yet has its special seat in the heart, similarly God, although present everywhere, chooses his special seat in our soul: for this reason David called God, the God of his heart, and St. Paul said that we live and move and are in God.

Reflecting on this truth, you will endeavour to have great respect for God in your heart, because he is present there in a special way.

3. The third way is to think of our Savior, who, in his own humanity, sees from heaven all the people of the earth and, in a special way, his Christian children, and among them, especially those who are in prayer, of whom he knows the actions and behaviour. This is not a fantasy, but the plain truth; because, even if we do not see him, he looks at us from above. St. Stephen sees him in this way during his martyrdom.

We can rightly say, as the bride says: here he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices.

4. A fourth way can be to make use of imagination and portray the Savior in his humanity as close to us, just as we usually do with friends, when we say: I see him doing that, I really believe I see him, and similar expressions. Then, if you are in a place where the Blessed Sacrament of the altar is present, it would no longer just be an imaginary presence, but a real one; the species and appearance of bread are like a curtain behind which Our Lord, actually present, sees us and thinks of us, even if we do not see him in his form.

Use one of these four ways to place yourself in God’s presence before meditation; do not expect to employ them all together, but one at a time, with simplicity and briefness” (Philothea, II, 2).

With the hope that this will also turn out to be your experience, I bless you and remember you in prayer.

Father Angelo