The Loving Presence of God…..and how it works in us

We are called as Christians to love God and love our neighbour. We must hold them in our minds and hearts and love them through our actions.

To start with, we need to accept in our hearts that “no one can serve two masters”. Who are these “masters” (kyrios in the Greek text). One is Christ, our one true Lord – Kyrios. and all His words, including the 10 commandments. The other is Mammon – the false kyrios, the false lord.

Importantly, unless we find out and practise the truth that we are created to search for God and to serve Him with all our hearts, minds, soul and our strength in this life and in the life to come, our identity and relationships with one another are affected and we in one way or another praise the false kyrios, the false lord; This can lead to bitterness, pessimistic fatalism, jealousy, egoistic pride.

Because of that, one of our daily practices should be to work on our memory so that every moment of our lives is permeated with the Loving Presence of God. Then Christ gradually creates stability in us, and, wherever we are in our lives, His light shines through us.

When we wholeheartedly commit to our Lord Jesus, we experience His presence in every moment of our lives. Each of those moments, whether easy or difficult, has a meaning and is an evangelical gift.

For that reason we do not come to the church primarily to find a shelter, to treat church as a form of escape from life, but to worship Him and offer Him ourselves and our sacrifices which we unite with Him. Yet, in front of Him we learn how to understand and make sense of our lives and how to live our often challenging lives to the full with our husbands, wives, children, at work and at home. When we come to Holy Mass, we are not coming for the purpose to feel good and uplifted (it may happen as a tangible fruit of our unity with Jesus) but to be sent off again to everyone and everything that makes up our “world” with increased faith, deeper (not naïve) hope, and greater charity.

Fr Stan