It’s not unusual for a prayer gathering to start with this invitation: “Let us take a moment to put ourselves in the presence of God.” One day, it struck me: Where do we think we’ve been? When haven’t we been in God’s presence?
Thinking back on discussions about the existence of God, the analogy that occurs to me is of fish debating the existence of water. The fish appreciate the importance of water only after they are taken out of it. Alas, by then it’s too late.
Last year, Pope Leo XIV shared a short spiritual tract that he said has guided his faith. During a press conference on the papal plane, he cited The Practice of the Presence of God by 17th-century Carmelite Brother Lawrence. As you might expect, this small book suddenly shot to the top of the bestseller list.
In his monastery in France, Brother Lawrence was assigned the menial task of scrubbing pots and pans. This lowly post enabled him to achieve tremendous spiritual growth. He began practicing awareness of God’s abiding presence and realized that if he could experience divinity in the kitchen while doing dishes, he could experience it everywhere. Brother Lawrence had previously thought that only practices such as solemn high Mass in a vaulted cathedral or intense prayer, fasting and meditation could give rise to awe and reverence. He came to realize these were readily accessible anywhere, anytime. This awareness transformed his mundane life into continual worship — whether scouring pots, talking with ordinary people, breaking bread at a meal or attending Mass. “Our biggest mistake is to think that a time of prayer is different from any other time,” he wrote. “It is all one.”
Brother Lawrence never disdained popular devotions such as praying the breviary, saying the rosary or making novenas. But as he grew older, he found them inadequate unless they expressed a humble, intimate love of God and a fervent desire to rejoice in God’s presence. “Do not always scrupulously confine yourself to certain rules or particular forms of devotion,” he wrote, “but act with a general confidence in God, with love and humility.” He encouraged chatting with Jesus throughout the day, as you would with your best friend.
Bishops, nobility, theologians and ordinary people flocked to hear this simple yet powerful message. Brother Lawrence taught that prayer doesn’t achieve God’s presence; rather, prayer comes in response to God’s presence. As St. Paul states in The Acts of the Apostles, “In him we live and move and have our being.” (17:28)
God is everywhere, all the time. Franciscan Father Richard Rohr puts it succinctly: “We are always in the presence of God. What we lack is awareness.”
Sin creates the illusion of separation or abandonment. In the Genesis story of the Fall, Adam and Eve are expelled from Eden — yet God remains with them, communicates with them and cares for them. Throughout Scripture, God continuously reaches out to bring back wayward humans.
King David sings in Psalm 139, “Where can I go from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee? If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, there you are. If I take the wings of dawn and dwell beyond the sea, even there your hand guides me, your right hand holds me fast.” (v. 7-10)
Sin makes us want to forget this inspiring, yet unsettling truth. To be aware of God’s loving presence everywhere, all the time, requires the death of our egos, our false sense of self, and the giving up of unhealthy habits. It’s not just being born again, but living life anew. Fully. Authentically. Joyfully.
Be aware of God, who is everywhere, always. Practice the presence of God at all times — in joys and in sorrows, in failures no less than in achievements, in disappointments as well as successes. Think, say and do everything in that awareness. Like Brother Lawrence, let your life be transformed into perpetual adoration.
Featured image: The moon is pictured in the background as gulls fly above Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay at sunset, revealing the presence of God in nature. (OSV News/Bob Roller/U.S.)
