THE USEFULNESS OF PRACTICING THE PRESENCE OF GOD

First.   The first thing that the soul receives from practicing the presence of God is a faith that is more alive and more acvtive in every aspect of our lives, particularly in our areas of need. Living this way easily obtains grace for us in our temptations and in the inevitable contact we have with created things. The soul that is acustomed to exercising its faith through this practice sees and feels God's presence by simply remembering God. It invokes Him easily and effectively, and obtains what it needs. By doing this it somewhat approaches the state of those who are already enjoying God's presence in Heaven. The more it advances, the more its faith becomes alive, and finally its faith becomes so penetrating that it could almost say, "I no longer belive; I see and I experience."

Second.   The practice of the presence of God strengthens our hope. Our hope increases as our spiritual knowledge increases, as our faith lays hold the very secrets of God. By finding in God a beauty surpassing not only physical bodies on earth, but the beauty of the most perfect souls and of angels, our hope is strengthened. It is reassured by the very greatness of the blessing to which it aspires and which it sometimes actually foretastes.

Third.   Practicing the presence of God inspires in the will a disdain of created things, and sets it ablaze with the fire of sacred love. Being always with God who is a consuming fire, this fire of sacred love reduces to ashes all that can be opposed to it. The soul, so kindled, can no longer live except in the presence of its God. This divine presence produces in the heart a holy ardor, a sacred zeal and a passionate desire to see God loved, known, served, and worshipped by all creation.

Fourth.   By practicing the presence of God and by gazing inwardly at Him, the soul so familiarizes itself with God that it spends almost all its life in continual acts of love, adoration, contrition, confidence, thanksgiving, offering, beseeching, and all other excellent virtues. All these acts may even sometimes merge to become nothing less than one single continuing act that no longer comes and goes, because the soul is always in God's divine presence.

I know that there are few people who arrive at this stage; it is a special grace with which God favors only a few chosen souls, since in the end this steady, simple gaze is a gift from His generous hand. But I will say for the consolation of those who wish to embrace this holy practice, that He ordinarily gives this gift to souls who prepare themselves for it. If He does not give it, we can at least, with the help of His ordinary grace, acquire by the practice of the presence of God a state of prayer that comes very close to this simple, continual vision of God.