Practicing the Presence of God

Dali's "Sacrament of the Last Supper"

In the Gospel according to Matthew, the Jews had to pay taxes to their oppressors and even worse, they had to use coinage which carried the image of the reigning Roman emperor and ascribed divine status to him—blasphemy for the Jews. 

The opponents of Jesus pose a tricky question: should we pay the tax or not? If Jesus says, “Yes, pay the tax,” he'll anger his Jewish followers; if he says, “No, don't pay,” he'll be considered a rebel and liable to death for treason. But Jesus recognizes his opponents as hypocrites. And so, Jesus answers in a carefully nuanced fashion: If you benefit from Caesar, you ought to pay for these benefits. However, you ought to give to God what is his by right. The hypocrites knew what Jesus meant: they were to give themselves to God since they were made in God's image. We are creatures born to be in relationship with our creator forever.

An Asian Indian proverb says that every one of us is a house with four rooms: a physical room, a mental room, an emotional room, and a spiritual room. There’s even an interesting memoir titled “A House with Four Rooms.” Imagine this scenario.  One room is a fully-equipped kitchen. Another room is a library with the best books. A third room is a studio for painting, pottery, sculpting, carpentry. The fourth room is a high-tech room.

Imagine this scenario too.We might become so interested in one room that it becomes the only room we live in: so immersed in cooking that we never discover the “great books”; so plugged into high-tech toys that we never enjoy a dinner; or so engrossed in our work that we don’t really connect with the people closest to us.

God asks us to open every window and door in this so-called house that is our life, to allow God’s presence to “air out” our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual rooms. We're not fully alive until the presence of God becomes part and parcel of every dimension of our lives.

Practice the presence of God. And where better to develop this practice than in the liturgy. We experience Christ’s presence together in the songs we sing, the prayers we pray, in the word of God. Foremost, Christ reveals his presence to us sacramentally in his body and blood. And then Christ offers himself to us as spiritual nourishment in communion which links us to the mystical body of Christ dwelling within the church universal.

How often do you hear, “How was your day?” I conclude with a story about two parents tucking children into bed, and asking that question in a different way, “Where did you meet God today?” And the children told their parents, one by one: a teacher helped me; I held the door for someone; I saw a garden with lots of flowers in it. And the parents told them where they met God too. The stuff of that day became the substance of that family’s prayers.

May we be ever more open to God’s presence in all areas of our life each day.