For most people, ordinary life is characterized by the sense that God is absent. Yet, a little metaphysics would alert us to the fact that, if God were not present at every moment, we would not be here either. Creation is not a one-time event. It is God's ongoing gift on every level from the humblest quark to the highest stage of consciousness.

St. Teresa of Avila wrote: "All difficulties in prayer can be traced to one cause: praying as if God were absent." This is the conviction that we bring with us from early childhood and apply to everyday life and to our lives in general. It gets stronger as we grow up, unless we are touched by the Gospel and begin the spiritual journey This journey is a process of dismantling the monumental illusion that God is distant or absent. When our particular petitions are not answered, we become even more convinced that God is absent. This is an irrational position, however, one based on the judgment of emotion, not reason. Unfortunately our unruly emotions do not obey reason and will; they have their own dynamic. Whenever our reason and will decide to do something, our emotions get into a huddle and decide whether or not they will go along with them. If our plan contradicts their perception of what is pleasant or unpleasant, we have a riot on our hands.

The start, middle, and end of the spiritual journey is the conviction that God is always present. As we progress in this journey, we perceive God's presence more and more. As we emerge from childhood into full, reflective self-consciousness, our concept of how God is present in us is usually vague and primitive. The spiritual journey is a gradual process of enlarging our emotional, mental, and physical relationship with the divine reality that is present in us but not ordinarily accessible to our emotions or concepts.

The dogma of the Trinity is presented to us as one God in three divine persons. The first person is called Father. The second person is called the Word. The third person is called the Holy Spirit, which means breath. Did you ever know a person who was a word or a person, who was a breath? That we do not should alert us to the fact that, when we speak of God, we are not talking about any person we know.

The concept of persons in God refers to relationships that are only analogies of relationships in human affairs. Hence, we must not expect God to be present in the way other people are present. The chief fruit of Old Testament spirituality was a long-term education that gradually weaned the Chosen People away from their narrow concept of God as one among many other Near Eastern gods to the Transcendent One. The monotheistic God is the great gift of Israel to humanity.

God is present to us all the time but inaccessible as long as we have preconceived ideas and judgments based solely on the feedback our senses and feelings provide. Jesus' sayings might be paraphrased: "The reign of God is close at hand-not distant or absent. It is within you and among you."¹

Thus, the fundamental theological principle of the spiritual journey is the Divine Indwelling. The Trinity is present within us as the source of our being on every level. Each level of life from the most physical to the most spiritual is sustained by the divine presence. To go to liturgy or to prayer thinking that God is absent prevents us from properly relating to the divine presence.

The reign of God is basically what God does in us. The divine is present as energy sustaining our physical, mental, and spiritual activities without a moment's interruption. Jesus is calling us to full human development, re-rooting us in our source, and enabling us to experience that this divine energy is infinitely tender, compassionate, nurturing, enabling, and empowering. Jesus' experience of the Father was Abba, God of infinite concern and tenderness for every living thing, especially human beings. His experience of God was revolutionary in the religious context of his day. His understanding is reflected in the commentaries of the Fathers of the Church, and now needs to be made the first lesson in every catechetical instruction and constantly repeated in sermons and homilies. The Divine Indwelling of the Holy Trinity is a truth of faith that is easily forgotten or avoided. Yet it is the one on which a radical personal conversion depends.

In our Christian tradition we believe the Word of God, revealed in scripture, is addressed to us. That Word also became flesh in order that Jesus' example would give us a blueprint of how to become fully human and fully divine. The eternal Word of God addresses us through scripture 

and the liturgy to awaken us to his abiding presence within us. Contemplative prayer is our opening and awakening to this relationship, to what God is doing for us, has done, and will do.

Scripture for the early Christians was not so much read as listened to, because the Christians did not have books. If you only heard the Gospel once a week and were interested in the spiritual journey, you would go to church all ears and listen to the readings with the whole of your being. We have been so desensitized by reading everything under the sun that the aliveness of sacred scripture does not easily come through. We must convince ourselves that there is a special presence of Christ in scripture that speaks to the hearts of those who are open and prepared. The Holy Spirit nudges us to perceive that what we hear refers to our personal situation and is meant to be a challenge and an encouragement to us. Once we understand that the Gospel addresses a presence within us that already exists, listening to the word of God becomes a process of gradual enlightenment.

______________
Excerpted from Fruits and Gift of the Spirit by Fr. Thomas Keating

Visit the Book Store to obtain a copy.