Lest You Remain

P RAYER 1 Your continual interior silence will consist in this: that you will acknowledge, worship and bless God present everywhere, and thus you will walk in his sight modestly, faithfully and piously, as it is proper for servants to behave in the pres- ence of the Master. Make an effort to contemplate God in all creatures, and not only in yourselves, since we “live and move and exist in him” ( Acts 17:28). In this way, He will never slip away from your mind. ( Norma vitae ) 2 My soul, you know from experience, that the main source of great sorrow, and many sins and imperfections, was my neglecting or forgetting about God’s pres- ence. Once you have light from above, you can see clearly what you should do, and what you should avoid: you agreeably put up with any bitterness, enjoy any pleas- ant things, while being ready to renounce them. You have a clean conscience and see yourself living in an earthly paradise, which you believe you have found for rest and delight. When you pray, you feel as if you were in the presence of angels and thus you pray devotedly, humbly and carefully. I will remain silent, about the thou- sand other benefits, the presence of God brings to you. Conversely, when you do not have God’s presence in front of your eyes, when Jesus leaves your soul, you are plagued with sorrow, experience frigidity, feel bro- ken, you fall, wane and immerse yourself in all, even the worst offenses, and it seems to you, that you are in hell, or close to it. The author was correct who said: “To be without Jesus is an awful hell, to be with Jesus is a sweet paradise.” You see how much you should value the presence of God and, having received the Lord in the Holy Banquet, how diligently you should be mindful of His presence. ( Inspectio Cordis ) Fr. Founder’s Selected Thoughts on the Religious Life 165