Don’t worry! Be happy! – A monk’s secret prayer Life.
Being aware of the presence of God throughout the entire day is the secret of living fully the Christian life. And the key to that life is listening (watching, too).
If you get a chance, read Brother Lawrence’s “The Practice of the Presence of God.” Direct. Powerful. Beautiful. Brother Lawrence was always happy because he experienced God within him. To Brother Lawrence somberness was the enemy of true prayer. If you know that the Lord is with you, you live joyfully –no matter what!
You and I know that there is no photograph of Jesus. None of the authors of the New Testament describe him. How do you grasp in a single image the fluidity of a person’s face, the gait, the gestures that ID someone? You can’t do it, so the evangelists did not try.
Even during Jesus’ lifetime, he left no physical impression. Jesus could walk right by someone who should have known him from hearing him preach but few got close enough to recognize Him. The two discouraged disciples walking back to their own town seven miles from Jerusalem on Easter Sunday did not recognize him when as a stranger he joined their conversation about the suffering Messiah betrayed and crucified who was supposed to be the one who would redeem Israel (Luke),
I think that they did not recognize him because they didn’t expect him. We walk away from the grave of a loved one and the thought doesn’t enter our mind that we’d ever see that person again. The two disciples knew Jesus was dead and with Him died the hopes of the disciples.
If we Christians would just watch for Him and listen for him and if we stayed aware of his Resurrection, we could be more aware of his presence. One way is to be attentive to the needs of the poor. “As long as you did it for he least of my brethren you did it to me” (Mt 25:3-46). Our Faith teaches us to recognize Jesus in the poor.
Another gospel teaching urges us to simply stop and listen for Him at any time during the day. Jesus promised that he would be with us all days until the end of Time (Mt 29:20).
Don’t we believe Him? Don’t we expect Him?
J