"Come after me": Stars of Hope is His presence: Magi discerning discipleship: Seeking God's presence following a sign in the nature: God's omnipresence is a promise
Presence of God in this world is an eternal promise. Looking at the world and processing all the happenings in the world often may not help us to believe the promise of God's presence in the world. News papers, televisions, cables, internet medias,and all the news come from the world all over the world almost always highlight the status of the world, which is not always encouraging to the spirit. I call them as modern day's prophet Nathan, because they reflect and portray the sensational down spiraling of the world, which are the signs of human sins and short comings. We live in a special time of the world's history where there is no differentiation between right or wrong anymore or where we have become to accept and to accommodate the blurring status of the values. The confusion among the humanity has peaked so high that we are beginning to loose the human discerning abilities. Humanity has habituated to conform to the standards and norms of the fallen world. In this midst, discerning God's presence in the world is a spiritual challenge, however it is highly essential to live our call.
Jesus said to His apostles at His departure to heaven, " I will be with you always to the end of the world," which is God's promise. God is faithful to His promise always, so His presence in this worlds is an established eternal truth. Seeking His presence, knowing His presence, and praying for His presence in the day today life is the discerning call. Jesus said ask you shall receive, knock it shall be opened, and seek you will find. Accordingly, seeking, knocking, and asking for His presence in our daily life is our genuine and legitimate call. Omnipresent God the Trinity is present in this world, as we live our life in this world. Living this life without connected to them would be a life of a ship with a captain or compus. Many of us are comfortable to think about God as somebody who we will be meeting after this life forgetting that He is present in this world as we live our life in the present times. Eternal God who is God of times He is present in all the times including past, present, and future.
In times of trouble many of us tend to seek Him with doubts than with faith in his presence. Loving Father, shows His presence visible through all that could approach us or associate with us in the immediate environment. Some times just an idea within our soul could speak of His presence and could bring comfort to the soul, like it was explained by Jesus in the prodigal son's parable. many times friends and fellow humans actions could portray His presence, like in the good Samaritan parable. Often and always through the Church and Church activities we could experience His presence, like Jesus explained in all the kingdom parables. Frequently, His presence can be discerned in the nature around us, like Jesus explained through the examples of sparrow and wild flowers in His teaching. Like wise there are infinite ways possible in this world to seek and know God's presence in the world. God's presence in this world is constant and it is god's promise. Heaven and earth may crumble but not God's word.
One troubled summer morning, few years ago, in a difficult situation, when the oppression was very heavy, when the heart and soul have been taken over by the rational mind's way, when a deep silence prevailed due to the shock of the circumstance, when the soul could not utter any words of prayers, I set out to do the routines. Morning breeze, singing birds, brilliant rose blooms, majestic trees, busy birds in the green lawn are the usual nature companions of morning routines. Nothing special everything was just as usual except trouble in my heart. There in their midst the new jasmine bushes drew my attention, as they have bloomed in fragrance like white stars from the sky descended to the green bushes. The sight of them attracted me so close and so intense beyond words, I went near to gather the flowers. As I was knitting them as garland, the scent of jasmine brought a gentle thought of God's presence so immense as constant grace and mercy rationed for that day. The beauty and fragrance of those jasmine reminded me of God's presence in His creation to cheer the human. The soothing thought of His presence made me to understand His faithfulness. Not a single word of prayer I uttered but I was pushed to the deepest contemplation of His presence by the slight scent of simple smiling beautiful jasmine on that day. Needless to mention, the burden was lifted in no time, even with no change in the magnitude of the situation, when I realized His presence was near me. A sense of peace and courage settled in my heart and I know that could only come from God's presence. I thank God for His faithfulness through His presence.
I will be with you always to the end of times: Mathew 28/20
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