The reasons for Our divine We have read Moment by moment we receive the tiny Prayer is this How this And every day we Dom Augustin Guillerand, O. Cart. (1877-1945), <\/span>The Prayer of the Presence of God<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thinking about prayer, my desire to pray and the priest’s duty to be man of prayer, I found this reflection on prayer, dependence on God helpful. I think Dom Augustin’s essay is quite good at getting the heart of reality. Perhaps it be helpful for you, too. The reasons for praying are as numerous as … Continue reading Apart from God is nothingness<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[1791,1792],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\npraying are as numerous as they are imperative. They correspond to all our
\nneeds without exception, and to all occasions. They are also in accord with the
\nfavors we receive in answer to our prayers and to God’s rights over His
\ncreatures.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nMaster’s word has explored and lighted up everything, our human world and God’s
\nworld. He revealed the powerlessness of the first when He said: “Without Me,
\nyou can do nothing” (John 15:5).<\/span><\/p>\n![\"contemplative.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/contemplative.jpg\")
<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthese words often enough, but without penetrating them. We no more understand
\nthe “nothing” than we do the “all.” The nature of our being does not allow us
\nto understand it. We do not look at our tiny being as it actually is in the light
\nof the “all.” We do not compare the hours of our life, so short and transient,
\nwith God’s changeless eternity. We do not see the place we occupy in the
\nuniverse as compared to His immensity, which infinitely overflows our tiny
\nuniverse, and could embrace numberless others, far greater than ours. Above
\nall, we forget that our being is not ours. <\/span><\/p>\n
\ndrop of being that God designs to give us. The only reason we have it is
\nbecause He gives it to us; and having received it, immediately it begins to
\ndissolve; it slips through our fingers and is replaced by another which escapes
\nus with the same rapidity. All this being comes from God and returns to Him; it
\ndepends upon Him alone. We are like vessels into which He pours that being drop
\nby drop, so as to create a bond of dependence upon Him, whereby His Being is
\nmanifested and made known and, when lovingly welcomed, is glorified.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nintelligent vessel, which knows, loves, thanks and glorifies<\/span>. It says, in
\neffect: My God, the present moment and the light by which I am aware of it,
\ncomes from You. My mind, which appreciates it; the upward leaping of my heart
\nwhich responds to that recognition and thanks You for it; the living bond
\ncreated by this moment — all is from You. Everything comes from You. All that
\nis within me, all that is not You; all created beings and their movements; my
\nwhole being and its activities all is from You. Without You nothing exists;
\napart from You is just nothingness; apart from Your Being there is merely non-
\nexistence<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ncomplete dependence, upon which I have so often and so deeply meditated, ought
\nto impress me! I feel that it plunges me into the depths of reality<\/span>, into
\ntruth<\/span>. Nevertheless, it does not completely express that reality. There was a
\ntime when this nothingness rose up in opposition to “Him Who is”. It wanted to
\nbe independent of Him; it put itself forward, refused to obey Him and cut
\nitself off from Him. It made war on Him and became His enemy. It destroyed His
\nImage in the heart’s citadel where hitherto He had reigned, and usurped His
\nThrone. These are only metaphors, and they do not do justice to the real horror
\nof the plight created by sin; but we must be content with them, as they are all
\nwe have. We must remember, however, that they are completely inadequate.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nadd to this predicament, already so grave. Every personal sin of ours is an
\nacceptance of this state: we choose it, we love it and prefer it to union with
\nGod<\/span>. We lap up, as it were, these sins like water. We take pleasure in plunging
\ninto them as into a stream, the waters of which rise persistently, and in time
\noverwhelm us and carry us away. They toss us about like a straw, and submerge
\nus. Thoughts, feelings, words, really bad acts and innumerable omissions fill
\nour days and nights, and intermingle, more or less consciously, with our every
\nmovement, and at all hours. They spoil the purity of our ordinary actions such
\nas eating and drinking; they introduce themselves into our sleep and mix with our
\nwaking movements, and with our external acts as with our most intimate
\nthoughts. Because of our fallen state, everything becomes matter and occasion
\nto drag us down further into evil.<\/span><\/p>\n