PRESENCE OF GOD. — Respectful awareness of the presence of God, or “elevation of the soul,” constitutes the indispensable fundamental act in every true prayer, even when merely vocal (Ps. 140:2; St. Teresa, Mansioni, I, 1, 7; St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps., 85, n. 7; St. Ignatius, Es. spir., n. 75). By the presence of God the devout soul understands the gaze of the Divinity, attentive and intelligent (Ps. 5:2-3), helpful and merciful (ibid. 9:14), purifying and life-giving (I. Io. 3:19-20), the affection with which God enfolds within himself his beloved creature, “embracing it in his love” (Is. 66:12-13; St. Ignatius, Es. spir., n. 15)—in a word, Grace, considered as God’s personal communication (Is. 58:9). The soul devoted to prayer wishes to render presence for presence, grace for grace (Ps. 118:148), and to sketch the face-to-face encounter of the eternal dwelling (II Cor. 5:1-9).
The exercise of the presence of God is necessary to prayer, and for this reason the “house of prayer” is also the temple of God, that is, the place where one finds oneself apud Dominum, received by the Lord (Ps. 83:2-5). In the economy of grace, “the true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and truth”: the building of the Temple becomes a spiritual exercise—the human being, the living temple of God (II Cor. 6:16), and God himself, the temple of his elect (Apoc. 21:22-27). The assiduous remembrance of the presence of God being, as may be seen, a living exercise of hope, it is found in various ways at the beginning of every kind of spiritual perfection (Gen. 17:1), whether in sincere horror of, sorrow for, and withdrawal from sin (Is. 1:15-16), or in the constant progress of the virtues (Io. 15:4-5), or in the unitive conformity and undisturbed peace that reward it (Lc. 1:46-49). This universal search for God is at times sustained by the corresponding supernatural sentiment (Ps. 138:7-12). The prayer called “of simple presence” takes place while the soul, although fervent, no longer feels capable of meditating, but rather of calmly remaining in a “general and obscure awareness or loving attendance upon God.” This manner of prayer usually marks entry into contemplation in the strict sense (St. John of the Cross, Salita, book 2, chapter 14). In the contemplative soul the intimate aspect of presence assumes prominence (St. Bernard, De consideratione, book 5, nn. 11-12); and in the state of union, intimate affective presence manifests itself as habitual substantial contact, or spiritual interpenetration (I Cor. 6:17), a living hearth of feelings of love of God, dominated by the pattern of the eternal fulfilment of that “sweet encounter” (Ps. 41:2-3; St. John of the Cross, Fiamma, chapter 1).
From a more general point of view, the presence of God anticipates the eternal Judgment (Io. 3:19). God turns his gaze away from the wicked (Ps. 137:6: the nauseated turning away of the divine face is dramatically captured in Giotto’s Giudizio), and the execution of the wicked corresponds to his withdrawal, through a presence that condemns him inexorably (Io. 3:20). Likewise, the elect, with complete humility and confidence, come before the gaze turned toward them (Ps. 32:18-21), even when they still have nothing to offer it but the first glimmer of good will (Io. 3:21; Ps. 62:2-3).