God is the living God and He still acts today. God dwells in our souls by grace as in a temple, and He acts in the hidden depths of our souls. God’s touch is subtle, perhaps barely perceptible. God acts today but usually veiled in hiddenness.
It’s a personal relationship with God. We give and we receive. We speak and we listen. It’s a two way street. There’s real communication back and forth. We act but we are also acted upon by Him. God can act upon us through daily events of life or more directly. Whatever the case, we act and we also receive. For God acts. God speaks to us through his Word, the Scriptures. He comes to us in the Sacraments. He touches our souls in prayer.
Prayer is about faith. We reach out into the darkness. Prayer is about hope. We reach out with empty hands. Prayer is about love. We reach out and embrace God, who has already embraced us.
Prayer can surpass our ordinary experience. It’s a mystery beyond our grasp. It’s an encounter always pointing to something more. It’s a mystery but let us not doubt it. There’s more than meets the eye happening in prayer. There’s more than meets the eye even in simple prayer. God dwells in our souls and He acts in our hidden depths. God is the living God and the loving God. And He still acts today. We need to be still and know that He is God. The grace of Epiphany helps us receive this living and loving God. For Epiphany is the love of God being made manifest to the world in the little Baby, Jesus. And there are epiphanic moments - moments of epiphany- when our eyes are opened to see God’s love in the little things.
The Baptism of the Lord, as the further unfolding of Christ’s Epiphany, highlights for us that it is often in prayer and worship that the Lord manifests Himself (in hiddenness!) to the eyes of faith. “Jesus was baptized while praying, and the heavens were opened” (Lk 3:21). Sometimes the heavens open for us a little as we are brought beyond this world to catch a glimpse of God. As we enter again into the liturgical season of Ordinary Time, let our faith continue to catch glimpses of the living God acting in our ordinary lives, and let our love respond with all that we are!
Behold, the Lord stands at the door and knocks! (Rev 3:20)
Fr. Ignatius
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