The presence of God

When someone is leading a group in prayer, they are prone to say: "Let us put ourselves in the presence of God."

Of course, God is present in all places, at all times, in everything we do. The words of the prayer leader mean: "Let us be conscious that God is here, listening to us." The feeling that God is close to you, touching your mind and heart, is sometimes very strong.

I received a letter from Jun Alvendia, whom I have known since he was a choir boy in the Ateneo Grade School, almost 50 years ago. For years he was an executive of Philacor, where I said Mass a number of times. And recently I have been meeting him in the Rotary Club of Makati West, especially when I was a judge for their KATANGIAN Awards.

He went on a pilgrimage to Rome as part of the Regnum Christi Movement, at the request of Benedict XVI. Then he visited Lanciano. Kneeling close to the altar, he was overwhelmed by a strong sense of the presence of God.

At that altar, in the 8th century, a priest saying Mass doubted whether the consecrated bread and wine were really the Body and Blood of Our Lord……And the host turned into flesh, and the wine turned into blood! When tested scientifically, the flesh was tissues of the heart. And the blood was type AB — the same type as the blood of the Shroud of Turin.

Coming down the steps from the altar, he was struck by a strong scent of roses. But there were no roses in that chapel. He stayed for some time, searching. There were no roses, anywhere.

He went on to San Giovanni Rotondo. There a modern basilica has been built in honor of Saint Padre Pio. But Jun went into the old church, to the little chapel where Padre Pio’s confessional was located. The confessional was blocked off, so Jun knelt beside it.

These are his words:

"I made a general spiritual confession to Our Lord through Padre Pio. I tried to recall the many many sins of my life, and asked his intercession for God’s pardon.

"Then I heard a voice inside me. The penance came to me loud and clear: to say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be, every day, for the rest of my life, for the intentions of the poor souls in Purgatory. I promised to do this. Though, inside me, I thought: ‘What a unique penance! This is the first time I have been told to say a penance every day for the rest of my life!’

"I left the chapel with a feeling of deep peace. I went to a shop close to the Church of Padre Pio, where I picked out a book with Padre Pio on the cover. Uncannily, it was entitled ‘The Holy Souls.’

"In it, I learned that Padre Pio, in his lifetime, had a special relationship with the Holy Souls. Since they suffered much, they frequently visited Padre Pio to request for Masses and prayers. Throughout his life, Padre Pio offered his Masses, prayers, pains and sufferings for the release of Holy Souls from Purgatory and they never ceased to thank him and pray for him.

"Now I really felt that this confirmed his earlier message to me: to pray for the Holy Souls. Even in the afterlife, Padre Pio was still interceding on their behalf, and requesting the living to do so.

"I had no previous knowledge of his devotion to the Holy Souls. Now I was certain. My confession was truly heard by God through Saint Padre Pio."

There was one beautiful moment in my own life when I did feel the presence of God, intensely. It was during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I was standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, close to the rock on which Our Lord cooked breakfast for the Apostles, who had been fishing all night. It was in the days following his resurrection from the dead. John recognized him, through the morning mist. And Peter dove off the boat, to swim ashore to our Lord.

I said Mass on that rock. Somehow, I could feel God all around me – in the ground under my feet; in the rock on which I was saying Mass. I could sense the peace of Christ Our Lord in that quiet lake. I could feel God in the blue dome of the sky above me. There wasn’t the whisper of a cloud. Just deep, pure, peaceful blue.

I was on the sand where the Apostles sat with Our Lord, watching the sunrise, after they had eaten breakfast together. I could feel the love of God for these men who had abandoned him in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Gospel says: "Leaving him, they all fled away." On that spot I could feel the love of God for all his children. It was as simple as sunlight.

Our Lord and the Virgin Mary are appearing to many people, these days, all over the world. Especially to men! There is a strong surge of devotion, everywhere. People have had enough of greed and selfishness. They are hungry for God, reaching out to him.

These are really special times!

On Monday, August 14, there will be a meeting of mothers in Malacañang, to celebrate the beauty of breastfeeding. The driving force is Elvira Henares Lichauco Esguerra. She is the daughter of Larry Henares, who was a student in my first class at the Ateneo in 1941. Her mother was Cecilia Lichauco, who was shot by a sniper during the war, and lost her leg, but never her will to live. Her Auntie is Luisa Lichauco, who played Roxanne with Vic Silayan in Cyrano de Bergerac, and is now a Maryknoll nun, Sister Marissa.

Elvira has taken up the cause of breastfeeding from a unique point of view. She believes that children should support the pregnant woman, and the breastfeeding mother.

She went to Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, the Chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, proposing that the Church should launch a positive campaign to promote breastfeeding. The Archbishop was impressed by her enthusiasm, and plans to write a pastoral letter on it.

On Monday, at Malacañang, Elvira will propose seven acts of kindness that children can perform to help a nursing mother. They are extremely simple: give good food to the mother who is poor; give medicine, when it is needed; donate to the organizations that help the nursing mother; give little presents, like flowers; congratulate the mother who is breastfeeding, because she is giving the best food to her child, milk prepared for her baby by God; above all, give love!

Every woman who conceives feels the presence of God in the baby within her. And when she is breastfeeding she is very conscious of the words of Our Lord: "So long as you have done it to the least of these, my little ones, you have done it to Me!"

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There is a daily texting service called: "One Minute With God."

You can reach it on globe by texting: "Reuter@2978".

You can reach it on Smart by texting: "Reuter@326".