“If you increase your awareness of the presence of God, then you will increase your gratitude toward God. Now you say the “Our Father” and you don’t feel anything… but if you felt that God is indeed your Father, you wouldn’t be able to bear saying those words!”
-St Paisios Spiritual Counsels, V. 5 Passions and Virtues. pg 287
Reflection:
Do our prayers often feel empty? Do we find it hard to dedicate time for prayer and when we do, our minds wander?
These days, we have so much screen time and external stressors, our day passes by us without realizing it. While not always being able to attend Church services in person, and more time spent at home, our focus is shifted to growing our personal relationship and connection to God.
How can we grow our personal relationship with God, and increase our awareness of His presence? We should approach our relationship with God the same way we would approach a relationship with our loved ones. To love with all our heart.(1)
To love God with all our heart and so forth, means to think more often and more readily about God and about what is pleasing to God. It is a natural attribute of our heart that the one whom we sincerely love is constantly with us in our thoughts.(2)
To speak about and converse with the Lord God as often, as long and as readily as we can. It is an attribute of our heart to speak as often, as long, and as willingly about and with whomever we sincerely love.(3)
To the greatest extent possible to try to learn the Will of God, since it is an attribute of our heart to know the will of someone we sincerely love, and to fulfill it with diligence and pleasure, no matter how difficult it may be.(4)
As we grow in fulfilling our Lord’s greatest commandments(5) by thinking, speaking, and seeking Him more often, we begin to move through our day, realizing with gratitude, His presence with us. Our relationships with others simultaneously become more Christ-like. Then as we pray the “Our Father…” we will indeed feel, as is true, that we are never alone, that He is right there beside us.
