Practising the Presence of God

In a prayer group of which I am a member, we have been looking at extracts from the spiritual classic entitled The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence OCD.  This is one of those rare books whose title is a treasure in itself.  (Another, I like to think, is the famous mediaeval tract entitled The Cloud of Unknowing.)  Isn’t each day a new opportunity for us to ‘practise the presence of God’?  When we talk about what we are doing in our Carmelite groups I often find myself referring to this title.  I like the word ‘practice’ here because it suggests that we need a regular habit – as that of practising a musical instrument or a sporting activity, and it also suggests the idea of ‘practice makes perfect’ – the habit once adopted will help us to up our spiritual game – to coin an expression that has just occurred to me.

Intercessions

RIP Fr Jon Bielawski, Jacqui, Sister Maisie, Ann Widdecombe

Cancer: Brian Davis, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Catherine, Alex (43 with five children), Theresa K, Elena

Sophie – newborn having heart surgery; Sianna, young child in the post-operative phase; James, recovering from heart surgery

Ivy – sick child

Brian (recovering from Pneumonia)

Kevin (heart attack)

William Gove (in recovery)

Illness:  Katy Keeling

Siena, Elara – sick children

David OCDS – housebound

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)

Mark – brain infection

Michael, Kira – vulnerable youngsters

Defence of the unborn and the elderly