October 24, 2000
 

 

by George Maloney

In His Holy Presence

There is great peace in being immersed in the presence of God who resides at the center of my being. My prayer now is not something I do so much as my entering into a state of being. I stand in His holy presence, loving Him without words or images.

True contemplation should not be taught as an extraordinary state reached only by exceptionally gifted mystics. Contemplation is the state of living immanently in the depths of our being, and there -- through the infusion by God's Spirit of the gifts of faith, hope and love -- to grow in an ever-expanding consciousness of the Trinity that abides there and dynamically energizes us by God's love.

It should be essential to every Christian to take Christ's words literally: "The kingdom of God comes unwatched by human eyes; there will be no saying, 'See, it is here,' or, 'See, it is there,' The kingdom of God is here, within you" (Luke 17:20-21; Knox). Every Christian should believe in the indwelling of God within him, since Jesus Christ Himself said: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We shall come to him and make Our home with him" (John. 14:23).

This is the "good news" that should be a reality to all human beings. Most people are not aware of their great spiritual potential of living consciously in a union with the Trinity. And yet this is what it means when the Scripture says that God created us "according to His image and likeness."

Great Christian mystics -- such as St. Symeon the New Theologian and Meister Eckhart -- down through the centuries always affirmed that our end is to contemplate the immanent God living within us. Thus we learn to adore and serve Him, the One indwelling throughout all of creation. As we become more aware of God's presence as not distant and extrinsic to us, we move into a deep unity where the true self becomes a being in loving relationship to the indwelling God.

I call this innermost part of our being, where we find the core of our true personality, the heart. It is, therefore, by plunging down into our heart -- our innermost self -- that we make contact with God as healer. We are in direct contact with God as the vital source of our being. As long as we live superficially and dispersed amidst a world of ever-mounting multiplicity with an accompanying meaninglessness to all of it, we will not know the health of body, soul and spirit that God wishes us to enjoy.


I seem to be given new, interior eyes that
lovingly gaze on Him. In that gaze I know
myself in God's unique love for me.



One enters into a state of contemplation almost imperceptibly. After years of disciplined prayer in which we were principally the main doers -- pondering words and scenes from Holy Scripture, making comparisons, drawing conclusions -- we realize gradually that we enjoy resting in the presence of God. He is within, and I am aware of His personal loving activity in my regard. I learn to let go. I breathe psychologically more deeply, more peacefully.

I am discovering that I can with ease go down into my inner self and joyfully stretch out my spiritual hands seeking to grasp God who now is so close to me. I seem to be given new, interior eyes that lovingly gaze on Him. In that gaze I know myself in God's unique love for me. With new interior ears I ever so quietly listen to God as He communicates Himself to me without words, images or forms.

It is no longer my praying with this faculty or that, now thinking this thought, now that. My whole being is immersed in God. My disparate activities seem suspended as I enter into a tranquility that brings to me a sense of oneness with God.

There is great peace in such periods of being immersed in the presence of God who resides at the center of my being. My prayer now is not something I do so much as my entering into a state of being. I seem to be standing inside my real self -- inside my deepest reality, my heart -- which brings me into a communion with God, in whom I am also standing. I stand in His holy presence, loving Him without words or images. Yet the totality of my being is in a tranquil state of loving surrender.

One of the perplexing features of this deeper prayer of the heart is that the former ways that we used to measure our "praying ability" now seem no longer to apply. In fact, because one is less actively engaged with his imagination, understanding, will and affections, such can no 1onger be used as an index of our prayerfulness.


With new interior ears I ever so quietly
listen to God as He communicates Himself to me
without words, images or forms.



We are in a state of expanded consciousness brought about by an increased infusion of faith, hope and charity, by the Holy Spirit. It is only the Holy Spirit who assures us that we are united with God and truly growing in greater loving union. It is also the Holy Spirit who brings forth His gifts and fruit in our relationships toward others. Our lives, now rooted more deeply in the Ultimate, reflect more exactly than at any other earlier stage the worth of our prayer-life.

The Holy Spirit dwelling within us teaches us how to pray deeply in the heart. "The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us." It is God "who gives you His Holy Spirit." Our bodies through Jesus Christ have become temples of the Holy Spirit. We are utterly incapable of praying to God as we should, but the Spirit prays within us.

The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit Himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what He means and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.

Romans 8:26-27

It is the Spirit that gives life. Jesus Christ's redemptive work takes place mostly in such deep prayer when He is releasing His Holy Spirit as He had promised He would. The Spirit allows us to transcend beyond the limitations of our words and ideas about God in order to enter into the silent language of love as an experience that transcends anything human or controllable or wrought by our human powers. The Spirit of Jesus sent into our hearts allows us to know His presence and yield to His love towards the Father and the Son. "... you know Him because He is with you, He is in you.".


The Spirit allows us to transcend beyond the limitations
of our words and ideas about God in order to enter into
the silent language of love.


What we experience continually when the Spirit prays within us is the utter conviction that we are God's beloved children. God loves us. But the good news that the Holy Spirit breathes forth within our hearts through an infused experience is that now we know that God loves us! We can cry out: "Abba, Father!"

This Spirit "reaches the depths of everything, even the depths of God." It is thus that we are taught by God's very own Spirit of love, making us "spiritual" beings. If in deep prayer we are to touch the very depths of God, this can be done only through His Spirit. It is through the power of Jesus Christ's Spirit that our hidden selves are to grow strong, and that Christ is to live in our hearts through faith.

Many persons interpret the phrase, "praying in the Spirit" to refer only to speaking in tongues, a gift of the Holy Spirit. However, to "pray in the Spirit" means an infinitely larger experience of unending growth -- both in this life and in the life to come. How can any human being comprehend the inexhaustible riches of the mind of God? And yet in the Spirit we do begin to contemplate the depths of the beauties and the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

To contemplate is to move beyond our own activity and to be activated by the power of the Holy Spirit. It means to be swept up into the Triadic love current of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the contemplative prayer of the heart -- a gift of the Spirit praying within us -- we move beyond feelings, emotions, even thoughts. The Spirit is so powerfully operative that we feel any activity of ours through imaging or reasoning can only be noise that disturbs the silent communication of God at the core of our being. One feels that images and words -- our own activity in prayer, now impose a restriction upon God who wishes to communicate Himself to us in a much more profound and total manner.


In the contemplative prayer of the heart --
a gift of the Spirit praying within us -- we move
beyond feelings, emotions, even thoughts.


In the prayer of the heart I realize that if I start to speak words and fashion images of God and of ideas about Him, then I am limiting His freedom to speak His Word as He wishes, when He wishes. The Holy Spirit frees us so God can give Himself to us with utter freedom and joy.


Taken from Chapter Nine -- "The Inward Call" -- of the book, Inward Stillness*, by George Maloney. © Copyright 1976 by George A. Maloney, S.J. Published by Dimension Books, Denville, New Jersey. Used with permission of the author.
*Inward Stillness is still in print and can be ordered through your local bookstore.

George Maloney was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1924, and ordained a priest in the Russian Byzantine Rite in 1957. He earned a doctorate in Oriental Theology in 1962. He has established himself as an outstanding author of books on prayer and Eastern Christian Spirituality as applied to the daily life of western Christians. He has written more than sixty books, many of which are still in print. He is founder and director of Contemplative Ministries in Seal Beach, California, and from time to time is available to lead prayer retreats