MY favorite time of the day is the early morning after I arise from bed and take a shower. I would quietly sit by the window of my living room, take some deep breaths, and feel God’s presence. I would do this exercise for 20 to 30 minutes and then proceed to the prayer hall to say Morning Prayer with seminarians and fellow priests. I find this routine to be a calming experience as I begin the day.
I do this exercise not merely to experience peace but to create a space where God and I can enjoy each other’s company. I would imagine him sitting next to me or embracing me with tenderness and love. I also find this form of prayer to be a healing encounter with our merciful God.
I share this experience to keep in mind that God calls each one of us to develop a profound friendship with him through prayer. Our daily lives should include intimate moments with him.
St. John Eudes, the priest who founded congregations dedicated to improving priestly formation, reminds us of this intimacy with God in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He wrote these poetic words:
“I ask you to consider that our Lord Jesus Christ is your true head and that you are a member of his body. He belongs to you as the head belongs to the body. All that is his is yours: breath, heart, body, soul and all his faculties…
He belongs to you, but more than that, he longs to be in you, living and ruling in you, as the head lives and rules in the body. He desires that whatever is in him may live and rule in you: his breath in your breath, his heart in your heart, all the faculties of his soul in the faculties of your soul, so that these words may be fulfilled in you: Glorify God and bear him in your body, that the life of Jesus may be made manifest in you…
You must, then, have one breath with him, one soul, one life, one will, one mind, one heart. And he must be your breath, heart, love, life, your all.”
As we go through life making a living, fulfilling our responsibilities, and planning our future, let’s be conscious of this calling to be in intimate relationship with God. After all, our ultimate destiny is to be eternally with him.
God’s joy is to experience his love and to feel his presence every day of our lives. For it’s what would free us from anxiety, anguish, and desolation. God’s joy is that we remain in his love and peace.
It would always be our constant challenge to keep prayerful moments with God and feel his presence. But if we can do it even for just a few minutes at the beginning of the day, our hearts would continue to long for these times of union with God when he affirms us and assure us of his love, mercy, strength and protection.
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From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993); St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1999-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of ImmAaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.
