Today we celebrate the great Doctor and mystic of the Church, St. Therese. More than her intellect and wisdom, I cozy up to my saintly sister's approachability. For she saw all things as grace, and sought to surrender into God's gifts every moment of every day. She did so with His Holy Presence ever before her heart and soul through Jesus' Holy and Adorable Face, and a sense that she was never alone. She knew that Our Lord exists outside of time, but abides and indwells with us in the daily seconds, minutes, and hours of our daily lives whether extraordinary or mundane, whether experienced in joy or sorrow. As a daughter of the Carmelite masters, and immersed in the spirit of Elijah and Our Lady, she understood that no moment of life is wasted. Every moment counts. Even if it is slow, imperceptible, and seemingly fruitless. Life is meaning and holds meaning. Time is gift. God's gift of time to me is gift. I am gift. My gift of time to God and others is gift.
This has inspired the following:
Litany of Divine Presence in my Earthly Presence
Elijah proclaimed,"God lives, before Whom I stand."
St. Therese rejoiced, "God lives before Whose Holy Face I stand with empty hands."
I say in union with Elijah and St. Therese, "God lives before Whose Holy Face I, _________________, stand with empty hands."
I am standing in God's Presence.
I am living in God's Presence.
I am breathing in God's Presence.
I am being in God's Presence.
I am giving in God's Presence.
I am receiving in God's Presence.
I am inviting in God's Presence.
I am resting in God's Presence.
I am sleeping in God's Presence.
I am creating in God's Presence.
I am loving in God's Presence.
I am healing in God's Presence.
I am nurturing in God's Presence.
I am suffering in God's Presence.
I am empathizing in God's Presence.
I am standing in God's Presence.
I am grieving in God's Presence.
I am lamenting in God's Presence.
I am crying in God's Presence.
I am adoring in God's Presence.
I am praising in God's Presence.
I am thanking in God's Presence.
I am recollecting in God's Presence.
I am pondering in God's Presence.
I am seeking in God's Presence.
I am singing in God's Presence.
I am celebrating in God's Presence.
I am hoping in God's Presence.
I am believing in God's Presence.
I am forgiving in God's Presence.
I am seeing in God's Presence.
I am hearing in God's Presence.
I am touching in God's Presence.
I am dreaming in God's Presence.
I am serving in God's Presence.
I am sharing in God's Presence.
I am speaking in God's Presence.
I am silencing in God's Presence.
I am reaching out in God's Presence.
I am communing in God's Presence.
I am laboring in God's Presence.
I am falling in God's Presence.
I am arising in God's Presence.
I am mothering [fathering] in God's Presence.
I am sistering [brothering] in God's Presence.
I am bridaling in God's Presence.
I am daughtering ["son"-ing] in God's Presence.
I am laboring in God's Presence.
I am striving in God's Presence.
I am surrendering in God's Presence.
I say in union with Elijah and Therese, "God lives before Whose Holy Face I, _________________, stand with empty hands."
I am.
God is.
We are.
One.
Amen.