"Awaiting the Presence of Our Maker"

This reflections was written by Venerable John Henry Newman. He established the Oratory in Birmingham, England and was an eloquent preacher. It was published the this month's Magnificat.

There is another reason why God alone is happiness of our souls, to which I wish to direct attention. The contemplation of him, and nothing but it, is able fully to open and relieve the mind, to unlock, occupy, and fix our affections. We may indeed love things created with great intenseness, but such affection, when disjoined from the love of the Creator, is like a stream running in a narrow channel, impetuous, vehement, turbid. The heart runs out, as it were, only at one door; it is not an expanding of the whole man. Created natures cannot open us, or elicit the ten thousand senses which belong to us, and through which we really live. None but the presence of our Maker can enter us; for to none besides can the whole heart in all its thought and feelings be unlocked and subjected. "Behold," he says, "I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him,and him with me." "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and your hearts." "God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." It is this feeling of simple and absolute confidence and communion which soothes and satisfies those to whom it is vouchsafed.

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I have to remind myself all the time...endlessly, that I have to be quiet so I can "hear the knock" at the door. I fear that I might miss it. But with instruction from those like Venerable John Henry Newman, I just might be awake and alert when it counts.

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Thanks be to God