Presence

The more we call on the Lord, the more we can feel His presence. Day by day, He draws us closer to His loving heart.

Scripture

Luke 11: 9-10

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Reflection

CS Lewis was a British writer, literary scholar, and Anglican lay theologian. In one of his best-known books, “The Chronicles of Narnia”, Lewis creates an allegorical story of Christ, who is represented in the books by a lion, Aslan. In the following abridged excerpt, we are reminded that Christ does not force himself upon us – he waits to be asked. In “The Horse and His Boy”, the fifth book in the Chronicles of Narnia, the boy in the story, Shasta, is lost in the dark and becomes suddenly aware that he is not alone – there is something or someone walking beside him:
And the Thing (or Person) was going so quietly that he could hardly hear any footfall …So he went on at a walking pace and the unseen companion walked and breathed beside him. At last, he could bear it no longer… ‘Who are you?’ he said, barely above a whisper. ‘One who has waited long for you to speak’, said the Thing. Its voice was not loud, but very large and deep…
He turned and saw, pacing beside him, taller than a horse, a Lion. The horse did not seem to be afraid of it or else could not see it. It was from the lion that the light came. No one ever saw anything more terrible or more beautiful.

Prayer

Lord, you do not force yourself on me. The Scripture reading today makes that very plain. You will not come to me uninvited. Give me the courage to ask, to search and to knock, in the confidence that in asking, I will receive, in searching, I will find, and, in knocking, the door will be opened to me.

Amen

Glory to you, Father, source of all being,

to you, Jesus, Word made flesh,

to you Holy Spirit, Comforter,

as it was before time began,

is now and shall be into the future.

Amen.