3 Persons 1 God
In the coming days I began to feel the presence of not just Jesus but also the Father and the Holy Spirit. When I would just think of them, the lines between them would at times blur and become hazy but when I would feel a presence I could distinguish between the three. When I would feel the Father’s presence it was strong, assuring, loving, familiar and with a deep, deep knowledge or knowing (I use these words for lack of a better word to describe it) between us that is impossible to describe. When I feel his presence it is not flowing in and through me but rather I feel him in everything around me – the trees, the flowers, clouds floating across the sky, even in the wind. The easiest way to describe it is like the famous “Force” of the Star Wars movies. He is in all things and connects all things.
When I experience Jesus’ presence it is gentler, so very loving and comforting though strong, human, and very familiar, so much so that at times I feel there are memories of him that lie just beyond my grasp. When I feel the Holy Spirit I am filled with a passion to do God’s will, experience him to the fullest and to share it all with others. I burn with a desire to tell others of God’s love for us, for others to experience God as I have and for all of us to turn to God in faith and love, entrusting him with our lives. I knew I was experiencing the Trinity on some level.
I also began reading the book, God and You: Prayer as a Personal Relationship by Fr. William A. Barry, S.J. I was reading where Fr. Barry speaks of a relationship between God and people and tells the reader to imagine what the Jews must have felt when Isaiah stated what he did in Isaiah 43:1,3-4 and he goes on to quote it: ‘But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel’: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life.”
Well, I experienced something I had never experienced in all my years of reading and studying scripture. I felt in every molecule of my being as if God was speaking directly to me and about me. It took my breath away. It moved me on a level I had never felt before and my head reeled. Did God truly care that much for me? Was I that important to him? It was a heady experience yet frightening at the same time. I asked God just how far back in my life had he been involved. I saw a baby being born and somehow experienced it as me. Thoughts came into my mind – “From the womb have I formed you.” My brain began to go into overload and I had to step back a little and think about all of this.
