God does not change. He is definitively complete and, therefore, immutable. He is unalterably present in us and does not admit various degrees of presence. What does change is our relationship with Him, according to the degree of our faith and love. Prayer makes this relationship more intimate, an intimate penetration of the ‘I-You’ produced through affective experience and joyful knowledge, and resemblance and union with Him becomes more pro-found day after day.
It is like having a candle in a dark room. The more light we get from the candle, the better we can see the room, which becomes more “present” even though it does not actually change. We all experience the feeling that when our prayer is more profound, God is closer to us, more present, evident, and alive. And the more the glory of the face of God shines upon us (Ps 31), the more events have new meaning (Ps 36) and history is filled with Him. In a word, the Lord becomes vividly present in everything. There is no game of risk or chance; there is a pilot who directs events with a steady hand.
When we have “been” with God, He becomes more “Someone” through whom and with whom we overcome difficulties and defeat repulsions; we face hard times with joy, and love blossoms everywhere. The more we “breathe” God, the more we want to be with Him; and the more we “are” with God, the more God becomes Someone. The circle of life is opened up.
As the contemplative advances in the mysteries of God, God stops being an idea that needs clarifying and begins to be freedom, humility, joy, and love. Gradually, God becomes an irresistible and revolutionary force that draws all things from their places. Where there was violence, He brings gentleness; where there was selfishness, He brings love; God completely changes the “face” of the individual.
If the contemplative continues advancing along the dark paths of the mystery of God, unknown forces unleashed by Love push the soul up the slope toward the living God, along a totalizing incline according to and within which God becomes more and more the All, the Only, and the Absolute, like in a whirlwind in which the whole person is taken and swept away, while being purified and the selfish dross is burned away by fire … God ultimately transforms the contemplative person into a torch that burns, ignites, and shines (Jn 5:35). Think of Elijah, John the Baptist, Francis of Assisi, Charles de Foucauld…
Taken from the book “Sensing Your Hidden Presence” Chapter I, Section “The more we pray, the more God is God-within-us”, by Father Ignacio Larrañaga.
