We are here - and God is too

The first role of a Carmelite nun isn't prayer
It's presence
Our life isn't about doing, but being
Being in the presence of God
Witnessing to God's presence through our being
Being alongside others in their pain.
It says, whatever's happening, we are here
- and God is too.

These words, tweeted by @carmelnunsgb on Tuesday, struck a chord within me. I read and re-read, feeling the at-depth splash of stones dropping deep into a well. I shared them yesterday evening, in my breakout room during a synodal meeting of religious, discussing the theme of mission. There were resonant nods as I read them out, and a general agreement that, with a few tweaks, they could belong to apostolic religious too. Tweaked, they could have been tweeted by me, a busy apostolic contemplative, in a full-time ministry. I 'do'... a lot; but I increasingly understand that presence has to lie at the heart of my call, and my life and mission as an RSCJ. 

Our life isn't about doing, but being...
Witnessing to God's presence through our being

A call to be with God, attentive to his life and activity within me, and in people, events, situations, our world... And it is in this presence, this being, that I discover and draw on the abundant depths of Love... discover the gratuitous presence of the love of God in humanity...

And then a call to share and make this gratuitous, inexhaustible love known - online and in person. Inherent in this lies a call to be with others in their pain and struggles, as much as in their growth and flourishing; to be with them in helplessness as well as activity. To witness, through our presence and compassion, as well as - maybe even more than - whatever we do, to the tenderness and fidelity of a God who is Emmanuel, God-with-us; a God at the heart of our world, in all its blessedness and its brokenness.

It says, whatever's happening, we are here
- and God is too.