If we were to search for the presence of God in Vatican II documents and the Catechism (CCC) we would find many references to the presence of God. For example,
CCC 196: The presence of Christ is achieved by the power of his word and the Holy Spirit.
CCC 1374: “In the Mass, Christ is made present to us under the form (or signs) of bread and wine: through the prayer of the priest, “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ” becomes “truly, really, and substantially” present.”
CCC 460: tells us that “The Word became flesh to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature. ‘” That is, because we are united to Jesus and become like him through baptism, we “partake” — i.e., share in — Jesus’ own life as the son of God.
Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, CSL #7: the four modes of God’s presence in the Eucharist are in the Eucharist broken and shared, in the person of the minister, in the Word of God, and in the assembled people of God.
In fact, if we widen our searches for “The presence of God” to the Bible we end of with a whole flurry of assertions of the presence of God. For example,
- The Omnipresence of God who is present everywhere at all times.
- The Indwelling Presence of God living inside of us through the Holy Spirit.
- The Manifest Presence of God in religious experiences linked to actual grace.
- The practice of the Presence of God involves cultivating a continuous sense of God’s nearness and seeking to remain in a state of communion with Him throughout the day.
- In Confirmation (Catechism paragraph 1285)
For “by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence, they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.” - In the search for happiness (CCC 27), the “desire for God is written in the human heart. Only in God will [man] find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.”
- In the Church (CCC 82) when all revealed truths from … both Scripture and Tradition (are) accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”
Let it be sufficient it to say that the presence of God is a huge topic. Many books have been written on the subject, with a whole variety of humans pointing to where, how, when, and where they experienced the presence of God. It is almost easier to say where God is not infinitely present, which is it seems to me to be nowhere.
That is all fine and affirms humanity’s world-wide experience. Yet, when we come to mystagogy as a period of Jesus’ presence within the interactions of people in groups, if it is present, I find it almost impossible to find. However, Jesus is explicit in his identification as a condition where he guarantees that he will be present, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,” (Mt. 18:20).
The issue is that Catholics are especially good at identifying Jesus’ presence at Mass in the priest, in the congregation, in the Word, and in the bread and wind. They also have a sense of God’s presence in multiple other ways, but when I mention Jesus’ words from Matthew 18:20, they just look at me trying to get those words to compute. I’ll confess that I’ve been reduced to adding the snarky-like, “Maybe he didn’t mean it.” The response I get then is, a pause, and then slowly, “No, I think he meant it.”
So, a way of condensing all I’ll say about mystagogy is to say, that I don’t want to modify any other sense of the presence of God, but as we’ll see in trends of those leaving the practice of faith with the Church, I hope to ADD and DEVELOP the implications of Jesus’ words, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
For Catholics that seems to be no small task.
Deacon Ray Biersbach, PhD
February 3, 2025
