Lent 30: Degrees of presence?

When I am in the presence of God, I know I am in the presence of God.

But I am always in God's presence.  God is everywhere all the time.

So how come I can speak, at one moment rather than another, of being in God's presence?

Why do we ask for God's presence to come?  Why do we invite the Holy Spirit to be with us?  The Holy Spirit is always with us.

Sometimes I can feel that I am in God's presence, but does that mean that God's presence is somehow stronger than at other times?

It must be so, because there are places which, when you walk into them, you instantly feel a kind of atmosphere there that is not what we normally experience - certain churches, monasteries or places of pilgrimage where there has been a lot of prayer over many years.  There also seem to be places with an uncomfortable, draining, depressive feeling to them.  It must be that God's presence can be stronger or less strong at different times and in different places.

But is the sense that I sometimes get of being immersed in God's presence due to God being more fully there, or to me being more fully there?

Possibly a bit of both.  I don't understand it, but it isn't surprising that the times when I am distracted and impatient are the times when I feel God less.  This doesn't seem to mean, however, that every time I am calm and focussed that I get an overwhelming sense of God's presence.  And sometimes I am caught completely unawares by a sudden strong sense of God with me.

It seems that we cannot tame our God; but I still find that the more I seek God and the more time I give, the more I find myself able to sit in the presence of God.