The Omnipresence of God
by Rev. Roderick MacEachen
God is everywhere. God is immense and omnipresent. Immensity is an attribute of God. It means that Hew is subject to no bounds or limits. Omnipresence, however, is merely a relation of God to His creation. If there were no creation there could be no presence of God. There would be nothing to which He could be present.
When we mention the diverse ways n which God is present, we refer to His different manifestations of Himself to His creatures. In Heaven, God manifests Himself in all His glory. The divine Presence in the Holy Eucharist is a manifestation under a sacramental form. In Bethlehem, God the Son was present under the form of the Christ-Child. God the Holy Ghost manifested himself under the form of a dove at the river Jordan. God is present in a special manner amongst those who assemble to worship Him. "Where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" This, because there is a special relation between Him and that gathering. He is said to be present in churches and oratories, even though the Blessed Sacrament is not kept there, because those places bear a special relation to Him. "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him; to all that call upon him in truth."
God is present everywhere by His power. He must be present wherever He acts. He preserves all things in existence. He rules the universe and all its creatures. He gives life and energy to every living thing. If God were to abandon the tiniest portion of creation for one instant, it would wither away and pass into nothingness, "O Lord . . . all things are in Thy power . . . Thou hast made Heaven and earth and all things that are under the cope of Heaven. Thou art Lord of all and there is none that can resist Thy majesty."
God is present everywhere by His infinite intelligence. He sees all things. God's knowledge is infinite. Nothing can be unknown to Him. Bother the past and the future are ever present to Hi. "For the Lord knoweth all knowledge, and hath beheld the signs of the world; he declareth the things that are past and the things that are to come, and revealeth the traces of hidden things." Each atom of creation is as well known to Him as the whole universe. "He telleth the number of the stars and calleth them all by name." God knows all the movements of His creatures. He knows every tiny insect. Not even a single microbe can exist without God's knowledge.
God knows the secrets of our hearts. He knows every thought that passes through our mind. He knows our motives and our intentions. "The eyes of the Lord are brighter than the sun, beholding round about all the ways of men, and the bottom of the deep, and looking into the hearts of men, into the most hidden parts." "The works of all flesh are before him, and there is nothing hid from his eyes. He seeth from eternity to eternity."
God is everywhere present n love. God loves all His creatures. He showers His graces and blessings upon us. He dwells in our soul by grace and love. The Apostle says: "You are the temple of the living God; as God saith: I will dwell in them, and walk amongst them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Those who love God and serve Him are united with Him in the most tender bonds of love. St. John beautifully describes this mutual love: "And we have known, and have believed the charity which God hath to us. God is charity; and he that abideth in charity abideth in God, and God in him." Those who are strong in Faith and virtue may be said to be inseparable from God. "For," says St. Paul, "I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God."