Secrecy and Suddenness of Divine Visitations - Fr. Peter Gruber

Fr. Peter Gruber, C.O., a priest of the Pittsburgh Oratory and Director of Campus Ministry at the Newman Center for the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and Chatham University, reflects on Newman’s sermon, “Secrecy and Suddenness of Divine Visitations” a sermon for the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the temple. Fr. Gruber draws from Newman in that God works apart from the obvious. When God comes it’s not what you’d expect because God is always working to maximize trust. He wants us to go out and take a venture for Him - to offer the complete gift of ourselves to the mission of God. When we trust Him - He comes. As we become more habitual in our prayer and in living holy lives it becomes more normal to trust. When holiness becomes the ordinary, we then can sanctify the world. He is perfect who does the ordinary work of the day perfectly. Newman shows us that it is out of reverence that we trust and obey. Fr. Peter offers Dietrich von Hildebrand's understanding of reverence: "reverence is giving a being space to unfold." As is his custom, Newman takes us further by expounding that the higher the call for trust, the further we feel that we are from God, the closer Christ is to us. There is a suddenness to Divine Visitation. Humility is essential for us to receive God’s loving presence. 

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.