Fr. Basil Maturin (+1915):
When hope begins to get clouded it is because contrition begins to fail. God’s Presence protects our own individuality so that we do not lose ourselves and become, as we are apt to do, a mechanical part of the world and the society in which we live, sinking into a routine in which we lose more and more the sense of responsibility. The first thing that the realization of God’s Presence does for any person is to deepen this sense of their own personality and responsibility. They live in a Presence that is stronger than all the influences around them.
