Possession over Presence Doctrine
The doctrine that possessing the Divine Will surpasses even continuous sensible divine Presence, because the Divine Will contains all of God’s Being and penetrates into the soul’s most intimate fibers in a way that consoling presence does not: “My Will contains all my Being, and one who possesses It, possesses Me, more than if she enjoyed my continuous Presence. In fact, my Will penetrates everywhere, into her most intimate fibers” — the distinction being that presence is relational (God near the soul) whereas possession is ontological (the soul’s being saturated by the divine Being through the medium of the will), and what is possessed penetrates every fiber while what is merely present remains exterior to the soul’s depths. The scriptural ground is Psalm 139:7–10 (the divine Spirit as everywhere-penetrating presence — whose omnipresent quality the DW possession realizes in the creaturely interior), Galatians 2:20 (no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me — the possession as the interior form of the Pauline “not I but Christ”), John 14:23 (we will come to him and make our home with him — the indwelling as the superior form of presence), and Colossians 1:27 (Christ in you, the hope of glory — the mystery of interior possession as the form of eschatological hope). (E)
Anchors: Psalm 139:7-10; John 14:23; Galatians 2:20; Acts 17:28; Colossians 1:27 — Appearances: 8. Full Registry entry.