Catholic Dictionary
Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
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PRESENCE
To be near someone or something, either actually or effectively or spiritually. Actually presence means that the object is really and substantially there; effective presence means that its influence is being exercised, although the cause of the influence may be actually somewhere else; spiritual presence is the interior response to a person who may be physically absent but is affecting the mind and will of the one to whom he or she is said to be present. (Etym. Latin prae, before + ens, being: praesens, being at, taking part in what goes on.)
