“Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.”

Psalm 27:14

So many things come to us so readily through the senses. Taste and smell. I love eating pizza, burgers and vegetables (okay, I am lying about the vegetables) and I can experience their taste and smell within minutes from now if I so choose. Sight. All I have to do is go outside and I can see the beauty of nature. It is right before me, ready to been seen. Touch. I know at church today I will receive the loving embrace of parishioners hugs. Sound. I will hear their voices telling me I am God’s “Beloved.” I will experience all of these this within the next few hours.

Every day we can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel so much but sometimes God does not seem so readily available. Even more so, God might seem distant or absent. Where is God when we do not feel, see or hear him? Many saints who have walked this path before us have had this experience. At some point in their lives they personally experience the living God and then some time after that and even the rest of their lives they feel a total lack of connection to God whom they touched, saw and heard.

I wonder what was really going through Jesus’ mind in his last years on earth and giving his life for us on the cross. Did he hear God when the threats, insults and hatred were hurled upon him? Did he see God as all sin and evil attacked him with the plan to extinguish him once and for all? Did he feel God in the beatings, carrying the cross and unimaginably painful crucifixion? We know in the garden of his suffering Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus teaches us about faith when we do not feel God is there. Faith is not based on feelings. It is based on the truth or reliability of God’s love to bring us to the fullness of life. It is believing in an unseen God when you cannot touch, taste, see or hear him. In throwing his life into the Father’s hands, Jesus trusted in the reliability of God’s love to bring him through it all.

What should we do when we have no sense of God’s presence? Remember, we are not the only ones who have loved God who have gone through this same struggle. And it’s ok to shout out, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” But keep practicing the faith even though you do not sense a return. Faith is based on the fact of the reliability of God’s love working to bring us to heaven. Also, in the midst of the struggles, remember the joy of your salvation. Go back to the times that you personally experienced his love and knew that God was the most real and loving and beautiful person you have ever met. Let what you know to be most true bolster you through the time that you just do not know where God is.

God’s will!
+Fr. John