By Fr. Roy Cimagala
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
WE have no reason to ever feel lonely. That’s because whether we realize it or not, we are never alone. God is always with us. And I am sure, many people, especially our parents and those who love us in some way, keep us in their mind and heart. We should never feel alone.
Being our Creator, God can never be away from us. He is, in fact, at the very core of our being. And to be sure, he is not in us in some indifferent way. He loves us no end, even if we mess up with his will.
And that’s simply because being the Creator, he is not only the giver of our existence but also and more importantly, the maintainer of our existence. We revert to nothing the moment he abandons us.
As Creator, God loves us no end, because love is the only reason why he created us. He gains nothing if we exist or not. He just created us simply because he wants to, and that is precisely what love is all about. It is a completely gratuitous self-giving.
And let’s never forget that in creating us, he created us to be like him, “in his image and likeness,” it is said. (cfr. Gen 1,27) Together with the angels, we are the ones among all his creatures that he freely chose to raise to that tremendous dignity. Can there be a greater evidence of God’s love for us than this?
Even more, while we botched his original plan for us, he continued to love us even more by redeeming us, allowing the Son to become man and to die for us on the cross!
This is the basis of that famous passage from the Book of Isaiah: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” (49,15) And more clearly, Christ said: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Mt 28,20)
It’s important that we never feel alone or lonely, since that condition makes us vulnerable to our weaknesses and to temptations. They eventually lead us to sin. That’s why St. Augustine once said: “Without you (God), all to me is misery.”
Let’s be most careful when for reasons of our need for privacy or rest or moments of prayer, contemplation and recollection when we distance ourselves from others, we might fall into thinking that we are alone and therefore can feel lonely. On the contrary these moments are the best in terms of putting us in communion with God and with others.
We should just train ourselves to be always aware of the others: first, God, and then the others. In fact, it should not just be a matter of awareness, but of being thoughtful, concerned and be truly in love.
Which means that our mind and heart should always be with God and with the others. They should never be circling around ourselves, our interests, our plans and other pursuits. But since we cannot escape from our own selves, let us see to it that everything that we are and have, everything that we think, say or do should always be related to God and to the others. That is the proper trajectory of our whole being.
Thus, we need to make some kind of plan to translate this ideal into a reality in our life. We should have practices that direct all we are to God and to others the whole day, from morning till sleeping time. And in our sleep, if we are consistent in pursuing this ideal during the day, for sure our dreams will also revolve around God and the others.
Hopefully, this ideal of never feeling alone and always thinking of God and the others becomes an instinct in us!
