Prayed

One sinful man would break the Church, but it has survived a billion sinful men over twenty centuries because the Church is never about one man – it is ALWAYS about ONE GOD.

Jesus Praying (Tina Lecour)

I have spent so much of my life feeling lonely.

I often speak of it.  I do not believe that this is something that someone else should be blamed for.  I come – after all – from a loving family.  I have a husband and children.  I have friends and colleagues and acquaintances.  And – thank God – all the people around me fill me with joy.

And yet – even despite these blessings I have still experienced loneliness…

I see this as a sign of God’s power within me.  You see, Saint Augustine said, “My heart is restless until it rests in You.”

And when I think about it, perhaps the loneliness that I experience is just a sign that I am not entirely possessed by God?  Perhaps it is a sign of the loss of my God from my soul – not because He leaves me, but because I leave Him?

Christ said…  “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me... Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am.” (John 17:20-26).What confidence I can have in knowing that God prays for me.  What confidence I can have in knowing that God the Son spends time talking about and reflecting on little old me.  He thinks about my miserable soul – He who is King of the Universe…

And there is such a blessing in God and His Church.  Sure, the Church has many problems – it is full of human beings after all.  We can all sit around and complain about this priest or that bishop.   Priests and bishops too can be sinful men.  But there is MORE to the Church than the sinners of which it is comprised.  After all, even the very first priests and bishops – those who actually knew Christ personally and lived with Him, made mistakes.  Saint Simon Peter betrayed Christ and ran away from Him.  Judas Iscariot accepted bribes in exchange for Christ’s own life and then committed the greatest sin – the sin of despair and failed to ask God to forgive his sin.

And yet – as a whole, containing the HOLY SPIRIT – the Church is strong.  And just as it is easy to snap a single twig and almost impossible to  snap a whole bundle of twigs, it is the same with the Church.

One sinful man would break the Church, but it has survived a billion sinful men over twenty centuries because the Church is never about one man – it is ALWAYS about ONE GOD.

And THAT is the great miracle of our faith…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.