Sensed

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.’” (Matthew 19:26).

God the Father (Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker)

Sometimes, I feel very alone.  Sometimes, especially when things are not going according to plan, I can feel that things are not going to work out and that I shall be lost and left alone and nobody could possibly understand.  This loneliness is not a real thing – only a feeling.  And, what I mean by this is that my feeling of loneliness should not really exist.  You see, I am surrounded by people who love and care about me.  Perhaps there are times – many times in fact – when those same people misunderstand me and that misunderstanding can feel terribly lonely, but the reality is that such a feeling is not grounded in any strong fact – at least in my case…

And I have been thinking about that today, because I recently read a quote by Saint Bonaventure who said, “In everything, whether it is a thing sensed or a thing known, God Himself is hidden within.”

And this has caused me to reflect.  You see, there is so much that God has done for me.  He created the whole of the universe and humankind itself – just so that I could be born.  He had my soul in mind when He created first Adam and later Eve.  He had my soul in mind when “Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’” (Genisis 3:13) after they had sinned the first sin.  He had this in mind when He “became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified, died and was buried” as we recount in the Apostles’ Creed.

This truth is in fact, why it is such a terrible sin to kill an unborn child.  You see, God had their soul in mind at all those times as well.  And their premature death – murder – means that their potential is left unfulfilled.

I have heard it said that abortion is the Evil One’s way of killing God.  You see, nothing can kill God.  So instead, Evil kills God that is inside each soul by killing the human before it is born.  In fact, I have heard it said that this is why the words of the Eucharist are subverted in dialogues about abortion – when Chrost gave His Body in the Eucharist, He said, “this is My Body”, and when advocates of abortion promote it they say, “this is YOUR body”…

And this subversion perpetuate the myth that we are alone in our bodies…

And this leads to all manner of evil.  You see, if there is nobody with us and we are alone, then we can worry and “Worrying appeals to us because it gives us a sense that we are in control of what might happen – that by thinking through what could happen, we could somehow stave off potential harm or damage. There can be advantages to thinking problems through and trying to prepare ourselves for whatever may come, but we can often take it to an extreme, leading to decision making based on fear and anxiety rather than balance and trust.” (Carrie Gress and Noelle Mering, “Theology at Home” at page 71).

And I have been thinking about this today as I reflect on my Beloved, for… Christ said, “‘Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.’” (Matthew 19:23-26).

And I feel Him with me now, I sense Him…  I have sensed it all my life, I think…

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