We are never alone!

IT’S true. We are never alone. Even in our most solitary

moments, we have no reason to feel alone. That’s simply because God is

always with us, is always intervening in our life, is always pouring

out his love and graces to us.

            And if we make the necessary effort, we will also realize

that not only is God with us, but that with God we also are with

everybody and everything else. We are actually and objectively in a

state of communion with God and with everybody else. With our

intelligence and will, plus God’s grace, we are wired for this. To

feel alone is actually an anomaly and a magnet for all sorts of

temptations and dangers to come and hound us.

            Not even death nor distance can and should separate us

from others, much less, from God. We should be able to echo St. Paul’s

words in this regard with conviction: “Neither death nor life, neither

angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any

powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ

Jesus our Lord…” (Rom 8,38-39)

            Let’s never forget that it is only when we are in the

company of God and of everybody else, regarding them in the way that

our faith teaches us, that we can manage to be on the right path to

our eternal destination. Temptations and sin can come only when we

dare to be and to feel alone.

            This reminder is timely especially for those who travel

alone and find themselves in new, unfamiliar places, and who do not

know the people of the locality. In occasions like this, we should

make it a point to make extra effort to realize that we are never

alone.

            Otherwise, we become easy prey to temptations and falling

into sin would just be a moment or some steps away. Let’s remember

that it is in these occasions that the devil pulls his most devious

tricks.

            He can whisper that since anyway no one knows us here, we

can do anything we like. He can induce us to give in to what our

wounded flesh likes to do. He can easily lead us to act out our

fantasies and our dormant immoral desires.

            We should learn to have a keen sense of the presence of

God and of everybody else. For this, we need some kind of training,

giving time to meditate often on this basic truth of our faith, until

it sinks deep in our consciousness and guides us in our affairs all

throughout the day. Let’s never forget that the Holy Spirit is

continually prompting us.

            That’s because without God and others, we are left only

with our own selves as the substance of our consciousness. And that’s

a very dangerous predicament for the simple reason that we would not

have any stable and objective point of reference. We would just be at

the mercy of our unstable subjective self.

            Everyday, let us examine if our sense of the presence of

God and of others is growing stronger. Let us come up with prompt,

effective resolutions to keep this sense of God’s presence going.

            We may feel awkward at the beginning, but if we insist and

persevere in the effort, this sense would become second nature to us.

In time, we will realize that we can do things we need to do with a

light, happy heart, without any anxiety at all, in spite of the

challenges, trials, difficulties, and the consequences of our mistakes

and those of others.

            In this way, we can already anticipate that perfect

communion promised to us by Christ in heaven.