It is when we feel rejected of forlorn that God;s Spirit is closest to us

It is when we feel rejected or forlorn that God’s Spirit is closest to us.  

Case in point:  Jesus on the Cross and calling out to his Father;  “Eloi, Eloi, lema Sabachthani?  Which translated , “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Go to Psalm 22:   “My God I call by day, but you do not answer; by night, but I have no relief.  Yet, you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the glory of Israel.  In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted and you rescued them.  To you they cried out and they escaped; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.”  “Do not stay far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no one to help.  They stare at me and gloat; they divide my garments among them; for my clothing they cast lots.”(Ps 22; 3 - 6, 12, 18 - 19).  A partial segment of what Jesus was alluding to.  The words of one who feels empty and deserted and cries out to his God, knowing his Lord has not forgotten his suffering.  This cry is not one of total loss but a confirmation that in spite of our lowest feeling of being forgotten we will find the compassion of God in the end.

Does this sound like someone who has given up on his eternal security?  No!  Jesus was relating to the Israelites who trusted in their God to see them through the most disasters with diligence and secure promises of being there for them.  His cries became like those of the 22nd Psalm where even though the outward attacks of their enemies, the knowledge of a compassionate Father was right there to lift them up.

The term “passions” belongs to the Christam patrimony.  Feelings or passions are emotions or movements of the sensitive appetite that incline us to act or not to act in regard to something felt or imagined to be good or evil.  (CCC 1763).  

There are many passions.  The most fundamental passion is love, aroused by the attraction of the good.  Love causes a desire for the absent good and the hope of obtaining it; this movement finds completion in the pleasure and joy of the good possessed.  The apprehension of evil causes hatred, aversion, and fear of the impending evil; this movement ends in sadness at some present evil, or in the anger that resists it.  (CCC 1765).

Of course, any one of us may find a moment where  a seemingly tragedy has confronted us and at that instance we may not know how to get beyond the crisis or accept it and all of the ramifications that go along with it.  “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed.  Many are the troubles of the just, but the Lord delivers from them all.  (Ps 34: 19 - 20).

Whether it was Jesus on the cross and calling out to his Father like the Israelites did in Psalm 22, so it is with us to not let the crisis of the moment become a lack of trust in our God.  Reach down deeply and ask the Holy Spirit who already is aware of our calamity and waits for our words of help.  In order that we do not succumb to the problem, wait on the Lord and he will see us through.  

Ralph B.Hathaway