When no one else is left for me, will I find God in this loneliness?

A question that very few ask until they open their eyes and wonder why there appears an emptiness with no voices or images that once were near me. There is within each of us an unknown need to be wanted but very few recognize this void while crowds of people are all around us.

We have to admire the many persons that have endured years of isolation, especially ministers, bishops, and even heroes of the bible like Moses who spent 40 days away from interaction with others enabling him to find God. (Ex 34: 28). Somehow an absence of the closeness of other humans must have a deep allowance of feeling the presence of God that otherwise could never have occurred.

Go one step further and see how Jesus spent 40 days and nights alone in the wilderness, preparing him for the untold agony he would meet as the end crucified his life. (Mt 4: 1 - 11). This same encounter of human absence from even one other person has a special place in preparing anyone to understand how God can circumvent the needs we must have to place ourselves in the thoughts of Almighty God. Try and sit for a half hour during an Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament with no sounds, an absence of preaching, and a moment of just being in his presence. This is a contemplative moment that very few can endure since we are all used to talking, sharing thoughts of the day, and contemplating the next few moments of our busy lives.

God knew this when he created us and also knew to get our attention he would allow moments that could become days or years to get our attention. It isn’t like attending a class of higher education to become an astute student with all that is needed to accomplish unknown projects for humanity.

So it must happen that what God is calling each of us to be prepared for a special task he must create a period of loneliness that will not fit most people, whether in ministry or secular activities, and only a few will acknowledge this time of complete absence of noise that can subdue our busy life.

Perhaps the best description of great symphonies, masterpieces of written texts, or even the best laid plans of an accomplished relevance come to fruition after time spent with God, in isolation away from the noise of life’s distractions. Reading about many writers or the giants in the world’s entrepreneurs have received a word from the Holy Spirit late at night, awakened with the thought that they didn’t know they would need to reach an astounding conclusion for their task ahead. Even here, the lonely period that sleep can produce that prompts us can become an interlude that creates one word of thought that God uses to open the world to his desire of granting his kingdom a place for everyone to connect with.

One caution we must watch for is Satan will always be aware of the weakness humans have and that is when he will present the needs of humanity before us trying to block the desires of God. Here is where our faith must surpass these temptations and allow the grace of God to call upon St. Michael the Archangel to bring peace upon us to overcome the attacks of the devil. Moses in the desert was tempted to quit, but with the grace of God and angelic presence he moved on towards his assigned mission. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to pre[are him for his Incarnate mission, while the devil immediately was there to tempt the Son of God to forget his assigned mission to be the Savior of mankind.

None of us can change the mission we are called to without the devil’s interference. Here is where our faith must become the treasured entity that will allow God’s grace to be with us as we find the emptiness that Moses and Jesus welcomed in order to allow the time alone with God to prepare us for another moment of holiness that will come with the Holy Spirit’s message of eternal happiness. Time away from distractions becomes a time of eternal grace implanted within each of us when we welcome a loneliness that is God.

Ralph B. Hathaway