The Book of Longing

I tried to love you my way, but I couldn't make it hold. So I closed the Book of Longing, and I do what I am told.--Leonard Cohen, from the song--"That don't make it Junk"

 

Why is so hard for us to love God? He knows it is hard for us to love Him. This is why He gives us ritual. When the feelings go, and they always do, we still have the ritual to keep us moving. Why do we think He gave us the Church? He gave us the Church so we will always have a foundation to keep standing on when our emotion of devotion wavers. In a way, the Church is like a wedding ring we wear. No matter what we go through, the ring reminds us of who we are. We know the Mass, we know the prayers, we know the sacraments. These things are not about feelings or emotion, they are how we stay with our God even when our God seems hidden and we feel abandoned to the devil himself. These gifts from God are vehicles of grace that give us faith to trust. I find the greatest attacks on my faith come when I am sitting in Mass. My mind becomes a search light, looking for anything to distract me from where I am and what I am doing. But even as I go through the motions, with no longing for God at all, there is a silver hope that I will one day be walking with Him in grace again. We must never stop going, especially when the feelings and the longing for God are gone.

 

wkm