Hang on a bit longer...

Sometimes, all we can do is hang on a bit longer.--Anonymous

 

There will be times in this journey of union with Jesus when we will feel lost. We will see only darkness, and the silence will seem unbearable.  The hope we have will seem a bitter joke, and God will seem mean and impossible. St. John of the Cross called this the "Dark Night of the Soul". He said it was a time when God is drawing closer to us than He has ever been, and the darkness is His shadow cast over our finite understanding of His love. Jesus must have meant this when He told the disciples that ,"In this life you will have trouble.." He went on to say, "But take heart, for I have overcome the world." We must ask ourselves how He overcame the world and its trouble. The answer, His Passion, death, and resurrection. Our hope is that one day we will rise with Him. St. Paul says that we are already seated with Him in the heavenly places, and to set our mind on things above. This is where our hearts and minds must go when we feel so alone and hopeless. This is very hard to do. Mother Teresa would smile at Jesus when she felt the darkness growing deeper. Her response to this Shadow of God was a smile. I find this simply breathtaking. Whether we feel like it or not, we must hang on a bit longer. As St. Therese of Lisieux tries to remind me daily, "Everything is grace."

He is risen.

 

wkm