Longing for God... True Longing...
Thursday, 15th week in Ordinary Time
Is 26: 7-9, 12, 16-19; Mt 11: 28-30
Longing for God is a wonderful and never ending theme in the spiritual realm. Today the Word presents to us again the theme calling our attention to the right understanding of an authentic longing for God.
Everyone longs for God in some way or the other. At times,I feel even the so-called atheists are those who are longing for a more personal and concrete experience of God to arrive at that point of surrender.
At times this longing is exaggerated to extents where encountering God becomes purely human venture and we take too much of a credit for the experiences that come our way. There is monopoly and domination here which leads to a great celebration of the experience but leaving alone the true nature of that erstwhile longing.
True longing is remaining open to the experience of God, staying patient and enduring every moment and when that experience happens, understanding that it is a pure gift from God. This understanding arises from two great spiritual virtues: Faith, that God is longing to be closer to me too. And the second, Humility, that allows me to relate with everyone in the same gracious manner that God has dealt with me!