Did God abandon you today? Did it feel like God abandoned you? Did you cry out: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Psalm 22:1).

We say that we believe that God is everywhere. Where was God at my work place, at school, in my house today? Was God present to me, to us, today? YES! Look and seek! Think and remember! Sense and know! Breathe and live! God was there! God is here!

Why, at times, do we feel so abandoned, unloved, and forgotten? We have been taught to believe God loves us. In fact, St. Augustine reminds us: “Because you have loved me, O Lord, you have made me lovable, (In Latin: Quia amasti me, O Domine, fecisti me amabilem). God created you out of love. You are lovable. Why, then, do so many feel unworthy? Abandoned? Unlovable? Undeserving of the good? BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE LOVED, AND ASK FOR HELP IN YOUR UNBELIEF! (see Mark 9:24).

How many believers have lost touch with the assurances of Jesus that we are loved? Jesus once said, “This is my commandment, love one another as I love you. There is no greater love than this: to lay down once life for one’s friends. I call you my friends when you do what I command.” (John 15:12-14) Jesus laid down his life for us. He did not just die for us. He lived for us! In living, he was laying down his life. He wanted something greater for us. He promised that He, that God, would be with us until the end of time (Matt. 28:20).

Psalm 22, quoted above, continues as the prayer that it is, (v.20 and vv.31-32): “But you, LORD, (I beg you) do not stay far off; my strength, come quickly to help me… And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.”

Did God really abandon you today? It may have felt like that. And, at what point did you cry out to God to “not stay far off…”? At what point could you have promised that you will one day proclaim the message of how God delivered you? Because whatever happened before, God delivered you. Here you are, at the end of the day, or the beginning of the day, and you did not perish, you did not cease to exist. Sure, you bore insult, complaint, and ridicule. Yes, you felt sadness, anxiety, depression, and hopelessness, but no one could take your dignity. No one could remove your “beloved” nature. Those gifts are from God. No one can take them from you. Never!

As we begin Advent this weekend, may you long to see God’s presence in your life, Emmanuel!

Peace, Fr. Andy