B. Human Situation
• There are situations in moments of our lives that we experience as Christians when we feel that God is so near or so close to us
• On one hand, we feel the closeness of God especially during our greatest moments of need; when there is so much negativity and sadness occurring around
• When we are in a crisis, we pray that it will end; when we have a very difficult problem, we pray that there is a solution; when we are so down and discouraged, we pray that there is hope; when we have a very urgent request, we pray in ardent supplication that the Lord will listen to our plea
• We also feel the closeness of God when we have plenty of blessings to count on, a good paying job, a happy and prosperous family, a beautiful home, good relationships in the community and in the workplace, good career and business opportunities
• In these moments of sadness and joy we feel that God is so near and God is so good
• We may not be able to experience those awesome miracles that the gospel is telling us today
• Well they seldom happen or they may never happen anymore in this modern times
• But still, we feel the goodness of God because life is good more or less and our spiritual or prayer life is also good
• Some people get closer to God in times of need, in times of abundance and in times of prosperity
• But on the other hand, the opposite also happens. Here comes the bad news, sickness in the family, bankruptcy, joblessness, etc.
• And you don’t want to pray anymore or attend Sunday masses because God is not listening to your pleas
• In time of plenty others would praise and glorify God and while others they distance themselves from God in times of trouble
• The reality is that our spiritual life is really like that; we all feel sometimes that God is so near to us and sometimes God is so far from us
• Do you know that during the final moments of St. Francis life he finds it very difficult to pray
• He was almost blind and he was so weakened by the severe mortifications of the body
• He was virtually skin and bones because of so much fasting and penance. He was also very discouraged of what is happening to the friars, to the order, etc. and he wanted to die na
• In his moments of solitude in the cave, he cannot sleep as the rats would bite his finger. He was so despondent and he wanted to die
• But God intervened when an angel appeared to him to comfort him from all his sorrows bringing a violin, at the strike of the violin the music plays so beautifully and he is so full of joy he told the angel to stop
• Why? The angel asks. Francis said: I cannot contain the joy as if my soul separates from my body from the joy of hearing the music. And so, he did not want to die after all!
• Another story also is that of St. Therese of Avila, one of the great mystics of the modern times. She also cries a lot because many times she feels that God abandoned her even though she fulfills everything that is holy and out of sadness she also wanted to die
• But when she will also experience extreme joy in a hypostatic union or the indwelling of the Spirit when God is totally in possession of her she almost cannot bear it also and she feels she would die
• You cannot be always happy as you cannot always be sad. That is the character of a spiritual life. That is the facet of life as sadness and joy is interwoven
• But there is only one thing very sure, in all the moments of our life, God is always there
• And another thing very sure also is that the sadness, the sorrow the all those pains and sufferings; they are also temporary, they will also end in due time