RECOVERING PATHS
It’s very easy to get stuck in life ‘without paths’ to God. You don’t have to be an atheist. It’s not necessary to reject God consciously. It’s enough to follow the general tendency of our times and stick with religious indifference. Little by little God disappears from the horizon. God interests us less as we go on. Is it possible to recover paths to God?
Maybe the first step is to recover «religious humanity». Abandon ambiguous paths that lead to a God who is biased and dominating, who’s only jealous of glory and power, and thereby open ourselves to a God who seeks and desires, now and forever, what’s best for us. God isn’t a Supreme Being who squashes and humiliates, but the Holy Love that attracts and gives life. The people of today will return to God, not pushed by fear, but drawn by God’s love.
At the same time, it’s necessary to broaden the horizon of our life. We’re filling our existence with things, and we’re ending up empty within. We go about informed about everything, but we no longer know where to direct our life. We believe ourselves to be the most intelligent and progressive generation in history, but we don’t know how to enter into our heart to adore and give thanks. We’ll draw near to God when we return to seek a new space for existing.
In addition, it’s important to look for a «solid base» for our life. In what can we be supported in the midst of so much uncertainty and bewilderment? Life is like a house: you need to take care of the exterior and the roof, but what’s important is building on a stable foundation. In the end we always need to place our final trust in something or someone. Could it be that we need God?
In order to recover paths to God, we need to be quiet. We arrive at the most intimate part of our existence not by being agitated and full of fear, but when we have silence. If someone goes within and remains silent before God, sooner or later their heart begins to be opened.
You can go about closed up in yourself without paths toward anything new and creative. But you can also seek new paths toward God. That’s what the Baptist is inviting us to do.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
