Longing (for) God

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Meditation for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, year C2

I once heard the testimony of a young man who lost his way in life. He couldn’t find a place for himself – relationships didn’t work out, the school didn’t help, his parents didn’t support him. He went abroad. He worked a lot and worked hard. Suddenly he realized that he wasn’t working to live, but he was alive to work. He began to ask questions about the meaning of his life. He searched for answers. Most likely, his family home, childhood religious education, and the first sacraments told him that God could be the solution to his problems. Theoretically, he had heard of him, but he never went beyond religious practice, he did not establish an interpersonal relationship. In the British Isles, where he was at the time, he began to ask people about God. It was natural that he began to ask these questions to the clergy. He heard from at least a few of them that he must open himself to God’s grace. “You have to open up!” – he heard. “Open yourself!” He kept telling himself.

He had this grace at last and was converted. At that time, he had so much energy that he could work practically without sleep, and he was emanating extraordinary joy. The construction colleagues were convinced that he was taking some drugs. He fulfilled the contract with the employer as soon as possible and returned to Poland. He set up his own business fairly quickly. He met his wife. Today he is a happy husband and father, and above all a friend of Jesus, about whom he tells others with undying joy and enthusiasm.

Fascinated by this story, I asked him how he implemented these “good advice” about the need to “open up”. I was expecting some kind of spiritual acrobatics. I heard, “First I went to church and started praying; I confessed. ” That’s all? “Later, I prayed even more.” But how? What was this prayer about? “If I could, I went to church. If not, I have knelt at home. ”

***

Some time ago, during a meeting devoted to the upcoming Jubilee of Mercy and preparing for WYD, which will be held under the slogan “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy”, I asked Bishop Grzegorz Rysio for his personal experience of meeting the merciful God, for the moment of throwing himself into the merciful arms of the Father (Pope Francis wants us to feel this way when we cross the Gate of Mercy in the Holy Year).

The Krakow Auxiliary Bishop told about two such experiences. He was the first to survive as a high school student during confession. He was terrified of his sins. He confessed them with difficulty. Then, before absolution, he heard from his confessor: “Child, you are not far from the kingdom of heaven.” The second time was about the cleric Grzegorz Rys, who for a year and a half delayed putting coffee on the bench of his actual situation in front of his confessor. When he did so, he also apologized for being so late. “Child, I knew that from the very beginning,” he heard in the confessional.

Two close experiences of God – both in the confessional.

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I have the impression that I often look for some extraordinary ways, because I think that “Our Father” or the rosary is not enough. But it doesn’t take much to open up to God. He sees the desires of the heart and it is enough to let Him act. It is enough to give him a chance and kneel to pray, kneel by the bars of the confessional.

St. In the Letter to the Philippians (cf. Phil 1: 4 – 6.8 – 11), Paul writes: “God bears witness to me how much I long for you all [made alive by] the love of Christ Jesus”. If I believe that the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God addressed to me today, it means that these words are spoken to me by Jesus: “The Father will witness to me how much I long for you, quickened by His love.” God misses me. Do I miss him?