Lonely? Of Course.

“It is not good for man to be alone.” These remarkable words are spoken by God in the Book of Genesis as he seeks for a way to brighten things for a sad and lonely Adam. So God creates Eve, and she and Adam became “partners”.

Problem solved? For a while. But then it happened. In a way we’ll never know fully here on earth, our first parents chose to walk away from God who created them. And that’s when the sadness and loneliness of life settled in.

God comes calling for Adam and Eve; but they hide from him. The man and woman can no longer look at each other as they are so they cover themselves with leaves. Loneliness is born. Oh dear.

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God made us “to be with” other humans. It makes us a “family” not a herd. We share a common planet and a future destiny. But we’re torn. We want to connect, but there’s no one who we can trust to know us completely.

Do you begin to see the peaceful co-existence of the world’s peoples can only come when God is universally acknowledged as our creator and savior? Without the assurance of the love of God upholding creation and calling humanity to himself, we’re left with a profound mistrust of one another.

Not even friend, lover, husband or wife will put to rest our craving for unity and completion in this broken world. God is the only “other” that can complete us and his plan for all creation.

And so . . . . we’re lonely. No one knows us as we truly are. We’re even a mystery to ourselves. We so want someone to have “all of us” but there’s no one around who knows our origins and who has the eyes to see us as we are.

So what do we do? Here’s where people can get lost. Some people will medicate their loneliness (food, alcohol, pills, etc.). Some will try to fill it with people and constant activity. Some go shopping! Why not travel?

Spiritual writers urge us to accept our loneliness. It’s part of life. It goes along with all the other moments humans experience. “There is a season and a time for every purpose. A time to be born, a time to die, a time to laugh, a time to weep . . . ” Ecclesiastes.

In fact loneliness can add an unexpected blessing in our lives. It can force us to know ourselves, to truly embrace who we are (the good and the bad, the happy and sad). We stop running away from ourselves. Being alone is not so bad.

Best of all, loneliness can invite you to reach out to God in prayer. To confide in God what you’d speak to no other . . . . knowing that he hears and understands all of you.

Do you know who the loneliest guy in the world is? It has to be Jesus. Who on earth could possibly understand who he was? Who could ever know the weight his mission placed on his shoulders? What must have been his loneli- ness in the garden that terrible night?

But he was never alone for he knew his Father. (How of- ten the scripture refers to Jesus spending the night alone in prayer to his Father “who sees in secret”.)

Lonely? Of course. Embrace it. Make friends with it (“Sister Loneliness”, St. Francis might say). You’ll be surprised how it will make you a better person; it can make you aware of the loneliness of others. It’s called compassion.

Last thought. There’s no loneliness in heaven. God will permeate every speck of our being. “For now we see as through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known.” 1 Cor. 13:12.

God sees you . . . and loves you. Fr. Tim