The Lord Has Hid Himself?! (For the
Beginner)
By: Eric Gajewski
In times of trial, affliction and
tribulation we call to mind that God always has a plan. He will sometime bring consolation and other
times He will give you the gift of “hiding Himself” in your soul. How can you imply this is a good thing will be asked
by the beginner (in the interior way)? Why
would Our Lord hide Himself from me when I seemingly need Him most. Allow me to answer briefly.
Second, we must understand the Lord is truly there
always even though it does not “feel” that way.
Like Christ, we too, must suffer but only we ought/must suffer in Christ and
not alone. For souls in a state of grace He is truly there and present. Souls going thru the early stages of the
interior way in purification often fail to understand this. The eyes of the heart must get acquainted with
the Light! Much like a child who has been in the dark sleeping all night, we too, must wake,
to Our Mother opening the blinds in the morning! Yea, it is painful and of course at first we shall squint. This Perfect Light is painful to the soul at
first so Our Lord moves with our hearts and souls in stages not all at once. Therefore, He seemingly
comes and goes (in reality He is there always in a state of grace). It is a
heart’s battle to move away from the dark of self into the Selfless Heart of Christ. Question: Do two hearts "marry" after only a short time dating? Answer: Of course they do not. Although a lover may find the Beloved to be his/her End (at first) there is a trying period in the purification and illuminative stages. There are vast battles of the heart to win. There are temptations to overcome. You must prove your love for God! Do not think it will be easy for in reality it will be the hardest thing you would ever hope to accomplish (arriving at the spiritual marriage). We can only arrive at the spiritual marriage thru Gods grace.
Lastly, it is that we might
appreciate Him all the more. How often
do we drudge along in life paying no attention to those “little blessings” we
receive? Now, think more deeply. How
often do we take Christ Himself for granted!
He is the Author of all "things" and those “little blessings” which we often do
not even acknowledge daily. Our goal is to love and He loved and thus we must become
Love (Christ) to do so. We must adjoin our hearts
into this mystery of His Heart which will often “play games” as a child with
His lover. Seek and ye shall find and what if the Lord were always seemingly
there within (in the early stages)? Would we not grow tepid and lax and fall once again into “taking
Him for granted” in these early stages of the interior way? Love Christ for Himself
and not the gift for in Heaven this is how simple it is. To behold the Beloved forever….to simply be
in His Presence is ALL. In the end do not fear not obtaining consolation or losing it have a healthy FEAR of losing Christ Himself altogether, amen
