It's not just me

Meeting Point at Suvarnabhumi Airport

I hear many others say what I am thinking, that time is just flying.  Here we are well into Christian Lent, a time to "stop, look and listen", to take account of life and see where we are going in it.  A danger is that we can just live, going on automatic pilot, thus being knocked around by world events, existing philosophies of life, and our own series of successes and failures.  Going where?      

Lent is a good time to go into the desert, not literally, for we can go into our desert, where we are.  Go there, pray and be nourished.  In doing this, what happens?   Surprisingly, our struggles in life are heightened and we will fail yet again, while just trying to do good.  The trap is that we may have been doing it for me; doing it alone, when we are not, even in the desert.    

Going to the desert reminds us that our basic instinct to love is ever under attack, is ever faced with the struggle to avoid that tempting path of selfishness and greedy power.  I was so poignantly reminded of this on reading two news articles last week.  One was looking at the declining birth rate in Japan, which is being led by selfish attitudes, based on profit and self-interest, held by all parties. I then read a shocking article from Belgium where a woman, who had murdered her four children, was assisted by the government to die, on the basis of her psychological discomfort.  Evil does exist in our world and it is much more than personal.  It is systemic.  

We do not stand alone in our temptations and failings.  Neither are we alone in our going to the desert, to face our realities and be strengthened and nourished by God; in our striving to face evil and to be and do good.  I must remember this as I keep falling and getting up.  Yes, it is tiring, but it is not just about me nor because of me.  If my human striving for perfection within an imperfect world, is pursued alone, I will surely fail.  I am part of us.  We are part of the divine Mystery.  Ever pursuing life and dignity is about us with our God, who is intimately entangled in the realities of life, a God who is so much more than we can ever imagine.  

The desert shows us that the way to live in our imperfect world is, through embracing and facing its imperfections, with God, who is intimately in love with us, in the midst of all that is.  Mystery and the desert go together.  I never go alone.  It is never just about me.    

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