Never Alone

In a society so preoccupied with individualism, it can be very easy to feel alone, even if we are surrounded by other people. Our faces are glued to our smart phone screens, and our senses are totally cut off from reality. Most of the time we are totally unaware of those around us, so feeling alone has become ‘normal’ for most, but we are never alone.

No, I’m talking about aliens, although the media has been preoccupied with the idea of UFO’s lately. I’m also not referring to demons, although they too surround us waiting for just the right moment to pounce. I’m talking about God’s constant presence. I’m talking about the Holy Spirit.

As we approach the end of another season of the Church known as the Pentecostarion, the period between Pascha and Pentecost, the last ‘word’ we heard from Jesus at Ascension was to wait for the Holy Spirit, Who would come up us in power and guide the Church “into all the truth.” In the Lectionary (remember the Lectionary is the system of Bible Readings each day) this season end with the Sunday of Pentecost, the Feast of the Holy Spirit.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God is everywhere present and filling all things. We will sing the hymn “Heavenly King” on Pentecost to commemorate the promises kept by God. Today’s reading though reminds us that we are never alone, even if we feel alone. Jesus is preparing His Disciples for the time of His Passion, but I want to focus on the end, “Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.”

The Lord said to his disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. “I have said this to you in figures; the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father. In that day you will ask in my name; and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father. I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure! Now we know that you know all things, and need none to question you; by this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, every man to his home, and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace.” – John 16.23-33

Does it bring you peace to know that you are never with God, to know that He is everywhere present and filling all things? Does it bring you peace to know that in the darkest moments of your life, He is sitting not next to you, but in you because you were united to Him in baptism? Here’s the thing. Jesus told us this truth so that it would bring us peace. If knowing that we are never without God does not bring us peace, then we need to do something about it, and that beings with our hearts. We can’t change God but we can and should change ourselves.

That might be the worst part of our current society’s preoccupation with the self. At every turn we are told by society we don’t need to change, that we should ‘be’ who we are on the inside, etc. In society there is never a consideration that maybe, just maybe, what we feel on the inside is wrong and that God wants us to think differently. After all, He did say, “Repent!” which if you are regular reading of this blog, you know means “Change the way you think!” If we are not comforted knowing God is always with us, then our hearts need to change.