‘Don’t grow weary of me’ . . . . I go away and come back to you. And when I go away, you remain close to me. Don’t be like the people who, in a season of dryness, flee from me and abandon Me. They don’t know their Savior. It is because I love you that I hide Myself. Must I not test and try My dear flock? Even if everything is dark in your hearts, if My voice seems to be vanished forever, think: ‘He loves me and He gave Himself for me” (He and I: December 19th 1940)
All relationships are tested by life’s circumstances, both in our everyday life, as well as our inner condition. In times of stress, we are tested in how we treat those around us. For patience is acquired when only impatience is felt; yet we remain focused and calm. Our love of others is tested when we are tempted to make those we love objects to be used for our own comfort and pleasure, yet we do not, for we know that love does not do that. In these free choices that go against the goad, we die to self and allow room for grace to heal and act in our lives.
So with our relationships with Our Lord Jesus Christ, when life happens to us, when stress comes, or loss, or darkness or in doubt, we are called to not run away, but to still love and trust in the Lord. In that we are tested, in our choices we learn of the depth of our love or lack of. In humility we slowly learn to trust the Lord no matter what happens to us on our pilgrimage through life. For Christ Jesus goes before us, lives in us, and the deeper we love the more intensely He can incarnate in our hearts, minds and bodies.
(A quote and meditation from the book He and I)
