Sociological studies say that the religious crisis is sliding in Europe towards an increasing “indifference.” A quiet indifference, detached from any consideration of God. However, more and more people, moved by a certain “nostalgia for God,” feel the need to seek “something different,” a new way of believing in him. How to seek God?
Undoubtedly, everyone must start from their own experience. One must not copy others. Nothing forced or artificial should be done. Each person knows their own desires and miseries, their voids and their fears. Each one knows their “need” for God. Their voice never falls silent. It does not shout with the lips, but whispers to the heart.
That is precisely why it is not enough to seek God externally: in books, discussions, or debate. One thing is “discussing religion,” and quite another is seeking God with a sincere heart. One realizes for oneself when one is running away from God and when one is truly seeking him. Saint Augustine said this: “Do not scatter yourself. Concentrate on your intimacy. The truth resides in the inner man.”
Seeking God requires effort, but encountering him is never the result of fanatical voluntarism or rigid asceticism. God is a gift, and the important thing is to welcome it with “simplicity of soul.” Let us remember the reflection of the old prioress in Georges Bernanos’s Dialogue of Carmelites: “Once we have left childhood, one must suffer greatly to return to it, just as after a long night the dawn reappears. Have I become a child again?”
It is not the most accurate thing to seek God relying only on one’s own intuitions. There are many ways to deceive oneself or to spin around about oneself, about our feelings and ideas. That is why it is better to share and contrast one’s own experience with someone who can guide us from their lived experience of God. This mutual sharing can be the best stimulus for continuing to seek him.
In his parable of the “treasure hidden in the field,” Jesus speaks of the man who, “full of joy,” sells everything he has to acquire the treasure. Seeking God does not produce sadness or bitterness; on the contrary, it generates joy and peace, because the person begins to discover where true happiness lies. Let us remember Saint Augustine: “Only that which makes man good can make him happy.”
Published in: https://www.gruposdejesus.com