En Communio

Have you ever watched a couple who are legitimately in love? They can silently exchange glances, communicating one thing or another. They seek to anticipate the needs of the other in order to help them. They gladly make sacrifices of their own will to see the other become over joyed.

Should this not be how our relationship with God the Son should be? Didn’t He make the greatest sacrifice to see us at the eternal level of joy? Didn’t He anticipate our need for redemption and mercy? There’s a story I’ve heard a few different versions of…

“Once there was an old man who would come to adoration every week. He would sit in the back pew and just stare at the Blessed Sacrament. No reading. No beads. Just gaze. And when asked what it was that he prayed during that time, he responded, “I’m not praying. I look at Him and He looks at me.”

Obviously this is prayer since prayer is a two way street. Is he not listening? Isn’t the lover and beloved silently exchanging glances? What great love the Holy Spirit must be doing in such a person’s heart! 

Recently, on EWTN radio, Johnette Benkovic was talking with an older man who had been away from the Church for over 40 years. He complained that since he’s begun praying he’s not heard God speak and wondered if he was doing it wrong. He’s felt nothing. Johnette’s answer was profound: “Like medical anesthesia, the Lord is doing such deep work in your soul that it would be too painful for you to feel it all at once, but He is there.”

So often we become discouraged in our prayers. Why isn’t God answering them? Why isn’t He giving me the answer in the time frame I want? Why can’t I feel Him? Love isn’t about feelings. Sometimes it’s not about getting what we want when we want, but receiving what it is that we actually need to become the saints God created us to be.

Like the lovers, we are God’s beloved, are we letting Him romance us? Can we listen to Him? Are we able to just spend quality time with Him? Or do we treat Him like a vending machine: put in a prayer, receive desired result?

“He is jealous for me. Love’s like a hurricane and I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, And I realize just how beautiful You are, And how great Your affections are for me. (How He Loves, by David Crowder Band.)”

Pax Tecum.