No One is Alone

 AMDG

Sometimes people leave you
halfway through the wood

I, a disciple of Christ, a man in love with my Lord and Creator, caught up in passion for creation and service, and uncertain about sharing the journey with others. To you, my friends, my fellow adventurers, who have met me on the way.

I’ve lost a few people over the last six months. A young friend mysteriously and worryingly ghosted our whole friend group. He had been busy with work and school but his silence was unprecedented and continues to be a source of concern for us. One of my best friends pulled away and then also ghosted me. He’s older, so in some ways I am less worried for him, but the sense of loss and confusion were much greater. An older relative of mine passed away after a long illness. I had seen her only sparingly over the last several years, and she had a steady and reassuring faith, so I have been able to approach her death with peace and hope.

One of my favorite musicals is Into the Woods. I experienced it as a teenager, and it continued to help me process the complexities of my life and the world around me for years. It still does. One of the most beautiful songs, from which I’ve quoted, is shared between different characters who have lost loved ones. “Sometimes people leave you halfway through the woods.” How true. In fact, if our journey through life begins at conception and ends at death, we can reasonably expect that none of our companions will make it with us the whole way. Rather than hold on, the Ignatian principle of indifference recommends letting them go.

We are free moment to moment to embrace a relationship that brings us closer to God, and also to let it go when it fails this purpose, or when holding on interferes with God’s designs. St. Ignatius famously exemplified this detachment when he let his best friend, St. Francis Xavier, go on mission across the world. The two would never see each other again, although they continued to love and write to one another. Yet St. Ignatius understood that it was for the greater glory of God that St. Ignatius go. I try to pray and discern when those who have been travelling with me seem to be drifting away. Is God telling me to pursue or to be still? To wait or to move on? Hearing this song from Into the Woods helps me to accept that people come and go from each other’s lives, and to let go.

This Divine Mercy Sunday, I am thinking of God’s mercy in being with us. No one is an orphan: God made Adam and Eve and then walked with them in the garden. Our Lord abides with us, within us, and all around us. God accompanies us personally but also through the people with whom we cross paths and share the journey.

Grounded in the permanence of God’s presence, I can love without possessing and let go without regret. I can love joyfully and I can let go joyfully. And who knows who I will fall in with around the next bend.

Someone is on your side
No one is alone

 

Pray for me, please, to have close friends who live close by by Lent of next year. This is something I have begun praying for. I pray for you!

Peace,

Your Other Brother

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