The Good Life amidst the Great Darkness

by Pope Benedict XVI *

 

This is how one leads a good life: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself"(Lk 10:27)

 

The first requirement, then, is that God be present in our life. The sum of human life does not strike a balance if we omit God; in that case only contradictions remain. It is enough then, to believe somehow theoretically that there is a God; we must regard him as the most important element in our life.

 

He must be everywhere. And our fundamental relationship must be love. That can  often be very difficult.

 

It can happen, for instance, that one individual has many illnesses and encumbrances to bear. Poverty makes life difficult for another. Yet a third loses the persons on whose love his whole life depends. Thus unhappiness can take more forms.

 

And there is great danger that the individual will become embittered and will say: God can certainly not be good; if he were he would not treat me in this way.

 

Such a revolt against God is very understandable; often it seems almost impossible to accept God's will. But one who yields to this rebellion poisons his whole life.

 

The poison of saying No, of being angry with God and with the world, corrodes the individual from within. But what God asks of us I, as it were, an advance of confidence.

 

He says to us: I know, you don't understand me yet. But trust me anyhow, believe that I am good, and dare to live by this trust.

 

There are many instances of saints and great individuals who dared to trust and, in consequence, found for themselves and for others true happiness amid the greatest darkness.

 

George H. Kubeck *Meditation Feb. 18th, (2013) Joseph Cardinal, Co-Workers of the Truth, Medications for Every Day of the Year, Ignatius Press, 1992