By Father Jacob Dankasa
Special to The Texas Catholic
As people of faith, we are all on a journey toward God. The reason we go to church or call ourselves Christians is our desire to be with God when our earthly journey is over. Our faith teaches us that there is life after death and that we shall live in eternity with God if we keep His commandments and remain in His ways. Our love for God draws us toward Him and fuels our desire to be with Him. Although our human imperfections make it difficult to remain faithful to God’s ways all the time, God’s mercies sustain our hope and give us reason to keep trying to stay in God’s paths regardless of our shortcomings.
Sometimes spiritual desolation pulls people away from the faith. Spiritual desolation can lead to a lack of fulfillment, often due to a feeling of dryness or confusion about the purpose of life. When a person begins to lose the sense of the active role of God in his life, a certain spiritual dryness sets in and brings desolation. St. Ignatius characterizes spiritual desolation as a time when a person begins to withdraw from God’s active presence in his life.
There are times when we feel some sense of desolation or lack of fulfillment in our faith lives. This is a time of spiritual dryness. Many people have either left the Church or abandoned God totally because of spiritual desolation. It’s hard to know or understand completely the struggles that some people go through in their search for spiritual or religious identity. Different people have different unique stories, and in the process of searching for meaning, some end up with the feeling that God is absent in their struggles. But I promise you that God is still not far from you. I want to encourage those who are battling with their faith — whether to remain or not, whether to keep believing or not — that your best solution is not to stay away from the faith but to dig even deeper into it. We understand the mystery of God even more when we open to Him more and trust Him, especially at those moments when it’s difficult to do so. And don’t forget the power of the sacraments you have received.
The sacraments we receive through the Church help us on our faith journey and bestow graces that sustain us. We’re enriched by the grace of the sacraments which help us grow and mature in our faith. For us to find fulfillment and meaning in the faith, we must strive to keep the commitments that the grace of the sacraments bestows on us. As recipients of the Church’s sacraments, our commitments include remaining faithful to our baptismal promises in which we rejected Satan and all his empty promises. It also includes remaining an active participant in the activities of our faith and remaining active and helpful to our local churches. We grow stronger in faith when we identify ourselves with our faith community, support each other, and become an active hand in parish life and activities. Can you imagine a local church or parish where all sacramental members remain aloof, passive, and unengaged in the life and activities of the local church? The Church needs us in order to continue God’s mission on Earth, and each of us must find a way to be part of this mission. Active and engaged participation in faith communities can help keep our spiritual lives from becoming dry.
Those of us who have received the sacraments of the Church must be aware that the graces we receive in the sacraments do not expire and we should continue to walk in the Lord and desire to know Him more. When you feel down or have a sense of desolation in your faith journey, don’t stay away. Don’t quit. Rather, remain steadfast and keep seeking God’s grace. By staying close to the Church and her sacraments, you will find God in your situation.
Father Jacob Dankasa is the pastor of Holy Family of Nazareth Catholic Church in Irving.
