A "God loves you" day

It's been one of those weeks...

That about says it. Struggles I see other people going through...struggles all around. Major struggle bus. I think it's about time to have a "God is still here and still loves you" day.

What would such a day hold? Good music. Good reading. Returning to beautiful notes from friends, prayers, pictures.

Sometimes faith seems to swing from one extreme to another. A popular extreme these days is "Love is a decision, not a feeling." Of course it is. But we can't keep denying that love necessarily involves feeling...as I love reminding people, and as I need to be so often reminded myself, we are body and soul. A previous class on the philosophy of love was the perfect reminder for me that the Church recognizes this. Love is not only feeling, but it does involve feeling, and we shouldn't keep sweeping it under a rug or diminishing that. Instead we should explore it, what is involved, what is the meaning. I think this ties in with another popular thought in Catholic circles that Mass is not what you get out of it, but what you put into it. Again, not denying any truth. But if someone is really for long periods of time not discovering true love and peace within prayer, then it's a good time to discuss that with a spiritual director. Maybe a change in prayer focus. Maybe prayer a different time of day. But prayer should necessarily be affecting us bodily, physically, and mentally. It is not an isolated soul experience.

My prayer has been wacky lately, and sometimes it's hard to kickstart because you start to convince yourself that you don't deserve a prayer life, you don't deserve to feel things you once felt in prayer because you haven't been trying hard enough at prayer itself, so what's the use? Of course the feeling is not that which we should be primarily seeking, but it's undeniable that it should be part of the experience. Even those in the dark night of the soul who are advanced in prayer are experiencing a physical type of peace and loss and ache for Christ...it would be wrong to say that the dark night is a non-experiencing of God. It should not be something to scare us. Instead, it should awaken a deep desire in us to delve still further.

So I will seek God and His love and protection...not because I expect to feel nothing, not because I expect to feel consolation, but because He is my Father and I love Him, and I accept whatever will accompany my prayer. I will pray with Mary because she is the perfect model of this being affected by prayer; she pondered and truly felt the prayer and accompanying aches and joys.

God loves you...are you willing to feel it?