The exhausting uncertainty

Author: Padre Alejandro Cortés González-Báez  

 

 

Some time ago, a comment made to me by a little 8-year-old girl powerfully struck my attention when she told me: “I have been through some hard times.”

It’s clear that a little girl of that age could have suffered much, and sadly enough, there are not few cases of children who don’t know the joys and happiness of a family living harmoniously in love, but the exact opposite.

For some reason a very popular prayer refers to our lives as a journey through this valley of tears. Physical and moral pain are present in the life of everybody and, although at different levels, it is fundamental to learn to handle them so they won’t enslave us.

It’s curious that the only realities of which we can be sure cause us fear. We know that we will die, and that each day we get older with all its consequences, limitations and ailments, but we don’t like to think about it. We prefer to hide our head, close our eyes to what may hurt us, especially in a time like ours when the publicity invites us to live in search of comfort, health and beauty. Today, like never before, having a well-defined abdomen has become the goal of many.


Octavio Paz wrote:

I am man; I last but a short while.

And the night is enormous.

But I look upwards:

The stars write me.

Without understanding I comprehend:

I am also a written piece.

And at this precise moment

Someone is spelling me.


Who is that “Someone” of whom the multifaceted poet writes? Is it the self-perfection of the blind matter? Such affirmation results highly unscientific. It simply does not convince me. There must be a marvelous mind that has given order to everything that surrounds me and to myself, and this idea is a light that allows me to know that we are not alone in the world. And that my life, despite the pain, is projected into a supernatural dimension in which He who creates me awaits. It is then that I can discover the why to the inevitable pain, and with my limitations, my eagerness for happiness surpasses all that is temporary and projects me to the infinite.

We all have the experience of knowing how exhausting uncertainty is. Faced by all that is unfamiliar to me and scares me, I can find the calm knowing that I am loved by a God who is my Father. Someone said that man is never as tall as when he is kneeling before Him.

To confess faith in God may be uncomfortable in some situations, but only those who dare to do it can experience the peace that comes from coherence and loyalty.

“Faith. It is a shame to see the abundant way in which they have it in their mouths many Christians, and the little abundance with which they put it into action. It seems that it is a virtue to preach it, and not to practice it.” (San Josemaría Escrivá. The Way 579).