“Loneliness”
Painting: Ronald Raab,csc

Tuesday of the First Week of Lent

“I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears…When the poor one called out, the Lord heard, and from all of his distress he saved him…” (Psalm 34)

The liturgical readings today speak beautifully of our relationship with God and our call to prayer. The gospel unites us with our Heavenly Father in the simple and bold words of the “Lord’s Prayer.” And Psalm 34  expresses what God can do in our longing, in our own poverty if we have the courage to remain in relationship with God.

I want to focus on another aspect of our poverty in our prayer and that is “loneliness”. The greatest need in the world is connection, to belong, to believe that our voices are heard. However, many people do not live in circumstances to believe that people care or certainly that God could care about them. I remember Mother Teresa saying that the greatest killer in the world is loneliness. My years of ministry would certainly back this up, that no amount of possessions or money or social status takes away the human reality of loneliness. Today, we hear of our profound relationship with God and how to pray, but we need to be willing to let people in on this profound reality that God cares for us and our Christian witness to people to take that care into the world.

Click here for an article about how loneliness is a killer.

Click here for another article about how loneliness is a silent killer.

Click here for a spiritual practice to counter loneliness. 

Click here for an article from a Catholic perspective to overcome loneliness.