大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Father Luigi Gioia.

Good morning.

In The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe recounts how one day that when he was particularly overcome by sadness, his hero opened his bible and chanced upon these words: 鈥淚 will never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee鈥� The world had forgotten him, but not God. 鈥淚 began to conclude in my mind 鈥� Robinson says- that it was possible for me to be happy in this forsaken, solitary condition鈥�.

It was like seeing the sun shining after months of cloudy and miserable weather.

Sooner or later we will experience loneliness in our lives.

We are made for being with others. It is not good for a person to be alone, says God in the book of Genesis . Times of loneliness test our inner resources and can teach us a lot about ourselves.

Like Robinson we will have to learn to listen to the many voices surrounding us: the earth, the sky, the night.
And just like him we might also discover this other persistent, reassuring voice of our Creator saying 鈥淚 will never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee鈥�.

People across all ages, cultures, religions have heard it - whether or not they understood that it was the voice of God, and they welcomed it.

Robinson Crusoe heard this voice when he opened the bible but there are infinite ways in which it tries to reach us 鈥� and times of loneliness can help us listening to it 鈥� and feeling the unique kind of joy and peace that comes with it.

Let us pray

In our times of loneliness, Lord, may we learn to listen more intently to your voice in Scripture, in creation, in our hearts.

Amen.

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