Traditional religion has had its share of criticism in modern times. It has been seen as stifling, domineering, misjudging and empty, a mere set of rules and traditions that never help one grow within. Not a few people have been hurt by those who claim righteousness and holiness. Not a few have felt condemned and cast away.
Perhaps this is why many have been outspoken against religion and many would like to claim they are no longer religious but spiritual. Spirituality had been a new refuge for those who feel that their needs could no longer be satisfied by the traditional religions they knew before.
This kind of spirituality has its advantages, and one of its first incentives is freedom. For the first time, one is freed from all the voices that seem to curtail one’s thoughts and actions. One is no longer told what to do. One can finally do as one wishes.
This kind of spirituality is also convenient. You can take it along with you wherever you go. You can dig deeper into the unknown universe at any time of the day and however fast or long you want to. You are the master of your own beliefs. You can seek whatever powers you long to have.
For all its merits, we should have finally been satisfied. But are we? For all its advantages, we should have finally achieved happiness. But have we?
It’s funny when you thought you’ve already reached that thing you wanted most only to realize it could never satisfy you in the end. You’ve had everything you wanted, what do you still lack?
Perhaps that’s where the problem is. You have always considered only the things you knew and desired. In pursuit of yourself, you have left something else, Someone else. You have gone your own way and you finally realize that you are alone.
The spirituality you sought could never give you the satisfaction that you need. The energies you have summoned could never even speak. The whole universe itself could never be your spouse. All the powers of the world could never comfort your aching heart. Your own subconscious mind could never take you further than the world of your own making.
Live forever if you wish. Travel the galaxies for as much as you desire. Whatever you may do, you would still be damned. A spirituality divorced from a sacred relationship with the True God could never save your soul from being alone.
“God is an ocean, a fire, a living fountain…That is the essence of prayer: this contact with a living God, a God who reacts not like a simple inanimate being but like a living person, with a thrill of joy, with the gift of Himself.” – Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus, OCD (Where the Spirit Breathes)
“If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burnt, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.” – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, WEBBE
I think what makes Christianity so frightening is that you can’t be a part of it unless you’re willing to risk engaging in a relationship.
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"