Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church

"But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you." - Isaiah 49:14-15

Prayer: Lord, You are ever present to me, You know my resting and my rising, help me to trust that as I am faithful to You, You will always be there for me. Amen.

Can God Forget You?

There are 365 days in a year. Time is one of God's gifts to us. Time allows us to grow and be changed. This is for our benefit if we are faithful to Him. If we keep the two great commandments; “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ... And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"

The challenge that we know as human beings is that we have bad days, days that challenge us. And sometimes we may even think that we are abandoned by God. Our reading from the prophet Isaiah reminds us that God cannot forget us. God uses the analogy of a mother's love to help emphasize how great His love for us is. The truth is that if God should forget us, then we would cease to exist. God it there for us.

 There are times in life where we do feel alone, distant from God, we may say something like; “God, why do You leave me on my own, Jesus, and why do I not feel Your presence?” In these times, God would say, "even though you do not perceive Me, you still cannot say that I am not there. Know without doubt, and once and for all, that only mortal sin drives Me out of a soul, and nothing else." If we are in the state of grace, then we have nothing to fear. If we feel tempted, then the sense that we are distressed reveals that God is with us. God wants us to avoid sin, and He encourages and strengthens us to avoid sin.

A funny thing about us human beings is that we things are going well for us, we want affirmation and recognition from others. We may struggle to hear it from God or to give God the credit that things are going well. When we make a mistake, forget something, disappoint another person, then we look to God blaming, saying, "God, how could You let that happen?!"

The truth is that we need to know that God will never abandon us. God deserves the credit, the praise, the glory for the good, and in moments of trial, we respond with faith, "Jesus, I trust in You." Knowing that God will guide us through the difficulties and that He is there, that He anticipated them before they ever came our way.

How do you respond to God in good times? How do you respond to God in bad times?

May God richly bless you!

-Fr. Jeremy