War has begun

World Events in practical Faith in Divine Providence

War has begun.
Far away, but that does not increase our security.
We are involved - as allies, maybe.
It is like a shadow over the world.
We can't return to normal life.
The shadow that overcasts our earth is like one immense pain.

Peace does not feel like that.

And yet we believe: God is behind all this.
He takes away our human peace and wants to give us his peace.
He invites us to come home.
He invites us to look for shelteredness in him.
You are behind all this, my God.
You take away our human security.
You look at us and we are united with Jesus.
With him, we tell you: Father, I give myself to you.

That's like a profound retreat.

Like a renewal of our Christian life.
Like beginning anew with you.
We come home to you, we entrust ourselves to you.
It is possible to experience a human insecurity and Divine Shelteredness at the same time.
My God, that's retreat.
Time of conversion.

In the concentration camp in Dachau

Our Founder said:
God is behind all the events, behind all that we experience;
He wants to educate us.
He says literally:
He is " the God of eternal love,
The shepherd who anxiously searches out
The lost lamb in the desert brush
Until he can count it again in the flock;
The mother who can never forget the child she bore,
Not even in storm-filled times;
The hen that shields her chicks with her wings
Whenever the foe frightens them with his threats;
The king who lovingly and wisely
Shelters us with his mighty shield
Even on the most dreadful battlefield,
So that not even a tiny cloud can disturb our peace;
The eagle that carries its small and weak chicks
To the sun on its strong back;
The father who prepares for the prodigal son
A banquet at the throne of sonship."

We cannot understand that.

We can't understand Jesus' death on Golgotha either.
But we can love you and this is what we tell you now:
We don't understand you, Father, but we love you.
We don't have the experience of years in Dachau,
We are not used
To experience Divine security amidst human insecurity.
To be sheltered in you, our God, amidst human un-shelteredness.
Have mercy on us.
The temptation is to just ignore all that
And live like "normal human beings" again.
Life goes on.

But we sense you behind all.

You invite us.
You want to meet us.
You want to be close to us.
And so we try.
We try and find you behind the world events.
We speak with you about them and we trust you.
This will be a time leading us closer to you.
A time of retreat.

Father Tilmann Beller