A Special Long Distance Call For You

Relationships can be challenging at any level, whether it’s with a friend, sibling, child, parent and even the ones which involve that “special someone” like a boyfriend and girlfriend, or husband and wife. When it comes to relationships, there is another aspect that sometimes comes into play, which some people will try, and that is a long-distance relationship. It can make a relationship not only challenging, but darn near impossible.

Of course, by long-distance relationship, I’m referring to one in which two people are separated by a distance that prohibits them from seeing each other on a regular basis. Personally, I’ve never been in a long-distance relationship before, but I’m sure that most of us know of someone who’s given it a try. At first, it must seem like a good idea, or, with enough effort it could actually work. But over time (and of course, distance) it seems to me that inevitably these relationships almost always seem to fail. Why? I imagine that it’s simply because of the lack of actually seeing each other. After all, when you care about or love someone it’s only natural to want to be with the other person. Even in this day and age of computer technology and things like Skype, where you can actually see someone you’re talking to, who is maybe thousands of miles away, it still can’t take the place of being together in the same place at the same time.

I think in some ways, there are a lot of people who look at a relationship with Jesus in kind of the same way, that it’s more of a long-distance relationship. Maybe because some people can’t actually “see” Jesus, they find it too hard to maintain a close relationship with Him. So they just lose interest or worse, just walk away from it altogether. Well, maybe it’s because they just haven’t learned how to actually “see” Him face-to-face. The truth is that in order to see Him, we have to know where (or how) to look. The obvious place for most to see Him would be in the Eucharist, which we know to be the true body of Christ himself.

But what so many people don’t know, is that we can also see Jesus in others, people who love, people who give unselfishly, people who are kind, people who help others in need, people who donate their time, people who are willing to listen to someone else’s struggles, people who pray for others. (Matthew 25: 40)

And it’s important for us to teach the ones who don’t even know this that we not only “see” Jesus in these ways, but in countless other ways too that maybe you’ve never considered before yourself. Let me ask you a question. While most people would say they can see Jesus in things like a sunset, or a majestic mountain or a newborn baby, have you ever thought that you could see Jesus in something like an argument, a fight, or even a war? Have you seen Jesus in a plane crash, abuse, a divorce, a miscarriage, Cancer or even a violent crime?  Well I have. How, you might ask? Read on.

Yes, tragedies in life are never easy to go through and for some people, these are precisely the types of events in life that can, not only create a long-distance relationship, but one where Jesus is completely absent. But believe me, He’s not. In fact, He is right there in the middle of all those tragedies somehow, but again you just have to know how to see Him.

One of the hardest things for a lot of people to accept or understand is that God has a plan, and the number one priority in that plan is figuring out a way to get you to Heaven to be with Him. Let’s take a look at just one of those things I listed as an example of what I’m talking about, that might just make it a little bit easier to understand how this is possible.

Not to get all “gloom & doom” on you here, but think about the last time you heard about a plane crash on the nightly news. Do you ever wonder what goes through the mind of the people on those planes as it’s about to crash? How many of those people on that plane, who know they’re about to die, do you think are probably saying a final prayer? I venture to guess that in most cases, probably a lot of them. So, if that is the case, and you believe like I do, that God ALWAYS HEARS OUR PRAYERS, you cannot tell me that He is is not right there in the midst of those people, even if it is at the very end of their life. To take it one step further, let’s say that there is someone on that plane who lived their whole life on the verge of believing in God but maybe they didn’t live an active life of faith, but now faced with the fact that they’re about to die, accepts God as their personal savior and asks Him for forgiveness and love. Guess what? He gives it. So when you wonder how I can possibly "see" God in the midst of a tragedy, I see Him in the faith, unity and prayers that come as a result of those kinds of things.

Maybe you do have a long-distance relationship with Jesus, but I can guarantee you that He doesn’t have one with you!

Remember that God never stops trying to find ways to bring us closer to Him so that our relationship with Him doesn't turn into one that is long-distance. Does it always take a tragedy to achieve that? Of course it doesn’t. But sometimes, for the greater glory of God, it does. Stories that demonstrate that to us are all throughout the Bible, even going clear back to Genesis, chapter 19, in which God is in the midst of the destruction of an entire city but went to extreme lengths just to save one man and his family (The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah).

GET CLOSER, I CAN’T HEAR YOU.

Are you wondering how to go from a long-distance relationship with God to one that is close and intimate? Do the following: 

• Start by having a simple conversation with Him.
• Tell Him about your day. 
• Tell Him how you feel. 
• Tell Him what’s wrong or what your frustrated by. 
• Tell Him all the problems you’re having. 
• Tell Him all these things in the same way you would if it was your best friend was sitting next to you. 
• Need to say it out loud? Go ahead, He’s listening. Not only that, He’s waiting. 
• Oh, and don't forget to also thank Him for all the blessings in your life. VERY IMPORTANT!

Next, if you’re only spending time with Him one hour a week on Sunday, consider taking a few minutes and stop at Church and sit for a while, preferably in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Just sit there and let Him love you. 

The more we do these kinds of things, the more He draws you closer, to the point where the only thing that will be long-distance in your life, will be an occasional phone call. 

Blessings everyone.