God acts always in our favor.

The spiritual life also is permeated by dry periods, times we don’t like, solitude, discouragement. In these periods we are deprived of consolations, of feelings and spirituality. This, many people do not understand, helps our growth in our prayer life and in the practice of virtues.

Nevertheless, many forces of discipline in the spiritual life, the person does not feel a taste for prayer; on the contrary he experiences fatigue, discouragement, the absence of the presence of God, as if He has forgotten us, and the time appears to have no end.

We could say that faith and the hope are sleeping. The soul appears enwrapped in a species of torpor. It is a laborious time, and one does not experience joy. But, also in this time, God works in us. Jesus Himself says to us that “His Father continues working” God acts always in our favor and as St. Paul said: All things work for good of those that love God.” (Rom 8:28)

This time in the desert helps us to detach ourselves from all that which does not proclaim the lordship of Jesus in our lives. It teaches us and educates us to look for God as He is and not for that which He offers us.

Your Brother
Monsignor Jonas Abib
founder of the New Song Community

translated from Portuguese