Feeling down in the dumps? Feeling like nobody really understands nor really cares? Feeling dreary, dark and bewildered and confused? Feeling as if life does not have any real meaning and purpose? Feel like just throwing in the towel and saying: I have had enough!
St. Ignatius of Loyola would call this a state of desolation. One of the most common manifestations of desolation is that of loneliness—you feel alone in the world and nobody really seems to care about who you are and where you are heading in your life.
If we do not know how to cope properly with this state of desolation then this state can wreak havoc in our lives and do irreparable damage to our spiritual life and even our natural life. One wrong decision made in a state of desolation could be life-determining. How many young people today have recourse to violence toward others and turn on themselves when swimming in an apparently endless sea of desolation?
This state of desolation—manifested through a deep sense of loneliness—is all pervasive in all societies and situations today now more than ever! However, we are a people of hope. “Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth!” St. Paul reminds us with these encouraging words: “If God is with us who can be against us…” and “When I am weak then I am strong…” (The strength being of course God). The Psalm calls God a rock, as well as our light and salvation.
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