Cheryl-Ann Smith

God is infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, so far beyond us. And yet, He is also simplicity. He is love.

When we long for a deeper encounter with God; when we are felled by failure and futility, when we cannot carry on without a strengthening and recommissioning, we can plunge our hands and indeed our whole being into the deep cave of Christ’s heart and wait for His love to revive us.

Many years ago, I lived in a poor, dusty town, but one rich in faith and love. We were poor together, and shared what we had with each other in the neighbourhood.

We are never truly lost: God knows where we are, and He creatively uses any interior place to draw us deeper into His heart.

“Jesus said to her, Mary! She turned and said to Him, Rabbouni!” And there is the most tender, powerful, healing, life-changing encounter possible.

The young man wanted to live a holy life. The key, he knew, was prayer. So he approached a wise elder in the monastery and asked for instruction. The old man said not a word but looked intently into his eyes. Then, still silent, he walked him down to the river, and they waded in. The elder put his old gnarled hand on the young seeker’s head, and pushed him into the water.

Poustinia is a household word now, with variations available all over the globe. That was not the case before Catherine Doherty, a Russian refugee, settled in Canada and eventually founded the Madonna House Apostolate.

There are times when life changes dramatically. Sometimes it’s organic and expected, for example in the teenage years, midlife, older age. These transitions can be frightening in their seismic shifts, but we cannot stand still or atrophy, and grace awaits us in each stage.

It is a scene of devastation, love and hope. A scene from the movie The Soloist somehow reveals the stunning beauty and tenderness of the Heart of God.

The woman had come to the end. She had barely escaped from her country with her life, and was reeling from the profound rejection of her people. Miraculously, she and her husband had made their way to Canada, but he compounded the rejection through constant infidelities.