Vatican Radio recently broadcast several meditations drawn from the book, Incontrare l’inatteso, vita cristiana per gente perplessa (Meeting the Unexpected: The Christian Life for Puzzled People), by Fr. Giuseppe Forlai, published by FSP Editions, Italy.
In the presentation of the text, we read: “These pages, which spring from encounters with people who find living the Faith difficult or who are adamant unbelievers, reveal a God who is ‘far away.’ But if you think about it, the feeling that God is distant is not something bad: it can also be a grace since it can open the door to an earnest search for him.
“This ‘distant God’ can be found in places where we are not seeking him, which often turn out to be the undervalued and sometimes scorned places of our daily life. But if, like the Virgin Mary, we adopt a pure attitude and look positively at each day as it dawns, we cannot help but realize that this ‘distant God’ is knocking on the door of our heart.
“To smile at the rising sun is not a mark of ingenuousness; instead, it is a sign of the determination to relish to the full the small signs of the divine presence hidden in the routine of daily life. It is here that our ‘distant God’ unexpectedly reveals how close he is to us, telling us that we are ‘full of grace’ and also full of possibilities for the future if we refuse to be crushed by the burdens of life.”
