Many people struggle with loneliness during this season of the year. Here are some words from the great Benedictine Dom Hubert van Zeller:
After sin, the three evils most to be dreaded are doubt, fear and loneliness. Of these, loneliness is the worst. Loneliness can give rise to doubt and fear, while if a man knows he is not alone he can fight his doubt, and disguise- which is half the battle- his fear. We can force ourselves to laugh at our doubts and fears, but loneliness forbids laughter. Loneliness is an echoing ache in the soul, it hollows out the heart and scoops away at our reserves. It even communicates itself to the senses, and all the outer world seems indifferent and hostile. We must have something with which to meet this evil. We must find something which will turn it into good....
This is where we need to have faith. This is where we pull ourselves up and cry "It's a mood. It will pass. It is only a mood." Thatdésespoir des lendemains de fête will melt away in time, giving place to color and light and normality and, finally, joy.~ Dom Hubert van Zeller's We Die Standing, pp.62-63
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