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I feel alone
Loneliness is not only being by yourself — it is feeling that nobody is really with you. Jesus knew this too: friends who fell asleep while he suffered, and a cry from the Cross.
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.
Matthew 28:20 · Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
If you are in crisis, or thinking of harming yourself, please contact emergency services (112 in Europe) or someone you trust now. You are not alone.
Awaiting theological review
What Jesus teaches
- Direct
Summary of Matthew 28:20
His last promise in Matthew's Gospel: “behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” - Direct
Summary of John 14:16–18
He promised not to leave his disciples orphans, and to send them the Holy Spirit.
What Christian tradition learns from this
Church teaching
What Jesus did
- Direct
Gethsemane: his friends fall asleep
Matthew 26:36–46- What Jesus experienced
- Asking his closest friends to stay with him, and finding them asleep.
- What Jesus did
- He told them honestly how he felt — and kept praying.
- What Jesus said
“My soul is sorrowful even unto death: stay you here, and watch with me.”
Matthew 26:38 · Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
- Interpretive
The cry from the Cross
Matthew 27:46- What Jesus experienced
- Feeling forsaken — even by God.
- What Jesus did
- He prayed the first words of a psalm of lament. Many readers note that the psalm, which he knew by heart, ends in trust.
- Interpretive
A conversation at the well
John 4:5–42- What Jesus experienced
- A Samaritan woman — an outsider to his people — coming to draw water at midday.
- What Jesus did
- He began the conversation, asked her for a drink, and spoke with her longer than with almost anyone else in the Gospels.
What Scripture doesn’t tell us
Loneliness can be heavy, and it is not a spiritual failure. If it turns into hopelessness, please talk to someone you trust, or to a professional.
Someone who walked this road
- Saint Teresa of CalcuttaHistorical context
Her letters, published after her death, show that for decades she felt God absent — while caring for the most abandoned people in the world.
Explore connections → - Saint Charles de FoucauldHistorical context
He lived for years alone in the Sahara, wanting to be a brother to everyone around him.
Explore connections →
Pray
Jesus, your friends fell asleep when you needed them. You know what it is to feel alone. Be with me now. Bring me the people I need, and make me a friend to someone who is lonely too. Amen.
Written for Lumen as a simple personal prayer — not a liturgical text.
One thing to do today
Send one message to someone you haven't spoken to in a while — or go to a weekday Mass or a parish activity this week. And tell Jesus, in your own words, exactly how alone you feel.
- When did you last feel really accompanied?
- Who around you might be lonely too?