They say that the people of Israel were able to recognize God’s passage through their history because they walked backwards. It does not mean living apart from reality and the present as if you had nothing to say, or fall into that ‘any past time was better’. That would be signs of hopelessness, almost of a rejection of the present that would annul the validity of the future and would only attend to the longing for the past.
God’s passage through life is always a gift. We must ask the Lord insistently to train us in his way of looking to discover him at every step, so as not to miss anything, no details of his presence today. Everything is providence. And if we look back, if we look and try come back to capture again some past moment, not with longing but with typical nostalgia of someone who has lost something. Like the people of Israel, may our look at the past be a grateful look, completely tinged with serene welcome, true peace and heartfelt gratitude.
