Pain and Suffering

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

Handling pain without it handling you isn't easy. I know this from personal experience and I'm sure that many people can relate. It's not too hard to bear when the pain is temporary as from an injury like a broken arm or one that stems from a bad fall - we know it's going to end and seeing that end in sight makes it a lot easier to cope with. But what about pain that has no foreseeable end? What about the millions of people who deal with chronic pain on a daily basis?

This is where life gets a lot more difficult.

I used to dread getting up in the morning. I mean, to the point where my first prayer of the day was, "Lord, please just help me get through it." I cannot count how many days I missed out on because of this disturbing little prayer. How can there be any joy in life when you just want to get each day over with?

Then, to top it off, I made an even worse mistake - I began to focus on my pain and feel sorry for myself.

Big mistake. My entire world closed in on me and pretty soon I could no longer see the world around me.

Why? Because all I could see was me. I focused so intently on what I perceived as "the prison" of pain that surrounded me that I didn't notice that the key to the prison door was in my hand the whole time. Once I did see it, everything changed. I learned to view my life from the perspective of eternity and my interior freedom grew by leaps and bounds. That freedom had been there all along but I was too blind to see it.

Suffering becomes particularly hard to bear when it comes against a great deal of inner resistance. Often this inner resistance comes in the form of self-pity and pride.

We all know that it's a good thing to offer up our sufferings to the Lord - we should give Him everything. However, we have to be careful in the area of pain and suffering. We have to offer it up...and then give it up. By giving it up I mean that once we place it in God's hands we have to let it go and forget about it to the best of our abilities. This doesn't mean we don't feel the pain but rather we transfer our attention away from the pain and onto something else. Or better yet, Someone else. And I don't mean your husband.

Why do we have to let it go? Because focusing on pain doubles, triples, quadruples it. This goes for both physical and emotional pain. It's the same pain but we enlarge it by giving it our full attention. We give ourselves up to it and whenever we give ourselves up to something it tends to take us over. And that's sad because suffering can be a very good teacher. It has a way of setting our priorities straight while at the same time releasing us from the minutiae that can negatively bog down a life. It can also be redemptive when united with Christ's suffering. Christ himself raised the bar on life when He gave our sufferings purpose by transforming our sufferings in his own. Without this transformation suffering would be useless and without purpose. He sanctified suffering by his own sufferings. This is why so many saints tell those who are suffering to look at the Cross of Christ.

That means eyes off yourself and onto Him.

No easy task sometimes.

The good thing about the Catholic viewpoint on offering up suffering is that it helps us avoid a victim mentality. It gives us a choice. We learn that external circumstances cannot compromise the gift of free will that God has blessed us with. We may not be able to avoid painful crosses but we always have the freedom to choose whether we use it for the good or not.  We have the freedom to let it overcome us or we, on the other hand, can transcend it. We do this by allowing God to transform it into something greater. What pain may cause us to lose in our physical freedom is more than made up for by our gain in spiritual freedom.

To avoid a victim mentality during periods of suffering, in some ways we must choose it. We don't choose it by asking for it or because suffering in itself is good, rather, we choose it by consenting to it knowing God will bring a greater good out of it. This is what Jesus did. Though Jesus is called "victim for our sins", He was not a victim in the sense that we define victim in this day and age with all its negative connotations. He chose to lay down his life for us. We see this in Christ's words about his life, "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own." (See also Mt. 26:53)  If we pray for healing and it doesn't happen we should understand that God is asking us to carry this cross, at least for now.  Acceptance allows grace in to do its work.

Here are two excellent links on suffering:
~ A Pope's Answer to the Problem of Pain
~ Suffering (It's amazing how much the Bible has to say on this subject.)

"Suffering borne in the will quietly and patiently is a continual, very powerful prayer before God."
St. Jane Frances de Chantal

Oops. Sorry Father, my Bad...

My sincerest apologies for that choke/gasp/cough/chuckle that escaped in the confessional today. You know I am "heartily" sorry for all my sins. Truly.

It was Nancy's fault.

Well, "partly" her fault.

Inner Poverty

If thou couldst empty all thyself of self,
Like to a shell dishabited
Then might He find thee on the ocean shelf
And say:"This is not dead,"
And fill thee with Himself instead
But thou art all replete with very thou
And hast such shrewd activity
That when He comes He says:'This is enow
Unto itself: 'Twere better let it be
It is so small and full, there is no room for Me.'
                                T.E. Brown

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons

Then the eyes  of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.     Genesis 3:7


Our lives are filled with fig leaves, these fig leaves consisting of all the things we use to hide from God, especially the illusion that we can rely on ourselves and don't need anyone else, certainly not God.

In some ways much of this world is a chimera, blinding us to the deeper realities of our existence, an illusion masking the truth of our utter reliance on God. Strip away this illusion, this falseness, and what do you find? Our inner poverty. This is something we must all face at some point in our lives. Yet, in fear of this "unmasking" people hide behind so many things, things that they have convinced themselves reflect the truth of who they are. Their identity is based on what they do or what they have instead of who they are. But what good will it do clinging to these illusions about yourself  when you are confronted with truth itself? What happens when all the lies that we have told ourselves (or others have told us) disintegrate at the time of death and your soul lies bared before the eyes of God, before whom no untruth can stand?

The purpose of seeing our inner poverty isn't so we become shocked at how bereft we are (though this may happen until we realize God has no intention of leaving us empty), it's to point out our dependence on God. When we understand how much we need God we learn to turn to him instead of relying on ourselves. It would be much better if we were to realize this here on earth rather than at the time of our death.

Which begs the question:
Why is death so frightening to us? After all, death is not death, is it? Is it because we are too attached to ourselves and not to He who holds our life in his hands?

Death isn't a bad thing. Death strips away all the falsity, all the lies, all the pettiness in our lives. If we are ill-prepared death disrobes us of the "fig leaves" we have used to cover our nakedness, our great inner poverty is exposed in one great shocking moment. I think this is why there are so many deathbed conversions. It is precisely this recognition of our inner poverty that opens the great door to God's mercy.  On the other hand, those who are "full of themselves" have no room left for God nor does one who has made himself into a god feel the need to seek a mercy that so much depends on this inner poverty. 

Death is the great equalizer. Death is not a bigot; it favors neither the king nor the pauper. Both the rich man and the poor man, the saint and the sinner, the wise and the foolish must submit themselves to death when their time comes. 

Death leaves us stripped bare. There is nothing left to hide behind but the reality of who we are.

Scary thought, isn't it? I know it freaks ME out. This is one of the great truths in life - one day each and every one of us will come face to face with the Lord of all there is. There will be nothing to hide behind in the face of Absolute Truth. This Truth will pierce you to the very depths of your being and your "fig leaves" will mean nothing at all. Your wealth, your education, your country, your talents, your "stuff"... you will find that all these were merely tools along the journey. Good things...but tools nonetheless. The tools don't come to heaven with you.  In death, stripped of all these "lesser things" what will you have left?

This is why it is best to understand our "oh so great" inner poverty here on earth. Sometimes we need to wade through all the outside clutter, the "lesser things", that weigh us down and make us seem so fat and healthy on the surface so that we can face and understand our inner poverty as well as our utter and complete reliance on the Lord. Truly, it's best that we confront this here rather than in the hereafter.

This is no small thing. It is one of the greatest things that we can do in life.

It is God, himself, that is and was our "coat of glory". Without God...we have no glory. God is the glory of a human being.  Often we come to this realization of our complete dependence on God only after he strips away our false dependency on things that are not Him. Like a baby weaned of its pacifier so we too are weaned of what is not lasting, of our dust makers, so that we may receive of the everlasting instead.

When I reflect upon it, it becomes clear to me that everything here is a preparation for that great moment when we see the Lord face to face. He won't ask me whether I have a Master's degree in theology or if I lived in a mansion. He won't ask me whether I was a great athlete or a famous artist. No, all these things are but tools we use on our journeys.  What He WILL ask me is whether I shared the coat of glory, the totality and completeness of His Love that I am encompassed by, with my brothers and sisters. I will be judged on how much I have loved.

And believe me, this is something I fail at on a regular basis. Yet, I have great hope because even in my failures I am coming to the understanding of my complete dependence on the Lord, including my dependence on his mercy. I know this mercy well, at one point in my life I came face to face with it. By no means was it a fancy moment, either. It was me in my abject misery standing before the mercy of the King of Kings. Even now I struggle to make sense of it. Yet, He loved me anyway. I think I learned more from this great gift, this pulling of the knot which began the unraveling of my false self, than I yet realize as the grace of it unfolds over the years. 

It is not until we let go of our illusions about ourselves, see our immense poverty and walk through the door of God's mercy that we begin to see how rich we really are.


The Weeping Rose
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiding behind my fig leaf
Cowering in the shame of Eve
I, too, consumed fruit forbidden
Sweet to the lips, bitter to the soul
And mourned outside Eden's gates
An earthen vessel, Adam's seed
Lost in the dust of time
A rose wilted for lack of the sun
"Where are you?" echoed in my soul

At the faintest "here i am"
A broken arrow, a crooked bow
Stood before the Mercy Seat
Unbathed, covered with grime
Unrecognizable to all but you
Your eyes pierced through the filth
And saw the swan in the ugly duckling
You tucked my heart into your side
Two hearts beat as one
And in this Divine chamber
A weeping rose unfurled her first petal

Nominated for a Sheenazing Blogger Award

me funny and smart

Much to my shock I've been nominated for a Sheenazing gesundheit Blogger Award! As soon as I received the e-mail telling me I was nominated I dashed right over to A Knotted Life to check it out. And to make  sure there was no "Ugly Blog"category like a certain other award that we all know about. Then I  remembered that  I spent 6  minutes a few months ago spiffing this blog up and I breathed a quick sigh of relief.

I was even more surprised to find out that I have been nominated in two categories: Funniest Blogger (oh the fierce competition, excuse me for one moment - I have to sit down) and Smartest Blog. I guess this wouldn't be a good time to tell everyone that  I forgot  to stop at the second window of the drive-thru this morning for pick-up after ordering my drink and paying at the first window. This would probably be a good time to delete that ice cream in the cabinet post as well. But it's okay to vote for
me because note that  it says "smartest blog" not "smartest blogger".


I hope you'll head on over to A Knotted Life (harumph, sounds like my life) to vote. So many great blogs to check out! A big "Thank you" goes out to the person who nominated The Beautiful Gate for this award. (I have no idea who this is but I was very touched and I thank you for thinking about me. Free +1ing for you for  the next three months!

The vampires and the dogs will be all over me for this one.

Good thing there's no ugly blogger award. It's bad enough that I'm in a ugly hair  competition with Anabelle over  at Written by the Finger of God. We are  having a hair-off. What
poor Anabelle doesn't seem to understand is that I have that one in the bag since I have no hair to
off since that last unfortunate perm and color.

The Face of Joy

Christ and the sinner

Look up, dear one.

Your joy is not in the past that haunts you.

Nor does it lie in the future that confounds you.

Your joy lies here waiting in the present that surrounds you.

I am here. Turn your gaze to Me, the Face of Joy.


And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.     Mt 28:20

I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.  Jn 17:13

"Come," says my heart, "seek God's face"; your face, Lord, do I seek.   Psalm 27:8

2 Beautiful Prayers to the Holy Spirit

A Prayer of abandonment to the Holy Spirit:

Holy Spirit, God of Love, be present to me; accept the offering of myself which I make to you. Receive these hands, these feet, these eyes, this tongue, and all my senses. Receive my memory, my will, my understanding, my desires, my sighs, the longings and the aspirations of my soul. Receive my every hour, my every moment, and all the happenings of my life. Holy Spirit, God of Love, knit my soul to you. Let your love possess my whole being - my senses, my powers, my affections, my very life. Let your love rule my labor and my rest, my going and my staying, and move me as it pleases. Let your love disquiet or comfort me, humble or exalt me, and burn away all my faults. Holy Spirit, God of Love, draw me to yourself. Do with me what you will. Nothing will cause me fear if only your love enfolds me. I ask confidently because your desire to give is greater than mine to receive. Transform me into yourself, so that I may no longer know myself, nor find myself, except in you.              
                                                                                                     Thomas of Jesus
                                                             
                                                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~          

Daily Prayer to the Holy Spirit:

Creator Spirit, come and visit the souls that are Yours; fill with heavenly grace the hearts that You created. You are called by the name of Paraclete, gift of God most high, spring of life, fire, love and the soul's anointing. Seven gifts are Yours to give. You are the finger of the Father's right hand. You, the clear promise of the Father, give men's tongues the grace of speech. Kindle a light in our minds, pour love into our hearts and uphold with Your unfailing strength the frailty of our human nature.
Drive our enemy far from us and give us always the grace of peace; so may it be that, with Your grace ever guiding us in this way, we may avoid all that is sinful. Grant that through You we may know the Father and the Son, and may we ever believe You to be the Spirit of both the Father and the Son. Glory be to God the Father, and to the Son, who rose from the dead, and to the Paraclete for ever and ever. Amen

You know you have been slacking on your blog when...

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

.... the majority of your "bites" come from vampires and dogs.

Anyone game for a few "mercy hits"?

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you

Your name is engraved in God's heart.

At his birth, your name was there.

During his childhood your name was there.

At his baptism your name was there.

During the last supper your name was there.

In the Garden of Gethsemane your name was there.


On Calvary, your name was there, enclosed in the secret chambers of a dying heart.

He carried you with him from death to new life.

When He descended into hell your name was there.

When He ascended into heaven your name was there.

He has carried you within him always.
                                         
                                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Jesus is true God and true man. In his divinity you were always present to Him because time is not linear to God, it is all present. When we realize the truth of this it is only a small step further to the understanding that when God looks upon us He doesn't just see billions of broken human beings but rather billions of people whole and healed in Him as well. It is hard for us to see ourselves as already healed in Christ since time IS linear to us. And yet, we should know, that in God's eyes we are already healed in Him  since He can see outside of time. Padre Pio understood this view from eternity well, praying for a happy death for his mother after she had died.

Weird, like something out of a science fiction movie.

But true, nonetheless. If we threw out this picture as being too far-fetched  we'd also have to throw out any idea of God's omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence.

It's a great mystery but a beautiful one as well.


Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.     Jer 1:5

"Sticky" notes

Ice cream goes in the freezer

Ice cream goes in the freezer

Ice cream goes in the freezer


Note to self: clean the cabinet

The Invitation

Everything you do has meaning including those things in life that we tend to think of as minute or inconsequential. Life is fraught with meaning in ways we just can't comprehend because we often don't get to see the results of our actions (or our inaction for that matter). Small decisions that we make now can and do affect the generations that follow.

 I am reminded of this truth whenever I think about a story my husband told me about a teenager who had recently moved to the small town he lived in when he was young. My husband lived on a farm at the time and decided to go horseback riding one day. While passing the new girl's house he decided to stop and invite her to come along with him. She agreed and that's exactly what they did.

Simple right? No big deal...two teenagers riding a horse.

Roll forward 25 years.

My husband gets a friend request on Facebook from this woman that he befriended all those years ago and accepts the request. She is now married and has children. Not long after this he gets an e-mail from her.

She sent the e-mail to thank him:

Twenty-five years ago a young woman was about to commit suicide when a knock on the door and an invitation to go horseback riding changed the course of her life forever.
                                                                    ~~~~~~~~~

I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that our lives affect the lives of others in ways we cannot even imagine. Because of a simple invitation a woman lived and went on to give life to others. They too will likely have children.

Hmmm...I wonder if my husband realizes that his invite affected all future generations of this woman's line.

This story inspires me when I feel as if the smallness of my life cannot make a difference in this crazy, upside down world. It is an invitation to me as well. It is an invitation to me to look beyond myself and my own little world and see the infinite possibilities that lie within God. To see that no person is insignificant and that the small acts of kindness that we do each day have effects that ripple into eternity.

Merry Christmas!

                                            For a child is born to us, a son is given us;

                                               upon his shoulder dominion rests.

                                            They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,

                                               Father-Forever, Prince of Peace

                                                                                          Is. 9:5

Great New Blog!

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to Catholic blogger, Rosebud101, and I invite my readers to visit her new blog, His UnEnding Love. 

Welcome to the Catholic blogging community! 

Need or Greed?

Sin prevents us from knowing God as much as we should.The more we are purged of sin the more we come to know God and ourselves. We are always being purged and healed, each and every day, provided that we cooperate with God's graces. However, this cooperation is key. Without it, our souls stagnate and eventually backslide. A person cannot stay in one place spiritually, we either move forward or backward. Responding to the graces God gives us is crucial. He knows the condition of our souls far better than we do and guides us in the areas where we need to progress. And what constitutes progress? Simply this...growth in virtues. If we see this growth we know we are progressing.

Sins often "ride upon the back" of other sins so it's useful to understand which deadly sin is the "kingpin" in your life and tackle it in a powerful way because when you overcome one that's a  troublemaker for you it makes it easier to overcome other sins.  Sort of like knocking the front pin down in bowling - if you hit it just right it will take down others with it.

One of the deadly sins that seems to be a particular problem for many people these days is greed.
Most of us live in a time and place where it's difficult NOT to be greedy. We live in a society that breeds discontent. Companies promote a "must have" mentality through their advertising and sales tactics. What used to be "wants" have become "needs" and people are often judged today by what they have rather than who they are.  While there is nothing wrong with having a few extras, do we really improve the quality of our lives when we add the "latest, greatest, thing" to our households? Or are we trying to distract ourselves in some way?

What might we be hiding behind the sin of greed?

Greed is the inordinate desire for money or earthly goods. We see manifestations of this capital sin everywhere we look today, a good example being the avarice that gripped our large financial institutions a few years back to such an extent that they needed government bailouts to stay afloat. An article I read when this happened said the downfall of our financial institutions was "bad banking decisions" but the truth is that greed was the culprit here and many of the banks have continued basing their banking practices on greed rather than using money justly. Good old common sense tells us where this will land us once again.

A hunger for power may be one of the more dangerous manifestations of greed. We can see the damage dictators have wrought in our century but ordinary people can be "little dictators" too. Some folks lord it over their families and run their household with an iron hand that brooks no disobedience. Right or wrong is not the issue here because a "little dictator" does not respect the free will of others. Greed and pride make a volatile mixture. If gluttony causes a narrowing of the spirit, the mixture of greed and pride bring about a deadly spiritual rigidity that is difficult to pierce. Pride believes it is always right and greed walks all over others to get what it wants. And after it gets what it wants... it wants more. They are very dangerous partners.

Greed is often fear based and uses the goods of the earth as a "physical" blockade of the heart. Greed does not trust God or others. Nor does it trust itself. It uses "stuff" as protection and "lording it over others" as proof that it is self-sufficient but once these things are taken away it becomes obvious that this is not the case. Greed is the refusal to entrust oneself into God's hands... which stems from fear. The problem is that we must learn to trust God totally. The more greedy we are, the more painful our separation from this earth at death will be because dying well requires an complete abandonment of ourselves into the hands of God. If we trust things more than God this poses a big problem, doesn't it?

Greed is unhappy because it confuses "having" with "being". Because it confuses these two it always seeks more because what it has is not enough to fill what can only be filled by God.

Here are some of the signs and symptoms of greed:
~ lack of trust in God
~ fear
~ a distrust of others
~ a dissatisfaction with one's life
~ a pessimistic outlook on things
~ hoarding
~ being manipulative
~ a worldly outlook and a spiritual dullness
~ stinginess (tightfisted with money and goods)
~ boredom
~ ingratitude

When tackling greed it's helpful to ask the Holy Spirit to root out and heal the fear, the lack of trust in God and others, and the feeling of being unworthy and unlovable that may be lingering beneath this deadly sin. It's interesting to note that when a person feels a lack of self worth they may surround themselves with things of worth to offset these feelings of unworthiness within themselves. The things they surround themselves with become the standard by which they measure both themselves and others. A yardstick  of this sort is doomed from the start. We need to understand that our worth is not in what we have or what we do but in who we are as children of God created in His image and likeness. Greed's opposing virtue is easier to practice when it flows from the certain knowledge of our own innate worth as children of God. The understanding of our dignity as His sons and daughters helps remove the physical blockade of "stuff" we have constructed as a barricade to the heart.

Greed's opposing virtue is liberality (generosity).  The generous giving of one's time, money, or goods to those in need is the way to overcome greed. Praying for an increase in the virtue of charity is key when tackling this vice.  I also find praying the Rosary and reading Scripture very helpful when it comes to greed as it helps combat the spirit of worldliness that we carry.  Focusing on Scripture passages (such as Luke 12:22-34, John 3:16)  that speak of God's love and trustworthiness will help heal the inner wounds that have allowed greed to gain a foothold in your life.




(Isn't it great to have archives to steal posts from? This post is a combination of three different posts from my series on the Seven Deadly Sins. You can find more by clicking on Nov. and Dec. 2011 in my archives.)

The Wounds that Open Us to the Seven Deadly Sins

I recently ran across a great video series that speak of  the Seven Deadly Sins as distress symptoms of emotional wounds. The speaker, Christina King, offers some fascinating insights on these sins and exposes some of the underlying wounds which may provide these sins fertile ground to take root in. I highly recommend watching them. Here's the link for those of you who are interested: Christina King on how the Seven Deadly Sins Correspond to Our Deep Emotional Wounds.

Humility: God's Anesthesia

God has been very good to me. Unfortunately, I have to admit that at times I have the bad habit of focusing on my flaws instead of God's mercy and kindness. Do I really think that my human imperfections matter more than the greatness of the Lord? No, but it can be easy for me to get caught up in this negative type of introspection.

Every flaw looks magnified when inspected up close.

The world becomes a very small place indeed when we focus on ourselves to this degree.  I know better than this but still catch myself doing it. There's nothing that imprisons a person as much as being overly preoccupied with yourself does. When it comes to spiritual matters, self-absorption is downright dangerous.

I'm quite sure we impede the work of the Holy Spirit when we worry about our spiritual progress. It's as if we were saying to the Lord, "I can't trust you with my sanctification. I am worried about my holiness because I don't quite believe you are powerful or loving enough to take care of this for me." Or perhaps we think he'll let us down and that we won't reach the impossibly high standards of holiness that we set up for ourselves with our fallen natures that (of course) know better than God what holiness is.

 In other words...

 ...I am  convinced that our own idea of holiness and God's are different. Very different.

Sooner or later everyone must get rid of the false gods they have set up for themselves...and the most difficult one to boot off the throne is the god of self. It's been a problem since the Garden of Eden and is no less of one today. The apple doesn't fall far from tree. Those who think they have escaped this aspect of the fall of man are deceiving themselves. The saints didn't think they were saints; they understood the depths of their fallen nature and their total dependence on God's mercy. They knew they were sinners in deep need of salvation. Once self has been kicked off the throne it becomes very clear that this is true in our own lives as well. One of the biggest obstacles to becoming a saint is thinking you are one already. The humble KNOW they are sinners but this doesn't bother them to a great degree because:

Humility is God's Anesthesia. Where humility reigns so does trust in the mercy of God. This trust goes a long way toward smoothing the path of life. Though the humble may suffer as much as other people, they are not as troubled by it. Their hearts stay peaceful.

Those who "pick" on themselves are playing God. It's like saying to God, "I know what's wrong with me more than you do." Which isn't true, of course. He knows us through and through. No aspect of your being is hidden from Him. The difference between  accusing ourselves and the Holy Spirit's conviction of sin is like night and day. Some of the signs to watch out for are these:

Scrupulosity - Definitely not of God.
Confusion over sins - The Holy Spirit brings clarity.
Despair or hopelessness - Satan's doing the accusing here.
Depression - This is an odd one. We know there are cases of physical depression so this is a bit harder to discern but depression can have spiritual roots as well. For those who don't normally battle depression this can be a clear sign that we are trying to "outrun" the Holy Spirit rather than waiting for His light.
Frustration - "This is ridiculous! It's impossible not to sin!"  Well, of course. And God well knows this. Even the saints fell.

When we see these things at play then we know it's a good time to step back and reevaluate our spiritual lives. The signs I mention above are good clues that we have not yet ceded control of our lives over to God and are depending on our limited human understanding rather than the wisdom that comes from above.

 When I catch myself acting as my own "judge and jury" I try to put a check on it before I get carried away and  I turn my focus toward God instead. (And I learned this the hard way!) I have come to the realization that it's always best to wait for the Holy Spirit to bring things to light because He is far gentler than we are. Trying to outrun the Holy Spirit almost always leads to a lack of peace and joy. It's important that we accept ourselves, wherever we are in our spiritual walk. God is patient and we should be as well.


No structure of virtue can possibly be raised in our soul unless, first, the foundations of true humility are laid in our heart.        St John Cassian