“Whoever rises again after falling, with trust in God and in deep humility, becomes in God’s hands a suitable instrument for accomplishing great things; but whoever behaves otherwise can never do good.” (St. Paul of the Cross)
You have bestowed great wisdom, dear Father, upon those who faithfully follow You—and with it, insight into Your ways. Thus Saint Paul of the Cross teaches us that no one needs to despair if they have fallen on their path of following Christ. You only want to see that they repent and rise again in trust in You.
Can we really expect to walk our spiritual path without fault? Wouldn’t that already be a form of overconfidence, preventing a humble rising? Certainly, we should strive to do everything in a way that corresponds to perfection. But does that make us perfect? No, just as we are not yet humble simply because we love humility. It is, however, a good prerequisite to strive for it.
A realistic self-assessment makes it clear that we have only just set out on the path and have not yet arrived. That is what You want to teach us. And You use our falls and the recognition of our imperfection to help us become humble and rely more on Your goodness than on our own strength. When that happens, You can make us an instrument of Your love and accomplish great things through us. But if we do not take that step, then we will be left behind.
So when we have fallen, dear Father, we have not lost everything. You have allowed it so that we may rise and serve You with greater gratitude. One fruit of this should be that we also show more mercy toward our brothers and sisters who are struggling on their path.