“Just remain faithful to Me, and do not lose heart in times of weakness. I will put even these to good use.” (Inner Word)
It may not be easy for us to understand these words. How we would love to be strong and overcome all of life’s challenges. This may be especially true for people with a strong fighting spirit. But then our weaknesses emerge, serving as a constant reminder of the limitations of our human nature. We fall short of what we set out to do and are disappointed in ourselves.
“But when I pour out My grace upon people and receive it back from them, I prepare in My divine heart the honey of eternal sweetness.” (Words of Jesus to Saint Mechthild of Hackeborn)
Time and again, a loving soul may ask itself how it can repay its Lord for all that He grants it in His lavish goodness. And yet it remains true: “How could I ever thank You enough for all Your goodness?” We will always fall short of what God gives us. And that is just as well, for He gives in a divine way, and we remember that He is the source from which love flows.
“God forces no one. He accepts what is given to Him, yet He gives Himself fully only to those who give themselves fully to Him.” (Teresa of Ávila)
If, as St. Teresa of Ávila rightly describes, we are not compelled by God on our path of discipleship, then we must deeply internalize this truth. The saint speaks here of the great respect our Father has for human freedom. He Himself gave it to us as a great gift of love, setting us apart from the irrational natural world.
“God’s compassion for you is greater than your worries.” (Jean-Baptiste de la Salle)
Very often, Sacred Scripture urges us not to give in to worry. And indeed, from a spiritual perspective, excessive worry leads us into a state of profound unreality. This state consists in our seeing no way out; our worries constantly accompany us, sap our vitality, and even influence our appearance, so that we look out at the world, in a sense, with a “gloomy” expression. Who is not familiar with those faces furrowed by worry, which evoke our compassion?
“The Holy Spirit is light and strength. It is He who enables us to distinguish truth from falsehood and good from evil. Just as binoculars magnify objects, the Holy Spirit enables us to see the good and the evil in their full magnitude. With the Holy Spirit, one sees everything in its full magnitude: one sees the greatness of the smallest acts performed for God and the gravity of the smallest mistakes.” (Saint John Vianney)
“Whoever loves the Savior with a courageous love does not cease to love Him in times of temptation, aridity, and desolation.” (Alphonsus Liguori)
Dear St. Alphonsus, we believe you, and we too wish to show our fidelity to the Lord in this way. But how can we love in such situations—when our hearts feel cold, when we feel completely without strength and utterly desolate, or when we are torn apart by severe temptations? In such moments, a declaration of love to the Lord might almost seem like hypocrisy to us, because it is not sustained at all by warm feelings. Perhaps we are even in a dark inner state and feel aversion toward Your Word and all religious acts. Dear Alphonsus, we do not feel courageous in such moments, but rather indecisive and sluggish. What then?
“The more serene you become in dealing with adversity, the more fruitfully and peacefully God’s plan for you can unfold”. (Inner Word)
For every person, our Father has a plan of salvation that was already in place when the person still lived in God’s thoughts and had not yet entered this world. This plan corresponds to our Father’s love and His holy will to give humanity all that He has conceived for them.
“I want you to feel at home with Me, as if in a family that loves you deeply and where you are always accepted.” (Inner Word)
If people knew this, much could change in their lives. Even if one had the grace to grow up in a good family, this opens one’s eyes once again, and one will be able to say: “If I was already fortunate enough to grow up in a good family, how much better must the heavenly family be, from which all the good that has come my way originates.” With such insight, one can even follow a call to leave one’s beloved natural family when the King desires the beauty of the human person (cf. Ps 45:12).
“What is a lion if I tame it? It does nothing without My will. Everything is in My hands, after all. You need only look to Me!” (Inner Word)
The Holy Scriptures speak of the devil as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and urge us to be vigilant (1 Pet 5:8).
“For sometimes pain is more beneficial to a person than health, tension more useful than relaxation, and rebuke more helpful than leniency. So let us not become overconfident in good times, nor despair and break down in misfortune.” — Gregory of Nazianzus
It is a lesson that is not always easy for us to learn, for our nature loves the simple and uncomplicated path to our goal, and the things mentioned do not seem to fit into that. Actually, that was not the original intention, but life outside of Paradise, with its consequences, has brought it about. The shadows of death accompany us everywhere; our Father has not removed them, but in His wisdom, He uses them to forge a deeper path for us to master our journey into eternity.
