“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.
“I have nothing to give but what You Yourself have given me.” (St. Catherine of Siena)
When we take these words of St. Catherine of Siena deeply to heart, we awaken to the joyful reality of our lives, for they lead us into loving humility. The Heavenly Father has given us everything and entrusted it to us. It is His vineyard to which we are called, and He gives us everything we need to be good workers. Everything that is pompous, self‑centered, vain, or proud seems like a masquerade that all too often parodies the very essence of our existence.
“Nothing is small that God commands. … That is why I most earnestly recommend to you the veneration of the Mother of God. Nothing is more powerful, nothing more lovely, nothing stronger than she!” (St. Stanislaus Kostka)
The saint speaks from the depths of his own experience and holds out to all of us the great treasure that God has given: the Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son, and the Bride of the Holy Spirit.
“Anthony (the Desert Father) used to say that it is a person’s duty to devote all their time to the soul rather than to the body, while allowing the body only a brief moment for its needs. But all the rest, he should entrust all the more eagerly to the soul and seek its well-being, so that it might not be dragged down by the pleasures of the body, but rather, on the contrary, the body might be subject to the soul.” (Saint Athanasius)
“Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” (Ps 121:4)
That is true, dear Father: You are always watching over us. This watchfulness springs from Your love for us and is free from any mistrust, which we humans, unfortunately, all too often harbor within ourselves.
“It is not the beginning that is rewarded, but perseverance alone.” (St. Catherine of Siena)
It is good that the words of Saint Catherine remind us that a brief uplifting of the heart—sometimes accompanied by the tangible grace of God and corresponding resolutions—must prove itself over the long journey. This requires spiritual training, so that we consciously work at bearing the hardships necessary to bring a good beginning to fulfillment.
“Just as young nightingales learn to sing from the older ones, so we too, through our association with the saints, will learn to pray and sing God’s praises more beautifully: ‘I will sing praise to thee in the sight of the angels,’ says David (Ps 138:1).” (St. Francis de Sales)
