Afraid of Jesus--my 'Dark Night of my Soul'?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stella76
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Stella76

Guest
This has been bothering me for some time now.

I am kind of afraid to admit this, but I am intimidated by Jesus and I don’t know how to get past my fear. He seems too smart, too big, to perfect for me to ever get to know.

I have a deep connection to Mary, and I keep hoping she will help lead me to her Son…but…ugh…I’m just scared of Him. I pray the Rosary every day, hoping, hoping.

Please, can anyone offer some help or advice?

Thank you, friends.
*Stella
 
This has been bothering me for some time now.

I am kind of afraid to admit this, but I am intimidated by Jesus and I don’t know how to get past my fear. He seems too smart, too big, to perfect for me to ever get to know.

I have a deep connection to Mary, and I keep hoping she will help lead me to her Son…but…ugh…I’m just scared of Him. I pray the Rosary every day, hoping, hoping.

Please, can anyone offer some help or advice?

Thank you, friends.
*Stella
Hello Stella,

It might help to ponder two crucial mysteries of His life: first, the Incarnation itself, and then the Passion.

In the Incarnation, He - God the Son - became a little baby and entrusted Himself into the care of a human mother, Mary, and her husband Joseph. To them He submitted Himself, and depended on them initially for His care, indeed for His human life.

So you could ask yourself - if He could trust Himself to human beings as He did, becoming a baby as He did, can I not trust myself to Him?

In the Passion He proved His immense love for every human person to ever live. He humbled Himself to suffer and to die a cruel death at the hands of sinful men. Then, He rose to show us our destiny in Him: to us also a resurrection from the dead is to come. To us also is a call into eternal life with Him.

So you could ask yourself - if He could die for me, could I not live for Him? If He could humble Himself and put Himself into the hands of cruel and sinful men, could I not humble myself and put myself into the hands of such a loving Savior?

fide
 
Hi, try to meditate on the nativity. The Lord came to us innocent, unthreatening, as a baby in the care of others. He became man as to be approachable, bridging the gap that man had created. He was with Adam as a friend, Moses as a guide. Though they may have trembled at His majesty, He reassured them to commune. And when He started His ministry, He showed us how to be to others. He is the great teacher correcting with gentleness. Then He submitted to His persecutors onto His own death and overcame it in the resurrection to give us a path to the Father. Jesus is our merciful advocate, making us adopted children of God. Don’t fear our redeemer, but adore Him for His sacrifice that saves us from eternal death. Have you ever read St. Faustina’s Diary ? Give it a try and see how gentle His teachings are. Tim
 
This has been bothering me for some time now.

I am kind of afraid to admit this, but I am intimidated by Jesus and I don’t know how to get past my fear. He seems too smart, too big, to perfect for me to ever get to know.

I have a deep connection to Mary, and I keep hoping she will help lead me to her Son…but…ugh…I’m just scared of Him. I pray the Rosary every day, hoping, hoping.

Please, can anyone offer some help or advice?

Thank you, friends.
*Stella
There are a couple of great images and examples scripture gives us about this.

One is the prophet Hosea, where the prophet marries a woman who is unfaithful to him but never ceases loving her and wanting to reconcile, and promising to make her happy if she returns.

There’s a song ‘Come back to me with all your heart’, don’t know if you’ve heard it but it’s based on Hosea.

The second is the Song of Songs - a man and woman both madly in love with each other, seeking each other out when they have been separated.

Finally there’s this passage (Revelation 3:20) “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will eat with him, and he with me.”

So often we think of our lives as a one-sided pursuing of an unattainable ideal. In fact there’s as much more of the opposite going on - HE is actually pursuing us, and certainly WANTS us to know Him intimately.

God loves each of us deeply and unwaveringly, like the prophet Hosea who keeps looking for his unfaithful wife to return, and seeks us out like the lovers in Song of Solomon seek each other out, as the passage in Revelation shows.

Keep those images in mind when praying, hope it helps.
 
He was a man like us in all things but sin. He understands all things human, lived a simple, humble life for 30 yrs amongst us. Meditate on his hidden life. See that he was truly human like us, and divine of course. But meditate on his humanity. He knows everything your going through. Jesus is your friend. You are a child of God too. Get to know God and your fear will go.Here are some quotes that may help-
Friends of God > Getting to know God > Chap. 9http://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gifhttp://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gif142http://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gif
 
for each one of us, for each of our friends, for each and every man. I know no better way of considering the greatness of God than to start from this inexpressible and simple fact that he is our Father and we are his children.

145http://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gifLet us take another look at the Master. You too may find yourself now hearing his gentle reproach to Thomas: ‘Let me have your finger; see, here are my hands. Let me have your hand; put it into my side. Cease your doubting, and believe;’ and, with the Apostle, a sincere cry of contrition will rise from your soul: ‘My Lord, and my God!’ I acknowledge you once and for all as the Master. From now on, with your help, I shall always treasure your teachings and I shall strive to follow them loyally.

If we go back a few pages in the Gospel we can relive the scene in which Jesus retires to pray and his disciples are nearby, probably watching him. When Jesus has finished, one of them boldly asks him: ‘Lord, teach us how to pray, as John did for his disciples. And he told them, When you pray, you are to say, Father, hallowed be thy name.’

Note the surprising thing about this reply. The disciples share their daily lives with Jesus and there, in the course of their ordinary conversations, Our Lord tells them how they should pray. He reveals to them the great secret of God’s mercy: that we are children of God and we can talk things over with him and spend time with him, just as trustingly as a son does with his father.

When I see how some people set about the life of piety, which is the way a Christian should approach his Lord, and I find them presenting such an unattractive picture, all theory and formulas, plagued with soulless chanting, better suited to anonymity than to a personal, one to One, conversation with God Our Father (genuine vocal prayer is never anonymous), then I am reminded of Our Lord’s words: ‘When you are at prayer, do not use many phrases, like the heathens, who think to make themselves heard by their eloquence. You are not to be like them; your heavenly Father knows well what your needs are before you ask him.’ A Father of the Church comments on this passage as follows: ‘I understand from this that Christ is telling us to avoid long prayers, not long as regards time but as regards the endless multiplicity of words… For Our Lord himself set us the example of the widow who, by dint of supplication, conquered the resistance of the unjust judge; and the other example of the inconsiderate individual who arrives late at night and who, through insistence more than friendship, gets his friend out of bed (cf Luke 11:5-8; 18:1-8). With these two examples, he is telling us to ask constantly, not by composing endless prayers, but rather telling him of our needs with simplicity.’

In any case, if on beginning your meditation you don’t succeed in concentrating your attention so as to be able to talk with God; if you feel dry and your mind seems incapable of expressing a single idea, or your affections remain dull, my advice is that you try to do what I have always tried to do on such occasions: put yourselves in the presence of your Father and tell him this much at least: ‘Lord, I don’t know how to pray. I can’t think of anything to tell you.’ You can be sure that at that very moment you have already begun to pray.

146http://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gifThe piety which is born of divine filiation is a profound attitude of the soul which eventually permeates one’s entire existence. It is there in every thought, every desire, every affection. Haven’t you noticed in families how children, even without realising it, imitate their parents? They imitate their gestures, their habits; much of their behaviour is the same as that of their parents.

Well, the same kind of thing happens to a good son of God. One finds oneself acquiring — without knowing how, or by what means — a marvellous godliness, which enables us to focus events from the supernatural viewpoint of faith; we come to love all men as our Father in Heaven loves them and, what is more
 
important, we become more fervent in our daily efforts to come closer to God. Our wretchedness, I insist, doesn’t matter, because we have the loving arms of our Father God to lift us up.

Have you noticed what a great difference there is between a child falling and a fall by an adult? In the case of children, most falls are unimportant; they are always falling over! If they do start crying, their father tells them: ‘Look here now, men don’t cry.’ And the incident ends with the child trying earnestly to please his father.

But what happens if an adult loses his balance and falls awkwardly to the ground? If it weren’t so pitiful, his misfortune would provoke merriment and laughter. Besides, the fall may have serious consequences and, if it’s an old man, it might even give rise to a fracture that will never heal. In our interior life, it does all of us good to be quasi modo geniti infantes, like those tiny tots who seem to be made of rubber and who even enjoy falling over because they get up again right away and are once more running around, and also because they know their parents will always be there to console them, whenever they are needed.

If we try to act like them, our stumbling and failures in the interior life (which, moreover, are inevitable) will never result in bitterness. Our reaction will be one of sorrow but not discouragement, and we’ll smile with a smile that gushes up like fresh water out of the joyous awareness that we are children of that Love, that grandeur, that infinite wisdom, that mercy, that is our Father. During the years I have been serving Our Lord, I have learned to become a little child of God. I would ask you to do likewise, to be quasi modo geniti infantes, children who long for God’s word, his bread, his food, his strength, to enable us to behave henceforth as Christian men and women.

147http://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gifBe very childlike! the more childlike, the better. I speak from my experience as a priest, who has had to pick himself up many times in these past thirty-six years (how long and yet how short they now seem to me!) which have been spent striving to fulfil a very precise requirement of God’s Will. There’s one thing that has helped me always, the fact that I am still a child, and I am always climbing onto my Mother’s lap and finding refuge in the Heart of Christ, my Lord.

Serious falls, of the kind that can do great damage to the soul, at times almost irreparable damage, can always be traced back to the pride of thinking oneself to be grown up and self-sufficient. In such cases, people seem almost incapable of asking for help from those who can give it: not only from God, but also from a friend, or from a priest. And the poor soul, alone in its misfortune, sinks into confusion and loses its way.

Let us beseech God, right now, never to let us feel self-satisfied, but rather to make us grow ever more desirous of his help, his word, his Bread, his consolation and his strength: rationabile, sine dolo lac concupiscite, foster your hunger, your ambition to be like children. Believe me, it is the best way to conquer pride; and it’s the only way to make our conduct good, great hearted, divine. ‘Believe me, unless you become like little children again, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.’

148http://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gifThe scenes of my student days come back to me again. What a demonstration of faith it was! I can almost hear the liturgical singing, breathe the smell of incense, see those thousands and thousands of men, each with his own misery —
 
but each with a childlike heart; a little child who may perhaps be unable to lift up his eyes to meet those of his father. ‘Know and see that it is an evil and bitter thing for you, to have forsaken the Lord your God.’ Let us renew our firm decision never to forsake Our Lord for the cares of this world. Let us increase our thirst for God, making specific resolutions for our daily conduct, like little ones who recognise how needy they are and who therefore keep looking and calling for their Father.

But, let me go back to what I was telling you before: we have to learn to behave like children, we have to learn how to be God’s sons. At the same time, we have to pass on to others this outlook which in the midst of our natural weaknesses, will make us ‘strong in the faith’, fruitful in good works, and certain of our way, so that no matter what kind of mistakes we may make, even the most embarrassing, we will never hesitate to react and return to the sure path of divine filiation which ends up in the open and welcoming arms of our Father God.

Which of you here does not remember the arms of his father? They probably weren’t as caressing, as gentle and tender as those of his mother. But our father’s strong and powerful arms held us tight and safe and warm. Lord, I thank you for those tough arms. Thank you for those strong hands. Thank you for that sturdy and tender heart. I was going to thank you also for my errors! No, you don’t want them! But you understand them, and excuse them and forgive them.

This is the wisdom God wants us to practise in our dealings with him. This indeed is a good mathematical lesson to learn to recognise that we are really a zero, but that our Father God loves each one of us just as we are, yes, indeed, just as we are! I — who am nothing but a poor man — love each one of you as he is, so just imagine what God’s Love will be like! That is provided we struggle, provided we are determined to bring our life into line with our conscience. a well formed conscience.

149http://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gifWhen we examine how our piety is and what it should be like, that is what specific points of our personal relationship with God need improving, if you have understood me right you will reject the temptation of imagining fantastic feats, because you will have discovered that Our Lord is quite happy if we offer him little tokens of love any moment of the day.

Try to commit yourself to a plan of life and to keep to it: a few minutes of mental prayer, Holy Mass — daily, if you can manage it — and frequent Communion; regular recourse to the Holy Sacrament of Forgiveness — even though your conscience does not accuse you of mortal sin; visiting Jesus in the Tabernacle; praying and contemplating the mysteries of the Holy Rosary, and so many other marvellous devotions you know or can learn.

You should not let them become rigid rules, or water-tight compartments. They should be flexible, to help you on your journey you who live in the middle of the world, with a life of hard professional work and social ties and obligations which you should not neglect, because in them your conversation with God still continues. Your plan of life ought to be like a rubber glove which fits the hand perfectly.

Please don’t forget that the important thing does not lie in doing many things; limit yourself, generously, to those you can fulfil each day, whether or not you happen to feel like doing them. These pious practices will lead you, almost without your realising it, to contemplative prayer. Your soul will pour forth more acts of love, aspirations, acts of thanksgiving, acts of atonement, spiritual communions. And this will happen while you go about your ordinary duties, when you answer the telephone, get on to a bus, open or close a door, pass in front of a church, when you begin a new task, during it and when you have finished it: you will find yourself referring everything you do to your Father God.

150http://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gifRest and repose in the fact of being children of God. God is a Father who is full of tenderness, of infinite love. Call him ‘Father’ many times a day and tell him — alone, in your heart — that you love him, that you adore him, that you feel proud and strong because you are his son. All this implies a genuine programme of interior life, which needs to be channelled through your relationship of piety with God, through these acts (which should be few, I insist, but constant) which will enable you to develop the attitudes and manner of a good son.

I must also warn you against the danger of routine — the real sepulchre of piety. Routine is often disguised as an ambition to do or to embark upon great feats, while daily duties are lazily neglected. When you see this beginning to happen, look at yourself sincerely before Our Lord: ask yourself if the reason why
 
you may have become tired of always struggling on the same thing, is not simply that you were not seeking God; check if your faithful perseverance in work has not fallen off, due to lack of generosity and a spirit of sacrifice. It is then that your norms of piety, your little mortifications, your apostolic efforts that are not reaping an immediate harvest, all seem to be terribly sterile. We find ourselves empty and perhaps we start dreaming up new plans merely to still the voice of our Heavenly Father who asks us to be totally loyal to him. And with this dream, or rather nightmare, of mighty wonders in our soul, we become oblivious to reality, forgetting the way that will lead us most certainly straight towards sanctity. It is a clear sign that we have lost our supernatural outlook, our conviction that we are tiny children and our confidence that our Father will work wonders in us, if we begin again with humility.

151http://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gifOne of my most vivid childhood memories is of seeing, up in the mountains near my home, those signposts they planted alongside the hill paths. I was struck by those tall posts usually painted red. It was explained to me then that when the snow fell, covering up everything, paths, seeded fields and pastures thickets, boulders and ravines, the poles stood out as sure reference points, so that everyone would always know where the road went.

Something similar happens in the interior life. There are times of spring and summer, but there are also winters, days without sun and nights bereft of moonlight. We can’t afford to let our friendship with Jesus depend on our moods, on our ups and downs. To do so would imply selfishness and laziness, and is certainly incompatible with love.

Therefore, in times of wind and snow, a few solid practices of piety, which are not sentimental but firmly rooted and adjusted to one’s special circumstances, will serve as the red posts always marking out the way for us, until the time comes when Our Lord decides to make the sun shine again. Then the snows melt and our hearts beat fast once more, burning with a fire that never really went out. It was merely hidden in the embers, beneath the ashes produced by a time of trial, or by our own poor efforts or lack of sacrifice.

152http://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gifI do not deny that over the years people have come to me and have told me with real sorrow: ‘Father, I don’t know what’s come over me, but I find I am tired and cold. My piety used to be so solid and straightforward, but now it feels like play acting…’ Well, for those who are going through such a phase, and for all of you, I answer: ‘Play acting? Wonderful! The Lord is playing with us as a father does with his children.’

We read in Scripture: ludens in orbe terrarum, that God plays over the whole face of the earth. But he does not abandon us because he adds immediately afterwards: deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum, my delight is to be with the children of men. Our Lord is playing with us! So when we feel that we are just play acting, because we feel cold and uninspired; when we find it difficult to fulfil our duties and attain the spiritual objectives we had set ourselves, then the time has come for us to realise that God is playing with us, and that he wishes us to act out our play with style.

I don’t mind telling you that the Lord has, on occasion, given me many graces. But as a rule I have to go against the grain. I follow my plan, not because I like it, but because I’ve a duty to do so, for Love. ‘But, Father’, you ask me, ‘can one put on an act for God? Wouldn’t that be hypocritical?’ Don’t worry: for you the moment has arrived to play out a human comedy before a divine spectator. Persevere, for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are contemplating your act; do it all for love of God, to please him, although you find it hard.

How beautiful it is to be God’s jester! How beautiful to act out such a role for Love, with a spirit of sacrifice, not seeking any personal satisfaction, but just to please Our Father God who is playing with us! Turn to Our Lord with confidence and say to him: ‘I don’t feel like doing this at all, but I will offer it up for you.’ And then put your heart into the job you are doing, even though you think you are just play acting. Blessed play acting! I assure you it isn’t hypocrisy, because hypocrites need a public for their pantomimes, whereas the spectators of our play, let me repeat, are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Most Holy Virgin, St Joseph and all the Angels and Saints in Heaven. Our interior life involves ho more show than this, it is Christ who is passing by quasi in occulto.

153http://www.escrivaworks.org/images/misc/pixtrans.gifIubilate Deo. Exsultate Deo adiutori nostro. Praise God. Leap for joy in the Lord, our one and only help. Jesus my Lord, whoever doesn’t understand this, knows nothing about love, or sin, or wretchedness. Do you know what it is to be lifted up to the heart of God? Do you realise that a soul can face his Lord, open his heart to him and tell him his woes? I do it, for example, when God takes to himself people who are still young, who could still
 
serve him and love him for many years here on earth; because I just don’t understand. But my lament is one of trust, because I know that if I were ever to slip out of God’s arms, I would stumble immediately. So, right away, calmly, as I accept the designs of Heaven, I add: ‘May the most just and most lovable Will of God be done, be fulfilled, be praised and eternally exalted above all things. Amen. Amen.’

This is the way of doing things the Gospel teaches us; it is a clever move and a very holy one, the source of the effectiveness of our apostolic work. This is the fountainhead; from it our love and our peace as children of God flow and it is the way by which we can transmit affection and serenity to mankind. If only we do this, we will end our days in Love, having sanctified our work and found in it the hidden happiness of the things of God. We will go about life with the holy shamelessness of children and reject the shame, the hypocrisy, of grown ups, who are afraid to return to their Father after experiencing the failure of a fall.

I end with Our Lord’s words of greeting, as found in today’s Gospel: pax vobis! ‘Peace be with you… And the disciples rejoiced at the sight of the Lord,’ of this Lord who accompanies
 
I understand what you mean, but Jesus isn’t there to hurt you, nor is he there intimidate you.

But, I so get what you mean… I wish I could tell you exactly, but I might get kicked off for saying it. 😛

Just relax.

Ironically Yours, Blade and Blood
 
This has been bothering me for some time now.

I am kind of afraid to admit this, but I am intimidated by Jesus and I don’t know how to get past my fear. He seems too smart, too big, to perfect for me to ever get to know.

I have a deep connection to Mary, and I keep hoping she will help lead me to her Son…but…ugh…I’m just scared of Him. I pray the Rosary every day, hoping, hoping.

Please, can anyone offer some help or advice?

Thank you, friends.
*Stella
Excerpts from Divine Mercy In My Soul:
  1. +It was four days after my perpetual vows. I was trying to make a Holy Hour. It was the first Thursday of the month. As soon as I entered the chapel, God’s presence enveloped me. I was distinctly aware that the Lord was near me. After a moment, I saw the Lord, all covered with wounds; and He said to me, Look at whom you have espoused. I understood the meaning of these words and answered the Lord, “Jesus, I love You more when I see You wounded and crushed with suffering like this than if I saw You in majesty.” Jesus asked, Why? I replied, “Great majesty terrifies me, little nothing that I am, and Your wounds draw me to Your Heart and tell me of Your great love for me.” After this conversation there was silence. I fixed my gaze upon His sacred wounds and felt happy to suffer with Him. I suffered, and yet I did not suffer, because I felt happy to know the depth of His love, and the hour passed like a minute.
  2. Once, when I was deeply moved by the thought of eternity and its mysteries, my soul became fearful; and when I pondered about these a little longer, I started to be troubled by various doubts. Then Jesus said to me, **My child, do not be afraid of the house of your Father. Leave these vain inquiries to the wise of this world. I want to see you always as a little child. Ask your confessor about everything with simplicity, and I will answer you through his lips. **
 
serve him and love him for many years here on earth; because I just don’t understand. But my lament is one of trust, because I know that if I were ever to slip out of God’s arms, I would stumble immediately. So, right away, calmly, as I accept the designs of Heaven, I add: ‘May the most just and most lovable Will of God be done, be fulfilled, be praised and eternally exalted above all things. Amen. Amen.’

This is the way of doing things the Gospel teaches us; it is a clever move and a very holy one, the source of the effectiveness of our apostolic work. This is the fountainhead; from it our love and our peace as children of God flow and it is the way by which we can transmit affection and serenity to mankind. If only we do this, we will end our days in Love, having sanctified our work and found in it the hidden happiness of the things of God. We will go about life with the holy shamelessness of children and reject the shame, the hypocrisy, of grown ups, who are afraid to return to their Father after experiencing the failure of a fall.

I end with Our Lord’s words of greeting, as found in today’s Gospel: pax vobis! ‘Peace be with you… And the disciples rejoiced at the sight of the Lord,’ of this Lord who accompanies
John, it’s against forum rules (which you’ve agreed to abide by) - not to mention incredibly annoying and rude - to simply post INCREDIBLY lengthy extracts from a document, as you have done.

In future please SIMPLY link to the document, which we are well able to look up and read for ourselves. And maybe say, in your case ‘Chapter Nine paragraphs 142-153 are especially relevant here’. Discuss it if you want, but use your own words and don’t just regurgitate an internet document or book!

And keep it to the amount of verbiage you can fit in ONE post, not four or five. Don’t just post slabs of the document (or what looks like it) verbatim.
 
Maybe some scripture will help-
Ps.111

1
] Prasie the LORD.
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
2] Great are the works of the LORD,
studied by all who have pleasure in them.
3] Full of honor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures for ever.
4] He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered;
the LORD is gracious and merciful.
5] He provides food for those who fear him;
he is ever mindful of his covenant.
6] He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the heritage of the nations.
7] The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy,
8] they are established for ever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
9] He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant for ever.
Holy and terrible is his name!
10] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
a good understanding have all those who practice it.
His praise endures for ever!

Prov.1

1
] The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2] That men may know wisdom and instruction,
understand words of insight,
3] receive instruction in wise dealing,
righteousness, justice, and equity;
4] that prudence may be given to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth –
5] the wise man also may hear and increase in learning,
and the man of understanding acquire skill,
6] to understand a proverb and a figure,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8] Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and reject not your mother’s teaching;
9] for they are a fair garland for your head,
and pendants for your neck.
10] My son, if sinners entice you,
do not consent.
11] If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood,
let us wantonly ambush the innocent;
12] like Sheol let us swallow them alive
and whole, like those who go down to the Pit;
13] we shall find all precious goods,
we shall fill our houses with spoil;
14] throw in your lot among us,
we will all have one purse” –
15] my son, do not walk in the way with them,
hold back your foot from their paths;
16] for their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed blood.
17] For in vain is a net spread
in the sight of any bird;
18] but these men lie in wait for their own blood,
they set an ambush for their own lives.
19] Such are the ways of all who get gain by violence;
it takes away the life of its possessors.
20] Wisdom cries aloud in the street;
in the markets she raises her voice;
21] on the top of the walls she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
22] “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
23] Give heed to my reproof;
behold, I will pour out my thoughts to you;
I will make my words known to you.
24] Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
25] and you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
26] I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when panic strikes you,
27] when panic strikes you like a storm,
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
28] Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
29] Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
30] would have none of my counsel,
and despised all my reproof,
31] therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
and be sated with their own devices.
32] For the simple are killed by their turning away,
and the complacence of fools destroys them;
33] but he who listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of evil.”

Hope this helps. God bless:)
 
Friends,

You are all wonderful for replying to my cry for help. I am reading all of your comments, prayerfully. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for rushing to my aid!

*Stella
 
Adding to the Scripture passages . . .

St. John of the Cross likens the trials and sufferings of the Dark Night to purgatory lived out here on earth. He cites the best description of the interior sufferings of the night as Lamentations 3:1-18 followed up by its message of hope and consolation in Lamentations 3:19-26.

Dave. 🙂
 
Stella, 🙂

Jesus told St Faustina:

“Tell Me all, My child, hide nothing from Me, because My loving Heart, the Heart of your Best Friend, is listening to you”.

Jesus is holy and sinless, but He is also very compassionate with us and understands our weakness. He also loves us unconditionally and understands our hearts better than anyone else can.

I suggest just trying to be really open and sincere with Him in prayer and going to Eucharistic Adoration 🙂

God bless you. hugs
 
John, it’s against forum rules (which you’ve agreed to abide by) - not to mention incredibly annoying and rude - to simply post INCREDIBLY lengthy extracts from a document, as you have done.

In future please SIMPLY link to the document, which we are well able to look up and read for ourselves. And maybe say, in your case ‘Chapter Nine paragraphs 142-153 are especially relevant here’. Discuss it if you want, but use your own words and don’t just regurgitate an internet document or book!

And keep it to the amount of verbiage you can fit in ONE post, not four or five. Don’t just post slabs of the document (or what looks like it) verbatim.
Hi, thx for correcting me. I’m aware of this rule but have found many people won’t click on links. I will try to do as you say in future. mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.:confused:
 
This may help too. I’m trying to make brief posts with links when necessary.
Matt.10

28
] And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

St Augustine Tractate 43 (John 8:48-59)

Please go to newadvent.org/fathers/1701043.htm for the lot.
  1. What then of the two fears? There is a servile fear, and there is a clean [chaste] fear: there is the fear of suffering punishment, there is another fear of losing righteousness. That fear of suffering punishment is slavish. What great thing is it to fear punishment? The vilest slave and the cruelest robber do so. It is no great thing to fear punishment, but great it is to love righteousness. Has he, then, who loves righteousness no fear? Certainly he has; not of incurring of punishment, but of losing righteousness. My brethren, assure yourselves of it, and draw your inference from that which you love. Some one of you is fond of money. Can I find any one, think you, who is not so? Yet from this very thing which he loves he may understand my meaning. He is afraid of loss: why is he so? Because he loves money. In the same measure that he loves money, is he afraid of losing it. So, then, some one is found to be a lover of righteousness, who at heart is much more afraid of its loss, who dreads more being stripped of his righteousness, than thou of your money. This is the fear that is clean— this [the http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06021a.htm”]fear] that endures for ever. It is not this that love makes away with, or casts out, but rather embraces it, and keeps it with it, and possesses it as a companion. For we come to the Lord that we may see Him face to face. And there it is this pure fear that preserves us; for such a fear as that does not disturb, but reassure. The adulterous woman fears the coming of her husband, and the chaste one fears her husband’s departure.
  2. Therefore, as, according to one kind of temptation, God tempts not any man; but according to another, The Lord your God tempts you; and according to one kind of fear, there is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear; but according to another, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever;— so also, in this passage, according to one kind of judgment, the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son; and according to another, I, said He, seek not my own glory: there is one that seeks and judges.
Hope this helps. God bless:thumbsup: 🙂
 
This has been bothering me for some time now.

I am kind of afraid to admit this, but I am intimidated by Jesus and I don’t know how to get past my fear. He seems too smart, too big, to perfect for me to ever get to know.

I have a deep connection to Mary, and I keep hoping she will help lead me to her Son…but…ugh…I’m just scared of Him. I pray the Rosary every day, hoping, hoping.

Please, can anyone offer some help or advice?

Thank you, friends.
*Stella
I identify, as I have been this way for much of my life so far. The irony is, it is always Mary who brings me to Jesus. I have a deep & trusting relationship with Mary, always have. I truly believe that God (and remember he is really the original seeker of us, not the other way around) uses whatever he can, whatever works, to “get” to us, to reach us, to embrace us and get us to surrender to his love. For some people, Mary is more “approachable,” as she is not divine.

Several years ago, I gave up “fighting” my difficulty relating to Jesus, and my preference for Mary. As she did for me, she will ultimately lead you to him, as well. Now, I sometimes directly ask Mary to bring me to Jesus.

In addition, I meet (become intimate with) Jesus most in confession. It’s a direct & immediate effect of confession that all the “scary” aspects vanish.

Thirdly, reading the Gospels and Epistles prayerfully helps to invite him in.

Fourthly, partaking of the Eucharistic celebration reinforces the living presence of Jesus in the church universal. For me, it concretizes the presence of Christ to experience him in others. In fact, I can say quite honestly that many of most intense encounters with Jesus have been in and through other people – not just other Catholics, by the way, and not even just other Christians. Again, both the First and Second persons of the Trinity will use whatever works to reach us, particularly if we sincerely seek the presence of the Father and the Son. I have had many powerful Christ encounters with complete strangers. One just needs the disposition to be ready for those

In summary, I have learned not to fight, lament, or beat myself up over any failed attempts. Pray however and with whatever you need and feel comfortable with, and God (including Jesus) will make himself known.

Hope that helps. 🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top