But that is only just the beginning, for those who have gone through surgery must eat well to have the proper nutrients to heal them and grow strong. And so with us Christians: we must eat well so that our new spiritual hearts of flesh will heal and grow stronger.
Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work" (John 4:34). And so it is with us. We must do what God wants us to do, because this is our food that will heal and strengthen us. When it is time to pray, we must pray. When it is time to work, we must work. When it is time to play, we must play. When it is time to rest, we must rest. And let us not do more or less than we ought to do, but do exactly what the Lord wants us to do, which is the duty of the present moment.
To sanctify one’s whole life is to consecrate the actual present moment to God. The past is no more; the future has not yet come; only the present is real, and it brings with it a duty, for which God will surely provide as the God of Divine Providence and the Lord of Time.
Lastly, one who has gone major surgery must rest well, or she risks opening up the wounds inflicted on her to save her life. Similarly we Christians must rest, and I found how we do this to be the most surprising of all, for it is these interior trials—the “blues”—given to us by God that we must rest on.
St. Jane Frances de Chantal, a close friend of St. Francis de Sales, had depression-like symptoms most of her life. St. Francis gave her this advice:
Recently I was near the beehives, and some bees flew onto my face. I wanted to raise my hand to brush them off. “No,” a peasant said to me. “Don’t be afraid and don’t touch them. They won’t sting you unless you touch them.” I trusted him, and not one stung me. Trust me, don’t fear these temptations; don’t touch them, and they won’t hurt you.
In my life, what I do is I rest my head on my blues and anxieties, like a pillow, but I never let them get in my head. God sent them to me for a reason, and I will let them do their purpose without me getting in their way. And invariably, they go away after a while.
Even if we suppose that our disturbed state is the work of the devil, it must still be attributed to God. Does not the history of Job show that Satan has no power over us unless God gives it to him? When Saul was beset by temptations of jealousy and hate towards David, the Scriptures tell us, the evil spirit from God came upon Saul (1 Kings 18:10) But if the spirit was from God, how could it be evil? And if it was evil, how could it be from God? It is evil because of the devil’s evil and depraved will to afflict men in order to bring them to perdition, and it is from God because God allows him to afflict them in His plan of salvation for them.
olrl.org/snt_docs/trustful/p1ch3.shtml#subchapter12
Does this mean that if I am feeling bad I should not do anything to relieve it? Of course not! Indeed, the blueness could mean you need to go out with your friends; or that you need a Tylenol with your headache; or that you need to go to the doctor even. Feelings and emotions always are a call to action; that’s why they are called “e
motion”. But the main thing is to not let them unsettle you, to be more anxious than you need to be, while you do what you need to do according to those passions; that’s what I mean when I say to “rest” on them. And I use this not just on my blues, but also on my anger, on my joy, on my fears…all my passions. I never let them get into my head, but I rest my head on them.
So hug, smile, eat, and rest, BostonStrong. Let us make our new hearts strong, and let us always rejoice whatever we are feeling
Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)
