How do I stay joyful in my spiritual process?

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CenturionSlave

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How do I stay joyful in my spiritual process? Like Thomas Merton, I cannot see the road ahead of me or where it will end. I’ve come to understand the see-saw of my spiritual life. I’m comforted in a strange sort of way that those before me had similar issues with faith, (Abrahm 10 years after God’s promise having to be told by God to look at the stars and trust, and then Hagar) (Peter, walking on water then sinking; Peter saying ‘you are the Christ’, then denying Him; Peter’s hypocrisy at Antioch). So, I think I know that I am in good company, as a consolation of sorts, and I think I understand that it goes with the ‘process’. But it is tough to accept that immediately after confession or mass I am/have sin practically with my next thought. I don’t think it is a function of losing faith (as with Abrahm or Peter) but it is disconcerting nonetheless. And if it is so for all of us faithful, it would seem that the number of souls in purgatory (for purification) far exceed the number of souls in heaven.
Like Merton, I hope that I maintain the desire to please my Lord and that that desire may be enough. I’ll keep praying, of course, but it seems the joy is missing.
 
Hi,

Joy consists of knowing that we are God’s friends and that there is always His light at the end of the tunnel… So even in pain, we can be filled with joy. You have good reason to be joy filled because you know the Lord’s willingness to forgive you and that therefore he loves you.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
 
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