S
springbreeze
Guest
Dear friends
A meditation
**Making Your Failures Successful!
By the late Father Kilian McGowan, C.P. Used with permission, from the Passionist Priests, to help spiritually guide the layman.
I think many people become discouraged because they don’t know what to do about their failures. Yet, many a happening in life won’t make sense unless we understand the purpose of failure. Failures there will be in life, but they need not crush our spirits or embitter our hearts.
Christ apparently failed. We too must seemingly fail in many things. In fact, apparent failure will usually precede true spiritual success. This is an essential part of the message of Christ, yet many turn their backs on it because it is a hard saying.
If ever a mission seemed to end in utter failure it was that of Christ’s. On that first Good Friday afternoon all Israel, including His devoted friends and disciples, thought it was all over. Of the handful on Calvary, perhaps the Virgin Mother alone had hope.
His preaching had failed to touch hardened hearts…His miracles failed to convince eyes that would not see…His goodness had failed to win the hearts of his enemies. He was willing to fall en route to Calvary to show that His Sacred Humanity needed the help of another man.
Christ was willing to appear as a failure-for the time being at least. Yet His life was the greatest success of all.
We shouldn’t expect to share our Lord’s mission on earth without seeming to share His failures. We shouldn’t expect to share His love of the Father without experiencing His apparent abandonment by the Father. We shouldn’t be surprised that our puny efforts sometimes fail when even His miracles failed to change the lives of some men.
Suppose that even when you have done your very best nothing seems to come out right. If you have done it for God, you have succeeded. Suppose you find yourself helpless to care for your family the way you think they deserve. If you have loved them in Christ, you have succeeded.
Suppose that despite your best efforts you never seem to grow in grace and virtue. If you are using the means offered by God-and increasing your knowledge of your need for God-you are en route to the success of holiness. Suppose you really want to pray better and love God more. If you want to pray, you are already praying; if you want to love God, you are already loving Him.
Failure can do more than make us conscious of our need for God. It knocks us to our knees and makes us lift up our hearts. It makes us realize that life without Him is not only meaningless-it is impossible!
It does so much more. It teaches a gentle compassion for the others who fail-or who seem to be failures. It teaches humility, hope, confidence in God, a spirit of long-suffering and perseverence-and many other virtues. Would all this have come with continued success in the spiritual and temporal order?
Make your temptations the occasion for practicing the very virtue against which you are tempted. Use your insecurity about the future as an occasion of greater trust in God’s loving Providence. Make your falls and moral lapses the occasion of greater compunction of heart and of “beefing up” your will to do better. Look upon our personal pain and sorrow as a privileged sharing in the redeeming pain of Christ.
Nothing succeeds like failure-when it leads one to God. Nothing is more successful than failure when it makes us know Him-and ourselves-better. Our Blessed Lord was perfectly successful at all times, not because everything always turned out perfectly, but because He did always the things that pleased His Father. It’s the same with us!**
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God Bless you and much love and peace to you
Teresa
A meditation
**Making Your Failures Successful!
By the late Father Kilian McGowan, C.P. Used with permission, from the Passionist Priests, to help spiritually guide the layman.
I think many people become discouraged because they don’t know what to do about their failures. Yet, many a happening in life won’t make sense unless we understand the purpose of failure. Failures there will be in life, but they need not crush our spirits or embitter our hearts.
Christ apparently failed. We too must seemingly fail in many things. In fact, apparent failure will usually precede true spiritual success. This is an essential part of the message of Christ, yet many turn their backs on it because it is a hard saying.
If ever a mission seemed to end in utter failure it was that of Christ’s. On that first Good Friday afternoon all Israel, including His devoted friends and disciples, thought it was all over. Of the handful on Calvary, perhaps the Virgin Mother alone had hope.
His preaching had failed to touch hardened hearts…His miracles failed to convince eyes that would not see…His goodness had failed to win the hearts of his enemies. He was willing to fall en route to Calvary to show that His Sacred Humanity needed the help of another man.
Christ was willing to appear as a failure-for the time being at least. Yet His life was the greatest success of all.
We shouldn’t expect to share our Lord’s mission on earth without seeming to share His failures. We shouldn’t expect to share His love of the Father without experiencing His apparent abandonment by the Father. We shouldn’t be surprised that our puny efforts sometimes fail when even His miracles failed to change the lives of some men.
Suppose that even when you have done your very best nothing seems to come out right. If you have done it for God, you have succeeded. Suppose you find yourself helpless to care for your family the way you think they deserve. If you have loved them in Christ, you have succeeded.
Suppose that despite your best efforts you never seem to grow in grace and virtue. If you are using the means offered by God-and increasing your knowledge of your need for God-you are en route to the success of holiness. Suppose you really want to pray better and love God more. If you want to pray, you are already praying; if you want to love God, you are already loving Him.
Failure can do more than make us conscious of our need for God. It knocks us to our knees and makes us lift up our hearts. It makes us realize that life without Him is not only meaningless-it is impossible!
It does so much more. It teaches a gentle compassion for the others who fail-or who seem to be failures. It teaches humility, hope, confidence in God, a spirit of long-suffering and perseverence-and many other virtues. Would all this have come with continued success in the spiritual and temporal order?
Make your temptations the occasion for practicing the very virtue against which you are tempted. Use your insecurity about the future as an occasion of greater trust in God’s loving Providence. Make your falls and moral lapses the occasion of greater compunction of heart and of “beefing up” your will to do better. Look upon our personal pain and sorrow as a privileged sharing in the redeeming pain of Christ.
Nothing succeeds like failure-when it leads one to God. Nothing is more successful than failure when it makes us know Him-and ourselves-better. Our Blessed Lord was perfectly successful at all times, not because everything always turned out perfectly, but because He did always the things that pleased His Father. It’s the same with us!**
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God Bless you and much love and peace to you
Teresa