P
PursueSanctity
Guest
It’s still a bit frightening. Trust. We need to trust. I do, anyway.
- Status
T
TiggerS
Guest
Well said, self knowledge is the foundation and ‘footstool’ for Humility - and may you know (always very dimly and remotely) something of His Goodness, His Glory - and that abyss inbetween that He Longs Lovingly to bridge. And flowing from that Love, His Infinite Loving Mercy that embraces absolutely all without exemption, bridges all distances no matter how far - but never without invitation. “He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent” (St Augustine) A very wise and holy priest once said to me when I asked “What IS contemplation?” : “Well, it aint gazing at your own navel, I can tell you that much!”
St Teresa of Avila said “Humility, Humility my daughters - humility will win The King every time”. She was, of course, speaking to fellow Carmelite nuns under her leadership and guidance. But it speaks also to us all.
J
jeannetherese
Guest
I’m just not sure I can promise the last thing. That’s what I want, though. That’s what it seems like pursuing sanctity really is. Loving Jesus.
Hi Pursue Sanctity,
I wish there had been one more option on the poll: “yes and I will work hard at this but am not sure that I can pull it off.”
It’s a bit less strong than the “yes and I’m gonna work and make it happen” response that I chose. It acknowledges my frailty, my imperfections, the fact that while I have the desire, I cannot guarantee the result. It leaves room for hard work and grace, and that grace is going to be a crucial part of any progress I make.
I’m glad you posted the thread and I appreciate the Padre Pio prayer. I watched a documentary on him (in 6 parts) on youtube last night. It was pretty special.
May God bless you and all of the ‘want to be saints’ working their way one day/moment/ act at a time towards this goal. Amen.
P
PursueSanctity
Guest
You’re right. I wrote it wrong. Maybe it should say, “Yes, and I’ll work hard to make it happen by God’s Grace.” Of course, I can’t even work without the Grace.
Would be so kind as to post a link to the Padre Pio series you watched? There are so many about him, I would like to see the one you did.
P
PursueSanctity
Guest
I was thinking how kind it is that people bothered to come and post here. I was wondering if anyone would share what you do to get or stay close to God. And what you do, especially, to get away from yourself, if that makes sense.
I
InLight247
Guest
Is it possible to pray without ceasing? How do we stay recollected? I suggest to start with practicing the presence of God. catholictreasury.info/books/presence_of_God/index.php Brother Lawrence’s book is excellent. I will recommend it to anyone.
Once we form a habit of thinking of God and praying (talking and listening) to him throughout the day, it becomes a habit. Once the habit is formed, it becomes natural to stay recollected. Engaging in daily Mass, holy hour, prayer routine and devotions, Scriptures and spiritual readings will all help. Spending time with God alone in solitude is important. All these take some work but they are feasible. And ask God to attract you with zeal and earnestness. With God’s grace, you won’t feel burdened by doing all these. You will long for Him as the deer thirsts for water.
M
martinah
Guest
I say a decade of the Rosary everyday. Mary has brought me back to God in big way. Still have a LONG way to go though.
L
louisak
Guest
These are the things I’ve been doing recently:
- pray daily rosary, as far as possible
- meditate frequently on the Passion of the Lord - i.e. the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary
- meditate often on short passages which I have memorized from the words of Christ to St. Faustina, to Gabrielle Bossis, and to Sister Consolata Betrone. These are passages which speak of God’s immeasurable goodness and His ardent desire for the love of His children.
- pray short prayers many times during the day - these are well-known prayers, not anything I made up. Such as:
…“Jesus, Mary, I love you, save souls” (prayer revealed to Sister Consolata)
…The prayer revealed to St. Gertrude to release souls from Purgatory.
…The second prayer taught by the angel to the children at Fatima - I love this one especially. It goes like this (there are slightly different translations) “Lord, I believe in Thee, I adore Thee, I hope in Thee, and I love Thee. I ask pardon for all who do not believe in Thee, who do not adore Thee, who do not hope in Thee, and who do not love Thee”.
L
louisak
Guest
Not sure what to say about this. What about the numerous far-flung galaxies, some of which may contain other planets? I like to think that He also delighted in the sheer beauty of His creation for its own sake.
N
nuntym
Guest
+JMJ+
I ticked the “Yes, and I will work hard to make it happen” option, but I was actually looking for another option: “Yes, and I will enjoy hard to make it happen.” Here is why:
Do you know that another name for the Holy Spirit is “Gift”? And His name is Gift because He IS a gift from God to us. And this is the consequence of that:
The word “gift” imports an aptitude for being given. And what is given has an aptitude or relation both to the giver and to that to which it is given. For it would not be given by anyone, unless it was his to give; and it is given to someone to be his. Now a divine person is said to belong to another, either by origin, as the Son belongs to the Father; or as possessed by another. But we are said to possess what we can freely use or enjoy as we please: and in this way a divine person cannot be possessed, except by a rational creature united to God. Other creatures can be moved by a divine person, not, however, in such a way as to be able to enjoy the divine person, and to use the effect thereof.
Summa Theologica, I, q. 38, a.1
Did you get that? Since the Holy Spirit is a gift to us, we can “enjoy” Him “as we please” and “use the effect thereof”. Did you get that?! We are to ENJOY AND USE GOD as we please, anytime, anywhere, because He was given to us!
That is how daring our religion is! And how much our God loves us!
But how do we do this? Well, first we must understand what it means to enjoy God.
In another part St. Thomas Aquinas said:
It is impossible for any created good to constitute man’s happiness. For happiness is the perfect good, which lulls the appetite altogether; else it would not be the last end, if something yet remained to be desired. Now the object of the will, i.e. of man’s appetite, is the universal good; just as the object of the intellect is the universal true. Hence it is evident that naught can lull man’s will, save the universal good. This is to be found, not in any creature, but in God alone; because every creature has goodness by participation. Wherefore God alone can satisfy the will of man, according to the words of Psalm 102:5: “Who satisfieth thy desire with good things.” Therefore God alone constitutes man’s happiness.
Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 2, a. 8
Therefore God alone constitutes man’s happiness. Amazing, ain’t it?
And that is the start of how to enjoy God: it is to know that God is the only one who can satiate all our desires. And you have to know more about God. It is only then that you can experience God. And you can only do these through prayer.
That is right. Although the objective reasons for praying to God are adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication (the ACTS of prayer), the ONLY subjective reason (why it is good for us to pray) for prayer is to enjoy Him.
And once you understand and experience this, everything else will fall into place. You will know why we fast, we sacrifice, we suffer, receive the Sacraments, and all else the Church urges us to do: to be able to enjoy Him better, because we get ourselves out of the way of enjoying Him in prayer, and receive and know Him better. In fact, you will understand why the Holy Eucharist is the pinnacle of our Faith: because that is where we can enjoy God the most!
Now do you understand why Jesus and the saints pray so much? They enjoy God! And when you start to understand and experience this, you will pray more, too. I guarantee it: I have experienced it.
“If you did know the gift of God!” John 4:10
But prayer is not the only thing we do in life. I would say our lives are more or less divided in three kinds of activities: prayer (which we have discussed), work, and leisure.
Work is what I would call anything that would drain us physically, emotionally, spiritually. I think the word that would describe it better is “toil”, but I do not want this discussion to be too moody
And so better it be, for I am pretty sure once you understand and experience what prayer must be for us, you will be skipping towards whatever job or chore you have to do afterwards.
Continued next post…
I ticked the “Yes, and I will work hard to make it happen” option, but I was actually looking for another option: “Yes, and I will enjoy hard to make it happen.” Here is why:
Do you know that another name for the Holy Spirit is “Gift”? And His name is Gift because He IS a gift from God to us. And this is the consequence of that:
The word “gift” imports an aptitude for being given. And what is given has an aptitude or relation both to the giver and to that to which it is given. For it would not be given by anyone, unless it was his to give; and it is given to someone to be his. Now a divine person is said to belong to another, either by origin, as the Son belongs to the Father; or as possessed by another. But we are said to possess what we can freely use or enjoy as we please: and in this way a divine person cannot be possessed, except by a rational creature united to God. Other creatures can be moved by a divine person, not, however, in such a way as to be able to enjoy the divine person, and to use the effect thereof.
Summa Theologica, I, q. 38, a.1
Did you get that? Since the Holy Spirit is a gift to us, we can “enjoy” Him “as we please” and “use the effect thereof”. Did you get that?! We are to ENJOY AND USE GOD as we please, anytime, anywhere, because He was given to us!
That is how daring our religion is! And how much our God loves us!
But how do we do this? Well, first we must understand what it means to enjoy God.
In another part St. Thomas Aquinas said:
It is impossible for any created good to constitute man’s happiness. For happiness is the perfect good, which lulls the appetite altogether; else it would not be the last end, if something yet remained to be desired. Now the object of the will, i.e. of man’s appetite, is the universal good; just as the object of the intellect is the universal true. Hence it is evident that naught can lull man’s will, save the universal good. This is to be found, not in any creature, but in God alone; because every creature has goodness by participation. Wherefore God alone can satisfy the will of man, according to the words of Psalm 102:5: “Who satisfieth thy desire with good things.” Therefore God alone constitutes man’s happiness.
Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 2, a. 8
Therefore God alone constitutes man’s happiness. Amazing, ain’t it?
And that is the start of how to enjoy God: it is to know that God is the only one who can satiate all our desires. And you have to know more about God. It is only then that you can experience God. And you can only do these through prayer.
That is right. Although the objective reasons for praying to God are adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication (the ACTS of prayer), the ONLY subjective reason (why it is good for us to pray) for prayer is to enjoy Him.
And once you understand and experience this, everything else will fall into place. You will know why we fast, we sacrifice, we suffer, receive the Sacraments, and all else the Church urges us to do: to be able to enjoy Him better, because we get ourselves out of the way of enjoying Him in prayer, and receive and know Him better. In fact, you will understand why the Holy Eucharist is the pinnacle of our Faith: because that is where we can enjoy God the most!
Now do you understand why Jesus and the saints pray so much? They enjoy God! And when you start to understand and experience this, you will pray more, too. I guarantee it: I have experienced it.
“If you did know the gift of God!” John 4:10
But prayer is not the only thing we do in life. I would say our lives are more or less divided in three kinds of activities: prayer (which we have discussed), work, and leisure.
Work is what I would call anything that would drain us physically, emotionally, spiritually. I think the word that would describe it better is “toil”, but I do not want this discussion to be too moody
And so better it be, for I am pretty sure once you understand and experience what prayer must be for us, you will be skipping towards whatever job or chore you have to do afterwards.
Continued next post…
N
nuntym
Guest
But more than that, I would lump here not only our work and our chores, but also sickness, disappointments, and the like. And what does Scripture say about it?
Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
James 1:2-3
But if all our joy comes from enjoying God, what does James mean by this? Right, rejoice! We get our joy from prayer, then we remember that joy when we need to. Re-joice!
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4
So therefore our rejoicing must be like those people in Jesus’ parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price, who “went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-47). For the enjoyment of God in prayer IS the pearl of great price, and the treasure hidden in us, and we will go through all that toil buoyed by that joy and the anticipation of enjoying Him again!
But in the middle of work you may want to enjoy God once in a while. Fortunately there are such things as “aspirations” or “invocations”, or what was more commonly called as “ejaculations” before term became to have almost solely sexual connotations. They are very short prayers “to be said throughout the day to keep our minds focused on Heavenly things and to consecrate our efforts.” The term “ejaculation” come from the Latin term for throwing a javelin or shooting an arrow. These prayers, therefore, are arrows of love towards the heart of God. Here is a list of indulgenced invocations. Mine, actually is a bit long, but it feels so right for me: it is the “Glory be”.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now,
and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
And lastly, we have leisures. They are the opposite of work, in that they rest and replenish us physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually. And, surprisingly, St. Thomas Aquinas has to say something about them, too:
Just as man needs bodily rest for the body’s refreshment, because he cannot always be at work, since his power is finite and equal to a certain fixed amount of labor, so too is it with his soul, whose power is also finite and equal to a fixed amount of work. Consequently when he goes beyond his measure in a certain work, he is oppressed and becomes weary, and all the more since when the soul works, the body is at work likewise, in so far as the intellective soul employs forces that operate through bodily organs…Consequently, the remedy for weariness of soul must needs consist in the application of some pleasure, by slackening the tension of the reason’s study. Thus in the Conferences of the Fathers xxiv, 21, it is related of Blessed John the Evangelist, that when some people were scandalized on finding him playing together with his disciples, he is said to have told one of them who carried a bow to shoot an arrow. And when the latter had done this several times, he asked him whether he could do it indefinitely, and the man answered that if he continued doing it, the bow would break. Whence the Blessed John drew the inference that in like manner man’s mind would break if its tension were never relaxed.
Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 168, a. 2
Now back then I have a problem with leisures in that I sometimes have too much, and then I couldn’t pray and work as much, and then I would then feel guilty of it, and then I would work and pray so much that I would then be too exhausted to work or pray anymore and thus I would go into (sometimes illicit) leisures that would again take all my time. It was a never ending cycle of laziness followed by frenzy and always with an ever increasing pile of guilt.
It was then that I learned of this principle of the joy of prayer first, and everything starts to get better. As St. Thomas Aquinas said,
No man can live without joy. That is why one deprived of spiritual joy goes over to carnal pleasures.
Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 35, a. 4, ad 2
Leisure then starts to become for me as moments of thanksgiving. You see, leisure is meant to be enjoyed (and woe to you if you do not like your leisures!
) but I sometimes become guilty of it because I tend to forget God because of my enjoyment.
But then I remember how kids, after being given gifts of toys, just say “Thank you!” to the giver and then start playing with it, and no matter how it seems that the kids just forget about the giver, the giver is satisfied knowing that the best thanksgiving they can give to him is that they enjoy them.
And thus my enjoyment of leisure becomes more reasonable, because if my enjoyment of leisure is as thanksgiving for the joy of prayer, then it goes into my mind that I must not ruin my work and prayers by having too much fun. And besides, my main source of joy is not leisure anymore, but prayer. As the great G.K. Chesterton said:
We should thank God for beer and burgundy by not drinking too much of them.
Orthodoxy
Now I am not saying that you will only be rejoicing in work, and thanksgiving in leisure. I am just saying that it seems proper to emphasize them in such activities.
So there you have it, the reason for wanting an additional option for your poll. I hope you enjoyed it
Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
James 1:2-3
But if all our joy comes from enjoying God, what does James mean by this? Right, rejoice! We get our joy from prayer, then we remember that joy when we need to. Re-joice!
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4
So therefore our rejoicing must be like those people in Jesus’ parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price, who “went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-47). For the enjoyment of God in prayer IS the pearl of great price, and the treasure hidden in us, and we will go through all that toil buoyed by that joy and the anticipation of enjoying Him again!
But in the middle of work you may want to enjoy God once in a while. Fortunately there are such things as “aspirations” or “invocations”, or what was more commonly called as “ejaculations” before term became to have almost solely sexual connotations. They are very short prayers “to be said throughout the day to keep our minds focused on Heavenly things and to consecrate our efforts.” The term “ejaculation” come from the Latin term for throwing a javelin or shooting an arrow. These prayers, therefore, are arrows of love towards the heart of God. Here is a list of indulgenced invocations. Mine, actually is a bit long, but it feels so right for me: it is the “Glory be”.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now,
and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
And lastly, we have leisures. They are the opposite of work, in that they rest and replenish us physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually. And, surprisingly, St. Thomas Aquinas has to say something about them, too:
Just as man needs bodily rest for the body’s refreshment, because he cannot always be at work, since his power is finite and equal to a certain fixed amount of labor, so too is it with his soul, whose power is also finite and equal to a fixed amount of work. Consequently when he goes beyond his measure in a certain work, he is oppressed and becomes weary, and all the more since when the soul works, the body is at work likewise, in so far as the intellective soul employs forces that operate through bodily organs…Consequently, the remedy for weariness of soul must needs consist in the application of some pleasure, by slackening the tension of the reason’s study. Thus in the Conferences of the Fathers xxiv, 21, it is related of Blessed John the Evangelist, that when some people were scandalized on finding him playing together with his disciples, he is said to have told one of them who carried a bow to shoot an arrow. And when the latter had done this several times, he asked him whether he could do it indefinitely, and the man answered that if he continued doing it, the bow would break. Whence the Blessed John drew the inference that in like manner man’s mind would break if its tension were never relaxed.
Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 168, a. 2
Now back then I have a problem with leisures in that I sometimes have too much, and then I couldn’t pray and work as much, and then I would then feel guilty of it, and then I would work and pray so much that I would then be too exhausted to work or pray anymore and thus I would go into (sometimes illicit) leisures that would again take all my time. It was a never ending cycle of laziness followed by frenzy and always with an ever increasing pile of guilt.
It was then that I learned of this principle of the joy of prayer first, and everything starts to get better. As St. Thomas Aquinas said,
No man can live without joy. That is why one deprived of spiritual joy goes over to carnal pleasures.
Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 35, a. 4, ad 2
Leisure then starts to become for me as moments of thanksgiving. You see, leisure is meant to be enjoyed (and woe to you if you do not like your leisures!
) but I sometimes become guilty of it because I tend to forget God because of my enjoyment.But then I remember how kids, after being given gifts of toys, just say “Thank you!” to the giver and then start playing with it, and no matter how it seems that the kids just forget about the giver, the giver is satisfied knowing that the best thanksgiving they can give to him is that they enjoy them.
And thus my enjoyment of leisure becomes more reasonable, because if my enjoyment of leisure is as thanksgiving for the joy of prayer, then it goes into my mind that I must not ruin my work and prayers by having too much fun. And besides, my main source of joy is not leisure anymore, but prayer. As the great G.K. Chesterton said:
We should thank God for beer and burgundy by not drinking too much of them.
Orthodoxy
Now I am not saying that you will only be rejoicing in work, and thanksgiving in leisure. I am just saying that it seems proper to emphasize them in such activities.
So there you have it, the reason for wanting an additional option for your poll. I hope you enjoyed it
Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
L
Lady_Love
Guest
If you want to be a saint only one thing is necessary. Love Jesus. Jesus is the person standing next to you at the counter, Jesus is your spouse who needs an affectionate touch or encouragement, Jesus is your priest who is overworked and misunderstood, Jesus is the sinner who doesn’t know how to love himself or forgive himself, Jesus is the angry customer.
Let me tell you a story:
One day at work, where I am a hairdresser, a customer came in who had a chip on her shoulder. She was snide, mean and demanding. I did not want to take her for a client but it was obvious that I had time to do her hair by looking at my empty schedule lying open in front of her. So, I took a deep breath and prayed, “Jesus, I am going to pretend that this woman is you because I couldn’t deal with her otherwise.”
I took the woman over to the sink and started washing her hair. She was poking my ego trying to find an excuse to blow up at me (I could tell). I didn’t react to any of her comments or attitudes. I just smiled and rubbed her head gently while washing her hair. I thought to myself, “Oh, Jesus, you are being very difficult today.” I finished washing her hair and brought her to my chair. We discussed her hair and she was still poking at me aggressively. I just kept smiling and being gentle. I took my first snip of her hair and she started to sob. I immediately said, “Did I cut your hair to short?”
“No.” she sobbed some more. I said, “What’s wrong?” she said, “I have cancer and I only have a week to live.”
I embraced her and helped soothe her fears, all the while being so glad that I did not turn her away or react to her attitude and anger.
Jesus is always with us waiting to be loved. That day, I was Mary Magdalene anointing the head of my Lord.
Let me tell you a story:
One day at work, where I am a hairdresser, a customer came in who had a chip on her shoulder. She was snide, mean and demanding. I did not want to take her for a client but it was obvious that I had time to do her hair by looking at my empty schedule lying open in front of her. So, I took a deep breath and prayed, “Jesus, I am going to pretend that this woman is you because I couldn’t deal with her otherwise.”
I took the woman over to the sink and started washing her hair. She was poking my ego trying to find an excuse to blow up at me (I could tell). I didn’t react to any of her comments or attitudes. I just smiled and rubbed her head gently while washing her hair. I thought to myself, “Oh, Jesus, you are being very difficult today.” I finished washing her hair and brought her to my chair. We discussed her hair and she was still poking at me aggressively. I just kept smiling and being gentle. I took my first snip of her hair and she started to sob. I immediately said, “Did I cut your hair to short?”
“No.” she sobbed some more. I said, “What’s wrong?” she said, “I have cancer and I only have a week to live.”
I embraced her and helped soothe her fears, all the while being so glad that I did not turn her away or react to her attitude and anger.
Jesus is always with us waiting to be loved. That day, I was Mary Magdalene anointing the head of my Lord.
P
PursueSanctity
Guest
So, (correct me if I get this wrong) when you say “stay recollected” it means keeping oneself in the presence and awareness of of God. Thanks for saying more, it reminds me of the way I used to be, of something I lost and need to find again.
There are certainly a lot of great references building up in this thread. I want to put three here that have been recommended in the thread or in PM:
The Practice of the Presence of God (also above)
Imitation of Christ
by GK ChestertonOrthodoxy
I am going to be devoting a significant portion of my December days to reading these with the intent of establishing a regular habit of spiritual reading, as well as Scripture.
Stay Recollected!
P
PursueSanctity
Guest
It’s really this simple, though, isn’t it? Pray. Keep praying. It doesn’t have to be some great intellectual pursuit or complicated thing: just pray. Believe and pray. What did Padre Pio say: “Pray, hope and don’t worry.”
P
PursueSanctity
Guest
If you find some time, could you post them here? I think this thread will be a wonderful resource to come back to again and again for continuing inspiration.
I have trouble meditating on the Crucifixion, even though St Francis and Padre Pio recommend it. Maybe I am too imaginative, but it seems too horrible to me to contemplate and I avoid thinking about it at all if I can.
I just thought it would be good to repeat this.
P
Pitcharan
Guest
J
jeannetherese
Guest
Here it is.
Or at least, here is part one. You have to pull up each new part every 10 minutes.youtube.com/watch?v=flZUKsbT8Xg&feature=related
part 2
youtube.com/watch?v=x9Dni5S8-PQ
part 3
youtube.com/watch?v=v6oHPFXERZs
part 4
youtube.com/watch?v=nOI8vZ1byu4
part 5
youtube.com/watch?v=CssUZmuygYk
part 6
youtube.com/watch?v=CssUZmuygYk
If I like the next one on my queue, I’ll post it as well. Unlike this one which is in English, it is in Italian with subtitles.
May God bless us all! Amen.
jt
S
SweetLambs
Guest
See, I have trouble meditating on the Passion too, but it’s not because I find it too horrible to contemplate (though it is almost)- I just struggle with feeling little at all. Being a prevet student, I am so used to seeing blood and suffering and while I feel empathy, I also have developed a way of being detached, which is good and necessary in medicine, but terrible for meditation. I feel bad when I see somebody hurt, but I don’t feel it in sorrow. I want to figure out how to fix the problem…arrest the hemorrhage, suture the lacerations, deal with shock, keep the patient calm.
Then again, I rarely feel love as a warm, fuzzy emotion- it’s more of a sense of duty which is sometimes sweet and sometimes bitter.
It’s good for me to try to change my personality in this regard a bit, though I’m not exactly sure how. St Francis is my patron saint and I’m sure that he can help…I wish I was a bit softer naturally but I am not. And then I invariably feel guilty because I don’t feel anything whatsoever sometimes. It can make prayer hard.
A
ACanthony
Guest
What a great thread!!!
I have a great desire to be a saint. As a child, I loved seeing what Mother Teresa was doing and admired her great desire to help the poor. Growing up, I almost felt ashamed because I was sure that I would never in my wildest dreams do anything like Mother Teresa did! I realized it was spiritual pride, trying to turn God’s love into some kind of thing we can fully measure or become successful at. That is when I learned about St. Therese the Little Flower’s small way and how she became a saint. She really didn’t even do anything worthwhile (at least in worldly terms). She just lived with great love and did all the small things with great love. To me that was a big “AH HA! Moment”…I don’t need to do something great like Mother Teresa (although hey, that might be in the plans still and if I do something like that, awesome!). We can’t truly tell the measure of our holiness and who it affects. To some like Mother Teresa you can clearly see what great works she has done. Maybe to another saint, they may have struggled much with sin and doubt, but yet, they strove really hard to be holy and they only saved one other soul. It may not seem like much but to that one soul they saved, that is very much!
In my personal walk with God, sometimes when I think I’m doing good, I’m really not and sometimes just after I sin real bad and have a pretty shameful fall, I know I’m doing awesome because I went to Confession and I can clearly see how much God loves me.
Perhaps, Pursuing Sanctity, you should write a book (or small blog if that doesn’t suit you) about your journey to become a saint and what you have learned along the way, the troubles and pitfalls? I think it would be an interesting endeavor for sure and maybe it would make other people think that they should think about being a saint too! God bless you.
I have a great desire to be a saint. As a child, I loved seeing what Mother Teresa was doing and admired her great desire to help the poor. Growing up, I almost felt ashamed because I was sure that I would never in my wildest dreams do anything like Mother Teresa did! I realized it was spiritual pride, trying to turn God’s love into some kind of thing we can fully measure or become successful at. That is when I learned about St. Therese the Little Flower’s small way and how she became a saint. She really didn’t even do anything worthwhile (at least in worldly terms). She just lived with great love and did all the small things with great love. To me that was a big “AH HA! Moment”…I don’t need to do something great like Mother Teresa (although hey, that might be in the plans still and if I do something like that, awesome!). We can’t truly tell the measure of our holiness and who it affects. To some like Mother Teresa you can clearly see what great works she has done. Maybe to another saint, they may have struggled much with sin and doubt, but yet, they strove really hard to be holy and they only saved one other soul. It may not seem like much but to that one soul they saved, that is very much!
In my personal walk with God, sometimes when I think I’m doing good, I’m really not and sometimes just after I sin real bad and have a pretty shameful fall, I know I’m doing awesome because I went to Confession and I can clearly see how much God loves me.
Perhaps, Pursuing Sanctity, you should write a book (or small blog if that doesn’t suit you) about your journey to become a saint and what you have learned along the way, the troubles and pitfalls? I think it would be an interesting endeavor for sure and maybe it would make other people think that they should think about being a saint too! God bless you.
T
TiggerS
Guest
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Love is not warm feelings, it is commitment. It is to commit come what may and to know to Whom and therefore to what one has committed oneself and why.
Feelings can have ver many and varied causes, very often quite independant of free choice i.e. our will has not chosen particular feelings nor, very often, can our will control them. Love of God is in the will, in our choices.
In the final analysis, it is not whether I feel good or don’t feel good, it is where my ‘two feet are firmly planted’ and quite independant of how I might feel.
Prayer is vital to being faithful to commitment, and it is important to have at very least one chosen set period of prayer daily, be it five or fifty minutes. It is not the amount of time spent in prayer, rather our focus during prayer. Prayer is to raise heart and mind to God.
It has been very wisely said “pray as you can, not as you can not”. In other words, to seek out that way of raising heart and mind to God - daily - with which one is most comfortable and at Peace. There are many methods of praying and some are quite important methods - but they do remain methods and not prayer itself.
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