Revealing Himself to the childlike

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God places the desire in our heart for either trials or favors prior to their coming our way so we are prepared to accept them. This is one of the ways she used to describe how the union of wills works.
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It is very true God often put desires in our hearts. That’s how we all sometimes experienced the results on our doorstep right after we prayed.
This could very well be true for trials also. God who foresees everything does prepare our hearts. Therefore, the sequence of egg and chicken may not have a definite answer.
Did our complete surrender bring additional trial?
Or did God convict our surrender to sustain us through the trial?

So, Carole, I would say since you were ready to say the St. Ignatius prayer without hesitation and reservation, it must be the leading of the Holy Spirit. For the one still has reservation, obviously her heart has not reached such capacity yet.

It has been quite a while that emotionally I want to give the Lord my 100% surrender, yet the obstacle is always the fear of potential increase of suffering. I decide to focus on other virtues for now, continue my work toward holiness. We can’t increase our merit and sanctity in next life. Working toward perfection is really in this life, in the now. Instead of worrying when I can embrace suffering without reservation, let ridding myself of faults and imperfections be the primary task for now.

According to St. John of the Cross, great progress in sanctity can be made in a short time, if we set our hearts on it. That is a very true statement.

Putting words down for discussion help me think.
 
. . . yet the obstacle is always the fear of potential increase of suffering. I decide to focus on other virtues for now, continue my work toward holiness.
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Beautiful, InLight. I have no doubt that God is bringing you to perfection in His own ways; not everyone is called to walk the same paths. That’s the beauty I find in reading the lives of the saints - so many different callings, as unique as the zillions of creations by the Creator Himself! Who could sit atop a small structure for 30 years like Simon Stylites? Or live in a desert cave?

I wonder if you have run across the gentleman who is walking all over the US like a mendicant, accepting hospitality wherever God leads him. I forget his name, (Paul?) but he was at the intersection of my family’s road one day, and my husband said, “Look at that bum!” :eek: I had met him previously in a nearby Catholic church that invited him to speak, and quietly informed him of his devotion. My sheer awe in seeing this person on the edge of our private road at the moment we were entering it was interrupted by his comment, which is normal coming from someone who is uninformed. I often wonder if it was a special sign. What are the chances?

I tremble as I reflect on the offering St. Therese made, as did Dave when he mentioned it above. We are frail in that aspect, since God is not leading us to follow her footsteps in that same manner, but more in line with her true teaching that all can become a saint doing “little” things. 👍
 
I wonder if you have run across the gentleman who is walking all over the US like a mendicant, accepting hospitality wherever God leads him.
pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt…/s_257041.html
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Wow! I have never heard of him. Thanks for the link. It took me long time to finish reading the article word by word. It is amazing! The more amazing thing is this George showed up on your private road! It must not be a coincidence!

Like you said,
not everyone is called to walk the same paths.
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George’s path is certainly unique.
But like his brother said, he must have God’s call otherwise, he couldn’t survive like this.

I always think one of most important things in life is to know God’s call and fulfill that call. God’s graces are always abundant for everyone. It is up to the individual to realize the graces and respond to them.

Jesus said to St. Faustina,
“I want to give myself to souls and to fill them with My love, but few there are who want to accept all the graces My love has intended for them. My grace is not lost; if the soul for whom it was intended does not accept it, another soul takes it.”
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George obviously is following his heart and has his childlike trust to Jesus’ call!
 
The more amazing thing is this George showed up on your private road! It must not be a coincidence!
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Could it be, among other possible coincidences, that it was to teach my husband not to judge? Sad to say, but he does have this habit. I think this is one of the most difficult things for most of us to overcome. Our impressions of others cause us to form many wrong opinions and base our reactions on what we think we see and know, whereas only the surface is apparent.

Keeping in the topic of this thread [being childlike to know God], little children take people at face value and trust them openly. That’s perhaps why we parents have to teach them to watch out for strangers. They seldom have preconceived judgments until walking through life conditions them to view people in unfavorable ways.

Ncjohn posted the problem with the pharisees in the OP, and this was their problem, too - judging Christ, the disciples, and God’s people for things that God did not hold them accountable. Psalm 50 gave me a lot of insight and correction during my earlier years. It goes like this:
You sit speaking against your brother;
against your mother’s son you spread rumors.
When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or think you that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
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It was such a pattern with God to draw these people or circumstances up before me, that I came to ask, “Lord, have I done THAT to another?” And instantly in my mind flashed a similar circumstance where I had been guilty. It was a most beautiful, humbling correction that lifted me to praise Him, for He does not correct us to condemn, but to motivate us to change our hearts. And only He sets up the perfect circumstances to teach me not to judge, for we are so finite and prone to it that we don’t even recognize our failings sometimes! Lord, have mercy!

This incident with prejudging George may be one of those humbling flashes in my husband’s mind some day with real recognition of his error.

:amen:
 
Thank you all for your welcoming comments. There is no way I could make any good contributions to this thread, but I’m still here reading. God bless you all. Peace.
 
Hi Nobody,

Glad to see you are still here! :hug3: We are honored that you visit with us and find our material worth reading. :o May God bless you with those insights that you most need. Come back often.

Carole
 
Thank you CarolAnn and nobody for keeping this thread from being a private living room involuntarily! 😉
 
Could it be, among other possible coincidences, that it was to teach my husband not to judge?
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Aren’t we all learning all the time?

Once my pastor preached a sermon of a true story happened when he was still in the monastery. A young seminarian complained to the Abbot about a priest who was always late for the morning Mass. He demanded the Abbot to correct the priest’s disrespect behavior. The Abbot informed the young man that the priest was saying daily Mass for the nuns in the convent. He could go for breakfast afterwards and was not obligated to attend the Mass for the seminarians. But the priest showed up to assist the Mass anyway.
Think about how embarrassed the young man must feel. Self-righteous is a common problem.

You are so right that:
For He does not correct us to condemn, but to motivate us to change our hearts.
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Being judgmental is what we all need to overcome. In the other thread “Cultivating an Attitude of Silence”, Dave quoted:
The silence is Mercy.
When you do not reveal the faults of your brothers to others;
When you readily forgive without inquiring into the past;
When you do not judge, but pray in your heart;
The silence is Mercy.
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Talking about working on virtues, I have lately trained myself not only not to judge by making comments, but not judge in my heart either. It really requires determination and self discipline. Working so far so good, per the strong desire of working toward holiness. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying anything about being holy. I am a work in process.
 
I just want to thank everyone for this thread, I am reading all of it and I really love it!🙂
 
InLight247 said:
Aren’t we all learning all the time?

And . . .

I am a work in process.
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One of the things I’ve come to realize lately is that there’s no such thing in this life as “absolute” perfection . . . everything is “relative.” Even for the Saints who have been brought to the heights of the Spiritual Marriage/Transforming Union, one can never say: “That’s it, God and I have done all there is to do.”

St. John of the Cross had this to say about differences in souls – even those who are seemingly “perfect:”
Ascent of Mt Carmel:
In this life we may encounter individuals who are in the state of perfection and enjoy equal peace and tranquility, and the capacity of each will be satisfied, yet one may be many degrees higher than the other.
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I tend to look at it this way: our soul is like an onion that is peeled back layer by layer by the guiding hand of God, allowing us to live in progressively deeper states of union with the indwelling Trinity. The ways of purgation, illumination and union seem to me to be repetitive, ongoing processes that are played out in increasingly deeper recesses of our soul. The top layers of the onion are in the realm of sense, to use St. John’s terms, the lower layers of the onion are in the realm of spirit. The point is, however, there’s always a layer below the one were currently at.

In St. John’s example above about perfected souls, the dominate state of each is that of union. Nevertheless, the process of illumination reveals to even these souls subtle weaknesses and imperfections they might not have even known existed. Then the process of purgation begins anew as the perfected soul is brought into even deeper union.

To illustrated further, I also like the analogy used to describe St. Therese: that everytime she climbed a mountain, she saw a new and higher peak off in the horizon. Our work will never be done.

So if even perfected souls (i.e. saints) can say they “are works in progress” that would certainly seem apply to the rest of us – for all the days of our lives 👍

Inlight, I really enjoy your reflections . . .

Dave.
 
Originally Posted by Ascent of Mt Carmel, Book 2 Chapter 5 In this life we may encounter individuals who are in the state of perfection and enjoy equal peace and tranquility, and the capacity of each will be satisfied, yet one may be many degrees higher than the other.
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How true!
Dave, I appreciate the way you always come in with profound messages, right to the point.

Just like our conscience. We hear people say “I do things according to my conscience.” As if conscience equals to truth or righteousness. But not everyone’s conscience is the same.
Man’s conscience, even well informed, can hardly ever be close to God’s standard.

Looking back my own journey in this past year, I feel the Holy Spirit is holding my hand and running. I sensed the internal Passovers I have gone through. Sometimes I pleaded to the Holy Spirit “please slow down”, because:
… that every time she climbed a mountain, she saw a new and higher peak off in the horizon. Our work will never be done.
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Sometimes, if I slowed down, I have to plead again “help me make progress!’
Our work will never be done.
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Boy oh boy, just wait till John gets back and sees that his thread has grown so magnificently!
I feel like taking off my sandals, for I am on holy ground.

[SIGN]God bless you all! :heaven: [/SIGN]

Carole
 
😉 Hello Blessedstar,

I noticed your thread, but was not able to say very much on the point for which you wanted feedback.
I would like you to post your meditations on living in the moment as Jesus directs us to do and please post them for the benefit of all of us.
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I am familiar with several 12-step programs and this is the essence to helping people overcome by concentrating on one day at a time, yes, even one moment at a time. True, it can help all of us if we do this, but since few answered your post, maybe they are just not there yet in that respect, good though it is. You had a lot of readers, and I’m sure you planted some good seeds! 🙂 I hope this helps.
 
Hello Blessedstar:

I saw your original post couple days ago. I believe your main point is not to worry and trust in Jesus.

Good post! Thanks for sharing! 👍
 
Yes, I suppose that simplicity is why Jesus reveals Himself to the childlike because they will not add or take away, but simply accept. I suppose it is as natural for the childike to experience Jesus as it is to get up and see a new sunrise; no expectations, no demands, just a natural relationship with God.
 
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