Revealing Himself to the childlike

[CarolAnnSFO]

Thank you CarolAnn and nobody for keeping this thread from being a private living room involuntarily!

I’ve been following this thread, but I subscribed to it long before I posted in it because I was attracted to the meditation in John’s original post, specifically, the part about not drawing nearer to God by being wise and learned, and God revealing Himself to those who are trusting and childlike.

Blessedstar’s posts on childlike trust in Jesus are very beautiful, too.

These concepts are very Franciscan (although certainly not limited to Franciscans!) Read up on St. Juniper (the “renowned jester of the Lord”, one of St. Francis of Assisi’s followers) if you get the chance – he had this childlike simplicity, something I would like to aspire to.

 

[InLight247]

I am not familiar with St. Juniper except reading his pig feet story. The simplicity of St. Juniper is rare and special. However, we do see childlike trust in Saints.

St. Therese’s spirituality is simple as she calls it “little way” – simply knowing God is everywhere, in every situation, and combining everything we do with the love of God.

St. Faustina:

Then I heard these words: “Go at once to Warsaw; you will enter a convent there”. I rose from prayer, came home, and took care of things that needed to be settled. As best I could, I confided to my sister what took place within my soul. I told her to say goodbye to our parents, and thus, in my one dress, with no other belongings, I arrived at Warsaw.

Here St. Faustina’s trust is the same as Abraham being called leaving for an unknown place. It is also the same trust as Jesus demanded when commissioning of the Twelve: “take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff” (Matthew 10:10)
And we see a nowadays example of the walking George discussed earlier.

I bet those Saints would all learn how to swim by nature.
If they were thrown into the river, they would just trust the floating power of the water and rise above in no time!

 

[DBT]

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=170408

Above is a link to a bit I wrote on childlike trust in Jesus. I don’t know if it is very relevant but I’ll throw it into the mix.

This thread that John has made is beautiful.

blessedstar -

So good to see you again!! . . . it’s been far too long

Dave

 

[ncjohn]

This thread that John has made is beautiful.

Kind as those words are blessedstar, John didn’t make this thread. John just opened his keyboard to some thoughts that God apparently wanted to pass on.

And from the looks of what I missed over the weekend, there are more than the couple contributions I had expected based on what we often see in this forum. I was especially pleased to see some new faces along with those friends whose counsel I find so valuable.

I heard something yesterday during the priest’s homily at the little church I attended that just seemed to fit in so beautifully here. In talking about the Martha/Mary story, he reflected on how what each was doing was important. Martha’s actions, in trying to serve, are the necessary “fruit” of contemplation. But Mary’s attention, sitting at the feet of Jesus, reminded me very much of the child sitting in full love and attention, listening to the stories so treasured by the childlike.

And the closing line of his homily brought this home to me. “Don’t be so focused on the works of the Lord that you lose your focus on the Lord of the works.”

The child will hear the words of the “Lord” and will act with love in response to them. The childlike will do likewise, and will consciously take the time to listen for the words. Many others though, and even the mostly-childlike on occasion, will hear about the words and translate them into actions that more likely are to satisfy the ego than to serve the Lord. I know my adult self often goes off to do “good things”, only to find them to be ways to be proud of my humility, as I mentioned earlier. I usually find out about that when I start to relate this good thing I did, since doing so rather than keeping it to myself is almost always a good indication of the motivation behind it.

Thank you all again for allowing yourselves to sit quietly as Jesus has spoken to us through each other. Even the quiet encouragement of Nobody and Nordar has shown the gentle spirit of those who would sit at the feet of the Master, basking in his love and cherishing his gentle instruction.

Peace,

 

[InLight247]

“Don’t be so focused on the works of the Lord that you lose your focus on the Lord of the works.”

John:
Hope you had a nice weekend. Glad to see you talking about Martha and Mary.
Our priest on Saturday evening talked about Mary being contemplative and Martha being busy serving. He said serving the Lord is a good thing, but Jesus was lovingly reminding Martha that her focus should be on the Lord, not on the work.

The priest on Sunday morning talked about we often involved ourselves in the business of life and forget the most important thing in life is to focus on Jesus. He asked us if Jesus is standing in front of us, would we keep on doing what we were doing or would we drop our things and give Jesus our full attention?
Father asked each of us to refocus our attention.

These sermons made me think that when we have our focus right, we may get double effect with half efforts of our work. This is because when we are close to the Lord, we may better receive his wisdom and inspiration. When the divine inspiration is followed, our path become straight.

 

[ncjohn]

It was not the physical aspect that disturbed me about St. Ignatius’ prayer, but all the other things … including my memory and my understanding. Scary. What if He takes me at my word???

Just in case our other readers aren’t familiar with it, here is the wording.

Back in the older days, this prayer was on the inside cover of the missalette in the pews for mass, and I never was able to pray it. God uses the oddest means to get our attention!

Thank you for posting that Carole. I hadn’t seen that prayer in years, yet what a perfect prayer it is. Yet so hard to pray honestly for most of us. For, indeed, are we ready to have him take us at our word?

Do we really want to surrender it all to dispose of according to His will? Do we really trust Him enough to make that statement?

While I’ve related this story before, I’m going to repeat it here since it was such a pivotal point in my life. When I was doing my training for Ski Patrol, I arrived earlier than usual one night and went into the chapel across the hall from the training room at the hospital, having had one of “those days”. I knelt to pray, asking God why I had so many problems. He actually answered me–audibly in my head–that I didn’t have many problems; I only had one problem. “Why don’t you trust Me?”

I’ve thought about that question many times through the years since. And of course I know the answer, which really gets back to my original post. I don’t trust Him enough because my adult “head” knowledge tells me that it doesn’t make sense to do that. I’ve seen how people let us down, and how easily we can be humiliated by trusting someone too much. And I’ve been programmed well by the culture that tells us to watch out for number one, because no one else is going to.

Even on the verge of profession now as a Secular Franciscan, I still struggle greatly with wanting to make that desire for surrender real. I struggle greatly with wanting to chuck it all and just follow him without money or an extra tunic, as Pilgrim George does. To seek to console rather than to be consoled, as the prayer of St. Francis states.

Mostly I struggle with wanting to be able to live as an authentic disciple of Christ, that my children and grandchildren might have an example to show them that the way of the world isn’t the way to God. And thankfully, from the child’s trust and unconditional love I receive from my young grandchildren I am slowly learning what that unconditional love really looks like and trying to return it to them in ways that will provide a light for them as they grow.

“Why don’t you trust Me?” My heart knows that it must. My head thinks differently. As Carole says, what if I say ok, but don’t really mean it, and He takes me at my word? I know from experience that after the fact I’ll recognize the providence and be filled with thanks. But I also know from experience that I’ll almost surely have to be dragged there kicking and screaming.

I’ve eaten far too much from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Getting back to the Garden ain’t gonna be no easy thing, so I’m counting on all of you to help me, as I will do my part to help you. I have a feeling that’s the only way it happens for any of us as none of are strong enough to carry our Cross alone. And of course none of us can do it at all unless He’s walking beside us, showing us how.

Peace,

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

Even on the verge of profession now as a Secular Franciscan, I still struggle greatly with wanting to make that desire for surrender real. I struggle greatly with wanting to chuck it all and just follow him without money or an extra tunic, as Pilgrim George does. To seek to console rather than to be consoled, as the prayer of St. Francis states.

Remember, though, that St. Francis didn’t espect everyone to live exactly as he lived, especially lay people. Just because we don’t live as Pilgrim George does, doesn’t mean we don’t have trust in God.

“I have done what was mine to do; may Christ teach you what is yours.” (St. Francis of Assisi)

“Why don’t you trust Me?” My heart knows that it must. My head thinks differently. As Carole says, what if I say ok, but don’t really mean it, and He takes me at my word?

God always knows what you are ready for and what you can handle at any given time.

Maybe part of the problem we all have is knowing the difference between trusting God and testing God. When does “trusting” turn into “testing”? Trusting is good, testing is not.

 

[blessedstar]

Kind as those words are blessedstar, John didn’t make this thread. John just opened his keyboard to some thoughts that God apparently wanted to pass on.

And from the looks of what I missed over the weekend, there are more than the couple contributions I had expected based on what we often see in this forum. I was especially pleased to see some new faces along with those friends whose counsel I find so valuable.

I heard something yesterday during the priest’s homily at the little church I attended that just seemed to fit in so beautifully here. In talking about the Martha/Mary story, he reflected on how what each was doing was important. Martha’s actions, in trying to serve, are the necessary “fruit” of contemplation. But Mary’s attention, sitting at the feet of Jesus, reminded me very much of the child sitting in full love and attention, listening to the stories so treasured by the childlike.

And the closing line of his homily brought this home to me. “Don’t be so focused on the works of the Lord that you lose your focus on the Lord of the works.”

The child will hear the words of the “Lord” and will act with love in response to them. The childlike will do likewise, and will consciously take the time to listen for the words. Many others though, and even the mostly-childlike on occasion, will hear about the words and translate them into actions that more likely are to satisfy the ego than to serve the Lord. I know my adult self often goes off to do “good things”, only to find them to be ways to be proud of my humility, as I mentioned earlier. I usually find out about that when I start to relate this good thing I did, since doing so rather than keeping it to myself is almost always a good indication of the motivation behind it.

Thank you all again for allowing yourselves to sit quietly as Jesus has spoken to us through each other. Even the quiet encouragement of Nobody and Nordar has shown the gentle spirit of those who would sit at the feet of the Master, basking in his love and cherishing his gentle instruction.

Peace,

God didn’t take over your hands, nor did He force your soul to be inspired. God doesn’t work like that. God is very gentle, so gentle we can miss His voice, its so small, so still, so gentle that it is easily missed. His voice can enter the mind like a soft breeze, and in that thought which can seem like a passing softness we can miss what He is asking us to do. God doesn’t thunder into the soul with great force even though He could do this and on rare occassion does as He did to St Paul, however for the most part He comes gently because we are broken and cannot withstand His full glory without special graces.

If you acted on a passing gentle breeze of a thought in your mind then that tells me John that you are very close to Jesus and you didn’t get there by yourself, God drew you by grace, but you too had to co-operate with grace because grace is love and love does not enforce.

So again I will thank you for the beauty you have shared and I thank God for you.

St Paul is my favourite Saint after our Blessed Virgin Mother Mary. St Paul was a contemplative and in the moment the scales fell from his eyes he truly contemplated God. St Paul I ask you to pray for us all that the scales may fall from our eyes and we may see as you saw the splendour and beauty of God especially in His Passion and in His Ressurection and that we may always trust God at every moment especially rejoicing in the uniting of our cross with the Cross of Christ. Amen.

(I digress, I know ,but that prayer came to me so I went along with it! )

In my Living prayer of life.

 

[ncjohn]

“I have done what was mine to do; may Christ teach you what is yours.” (St. Francis of Assisi)

Thank you for that Carol. I have a tendency at times, from years of bad “programming”, to beat up on myself. And more, to forget that if I try to be Francis that God wouldn’t have His John.

And thank you also, Blessedstar. You are of course right that we have to not only hear the still, small voice but we have to cooperate with it. I have been graced enough to have heard it, and fallen into the arms of Mercy itself often enough to want to cooperate.

No, I’m not perfect yet–much as my ego thinks I should be able to be by now --but at least the desire is there, and I’m learning to trust. And in that regard, the “good days” seem to outweigh the bad now, so I am grateful.

Peace,

 

[blessedstar]

And in that regard, the “good days” seem to outweigh the bad now, so I am grateful.

Peace,

I think for me the best of good days will be when God finally takes me to Himself and I will ask for mercy and then trust in Him. Until then I am having a good day by the measure of here and now, but oh what a good day it will be when I go home.

I once had a chat with a Priest just walking along after Mass and I said ‘Bad day isn’t it?’ because yet again it was raining in my country. I meant the day was having bad weather again. He said to me ‘A woman once said to me its only ever a bad day when you die’. At the moment I agreed with the Priest, but now I will say the day I go and have my first birthday in heaven will be a great day, the best of days and I don’t care if it takes a million years of purgatory to get there. I wish I could do my purgatory now, but even my life with its sorrows and sufferings I know is not enough served to pay the last penny, I am 36 years old, and if one day is like a thousand to God that is 9540000 days and still it is not enough. So I love the Cross of Jesus and hope and trust in Him and hope my small offerings united to His will be enough. I have been very wicked, but this does not deter me, nothing will ever persuade me from Jesus and His One True Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church because even in my wickedness oh how sweetly merciful and kind He has been and continues to be to me.

Sometimes the waiting is so hard and yet so beautiful.

God love you John.

 

[ncjohn]

Gee…another “coincidence” this morning. After my lapse into some negative thinking about my inability to do those things I *want to *want to do, along comes this paragraph from this morning’s Word Among Us meditation:

We can look at our own negatives and think we’ll never be able to serve God. But he gave us the distinct personalities we have. He can transform the warty bits and use us to his glory, just as he used James in spite of his impulsive temperament. The power of the Holy Spirit is more than sufficient to offset our flaws and limitations. James said, “I can drink the cup you drink!’’ How God must have loved James’ zeal! He is delighted whenever any of us aspire to follow his way, even if our desire still needs some purification!

Of course this is essentially the same thing that I was being told here already, but I guess being reminded that even the apostles were warty human beings with their own issues is always helpful in reminding us that we’re works in progress, working our way Home.

We just have to continue to trust that Daddy Knows Best.

 

[InLight247]

From an email I received on the reflection of today’s reading, it wrote:

Maybe it’s through the cracks in me that others see the Divine Light that guides me and sends me. The Lord has done - and continues to do - great things for us.

There is treasure in the clay. And the cracks on the clay may let the divine light shine through while still being molded by the Potter’s hands.

 

[Joysong]

What a beautiful meditation again today. This site is really providing a lot of food for thought!

Knowing Jesus personally, understanding things of God, is not reserved for a privileged few. It’s for everyone who desires it; everyone who looks with eyes open, hoping to see; everyone who listens with ears tuned, longing to know more of God, not just to hear the sound of his words. God delights in satisfying hearts that hunger and thirst for more of him. It is possible to hear from him personally, to experience his presence, to learn from him, and to gain understanding.

wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp?month=7&day=26&year=2007

 

[InLight247]

Thanks for the link. I have been using the “prayer journal” from Word Among Us to record my daily spiritual reflection highlight. But I didn’t realize they have such a good daily meditation site.

Here is another good site for daily reflection:
rc.net/wcc/readings/jul26.htm

 

[ncjohn]

That was certainly another beautiful meditation this morning, Carole. I can’t count the time I’ve found God speaking to me through Word Among Us.

I was also deeply touched by the closing lines of the gospel reading this morning:

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

I have no idea why God chose to speak to me the way He has on occasion, and to allow me to hear what I have heard. I do know that It gives the kind of joy that wants to bring that experience to everyone. But as Jesus also noted in that gospel, many look but don’t see and hear but don’t listen or understand. I know that the grace to do so is freely given, but it often makes me wonder why many who so genuinely seem to be seeking God do not seem to experience it.

Perhaps He just recognized that in my weakness I was like Thomas and would need more tangible proof to get through my sometimes thick head. But blessed more are those who have not so been shown and still believe. That is true childlike trust and faith. Either way though, it is very comforting to know that God is willing to do whatever it takes to teach us if we will let Him.

Peace,

 

[DBT]

Perhaps He just recognized that in my weakness I was like Thomas and would need more tangible proof to get through my sometimes thick head.

I hear 'ya

From my end, I often view myself as a “Thomas” due to my need to intellectualize what is really very simple when you get right down it. It’s as if I say to myself, “Finding our way to heaven can’t be as simple as humbly sitting at the feet of the Lord then following Him, can it?” How do I prove, document and quantify it all?!?!

He humors me in all this, but I can’t help but think I push the envelope sometimes. I always need to remind myself . . . “heart” not “head.”

We’re all works in progress . . .

Dave

 

[Joysong]

ncjohn:

I have no idea why God chose to speak to me the way He has on occasion, and to allow me to hear what I have heard. I do know that It gives the kind of joy that wants to bring that experience to everyone. But as Jesus also noted in that gospel, many look but don’t see and hear but don’t listen or understand. I know that the grace to do so is freely given, but it often makes me wonder why many who so genuinely seem to be seeking God do not seem to experience it.

John, I, too, would like to know how the ‘pure of heart’ are not able to see God, as the beatitude promises. Or the childlike, as this thread implies. Or those in Jn. 14:21 who are promised a manifestation from Jesus if they love Him and keep His commandments. I always believed that it is available to all, but is there a reason why all do not taste and see? Is it because we hold on to our seemingly insignificant pet sins, relying on confession to absolve them?

St. Teresa taught us that these attachments will hinder us in many ways from drawing close to Jesus in intimate friendship. I just don’t know the reason other than this, and maybe this is not even a cause for some folks. Have you come across anything in your readings or talks with others that can help us to understand? Or is it simply that God is God and does what He wills. All that we receive from Him is pure gift.

Carole

 

[blessedstar]

Often the best solutions are simple. I think I have said before that we humans make it a great deal more complex than it need be and I remember taking a heavy debate for that because people pointed out that we must use our intelligence. I agree that we must use our intelligence but where is the line in the sand drawn from relying on our own intelligence and relying on God. Surely firstly we rely on God and submit our intelligence to Him and it is in this way that things are revealed and I believe this is why God will reveal to one and not to another.

We must be careful in seeking God that we don’t rely on ourselves to seek Him, but offer up all that He has gifted us with, wisdom, understanding, intelligence, love, patience, especially humility etc and allow God to reveal Himself if He so chooses.

The simple heart and soul will submit with trust all of themselves to God and this is how He can reveal Himself to that soul. That is what I believe anyway.

(p.s. I could also be that God has revealed Himself in subtle ways and the soul may not have recognised Him and so God may not reveal Himself further but allow the soul to walk by pure faith as they may not have trusted in how they have experienced Him.)

 

[InLight247]

I always believed that it is available to all, but is there a reason why all do not taste and see?

Your belief is true.
Also true is that not everyone can see or hear God.

There is no partiality in God. He means for everyone to see.
God is in the nature, in the goodness of all of His creation, in the ordinariness of day to day life, in His Son Jesus. Many see but not perceive, like the Gospel says.

God speaks to everyone, but not everyone can hear.
I once heard a saying that in order to hear God, we must tune in. Just like to receive the radio signal, the frequency has to be right.

There could be different reasons why one can not hear. Maybe they don’t believe they can hear, maybe they don’t seek to hear, or maybe they don’t know how to hear.

When we are baptized and confirmed, the Holy Spirit lives in us. God’s still small voice is deep down inside. Internal silence and intimacy with God help us hear God’s voice.
We also need to immerse ourselves in God’s Word, to get familiar with His voice.
It also takes practice. I believe “seek you will find.”

 

[ncjohn]

Or is it simply that God is God and does what He wills. All that we receive from Him is pure gift.

I guess, as I believe St. Teresa commented in Interior Castle, that God will make Himself known in different ways to different people and that we are not to worry about how He does this, or to seek specific gifts.

As St. Paul said, the Spirit bestows different gifts as He sees fit. Like our tendency to not recognize the still, small voice speaking, perhaps we also don’t recognize the gifts for what they are. Maybe when God speaks to one by giving her wisdom, she doesn’t realize where that came from. Or maybe when one is gifted as a teacher or prophet, they don’t recognize that God is speaking through them.

It’s not that the gifts aren’t there, but that they go unrecognized because they’re not the gift we were expecting or looking for. Maybe not enough “flash” to be obvious. Just as some believe that you aren’t open to the Spirit if you don’t speak in tongues, maybe others of us believe that we aren’t listening if we don’t hear God speaking in our heads.

So again, we get back to the issue of childlike trust. Believing that God is giving us the gifts we need to do what He is asking rather than using our “head” to try to figure out what gifts we feel He should be giving–remaking Him in our image rather than trying to conform ourselves, in trust, to His. If we can open ourselves to just sit and listen, He will reveal Himself, even if it’s in a different way than we might have expected.

Peace,