"Nihil contíngere potest, quod Deus non velit. Quidquid autem ille vult, utcúmque nobis malum videátur, est tamen vere óptimum."
"Nothing can come but what God wills. And I am very sure that whatever that be, however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best."
-St Thomas More, Letter written in prison to his daughter Margaret
The Dark Night of the Soul
Be not Fearful for God is Near
Sometimes we enter a dark night of the soul, where God seems distant from us. This is only an illusion, for God is closer to us than our own breath. These times are allowed by God to bring us closer to Him, much like the loving parent who stands her child on his feet, walks a few feet away holding out her arms, and waits for the child to take his first steps. She is ever ready to reach out and lift the child up should he start to fall, but she knows she must distance herself for a few moments if the child is going to learn to stand on his own two feet. We are like that.
When you find it difficult to pray, light your lampada before your icons and sit silently before them. Say to God, I am hurting and sad, and am unable to speak to You, so I need You to speak to my heart. Sometimes the most profitable spiritual growth can take place in such periods of brokenness because we see in these moments how very much we need God and depend upon Him.
Be not fearful, dear ones, for God is near, and will not leave you. The Lord is allowing these dry moments, where you are fearing He has left you, as the way of making you reach out to Him. When we are struggling, or even suffering, we grow stronger in our faith. Prayer will return as long is you give God moments in your life when you avail yourself in silence, and listen for His voice.
The parent who constantly does his child's homework, does him no favor, for the child never learns to stand on his own, and will forever remain dependent on his parent. The Lord wants us to grow strong in our faith, while entering into a mature relationship with Him. If we do not learn to stand on our own, we will forever be like the codependent child, never having the skills to reach high places, and forever remaining weak and fearful.
Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
There is not a moment in which God is not present with us under the cover of some pain to be endured, some obligation or some duty to be performed, or some consolation to be enjoyed.
All that takes place within us, around us, or through us involves and conceals his divine hand.
God's hand is really and truly there, but it is invisibly present, so that we are always surprised and do not recognize his operation until it has ceased. If we could lift the veil, and if we were attentive and watchful, God would continually reveal himself to us, and we would see his hand in everything that happens to us, and rejoice in it. At every event we would exclaim, "It is the Lord!" and we would accept every fresh circumstance as a gift from God.
We would consider physical causes as very feeble instruments in the hands of an all-powerful Workman, and we would easily find that we lack nothing, and that God's watchful care disposes him to supply whatever we need at every moment. If only we had faith we would be grateful to all the external means he uses. We would cherish them, and be thankful for them in our hearts, because in the hand of God they have been so useful to us, so favorable to the work of our perfection.
--Father Jean Pierre de Caussade, S.J. "His divine hand." excerpt from The Joy of Full Surrender (Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2008).
One has to keep in mind that, in the doctrine of St Thomas, sanctifying grace involves the level of the essence or nature, which it elevates, while adoptive filiation, being a personal property, concerns the level of the act of being which is constitutive of ontological personality.* Speaking of cause and effect between the two levels requires precise use of metaphysical notions in the order of creation and even more in that of the supernatural elevation. To say that the Christian is "a son of God through or by grace" is not equivalent to saying that "adoptive filiation is an effect of the infusion of created grace." If one does not explain well this this last affirmation, it could appear that adoptive filiation is a juridical reality much like human adoption, when in fact it is a true participation in the subsistent Filiation which transforms the person into a son of God.
*"Supernatural divine filiation and sanctifying grace are inseparable but distinct realities: divine filiation is a 'personal property'." (St Thomas, Summa Theologiae q23 a4 c)
--Ernst Burkhart & Javier López, Vida cotidiana y santidad en la enseñanza de San JOsemaría. Estudio de teología espiritual. II. Madrid: Rialp, 2011 (--translation by jmo mandia)
HOW MUCH OUR FATHER GOD LOVES US
How good and how delightful is your spirit, Lord, in all men!
The eternal Father, indescribably kind and tender, turned his eye to this soul and spoke to her thus:
‘O dearest daughter, I have determined to show my mercy and loving kindness to the world, and I choose to provide for mankind all that is good. But man, ignorant, turns into a death-giving thing what I gave in order to give him life. Not only ignorant, but cruel: cruel to himself. But still I go on providing. For this reason I want you to know: whatever I give to man, I do it out of my great providence.
‘So it was that when, by my providence, I created man, I looked into myself and fell in love with the beauty of the creature I had made – for it had pleased me, in my providence, to create man in my own image and likeness.
‘Moreover, I gave man memory, to be able to remember the good things I had done for him and to be able to share in my own power, the power of the eternal Father.
‘Moreover, I gave man intellect, so that, seeing the wisdom of my Son, he could recognise and understand my own will; for I am the giver of all graces and I give them with a burning fatherly love.
‘Moreover, I gave man the desire to love, sharing in the tenderness of the Holy Spirit, so that he might love the things that his intellect had understood and seen.
‘But my kind providence did all this solely that man might be able to understand me and enjoy me, rejoicing in my vision for all eternity. And as I have told you elsewhere, the disobedience of your first parent Adam closed heaven to you – and from that disobedience came all evil through the whole world.
‘To relieve man of the death that his own disobedience had brought, I tenderly and providently gave you my only-begotten Son to heal you and bring satisfaction for your needs. I gave him the task of being supremely obedient, to free the human race of the poison that your first parent’s disobedience had spread throughout the world. Falling in love, as it were, with his task, and truly obedient, he hurried to a shameful death on the most holy Cross. By his most holy death he gave you life: not human life this time, but with the strength of his divinity.’
--St Catherine of Siena's Dialogue on Divine Providence
OVERCOMING SPIRITUAL DISAPPOINTMENT
Over the years, I've discovered two very simple, yet powerful, antibiotics for the spiritual blues. Neither requires hours of study or days of labor. Neither will cost you a fortune—not even a single dime. Yet, when it seems as though God has abandoned you, put the two together and you will discover a formula filled with hope.
I. GOD INHABITS PRAISE
The biggest cure for spiritual disappointment is praise. When we feel God is not with us, that he's absent, that he's let us down, or when we feel our spiritual lives aren't clicking, we need the discipline of praise! Whenever I'm down, praise helps me give thanks in advance for the good that is going to come. Start thanking God for the victory ahead for you in every downer situation you're in. Praise his awe-inspiring attributes. Praise him for loving you as a Father. Thank him for his trustworthiness. Praise him for answering your prayers.
In Psalm 22, David starts with a prayer of disappointment but moves into praise:
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel."
God inhabits praise!
II. GOD INHABITS HISTORY
The second cure for spiritual disappointment is history. Review your own history, and review the history of the people of God. Review the story of your own beginning with Christ and incidents where you were sure of his faithfulness. Then when you pray, think of Abraham, Moses, David, the story of Jesus, and the birth of the church.
I often look back on the long up-and-down history of the church and God's people, the many struggles and trials. Yet, through it all, God consistently kept his promises. When I consider such history, it propels me past feelings of hopelessness—because I begin to sense the bigger picture of God's vision.
After questioning God in Psalm 22, David starts into the history of Israel and how God has graciously watched over his people. He continues with a clear picture of Christ's death and resurrection.
There's a powerful lesson in David's formula. First, we are honest before God. Then, we remember what God has done in our lives, in the history of all his people. Then, we look forward to God's ultimate redemptive plan. When we pray like this, we may even feel like we are in a "thin place"—here our earthly lives draw nearer to heaven. God will meet us where we hurt and help us see more clearly through the fog. God always inhabits history!
At some point in all our lives, we will face spiritual disappointment. But when we are honest with ourselves and with God, when we cry out to him, when we praise him and remember his work in our lives and in the story of his people, an amazing thing happens. We stop focusing on ourselves and our own disappointments and start focusing on God . . . never forgetting the promise in Romans 8:28: "We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
(Howard Butt, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewLibrary.asp?LibraryID=4984&WID=380&T=H&SID=12675)
“We must leave things to God because He loves us more tenderly than a father loves his child (…) And then, in so far as we put our trust in God, He will take care of us. (…)
Be ready to do all that He wants you to do. But make no claims to being in this particular house, or in this parish, or out in the fields, and don't be afraid to go wherever you are sent. Be persuaded of this: God will look after you wherever you are.” [pp. 73-74]
(St Vincent de Paul. From Jacques Delarue, The Holiness of Vincent de Paul, Geoffrey Chapman Ltd, London 1960, 132 pp)
Although things are not perfect
Because of trial or pain
Continue in thanksgiving
Do not begin to blame
Even when the times are hard
Fierce winds are bound to blow
God is forever able
Hold on to what you know
Imagine life without His love
Joy would cease to be
Keep thanking Him for all the things
Love imparts to thee
Move out of "Camp Complaining"
No weapon that is known
On earth can yield the power
Praise can do alone
Quit looking at the future
Redeem the time at hand
Start every day with worship
To "thank" is a command
Until we see Him coming
Victorious in the sky
We'll run the race with gratitude
Xalting God most high
Yes, therell be good times & yes some will be bad, but...
Zion waits in glory...where none are ever sad!
"I AM Too blessed to be stressed!"
The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is
the distance between your knees and the floor.
The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.
Love and peace be with you forever, Amen.
(Received in the e-mail 11 Mar 2008)
How does one progress in hope?
18 Existimo enim quod non sunt condignae passiones huius temporis ad futuram gloriam,
quae revelanda est in nobis.
19 Nam exspectatio creaturae revelationem filiorum Dei exspectat;
20 vanitati enim creatura subiecta est, non volens sed propter eum, qui subiecit, in spem,
21 quia et ipsa creatura liberabitur a servitute corruptionis in libertatem gloriae filiorum Dei.
22 Scimus enim quod omnis creatura congemiscit et comparturit usque adhuc;
23 non solum autem, sed et nos ipsi primitias Spiritus habentes,
et ipsi intra nos gemimus adoptionem filiorum exspectantes, redemptionem corporis nostri.
24 Spe enim salvi facti sumus;
spes autem, quae videtur, non est spes;
nam, quod videt, quis sperat?
25 Si autem, quod non videmus, speramus, per patientiam exspectamus.
18* I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19* For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God;
20* for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will
but by the will of him who subjected it in hope;
21* because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay
and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22* We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now;
23* and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit,
groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
24* For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope.
For who hopes for what he sees?
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
(Romans 5:18-20)
1 Levabo oculos meos in montes:
unde veniet auxilium mihi?
2 Auxilium meum a Domino,
qui fecit caelum et terram.
3 Non dabit in commotionem pedem tuum
neque dormitabit, qui custodit te.
4 Ecce non dormitabit neque dormiet,
qui custodit Israel.
5 Dominus custodit te,
Dominus umbraculum tuum
ad manum dexteram tuam.
6 Per diem sol non percutiet te,
neque luna per noctem.
7 Dominus custodiet te ab omni malo;
custodiet animam tuam Dominus.
8 Dominus custodiet introitum tuum et exitum tuum
ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From whence does my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved,
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and for evermore.
(Psalm 121)
20 ...Sed omnia in mensura et numero et pondere disposuisti.
21 Multum enim valere tibi soli subest semper,
et virtuti brachii tui quis resistet?
22 Quoniam tamquam momentum staterae,
sic est ante te totus orbis terrarum,
et tamquam gutta roris antelucani, quae descendit in terram.
23 Sed misereris omnium, quia omnia potes;
et dissimulas peccata hominum propter paenitentiam.
24 Diligis enim omnia, quae sunt,
et nihil odisti eorum, quae fecisti;
nec enim, si odisses, aliquid constituisses.
25 Quomodo autem posset aliquid permanere, nisi tu voluisses?
Aut, quod a te vocatum non esset, conservaretur?
26 Parcis autem omnibus, quoniam tua sunt,
Domine, qui amas animas.
2 Ideoque eos, qui exerrant, paulatim corripis
et, de quibus peccant, admones et corrigis,
ut, relicta malitia, credant in te, Domine.
20 ...But thou hast arranged all things by measure and number and weight.
21 For it is always in thy power to show great strength,
and who can withstand the might of thy arm?
22 Because the whole world
before thee is like a speck that tips the scales,
and like a drop of morning dew that falls upon the ground.
23 But thou art merciful to all, for thou canst do all things,
and thou dost overlook men's sins, that they may repent.
24 For thou lovest all things that exist,
and hast loathing for none of the things which thou hast made,
for thou wouldst not have made anything if thou hadst hated it.
25 How would anything have endured if thou hadst not willed it?
Or how would anything not called forth by thee have been preserved?
26 Thou sparest all things, for they are thine,
O Lord who lovest the living.
2 Therefore thou dost correct little by little those who trespass,
and dost remind and warn them of the things wherein they sin,
that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in thee, O Lord.
(Wisdom 11:20-26; 12:3)
14 Quoniam mihi adhaesit, liberabo eum;
suscipiam eum, quoniam cognovit nomen meum.
15 Clamabit ad me, et ego exaudiam eum;
cum ipso sum in tribulatione;
eripiam eum et glorificabo eum.
16 Longitudine dierum replebo eum
et ostendam illi salutare meum.
Because he clung to me, I shall free him:
I shall lift him up because he knows my name.
He will call upon me and for my part, I will hear him:
I am with him in his time of trouble.
I shall rescue him and lead him to glory.
I shall fill him with length of days
and show him my salvation.
(Psalm 91:14-16)
3 Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
Pater misericordiarum et Deus totius consolationis,
4 qui consolatur nos in omni tribulatione nostra,
ut possimus et ipsi consolari eos, qui in omni pressura sunt,
per exhortationem, qua exhortamur et ipsi a Deo.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
a gentle Father [the Father of mercies] and the God of all consolation,
who comforts us in all our sorrows,
so that we can offer others, in their sorrows,
the consolation that we have received from God ourselves.
(II Corinthians 1:3-4)