Ash Wednesday
Today we begin Lent, a special time to grow, a time for a small conversion. Our Mother the Church opens the flood gates of its abundant graces, to shower what we need in our parched soul. It is a time to look towards how we are growing in our love of God. Maybe we have been slowing down, stopped or even went backwards. It happens in the lives of saints too; sometimes it looks like they are growing fast, and other times they are not moving. Why is that? Is it God’s will or our lack of struggle? Saint Teresa of Avila talks about the four things that slowed her down, from when she became a nun at twenty years old, till she was almost forty and decided to take her holiness seriously. A statue of Jesus suffering his passion moved her to tears.
The first one is carelessness about sin. It is a complacency or complicity with sin, finding easy excuses for our imperfections. We even look towards other people to reassure us in our lack of struggle. We reduce the gravity of sin. It is impossible not to sin, but at least we should be aware of the sins we can recognise, the sins we consent to. Making a decision never to commit even a small sin, is a turning point in our spiritual life.
The second one is not avoiding the near occasions of sin. It is a sadness of not being allowed to play with certain things. If we play with fire, we are going to get burned. It means avoiding peoples, places or situations we know are not good for us. The devil always goes the same way. He knows how to get at us. We need to be sincere and recognise that we are weak and we need the power of God. At the end of the day it is a matter of choosing between the love of God and our self love.
The third is self-reliance. We begin our spiritual life with a strong determination, but sooner or later we become discouraged. We fall down over and over again, and either we abandon our way or we conform with an easy pace. Relying only on ourselves we go nowhere. Voluntarism hides our pride. Thinking that we can do it deceives us. We forgot that we cannot go alone. We need God. Only He can make us saints. We should trust more in his love and mercy than in our own efforts. Humility and simplicity are essential to follow the right path. God uses our docility in spiritual direction, to destroy our self assurance.
And the fourth is not valuing the graces we have received from God. We complain a lot about God not helping us, but we waste a lot of the graces we receive from him. We think we know what we need, and we forget that God knows better. Therefore we should be more aware of the help God is sending us constantly. Saints have a sixth sense to notice the graces from God. We, on the contrary, are rough, and we fail to sense God’s help. Babies have a tender skin and can sense the mosquito straight away. We don’t notice the inspirations of the Holy Spirit in our soul. Saints develop a quick promptness to answer the call from God to prayer or to action.
josephpich@gmail.com
Ash Wednesday
Today we begin Lent, a special time to grow, a time for a small conversion. Our Mother the Church opens the flood gates of its abundant graces, to shower what we need in our parched soul. It is a time to look towards how we are growing in our love of God. Maybe we have been slowing down, stopped or even went backwards. It happens in the lives of saints too; sometimes it looks like they are growing fast, and other times they are not moving. Why is that? Is it God’s will or our lack of struggle? Saint Teresa of Avila talks about the four things that slowed her down, from when she became a nun at twenty years old, till she was almost forty and decided to take her holiness seriously. A statue of Jesus suffering his passion moved her to tears.
The first one is carelessness about sin. It is a complacency or complicity with sin, finding easy excuses for our imperfections. We even look towards other people to reassure us in our lack of struggle. We reduce the gravity of sin. It is impossible not to sin, but at least we should be aware of the sins we can recognise, the sins we consent to. Making a decision never to commit even a small sin, is a turning point in our spiritual life.
The second one is not avoiding the near occasions of sin. It is a sadness of not being allowed to play with certain things. If we play with fire, we are going to get burned. It means avoiding peoples, places or situations we know are not good for us. The devil always goes the same way. He knows how to get at us. We need to be sincere and recognise that we are weak and we need the power of God. At the end of the day it is a matter of choosing between the love of God and our self love.
The third is self-reliance. We begin our spiritual life with a strong determination, but sooner or later we become discouraged. We fall down over and over again, and either we abandon our way or we conform with an easy pace. Relying only on ourselves we go nowhere. Voluntarism hides our pride. Thinking that we can do it deceives us. We forgot that we cannot go alone. We need God. Only He can make us saints. We should trust more in his love and mercy than in our own efforts. Humility and simplicity are essential to follow the right path. God uses our docility in spiritual direction, to destroy our self assurance.
And the fourth is not valuing the graces we have received from God. We complain a lot about God not helping us, but we waste a lot of the graces we receive from him. We think we know what we need, and we forget that God knows better. Therefore we should be more aware of the help God is sending us constantly. Saints have a sixth sense to notice the graces from God. We, on the contrary, are rough, and we fail to sense God’s help. Babies have a tender skin and can sense the mosquito straight away. We don’t notice the inspirations of the Holy Spirit in our soul. Saints develop a quick promptness to answer the call from God to prayer or to action.
josephpich@gmail.com