Seeing

The life of a Catholic is a rich life. Not only do we have very many beautiful prayers, but the Rosary and the Mass as well.

It is not like Jesus was among us and then departed back to heaven to leave us impoverished and abandoned in despair. Neither did He leave us inky blackness without His light or any inkling of His presence. 

Thinking persons can achieve a capacity to appreciate what they can see, enlightened by the light of Christ. Do not say, I cannot achieve enlightenment or unity with Jesus because I am a sinner and I have not been given the gifts of the saints by which to see. You have most certainly been allowed enough light to see the Lord in your life, if only you will distract yourself from things less than God long enough to turn you mind toward Him so He may mature your vision to see according to His grace.

As for sin, if you are aware that you have sinned, and others around you live in sin, then it is time to do something to atone for the sins and to enable you to live without the sins. Doing something instead of sinning is to give thanks to God for grace and for working in your life so you may mature and be able to perceive your life in His light.

That light is gentle but very powerful, and in spite of calamities and catastrophes, you cannot be cut off from it easilly. By means of His light He attracts your soul to Him and begins to make you desire Him more defintely than any earthly thing, so that the soul is not devastated to see wars or hear threats of destruction, because you know Jesus and are familiar with His love which makes up for the blustering evil in the world that works so hard to terrify you away from Him. Do not be frightened away from His light, but seek it out all the more diligently, the more the malicious monseter blusters to distract you from God and His light.

Mature vision comes through negotiating difficulties and trials so that your seeing improves. He will surely show you how you have grown and what you are now capable of that was impossible before.

A baby learns to speak because it desires to speak so much, and because it knows that the ability to speak will fill its parents with a great deal of joy. If you wish to see better and know better, then you need the exercise that comes from trials and difficulty.

Modern life certainly is full of trails and difficulties, but it is most important to know the function of trials and difficlties in life. In the past, life was simpler, though by way of comparison, certainly not more difficult. We worked harder, and our communications and entertainments were different and more difficult. But so often, the instant communication is merely an avenue for disappointment and despair as bad news overwhelms us and saps our strength, energy and faiths. Thus, the necessity of constant prayer as a habit. We can help each other by repeating the call to penance and prayer and the simplification of life by sacraficing things we think we need. 

I need to share in the passion-life of Jesus, and so He makes possible the sharing in accordance with His own needs and what is best for me. I have a lot pain which constantly renews itself to remind me of Jesus and the needs of His people, so I will be moved to offer prayers for them so they may have what they need of the treasures of His goodness.

He gives me deep peace, but from time to time, I endure periods of deep disturbance from one source or another, then I must renew my resolve to pray unselfishly for souls who are weakest and most intensely suffering. Though it all, I am reminded what is important and what is not of priority, and crisis passes as He had intended from the beginning.

Neither is my pain as intense as the Lord's, for I am not that strong. My strength is what is should be according to His Will, and whereas one man's strength may be sufficient against a great stone, that same man may be completely overwhelmed by a simple misfortune that would hardly trouble another man; our strength is appropriate to what His need is, and in accordance with what it is possible for us to endure. When maturity is of the essense, the trials are instructive for us if we apply ourselves and are willing to offer our sufferings for the intentions of His Sacred Heart. I am not St. Padre Pio by any means, but I admire him greatly and hope to be pleasing in his sight.. By such means we may be edified and gain the desire to grow in Christ.

Things do not need to be complex to be profound, though they may be complex from our perspective as His children. As the mature Christians we hope to be, some things are not complicated any more, since we have become greater than we were. It stands to reason that we will do greater things as we mature for Jesus in our daily life. It is good that He shows us what we need to be encouraged and even overjoyed, that we have pleased Him. We might be able to appreciate the grace by which we overcame a sin and live now in the peace of God which He wished to give us abundantly. We just have to be mature in the charity we have for God and others.