Weakness

A foggy morning gives way to clear bright skies.

If a limb has been immobile for a period of time, it will regain  mobility slowly and specific exercises will be necessary to restore mobility fully. Similarly, if one has been indifferent or cold towards the Lord, it may be difficult to warm up to Him and function fully. God provides the exercise, and though the exercise may provide pain, or one might find himself responding sluggishly and with some disdain. Lovers may lose affection with each other if their relationship is not nourished mutually by their love.

The fact is, we need to nurture or relationship with God. A person might ask how one nurtures a relationship with God whom he cannot see, but if we have the will to try to orient our existence toward God, He has the strength to unite us to Him and improve our relationship to Him. Our position is awkward since we cannot see God or touch Him the way a lover might touch his beloved. But as He is aware of us within Him the way a mother is aware of her unborn child within her, one need not fear He will forget or ignore us. Nothing could be further from the truth. He will draw you into Himself through prayer. You can desire to be closer and to be more aware and trust that that is exactly what will happen.

God created everything in three days, and three days after He died, He rose from death to life, and He intends that we should enjoy that privilege as well. Do not judge by your feelings. While they are necessary to awaken our love of God, they are not reliable, and are subject to errors or, worse, to errors suggested by our enemy. Love will assert itself to tell the truth so you may live in some certainty that your relationship may blossom. Be at peace.

Weakness

A foggy morning gives way to clear bright skies.

If a limb has been immobile for a period of time, it will regain  mobility slowly and specific exercises will be necessary to restore mobility fully. Similarly, if one has been indifferent or cold towards the Lord, it may be difficult to warm up to Him and function fully. God provides the exercise, and though the exercise may provide pain, or one might find himself responding sluggishly and with some disdain. Lovers may lose affection with each other if their relationship is not nourished mutually by their love.

The fact is, we need to nurture or relationship with God. A person might ask how one nurtures a relationship with God whom he cannot see, but if we have the will to try to orient our existence toward God, He has the strength to unite us to Him and improve our relationship to Him. Our position is awkward since we cannot see God or touch Him the way a lover might touch his beloved. But as He is aware of us within Him the way a mother is aware of her unborn child within her, one need not fear He will forget or ignore us. Nothing could be further from the truth. He will draw you into Himself through prayer. You can desire to be closer and to be more aware and trust that that is exactly what will happen.

God created everything in three days, and three days after He died, He rose from death to life, and He intends that we should enjoy that privilege as well. Do not judge by your feelings. While they are necessary to awaken our love of God, they are not reliable, and are subject to errors or, worse, to errors suggested by our enemy. Love will assert itself to tell the truth so you may live in some certainty that your relationship may blossom. Be at peace.

Certainty

I don't know much, but I am certain about one thing: God is holy, and we are meant to be holy like God. Holiness is the essential ingredient in any life that wishes to be safe in God.

With regards to our needs and God's requirements for our lives, He does not compromise on holiness. If you know you are sinning, then you must cease. He may mitigate  our sufferings out of love for us, but not entirely. There will always be some small requirement of us that God demands we meet. If we do not know what it is we need to do, we can always posit that more prayer and more penance are necessary; these must be unselfish as well. The only certainty is that God will see to it we are fit to  be in His presence. If an examination of our life proves we have spots that need more attention, common sense demands an acquiescence to His Will, regardless.

This is on top of an immense and interested love for us, so that no matter how frightening and painful life may be, it will always be possible to reach God and to know His love, if we are fixing our vision on Him, and not ourselves or anything else.

St. Padre Pio was among those saints who embodied God's Will and acquiescence to it. When necessary, he required obedience of his penitents, but once they had done what was asked, his kindness sprang out of his immense love, so that our actual expense was minimal. I take that to mean that obeying him was obedience to God. In turn, St. Padre Pio enjoyed the immensity of God's love enabling him to do the impossible, particularly as regarded ecstasies and miracles. It is clear and obvious that feeling His love and obtaining miracles were signs of His intervention in our lives, so that we may grow spiritually to become human beings worthy of Heaven. Jesus dreaded the thought of the nails piercing His hands and feet, and the lance in His side. But He endured the imposition of these events for love of us, and for all time, so that we might be available to Him, and He might be available to us. Make an effort to express your love to Him, regardless of feelings; that is, don't expect ecstasies for your reaching out to God, but also, do not let your feelings deter you from asking. That is a act of obedience which will not be used against you in your final hours.

Certainty

I don't know much, but I am certain about one thing: God is holy, and we are meant to be holy like God. Holiness is the essential ingredient in any life that wishes to be safe in God.

With regards to our needs and God's requirements for our lives, He does not compromise on holiness. If you know you are sinning, then you must cease. He may mitigate  our sufferings out of love for us, but not entirely. There will always be some small requirement of us that God demands we meet. If we do not know what it is we need to do, we can always posit that more prayer and more penance are necessary; these must be unselfish as well. The only certainty is that God will see to it we are fit to  be in His presence. If an examination of our life proves we have spots that need more attention, common sense demands an acquiescence to His Will, regardless.

This is on top of an immense and interested love for us, so that no matter how frightening and painful life may be, it will always be possible to reach God and to know His love, if we are fixing our vision on Him, and not ourselves or anything else.

St. Padre Pio was among those saints who embodied God's Will and acquiescence to it. When necessary, he required obedience of his penitents, but once they had done what was asked, his kindness sprang out of his immense love, so that our actual expense was minimal. I take that to mean that obeying him was obedience to God. In turn, St. Padre Pio enjoyed the immensity of God's love enabling him to do the impossible, particularly as regarded ecstasies and miracles. It is clear and obvious that feeling His love and obtaining miracles were signs of His intervention in our lives, so that we may grow spiritually to become human beings worthy of Heaven. Jesus dreaded the thought of the nails piercing His hands and feet, and the lance in His side. But He endured the imposition of these events for love of us, and for all time, so that we might be available to Him, and He might be available to us. Make an effort to express your love to Him, regardless of feelings; that is, don't expect ecstasies for your reaching out to God, but also, do not let your feelings deter you from asking. That is a act of obedience which will not be used against you in your final hours.

Uncertainty

 It is not true that the universe is in charge of itself; God is in control of the universe, and our perception of it and understanding of it are dependant on God, however we like it. I can understand that people are uncomfortable with  uncertainty, but uncertainty often figures largely in the agonies we endure.

Many would rather limit the extent of uncertainty so as to suffer less anxiety. If forgiveness of sin has taught me anything, it is that being forgiven and asking for forgiveness frees a person like nothing else can.

That freedom is the certainty of His love, ironically. He loves us, without a doubt, and He is capable of infinite love and patience. He confronted uncertainty and doubt, fear and depression on the night in which He was arrested and endured a night in the midst of den of snakes, all full of the venom of hatred, and the next day, He was consigned to the romans who told them to crucify Him themselves. In the end, the romans had to do the crucifying, and they were the first to be washed in His blood, and the plasma that gushed from Jesus side when the lance pierced His side and opened His Heart so as to ensure His death.

He relied on His few friends to remove His Body and anoint it with the oil and spices of traditional Jewish burial. and He ultimately was laid to rest in the sepulcher.

He endured everything we can endure, and some things we cannot imagine. He comforted those who died after a just life but could not enter heaven. Then, He rose from the dead and appeared to the apostles. He has removed ambiguity and uncertainty in every possible permutation. Therefore, as God, He is able to deal with all uncertainty, and capable of understanding our feelings and our sufferings as we wait for Him, and hope that we might live up to His expectations. We must live to learn where we are in the scheme of things. Small as we might be in all the vastness of the universe, that smallness only makes Him love us more, and extends graces that save us, before we have had the chance to earn them or ask them.

Uncertainty

 It is not true that the universe is in charge of itself; God is in control of the universe, and our perception of it and understanding of it are dependant on God, however we like it. I can understand that people are uncomfortable with  uncertainty, but uncertainty often figures largely in the agonies we endure.

Many would rather limit the extent of uncertainty so as to suffer less anxiety. If forgiveness of sin has taught me anything, it is that being forgiven and asking for forgiveness frees a person like nothing else can.

That freedom is the certainty of His love, ironically. He loves us, without a doubt, and He is capable of infinite love and patience. He confronted uncertainty and doubt, fear and depression on the night in which He was arrested and endured a night in the midst of den of snakes, all full of the venom of hatred, and the next day, He was consigned to the romans who told them to crucify Him themselves. In the end, the romans had to do the crucifying, and they were the first to be washed in His blood, and the plasma that gushed from Jesus side when the lance pierced His side and opened His Heart so as to ensure His death.

He relied on His few friends to remove His Body and anoint it with the oil and spices of traditional Jewish burial. and He ultimately was laid to rest in the sepulcher.

He endured everything we can endure, and some things we cannot imagine. He comforted those who died after a just life but could not enter heaven. Then, He rose from the dead and appeared to the apostles. He has removed ambiguity and uncertainty in every possible permutation. Therefore, as God, He is able to deal with all uncertainty, and capable of understanding our feelings and our sufferings as we wait for Him, and hope that we might live up to His expectations. We must live to learn where we are in the scheme of things. Small as we might be in all the vastness of the universe, that smallness only makes Him love us more, and extends graces that save us, before we have had the chance to earn them or ask them.

Choice and Desire

Love makes a soul fragrant so the love
is shared with everyone.

Jesus loves us immensely. He loves us enough to forgive us our sins and to inspire us to do things for people we don't even know; that is, to suffer for them so they truly can receive what they need.

Mind you, it is not for us to establish what or how much we will suffer, let alone to propose suffering the passion-life with Him. If such a thing happened in our life, it would be the case of Him proposing the suffering, knowing us as He does, and not of us offering to be crucified. Those he loves the most, He most afflicts, and if the passion-life is concerned, it will be real and genuine. He has asked so many to join Him in His passion-life. They loved Him very deeply to be able to embrace the cross, and it was impossible to suffer so without the love. Often, illness, particularly unknown suffering afflicted many, before the passion joined it's life to their own life. The suffering is such that there is no energy to direct our own passion; we lack the depth of emotion and intellect that exists when God is at the heart of a sharing of the passion.

A soul in whom Jesus occupies the most part of their minds and hearts are full of thoughts of Jesus, and Jesus is so full of the sufferings of His cross, that it is no great shift to focus on His passion-life from our desires for others and our service to them. 

Yet, it need not be the cross that intrudes into our lives. We may be dumbstruck to learn what has overtaken us. The unexpected misery engulfs us in love as we have never experienced it before. A grateful soul speaks tenderly to Him, and the love fills the heart so deeply, it is almost no suffering at all, to embrace what He may have arranged.

Wonder at the depths of love of the saints.