But recall that souls are like the flowers of the garden, they are all different. Some little forget me nots and some roses. God does not demand the same from all.
Burning with love for God is easy. He made us, loves us and gives us everything we need. Burning with love for fellow humans is tough +
..and yet the true measure of our love for God is our love for those who hate and hurtus most. It is in this we become most Christlike. I think this is why the Church's criteria fro sainthood is very,very good. When it speaks of heroic virtue. It is truly heroic virtue to love our enemies. I am always struck in the lives of the saints that they were given one one particular pain in the butt who never ever seemed to go away. In the case of Padre Pio , for instance, it was his Arcbishop who also has it happens was a serial child molestor. But pick any saint at random and you'll usually find one big baddie. But it was the baddie who was the saints ladder to heaven.
Sg, In Maurice and Therese the Little Flower explains this same idea to a seminarian, but I'll have to find it first to tell you the particulars. I'm going to bed right now. As my Mom would say as she tucked me in, "Angels watch over you!"
The Book of Sirach says, 'The just man falls several times a day'. Sigh. Or in my case several times a minute. The word, 'Perfection ' makes me nervous. There used to be a convent on Jansenist nuns near Paris whom someone once described as , 'Perfect as angels and proud as the Devil'. St Bridgit Feast Day is coming up and there is a lovely story about her in the Breviary. There was a Famine att he times and Briget and the other nuns were starving. So they made a long trek to a far off monastery to get food. They were famished and the monks feeling sorry for them allroasted a calf and gave them the meat. St Birgit and most of the nuns tucked into the Feast but a small party of nuns did not eat and stared down their noses at Brigit for eating emat and during Lent too. But Brigit rebuked them saying, 'We are only feeing on meat, but you are feeding on your pride!'
Matthew 5:48 Love Your Enemies …47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect. I think Jesus meant here by being perfect was to love as best we can. I was reading St Julian of Norwich the other day and she said it is a question of balance . To trust in God's Mercy. Yes. But not to presume on His Justice.
On a related issue, what does it mean to forgive others? Does it mean we hold no grudge against them and harbour no thoughts of getting back at them? And must it also include forgetting the hurts inflicted (so hard to do that, especially when the same people continue to hurt us)? +
As I have understood it , it is an act of will In Jesus's Name we forgive them and ask God to give them happiness in this life and the next. We have most likely strong emotions that run riot when we are hurt but God looks at our will. We can for His sake renounce the anger and resentment and hurt. We can will to do what Jesus does. It's all in the will. Fr Ripperger has a great talk on this somewhere on sensus fidellium. Sometimes we have to beg for the grace to accept the grace to forgive. I have wounds that still kick in after years and I have had to go through the same prayer all over again. Sometimes I have to take it to confession because I give in to the temptation to be snarky or unkind about that person. For me it has been a lifetime battle but I will to forgive always that Jesus may be consoled and those souls be saved. I trust Him to supply it for me when I cant supply it. "The aughts against any" He tells us in scripture. I try to do this but only through His grace. Apart from Him I'd be a horror and that's the truth. I hope this makes sense. It is hard to explain but emotions are not the issue. Its what we do with them. It's in the will.
Sometimes i think you flirt with madness, Padraig lad... Then again when i engage in discussion about anything meaningful, they think me mad too! When i defend the faith; Im a raving lunatic. When i defend marriage; I'm a bigot. When i defend the unborn; I'm inconsiderate. When i defend the bible; I'm 'backward'. Beware: You're all 'nutters' here, folks!
But, it's so hard to behave like everything is normal when we have to interact with those who have hurt us and continue hurting us. I don't know how to do this - I am such a poor actress +
It is terribly hard. Harder than hard. We have to go one millisecond at a time. It's a ghastly struggle. And we are going to stumble. But God knows our hearts. Are we seething and enjoying that feeling. Thinking of ways to "get back" at those who "despitefully use us" or do we try to claim the words of the Our Father and forgive that we may be forgiven. It's not easy SG and I fail more than I conquer but I try to trust and go forward telling Jesus I will to let go of hurt and unite it to everything He suffered for us that His Heart may be consoled. The very fact that you have to deal with this on a daily basis I think shows it is a refinery's fire. Once early in my return to God I was struggling with this. I was not a patient or forgiving person. I was trying to read and pray over scripture and I had the Bible in my lap but I remember saying to Jesus "I cant do this. I cant turn the other cheek. I cant be like this. I want to do it but it flies in the face of every thing I am." I was sad because having found Jesus I didnt want to lose Him but I knew I was not going to make the grade. In my mind immediately I heard Corinthians 12:9. It was such a strong nudge I tried to find Cor 12:9. I was so ignorant I didnt know there were 2 books of Corinthians. When I got to 2 Cor 12:9 here is what I found. "But He said to me 'dont worry. I'm enough for you. I show up best in weak people.'" St Paul was referring to his thorn in the flesh. It was a very modern translation but it hit me between the eyes. It is Jesus in us who does it. We simply cant --only He can.
It's really striking in Scripture how often they called Jesus 'Mad'. I made a list one time of the different things they called Him, it went on and on and on and on...
It must have been very, very hard on his poor, poor Mother. I suspect it was much harder on her than it was on Him. Hearing such things about her son spoken. Mothers being Mothers. A Mothers heart is very tender.
Forgiveness is a process. I think AED mentioned that we have to practice it over and over. I’ve been practicing mine for 29 years. It’s easier, but it’s not gone yet. Padraig was right, there’s at least one challenging rung on the ladder to Heaven. Jesus understands. He will grant you the graces you ask for in this area. More than seventy times seven.
Ah, SgCatholic, it is actually best pointed out by Therese in her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love. The Little Flower considered herself small and weak while at the same time yearning to do great things for God! As you pray this prayer, notice how she depends on the merits of anyone but herself. The key is her utter confidence and dependence on Christ. Only the devil whips us for our daily failures and shortcomings. This prayer is amazing, but pay attention to my friend and namesake, for in her humble littleness, she simply entrusts herself to the Holy Trinity and asks them to do what we all should do: Look on me through the Face of Jesus and in his Heart burning with Love. Now someone might claim that resembles the theology of Luther, who taught that though justified he remained a pile of dung. Not so, for our little sister understand that: Finally, in order to live in an act of perfect Love, I offer myself as a victim of holocaust to your Merciful Love. I beg you to consume me incessantly. Allow the waves of infinite tenderness shut up within you to overflow into my soul. In this way, make me become a Martyr of your Love, O my God! St. Therese's Act of Oblation to Merciful Love O MY GOD! Blessed Trinity, I desire to Love you and make you Loved, To work for the glory of the Holy Church By saving souls on earth and by liberating those suffering in purgatory. I desire to accomplish your will perfectly And to reach the degree of glory that you have prepared for me in Your Kingdom. I desire, in a word, to be Holy, but I feel my powerlessness And I beg you, O my God! to be yourself my Holiness! You loved me so much that you gave me your only Son To be my Savior and my Spouse. The infinite treasures of his merits are mine. I offer them to you with gladness. Look on me through the Face of Jesus and in his Heart burning with Love. I offer you, too, all the merits of the saints in Heaven and on earth, Their acts of Love, and those of the Holy Angels. Finally, I offer You, O Blessed Trinity! The Love and merits of the Blessed Virgin, my cherished Mother. To her, I entrust my offering completely, imploring her to present it to you. Her Divine Son, my Beloved Spouse, during his earthly life declared: “Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give to you!” I am certain, therefore, that you will grant my desires; I know it, O my God! The more you want to give, the more you make us desire. I feel in my heart immense desires and With confidence I ask you to come and take possession of my soul. Ah! I cannot receive Holy Communion as often as I desire, But, Lord, are you not all-powerful? Remain in me as in a tabernacle and never separate yourself from your little victim. I want to console you for the ingratitude of the wicked, and I beg you to take my freedom to displease you away. If through weakness I sometimes fall, May your Divine Glance cleanse my soul immediately, Consuming all my imperfections like fire that transforms everything into itself. I thank You, O my God! for all the graces that you have granted me, Especially the grace of making me pass through the crucible of suffering. With joy I shall contemplate you on the Last Day Carrying the scepter of your Cross. Since you have chosen to give me a share in this very precious Cross, I hope in heaven to resemble you and to see shining in my glorified body the sacred stigmata of your Passion. After earth’s Exile, I hope to go and enjoy you in the Fatherland, But I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for your Love Alone with the one purpose of pleasing you: To console your Sacred Heart, and to save souls who will love you forever. In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands. Lord, I do not ask you to count my works. All our justice is stained in your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in your own Justice And by your Love to receive you as my eternal possession. No other Throne, no other Crown do I want but you, my Beloved! Time is nothing in your eyes, and a single day is like a thousand years. You can, then, in an instant prepare me to appear before You. Finally, in order to live in an act of perfect Love, I offer myself as a victim of holocaust to your Merciful Love. I beg you to consume me incessantly. Allow the waves of infinite tenderness shut up within you to overflow into my soul. In this way, make me become a Martyr of your Love, O my God! In the end, after it has prepared me to appear before you, may this martyrdom make me die. May my soul take its flight without delay Into the eternal embrace of your Merciful Love. I want, O my Beloved, with each beat of my heart to renew this offering to you an infinite number of times, until the shadows are no more, and I am able tell you of my Love in an Eternal Face to Face!
We all struggle with this so we have to always remember and especially with those who hurt or harm us really who is it they truly hurt? Romans 12 speaks to this. [18] If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men. [19] Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. [20] But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. [21] Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good.
Try this for forgiveness: it doesn't mean you have to worship the other person, only worship God. Forget what they have done and turn it over to God. But pray for that person or persons every day. That God will take care of them no matter what you think of them, it's out of your hands. Giving up your life for another is the greatest gift. It doesn't mean dieing for them, giving up two minutes of your life praying for someone is giving up two minutes of your life for them. It's very positive and comforting. That is forgiveness . . .and will give you peace.
