Our Peace of Mind Must Not Depend Upon Men

An important concept that I know firsthand how hard it is to implement into one's daily life. If we want peace, if we want happiness, if we want to feel complete, we must look to the one above for all things. For only He can fulfill our most inner longings. If we place our happiness in a relationship with another, we cannot help but be disappointed.

If you let your peace of mind depend on any particular person, my son, because you enjoy his affection and companionship, you will live an unsettled life and get entangled in your own feelings; but if you have recourse to the Truth that lives and remains forever, your friend will not make you sad even though he leaves you or dies. The love you have for your friend ought to rest on me; it is for my sake that they must be loved, those whose goodness appeals to you, those most dear to you in this life. Without me, no friendship will hold fast or endure; in every genuine and sincere love I am the connecting link. You ought to be so mortified in the affection you have for those you love that, as far as you are concerned, you could wish to do without human companionship altogether. The further a man goes from any comfort upon earth, the nearer he draws to God; the deeper he goes down within himself, the lower he sinks in his own estimation, so much the higher does he climb in his ascent towards God.

A man who attributes any goodness to himself puts up a barrier against the coming of God's grace, because it is always a humble heart that the grace of the Holy Ghost looks for. If only you would reduce your self-seeking to nothing, and empty your heart of love for anything created, my grace would be bound to flood your heart in fathomless streams. So long as you gaze at things created, you lose sight of him who created them. It is for the sake of that Creator that you must learn to overcome yourself in everything; you will then be enabled to come to the knowledge of God. If the love and interest you have for anything, no matter how trivial, is lacking in restraint, it is holding you back from attaining you highest goal, and doing you harm.

~Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, p. 176-77.

ON Despising this world's Honours

We too often become caught up in seeking praise and glory in this world. I must remind myself that I am not seeking the honours of this world, nor the acceptance of a multitude of friends, but it is the world to come which I have my eyes set

The Beloved: Don't take it to heart, son, if you see others winning honours and promotion, and yourself being looked down upon and treated like dirt. Lift up your hear to heaven, to me, and being slighted by men on earth won't make you sad any more.

The Learner: Lord, we live in a world of blindness and are easily led away by foolish notions. Passing my life in frank review, I see that no creature has ever done me harm, so that I have no right to have any grievance against you; but seeing how often and how grievously I have sinned against you, it is but right that every creature should be up in arms against me. All I deserve, then, and rightly so, is shame and scorn, but you, praise, honour and glory. Unless I make myself ready and willing to be slighted and left to myself by every creature, to be regarded as a complete nonentity, I cannot win inward peace and stability, cannot be enlightened in spirit and fully united to you.

~Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, p. 175-76

Friends and posting

I've heard from several of you that read my blog. Please feel free to post comments, thoughts, or other spiritual readings to the blog. In the alternative, you can email them to me. I enjoy reading your thoughts and I enjoy reading the writings of spiritual authors other than the ones I post. The concept of truth gives us much to learn in our seeking.


And Merry Christmas to all, old friends and new, during this Season.

All I need in life

I stole this one from my friend, Julie. A simple prayer that should always be on my heart.

Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you and a hope of finally embracing you.

~ St. Thomas Aquinas.

On Begging God's help and Being Confident of Recovering His Grace

My son, I am the Lord; no strength like his in the hour of distress. When things are not going well with you, come to me. The chief hindrance to your receiving heavenly comfort is your slowness in turning to prayer; you do not come to me straightway and pray to me earnestly, but first you go seeking other things to comfort you, trying to find diversion in created things. All these things, as it happens, do little to help you; it is then that you remember that I am the deliverer of all who put their hope in me; that apart from me there is no help that can do much, no counsel that can be taken with profit, no remedy whose effects can last. But now, when the storm is over and you can breathe freely again, recruit your strength in the light of my mercies; for I am neat, I the Lord, to restore all things not only to their former perfection, but to pile them high and make them overflow with added graces.

~Thomas a Kempis

Even in the worst of our pain, good will come out of it. God always restores greater than that which you lost and He has something in store for us which is greater than we can even imagine (e.g. Book of Job).

Charity, Love, Suffering

The chapter on Charity in The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis really makes one think. The section below is taken from page 170 and hit home. I am sure every person who has read this chapter has felt them touch it in some way. In college, I remember people who would get in arguments about the most meaningful section in this chapter because they would often each find varying passages to be their favorite.

I also like the section that begins one page before on how we must be open to being vulnerable and harmed when we open our heart; we will be hurt (personal experience agrees). Otherwise, he says, to keep it from being broken we must put our heart away in a "casket"; "it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. . . . The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell." ---Wow, so much for being safe and for "feeling in love." But I digress, again. Back to the section:

We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the suffering inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and he chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it.

It remains certainly true that all natural loves can be inordinate. Inordinate does not mean "insufficiently cautious." Nor does it mean "too big." It is not a quantitative term. It is probably impossible to love any human being simply "too much." We may love him too much in proportion to our love for God; but it is the smallness of our love for God, not the greatness of our love for the man, that constitutes the inordinancy. But even this must be refined upon. Otherwise we shall trouble some who are very much on the right road but alarmed because they cannot feel towards God so warm a sensible emotion as they feel for the earthly Beloved. It is much to be wished--at least I think so--that we all, at all times, could. We must pray that this gift should be given to us.

~C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, p. 170

I have a feeling that curing me of my belief that I was "independent" or "self-sufficient" were reasons behind my own heartaches. I'm sure each person has their own story. I truly hope that I have learned to Love God more through my own sufferings (and that each of you have as well). Otherwise, the pain was for nought.

How to pray; Doing God's will

Saying I want to do God's will doesn't always mean I am actively pursuing it. It is a prayerful process and one must actively desire to do His will. I cannot be afraid to turn down that is not God's will; even if it is a good. On the other hand, I cannot be afraid to pursue something if after a careful and prayerful period I discern that it is God's will:

"My son, this is how you should pray in all circumstances: 'Lord, if this is what pleases you, let it come to pass, Lord, if this will be to your honour, let it happen in your name. Lord, if you see this to be for my good, if you judge it to be profitable for me, give me this thing to use for for your honour; but if you foresee it will do me harm, impair my health of my soul, take away from me the desire for such a thing.' Not every desire comes from the Holy Ghost, even though to man it may seem good and upright. It's not so easy to tell for certain if it's a good spirit or an evil one urging you to desire this thing or that; it may be only the prompting of your own spirit. Many people have ended by being deceived; yet when they began it looked as if they had a good spirit for their guide.

So, then, whenever the thought comes into your mind that such and such a thing is desirable, you must always desire it, pray for it, in the fear of God and with a humble heart; above all, you must renounce your own ideas about the matter and leave it entirely to me, saying: 'Lord, you know which way is for the best; let it happen this way or that, according as you will. Give what you will, in whatever measure you will, and when you will. Do with me as you know is best, as pleases you best, and as will best promote your glory. Put me where you will and have a free hand with me in everything. Yes, I am in your hand; twist me around and turn me about as you will. I am your servant, and ready for anything; it is not for myself that I want to live, but for you. If only I could do that worthily and faultlessly.'"

~Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, p. 133

On Acquiring Patience and Battling Against Evil Desires

Patience brings about happiness.

The Learner:Lord god, I can see that patience is something vitally necessary to me, because this life abounds in circumstances that thwart our happiness. No matter how carefully I endeavour to live in peace, my days must have their share of conflict and sorrow.

The Beloved:That is so, my son; but the kind of peace I want you to aim at is not one in which temptations are not present, or difficulties not felt. The time when you may reckon you have found peace is when you have been harassed by various temptations and put to the proof by much adversity. If you say you cannot stand much suffering, how are you going to stand the fire of purgatory? You should always choose the lesser of two evils. To escape eternal punishment in the world to come, you should strive to bear patiently for God's sake the evils of this present life. Do you suppose worldly men have next to nothing in the way of suffering? Put the question to those whose lives are a round of pleasures; you will find you are wrong. . . . >p>

~Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, p. 128

On the need to Sort and Govern the Desires of the Heart.

Sometimes, even when we are trying to do good and be holy in our choices we are not succeeding. We will always have room to grow.

We always need to turn towards God and ask His advice, His will before we make a decision "on our own."

This reading makes me reflect. It also feels like a baseball bat to the gut.

My son, there are still a good many things you need to learn, things that up to now you have not learned properly. . . .

These: to make your desires wholly in accordance with my good pleasure, to stop being a lover of yourself and to become instead a zealous doer of my will. Often you feel within you the flame of desire, urging you insistently forward; but you ought to consider which motive spurs you the more--my honour, or your own advantage. If it is on my account that you act, you will be perfectly happy, however I make things turn out; if, on the other hand, there is a certain amount of self-interest concealed among your motives, you have something there with you will find a bar and a drag.

You must beware, then, of placing overmuch reliance on any preconceived desire of your own, forgetting to ask my advice. You might regret it later on and come to dislike what at first took your fancy, something you were eager for as being a change for the better. You must not immediately follow the lead of every feeling that you consider good; on the other hand, a feeling that runs counter to your own leanings is not to be rejected out of hand. It's a good thing to use the curb now and then, even on inclinations and desires good in themselves; otherwise, if they are not kept within reasonable limits, you may find that your mind is being pulled in various directions at once; others may find your want of control a bar to their spiritual progress; and if people start opposing you, you may even get thrown suddenly off your balance, and down you will come.

There are times when you have to get tough, and play the man, going dead against your sensual appetite and not caring what the body likes or what it doesn't, but making sure that despite its protests it gives in to the spirit. It must be corrected and made to serve you, until it is ready for anything, until it learns to be content with little and not to grumble at anything not to its liking.

~Thomas a Kempis, Imitations of Christ, p. 126-27

Powerful:
Sometimes, I see a good and think its good for me. I get excited and do my best to obtain that good. Instead, I should be more prayerful and reserved; first asking God if this is what He wants for me.

I just hate to sit back and let the opportunity pass me by.

The Cross

I had the good fortune to attend a rosary prayer group last night. I attend once each month at a gathering held at a group member's house. There are always plenty of great people and several children running around. The children help liven up the atmosphere and make it a little entertaining, even if they can be slightly distracting.

Last night I was highly enjoying watching several of the children run around for the first decade or two. They were bringing a real smile to my face. A smile that I could feel transforming my insides and making my soul smile. As I looked on their playing I couldn't help but wish for my own child to have and to hold (yes, guys wish to have children as well). Of course, before I can have a child I must accomplish a few other steps first.

After a while of this watching, and wishing, I realized that I was not paying much attention to actually entering a prayerful state. It was at this time I decided to turn my attention to the crucifix located on the wall above my head. It was the best decision of the night.


When I looked upon the crucifix with a desire to speak to Jesus, the words in Matthew came to me: "Pick up your cross and follow me." It hit me in a way that was immediate and very real. I needed to accept the issues I was struggling with in my own life because they were crosses, crosses meant for me to handle.


I needed to recognize these crosses, pick them up, and follow Jesus. Moreover, it is ok to recognize my weakness and ask for help with these struggles. Like Simon did for Christ, Christ will help us carry our own crosses if we but ask.

No matter how difficult our crosses seem, they are not meant to destroy us, but to help us grow in our faith and our relationships with God and each other. With each cross we will grow. Remember, Jesus is not asking us to die on a cross for him. No, our own cross will be much easier and Jesus is there to help us with it. Also, unlike Jesus, we can ask our friends and family members to help us with our crosses. They can shoulder a little of the load; not carry it, because each of us have our own cross, but help us with it.

In the end, the final question is based on whether we truly believe that Jesus defeated the cross: Is He more powerful than the cross? If so, with His help, we can defeat each of our crosses as well.

Bear it with pride.

Human Love

Every Human love, at its height, has a tendency to claim for itself a divine authority. Its voice tends to sound as it were the will of God Himself. It tells us not to count the cost, it demands of us a total commitment, it also attempts to over-ride all other claims and insinuate that any action which is sincerely done "for loves sake" is thereby lawful and even meritorious. That erotic love and love of one's country may thus attempt to "become gods" is generally recognised. But family affection may do the same. So, in a different way, may friendship. . . .

Now it must be noticed that the natural loves make this blasphemous claim not when they are in the worst, but when they are in their best, natural condition; when they are what our grandfathers called "pure" or "noble." This is especially obvious in the erotic sphere. A faithful and genuinely self-sacrificial passion will speak to us with what seems the voice of God. Merely animal or frivolous lust will not.

~C.S. Lewis; The Four Loves, Introduction p. 16-18

Concluding thoughts on p. 19

Gift love or Need love

This, as we saw, is a Gift-love, but one that needs to give, therefore needs to be needed. But the proper aim in giving is to put the recipient in a state where he no longer needs our gift. We feed children in order that they may soon be able to feed themselves; we teach them in order that they may soon not need our teaching. Thus a heavy task is laid upon this Gift-love. I tmust work towards its own abdication. We must aim at making ourselves superfluous. The hour when we can say "They need me no longer" should be our reward. But the instinct, simply in its own nature has no power to fulfil this law. The instinct desires the good of its object, but not simply; only the good it can itself give. A much higher love--a love which desires the good of the object as such, from whatever source that good comes--must step in and help tame the instinct before it can make the abdication. And of course it often does. But where it does not, the ravenous need to be needed will gratify itself either by keeping its objects needs or by inventing for them imaginary needs. It will do this all the more ruthlessly because it thinks (in one sense truly) that it is a Gift-love and therefore regards itself as "unselfish."

~C.S. Lewis, Four Loves, Chapter 3, 76-77

Where Are You God?

In times of confusion, hardship, hurt, and suffering we tend to cry out to God more frequently than when everything is going fine. We seek Him, wonder if He is there, wonder if He cares for us, and pound on the gates of Heaven with our fists and our tears. Does He even have a plan for us? Does He even want us to be happy?

It is these times God is using our pain to draw us closer to Him; to make us rely more on Him. Everything has a reason and God has a plan for our lives. Remember, almost all of the best loved saints have stories about their own spiritual darkness that would bring us to our knees.

Today, I came across a beautiful post regarding one woman's struggles to find God in her own darkness. Although I would love to comment on it more, I think the story speaks for itself. Although Simone was dealing with fighting an illness, this story of faith applies to each of our struggles just the same. I encourage you to to take two minutes and read. Make sure you read to the bottom where we see Simone's answers to her own questions. May God's perpetual light shine upon her and may God get us through our own struggles, our own periods of darkness and uncertainty, as we try to seek out His will. Let us turn to the Cross and grow in Holiness and Love.

http://marysaggies.blogspot.com/2010/12/where-are-you-god.html


Aggie Catholics: Where Are You God?: "**Have you ever felt that God just wasn't interested in your problems? **Have you ever felt God was distant and unaccessible? **Have you ever thought that God is just a myth because he didn't care?..."

Locked In

Have you ever been locked out of Church? I have, it is frustrating. This morning was a first for me in another department: I was locked in Church.

Before you start making assumptions about my IQ, let me explain. After Mass at Holy Family this morning I went over to the adoration chapel to begin adoration. Then I slipped out the door to to head back to the bathroom which is located in the vestibule at the front of the Church. When I came out, I noticed that all of the lights in the Church were turned off. I checked the front doors (which are rarely used for daily Mass) and noticed that someone had placed locked bars on each door in order to keep people from getting in. They also have the counter-effect of keeping people from getting out.

Not thinking about it too much, I reentered the Church with the intention to exit by the Adoration Chapel. Unbeknown to me, someone had also locked both of the gates between the Church and the adoration chapel/outside doors. I looked around with bewilderment. There had to be an unlocked door somewhere! right? But no.

I laughed a little, thinking about how original it was that I was locked inside a Church. Then I thought (God knows why) about what would happen if the building caught on fire? I would be burned alive! I started having an argument in my mind of where would be the best place to have my body found if that would occur. Should I lay myself on the altar, as an offering or sacrifice, or should I go hug the tabernacle as to be as close to our Lord as possible when I die? I The other option would be to try and escape. But in that case, my body would most likely be found clinging to an exit door as I tried to force it open. Not nearly as heroic.

Luckily, the building did not burn down while I was in there. I started looking at every door to make sure it was not locked. Eventually I came to a door marked "parish workers and volunteers only." I figured that by being locked alone in the Church for 15 mins, I was as close to a "volunteer" as anyone. So I knocked on the door. The door was opened and I found myself face to face with the Pastor. He was quite surprised to see me in the Church which he knew was locked. When I told him I had been locked in the Church and there was no way out, a big grin came across his face. He must have thought I was an idiot.

I guess I had found a back door to the parish office. Father invited me in and showed me a door to the outside world. This door, of course, was also locked. But it was one I was able to unlock from the inside. I threw it open and was free once more to breathe the fresh air and attend Mass another day.

Campus Lighting Ceremony

How I love the Holiday Season with all the excitement in the air, lights, hot drinks, and joy. Benedictine College, my alma mater, has a traditional campus lighting each year. A good number of students brave the frigid air to come take part in the lighting at the beginning of the Advent Season.

Take a moment out of your day to click on the link below and bask in the warmth and beauty of that campus. BC, how I miss thee! (sometimes)

http://www.benedictine.edu/benedictine.aspx?pgID=2101