Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

[Guest]

Personally, I need to often remind myself of trust in God.  I find that when the going gets rough, satan will attempt to undermine trust in God and if it can

achieve that, the next is Peace of Soul.

Quote

 

“Do not fear what may happen tomorrow. The same loving Father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.” — St. Francis de Sales

“A few acts of confidence and love are worth more than a thousand ‘Who knows? Who knows?’ Heaven is filled with converted sinners of all kinds, and there is room for more.” — St. Joseph Cafasso

“Those whose hearts are enlarged by confidence in God run swiftly on the path of perfection. They not only run, they fly; because, having placed all their hope in the Lord, they are no longer weak as they once were. They become strong with the strength of God, which is given to all who put their trust in Him.” — St. Alphonsus Liguori

 

 

[Guest]

If you read the opening lines of Job, you can see that satan cannot act unless God permits that thing to do so.  It is The Lord who rules the universe, not evil :

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PEM.HTM"One day, when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, Satan also came among them. And the LORD said to Satan, "Whence do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming the earth and patrolling it."

And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is no one on earth like him, blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil?"

But Satan answered the LORD and said, "Is it for nothing that Job is God-fearing? Have you not surrounded him and his family and all that he has with your protection? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock are spread over the land.

1But now put forth your hand and touch anything that he has, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face."

And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand upon his person." So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job

 

http://www.catholicstand.com/trusting-god-completely/ "The Book of Job is a great book to read in order to understand how God tests our faith to see if we really believe in Him, or if we are just paying Him lip service because things are going great in our lives.  God even uses Satan for this purpose. The God-fearing Job has his children killed and his property taken away from him by Satan, and he even has to undergo boils on his skin.  His wife tells Job to “curse God and die!”  Job refuses to do that, and instead worships and blesses God. 

He has three friends which come and tell him that he must have done something sinful to cause all of this pain in his life, but he refutes them.

Finally, God talks to Job. Job asks him why all of these calamities happened to him, and God tells Him that these things aren’t his to question.  The response of God (“Where were you when I created the earth and formed the seas,” etc.) should be mandatory reading for all of us very small humans who have the audacity to question the infallible will of Almighty God, who created us out of nothing, because He loves us and wants us to be with Him in heaven for eternity.  The lesson here is that everything that happens to us from external forces, good or bad, is the will of almighty God.

Internalizing Trust in God

So how can we apply these lessons to our lives today?  We should always know that God is our loving Father, and that if we TOTALLY trust in Him to take care of us no matter what the situation, we are obeying all of the Commandments, AND we are trying our best to live out the Christian message with our thoughts, words, and deeds, then we have a spiritual hedge of protection around us (Job 1:10). This hedge can only be taken down by our sinful actions, which proclaim that we actually prefer the ways of the devil to the ways of God. This was true in the Old Testament, and it is certainly true today for us, who now wander through the very dry and hazardous desert known as secular America.

Another lesson learned is that God will allow Satan to test us throughout our lives, to see if we REALLY love God and obey his Holy Word, or if we are just giving Him lip service.  Like the Israelites in the desert, like Abraham, and like Job, our DEEDS speak a lot louder than our WORDS!

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My thoughts are that God knows me intimately and more intimately than I know myself - hence, God has no need to test me to know the strength of my Faith and trust in Him.  Rather, it is in adversity that Faith and trust in God is made strong and stronger than before adversity struck.  Sometimes too, it is in adversity that I can come to understand that my Faith and trust is not as strong as I thought it was.  And it is in failure that I can learn humility.

"We know that all things work for good for those who love God, 6 who are called according to his purpose." (Romans Chapter 8)

[Guest]

"The religious desire and effort of the soul to relate itself and all its interest to God and his will, is prayer in the deepest sense. This is essential prayer: uttered or unexpressed, it is equally prayer. It is the soul’s desire after God going forth in a manifestation, ... the soul striving after God.

This is a prayer that may exist without ceasing, consisting, as it does, not in doing or saying this or that, but in temper and attitude of the spirit."
    ... P. B. Brown

 

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St Jerome:

"It is not enough to abandon worldly goods, we must follow Christ. But what does it mean to follow Christ? It means renouncing all sin and cleaving to all virtue. Christ is eternal Wisdom, that treasure we find in a field (Mt 13:44), the field of Holy Scripture; the pearl of great value for which we must sacrifice many others (Mt 13:46). Christ is also holiness, the holiness without which no one can see the face of God. Christ is our redemption, our redeemer, he is our ransom (1Tm 2:6). Christ is all: therefore whoever consents to leave everything for his sake will find everything in him. Such a one can say: “The Lord is my allotted portion” (Ps 14[16]:5)… Don’t just give your money if you wish to follow Jesus Christ. Give him yourselves; imitate the Son of Man who did not come to be served but to serve (cf. Mk 10:45)."

(From Daily Gospel.org)

[Guest]

(From Monastery of Christ in the Desert)

https://christdesert.org/ (take the virtual tour)

My sisters and brothers in Christ,

Today we hear about how God chooses people for particular missions within the Church and about how God chooses all of us who believe to give witness to Him.  Far too often we have no sense of being called or a sense that God might be asking something of us.  Instead, God calls each one of us and invites us to follow Him and to proclaim His message to others.

The first reading today is from the Prophet Amos.  We can almost laugh at ourselves when we speak of him as a prophet.  The Prophet Amos tells us:  “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.  The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”

Most of us have no sense of being called.  We are very much like this Prophet Amos, going about our own business and doing what we have to do to earn our living and get along in life.  Amos tells us, however, that he was taken by the Lord from following his flock and told to prophesy to God’s people Israel.

By our baptism, each of us is called to take up this same role and to be priest, king and prophet.  We are called to be priests because we are called to intercede for others.  We are called to be kings because we are called to serve other.  We are called to be prophets because the word of God must be proclaimed by us.  We should never confuse this form of priesthood with the ordained priest.  Nevertheless it is priesthood because the role of priesthood for all of us, whether ordained or not, is to intercede for others with God.  For most of us it is clear that we are not kings in the normal sense of that word, but with an understanding that kingship is really about serving others, then we can recognize that true kingship is given to all who serve others and seek their wellbeing and good.  And the role of the prophet is simply to proclaim the word that God has given to us.  Prophecy does not come from us but is a matter of our proclaiming the word of God and what it means for our world.

The second reading today is from the Letter to the Ephesians and we are this:  “In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ.”  We are called, we have been chosen.  Why?  For His glory, for the praise of His glory.  We can really be transformed when we recognize that each of us is chosen.  Faith has not just “happened” to us.  No, we have been chosen and must respond to that calling, that choice.  We have heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, and have believed in him and have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

We can live our whole lives without recognizing this call.  We can live all our lives without recognizing that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit.  Our Scriptures and our Church keep telling us these realities and so often they go over our heads and we don’t understand.

The Gospel of Mark today tells us about the role of the twelve.  They are called.  They are chosen.  They are sent out.  They are given a mission.  How much easier for us if God only chose them and not us!  How much easier for us if only the pope, the bishops and the priests must have responsibilities for preaching and spreading the word of God and the joy of His Church!  Instead, we are a chosen people and the pope and the bishops and the priests are only there to serve the whole Church which is all of us.

Perhaps some of us remember before the Second Vatican Council when many of us thought of the Church as basically priests and religious—both religious sisters and brothers.  In the Council nothing new was proclaimed.  Instead, the Council sought to renew the Church so that all believers could recognize the dignity of one another.  Through the Council we were invited to recognize, not as something new but as something that had always been taught but not always understood—that all of us who believe are the Church and that within the Church there are various roles but those roles don’t make anyone better or worse.  The roles are just service.  We see this teaching already and very clearly in the Apostle Paul.

Today we are invited, each one of us, to recognize our own calling and to seek to know what God asks of us in order to spread the Kingdom.  Let us open our hearts and our minds in faith.

Your brother in the Lord,

Abbot Philip

“Suffering passes; to have suffered willingly remains eternally.” —St. Thérèse of Lisieux

 

SUFFERING WITH JOY

Although it may surprise you, the answer to this question is very simple. The only way that we will ever be happy is to surrender to God’s will. That’s it! Although it may sound simplistic, that is the ultimate answer. If we are constantly doing what God wants us to do, we will be happy.

But how does suffering fit into the picture? Obviously we can’t be happy while we are suffering, can we? Believe it or not, we can. While it won’t be the giddy type of happiness that we feel when things are going great, we can experience a deep peace or joy even while our world seems to be falling apart.

Here are five things to consider which will help you make it through even the greatest suffering:

It is God’s will. Nothing can happen to us without God’s approval. Anything that happens in our lives is God’s will. While it might not take away all of the pain, this knowledge can definitely help us to cope.

It is good for you. In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul makes it clear that God can bring good out of all things (see Romans 8:28) including pain and suffering. We may never fully understand the details, but the difficulties we experience are designed to help us get to heaven.

It’s a chance to trust God. Anytime you experience suffering, you are given a chance to trust the Lord. Over time, these opportunities can result in an increased faith. If everything is going smoothly in your life, why would you need to trust God?

It is temporary. All earthly suffering is temporary. It will either be gone in this life or in the next. When you die, your problems die with you. The very fact that you know it won’t last will make your cross a little lighter.

It can unite you to Christ. When we suffer, we have the chance to participate in Christ’s redemptive mission (see Colossians 1:24). Uniting our suffering with the suffering of Jesus allows us to put it to use. On the other hand, complaining about it causes us to waste a great opportunity.

 

If we think that happiness can only be found in the absence of problems, we will never be happy. It is impossible to get through even one day without some degree of suffering or inconvenience. True happiness can only be found by embracing God’s will … even when it involves suffering!

[Guest]

        

Predilection

Predilection: a preference or special liking for something; a bias in favour of something.

 

In contemplating The Gospels, it does seem that God has a special predilection or leaning and blessings, if you like, for the poor and the sinner:
 

Quote

 

Luke Chapter 18: "He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

"Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity - greedy, dishonest, adulterous - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.'

13 But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.'

14 I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

 

 

Jimmy Akin has written an explanation worth considering.  Akin is a senior apologist on Catholic Answers.  He sets his parameters for answering the question of predilection and then goes on to state that the answer would have to depend on one's perspective:

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http://jimmyakin.com/2006/08/who_does_god_lo.html

1) If you are talking about God’s perspective on individuals apart from his blessings and their responding actions, God loves all equally since we all have nothing apart from what he has given us.

2) If you are talking about God’s granting of blessings as his love then God loves some more than others–not because he is more drawn to their good points (for they have none apart from his blessings)–but because he gives some greater blessings than others.

3) If you are talking about God’s perspective on what he expects from us once he has given us his blessings then he does not love one more than another since he expects performance from creatures in proportion to the blessings they have received.

_________________________________

 

God's Blessing is another interesting subject.  Am I more blest because I have been given much on this earth - or am I more blest when I am granted much to suffer on this earth?

Am I more blest when I give thanks to God for the good blessings He has granted me on this earth, or am I more blest when I give thanks to God for suffering and the cross?  Am I more blest when granted importance and value in this life, or when I am given the lowest of unremarked and unnoticed positions?

The journey is all attitude and perspective.

 

PLEASE NOTE!

From "God's Blessings" onwards is my take, not Jimmy Akin.

The quotation marks insist on embracing whatever they like!

Edited July 13, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

Paradox

a person or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities.

 

I think that if I cannot live comfortably with paradox, then I am going to struggle and wrestle with Jesus and His Gospel - and with the consequent spirituality and theology that is Christocentric.

 

[Guest]

Genesis Chapter 32 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PY.HTM

"After he had taken them across the stream and had brought over all his possessions,

Jacob was left there alone. Then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob's hip at its socket, so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled.

The man then said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go until you bless me." "What is your name?" the man asked. He answered, "Jacob."

29Then the man said, "You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel, because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed." Jacob then asked him, "Do tell me your name, please." He answered, "Why should you want to know my name?"

With that, he bade him farewell.

 

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To Read Pope Benedict's Reflection on Genesis 32 and  Jacob wrestling with God: http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110525.html

Excerpt only: "His rival, who seems to be held back and therefore defeated by Jacob, rather than giving in to the Patriarch’s request, asks him his name: “What is your name?”. And the Patriarch replies: “Jacob” (v. 28). Here the struggle takes an important turn. In fact, knowing someone’s name implies a kind of power over that person because in the biblical mentality the name contains the most profound reality of the individual, it reveals the person’s secret and destiny. Knowing one’s name therefore means knowing the truth about the other person and this allows one to dominate him. When, therefore, in answer to the unknown person’s request Jacob discloses his own name, he is placing himself in the hands of his opponent; it is a form of surrender, a total handing over of self to the other.

However, in this act of surrender paradoxically Jacob too emerges victorious because......"........read MORE on above link

[Guest]

In the Gospels, we see the people in the times of Jesus (people of all kinds and professions) 'wrestling' with Jesus, asking Him questions - even challenging Him.  He answers questions and meets challenges - and as He travels, He also cures the sick, raises the dead and forgives sins.  He becomes a great hero and saviour, messiah, to many.   He takes up the plight of the poor, the sick and the sinner in his condemnation of the rich in His Times, rich in many ways including in their attitudes and perspectives.

But then the Great Paradox!

Jesus is arrested and subsequently dies a cruel criminal's death and is crucified.  Most all of His followers abandon Him.  And, I daresay, His enemies would have rejoiced He was finally right out of the way. 

But then another Great Paradox occurs.  After His death and burial, Jesus rises from death and walks among His followers once more.  From there, the message of Jesus is to spread worldwide down to our own times.

Perhaps the Greatest Paradox for us all is that out of death will come life and not only out of our physical death where we will rise again in Jesus, but out of the many kinds of dying that can occur in any earthly journey.   I think that can apply to institutions too. 

"The law entered in so that transgression might increase but, where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more" (Romans Ch5)

Paradox!

Edited July 13, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

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Something very painful and debilitating happens to Jacob - his hip is dislocated by God; nevertheless, Jacob continues to cling to God refusing to let go until he is blest.  God blesses him but Jacob is yet to realise who he has wrestled with and so Jacob asks His name.  His opponent merely asks why Jacob should want to know his name.  Jacob later realises he has wrestled with God and man.  And he names the place as holy where he had wrestled with God.

Ever after Jacob walks with a limp.

Jacobs journey is to unfold in quite a story indeed from beginning to end.  Jacob means “to deceive, to supplant”.

 

""Why should you want to know My Name?"

With that,

He bade him farewell."

Edited July 13, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

As one reads and contemplates Scripture, one cannot help but notice how flawed and sinful are most all the great figures of the Bible story from Adam and Eve all the way down to St Peter The Rock ....... down to today and all the in betweens.  Despite sins and flaws, struggles and problems, rising and falling daily, our God of The Surprise down the history of creation from its dawn has chosen and graced the totally unexpected of His creatures for great things.

 "He has exalted the lowly"

   (Magnificat Luke Chapter 1)  

                                                                                                                

 

I think (for one only) of St Therese of Lisieux as a sort of 'backwater nun in a backwater monastery' piercing the very heart of scriptural truth with the eidetic, direct and clear, sight of childhood - and living it out in her journey.  She goes on to be proclaimed a great saint, theologian and doctor of The Church.  She is a saint whose theology could speak to the greatest of mystics and to the most ordinary of the ordinary and everyday person.  I think it a great loss indeed, terrible loss, when her person and her message are whitewashed in an attempt to make her 'more holy' and larger than life - and in the doing can consign her to that list of saints who are outstandingly amazing and holy - but oh so inimitable.

Perhaps it is indicative that striving to protect the reputation of The Church, to build it up at any and all cost, can be so shockingly devastating to that reputation as in our own day. 

 "He has shown might with His arm,

He has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

and has exalted the lowly."

   (Magnificat Luke Chapter 1)  

 

Edited July 13, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

Shalom Place

A Daily Spiritual Seed

Dominican Sisters of Peace https://oppeace.org/

If every call to Christ and His righteousness is a call to suffering, the converse is equally—every call to suffering is a call to Christ, a promotion, an invitation to come up higher.
    ... Charles Brent (1862-1929)

[Guest]

 

 

And now below, back at the ranch, the man with the voice that just grates on me

like fingernails down a blackboard.

 

But Dr Finlay does share some valuable insights from,

or based on, 

Thomas Merton's thought and writings

 

 

[Guest]

 

 

I will be posting commentary on the Rule of St Benedict now and then if I think that the comments could pertain to any way of life including married or single in the laity.  I am not, incidentally, in any way connected to the Benedictines formally.

If you would like to receive a daily email with a rule of St Benedict, plus a commentary, it is available here: http://www.stmarysmonastery.org/holy_rule_reflections.html 

REFLECTION

Blessing readers and servers may strike the modern reader as a bit
silly: a CEREMONY of blessing to do a no-brainer like that for a
week? Ah, well there's the rub. Ancient monastics (and many Eastern
Orthodox monastics even in our own day,) did NOTHING without a
blessing from their elder. This results in all kinds of blessings for things
we’d take for granted. When the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne went as a
group to the guillotine in the French Revolution, at least one of the nuns
approached the Prioress and asked; "Permission to die, Mother?" The Prioress
blessed her to die.

Getting a blessing, asking God's help for even seemingly trivial
matters is a powerful reminder of our own weakness. It is a statement
that we can do nothing without Him, that we truly are nothing that He
has not given. There is a great humility in asking anyone for help.
In this instance, however, humility is richest truth: we need God's
help for everything. We do things only because He enables us, whether
we asked Him for help or not. Our very lives would not exist without
Him.

We still bless readers and servers. Short ceremony, same every week.
We all pray together for whomever is serving us. Since we are small
(only 7,) the Superior is often reader or server. When that happens,
he kneels like anyone else and the senior monk blesses him. It's a
little family ritual.

But what is its message for families in the world? For single Oblates
living alone? The message is that there are no tasks to insignificant
to bless with prayer. St. Benedict has earlier encouraged us to begin
every good work with prayer, but maybe we have forgotten. Because the
monastic is MINDFUL, careful, attuned to life, nothing is unimportant,
nothing should be done "on automatic pilot." There is that healthy level of
mistrust of self that will ask for Divine assistance in any endeavor. “Bless,
Lord, yet another diaper." "Bless, Lord, emptying the trash." "Bless, Lord,
management meeting!!"

Making dinner or washing the dishes? Take a quiet moment in the midst
of either to say "Help!" and "Thanks!" Two simple, one word prayers.
No matter how chaotic your household, everyone will find time for at
least that. God knows the details, knows your heart and can readily
fill in the blanks! We may think God needs essay-length prayers, but
He doesn't. He may enjoy hearing from us, but trust me, we NEVER tell
Him anything that's news to Him.

Of course, there is another side to simple things like serving table,
picking up pins and the like. No one could have done anything
without God's help, but ah, if one does them out of love and care!
Bingo! Double coupons, so to speak! If that pin got carefully picked
up because of a barefoot and running child, or a beloved pet who is
prone to "tasting" whatever she can find on the floor, simplicity
becomes a very much greater matter, indeed. Now it is very close to
the heart of God, and that is a wonderful place to be.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org 
Petersham, MA

[Guest]

I have put a link to Phatmass and this thread into my email signature as well as a link to something Catholic or other - at the moment it is Catholic Answers Q&A.  It is another small endeavour at evangelisation when disabled and retired as I am.  In my 72 years I have often learnt that one little pebble dropped into a huge lake really can send ripples right out over a huge lake.  At times, I have said some little something or other, or written it, and months later it has come back that it had a far bigger audience/impact than I ever intended or remotely imagined and at times with people that amazed me even more.   Faith in trustful confidence really does work miracles - and it does rather remind me of the parable of the mustard seed:

Matthew Ch13: "He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants.........."........

When I send an email in future, I will be formally asking The Lord to bless my tiny little mustard seed.  Amen.

Edited July 14, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

 

Actual answers given by contestants on the game show The Family Feud:

 

• Name something that floats in the bath - Water
• Name something a blind person might use - A sword
• Name a song with 'moon' in the title- Blue Suede Moon
• Something you do before going to bed - Sleep
• Name a famous bridge - The bridge over troubled waters
• A sign of the zodiac - April
• Something slippery - A con man
• A part of the body beginning with the letter 'N' - Knee
• Something you do in the bathroom - Decorate

[Guest]

 

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Vincent's Quote of the Day - St Vincent de Paul Society

Quote of the Day – July 16

"It is not so important for us to live a long time as to continue in the vocation to which God has called us and to abide by what we have promised God (III:97)."

[Guest]

My computer on and on/off basis is really giving me headaches.  If I suddenly disappear off Phatmass, it will be due to computer woes - I can't afford to take it to a technician.  It is starting to play up again now and if the problems get any more problematic, I just might have to abandon this laptop computer altogether.  I am not at all computer literate and have no idea at all what the problem might be.  I have virus protection.

[Guest]

"8 Reasons You Need a Spiritual Director"

https://aleteia.org/2018/07/17/8-irrefutable-reasons-you-need-a-spiritual-director/?utm_campaign=NL_en&utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=NL_en

 

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“Books,” said St. Augustine after his conversion, “could not teach me charity.” We still keep on thinking they can. We do not realize ... the utter distinctness of God and the things of God. Psychology of religion can not teach us prayer, and ethics cannot teach us love. Only Christ can do that, and He teaches by the direct method, in and among the circumstances of life.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), Light of Christ [1944]

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS

Oh! Mary Immaculate of Good Success, holy mother, through the special and singular love that thou givest us,

 both visible and invisible. Come to our assistance, so that the virtues of charity and humility may rule among us,

and that we may enjoy thy maternal protection and be thy dignified children. Thou hast never denied us any grace

suitable for our sanctification and salvation, which we ask of thee and which thou kindly anticipates to provide for

our own good. Holy Virgin of Good Success, with this confidence, we present ourselves to thee in need of the

graces of conversion, sanctification, and perseverance in the service of Jesus and thee (Mary). We implore thee

that, thou piously grant us chastity, charity and humility; so that adorned with these virtues, we manifest ourselves

as thy children and be the testimony of how thou dost never abandon those that, with faith, have recourse to

thee.

Amen

[Guest]

(From Daily Gospel.org)

Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)
priest, founder of religious communities
Spiritual conference of 21/03/1659

 

"You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned; you have revealed them to the childlike"

Simplicity is so pleasing to God! As you know, Scripture says that his delight is to converse with the simple, with those who have simplicity of heart and who behave unaffectedly and simply: “With the upright is his friendship” (Prv 3:32). Do you want to find God? He speaks with the simple. O my Savior! O my brothers! You who feel the need to be simple; what happiness! what happiness! Take heart, because you have the assurance that God's delight is to be with the simple.

Something else that wonderfully recommends simplicity to us are these words of our Lord: “I bless you, Father, for having hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to the childlike.” Father, I acknowledge and thank you that the teaching I have learned from your divine Majesty and pass on to others is known only to the simple and that you do not allow the prudent of this world to understand it. For you have concealed from them, if not the words then at least the spirit.

O my Savior and my God! This ought to astonish us. We run after knowledge as if all our happiness depended on it. Woe to us if we don't have it! We certainly need it, but in its fullness; we ought to study, but in moderation. Other people claim understanding of business and pass for people of substance and negotiation in the world. These are the ones from whom God takes away perception of Christian truths: from the learned and knowing of this world. Who does he give it to, then? To simple, ordinary people... Gentlemen, true religion is to be found among the poor. God enriches them with living faith; they believe, touch, taste the words of life... For the most part they preserve their peace in the midst of trouble and distress. What is the reason for this? Faith. Why? Because they are simple God causes those graces to abound in them that he refuses to the rich and learned of this world.

[Guest]

PROBLEMS

It is now 11.20am here and I have been all morning trying to get I.E. with Google as my home page working.  Things seem to go ok for a while and then jam up again (freeze).  I have done a few tweaks but no idea what I was doing, but at least I have i.e. and google working again, but I don't know for how long.

See how things go.  Again, if I disappear it is my computer.