The answer to all of life's woes!

GROWING IN SELF-KNOWLEDGE,  SELF-FORGETFULNESS, CHRIST-CENTEREDNESS
“Upon my flowering breast which I kept holy for Him alone, there He lay sleeping and I caressing Him.
“I abandoned and forgot myself, laying my face on my beloved. All things ceased. I went out from myself,
leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies.”
(St. John of the Cross)

PRE-OCCUPIED WITH PROBLEMS?

Where do we find ourselves today?

-Pre-occupied with ourselves and many problems and concerns?

-Or surrendered as trusting children, communing with our Triune God and abandoned to His Divine Providence?

-Or, somewhere in between?

It is easy to go back and forth in our surrender and trust, as we are continually being transformed “from glory-to-glory” (2Cor 3:18).

Just when we think we have come to a place of peace, surrender and trust, a challenging situation may arise and we find ourselves losing our peace, and “back to square one” it can seem – but are we really?

In fact, rather than going backwards, these challenging situations can be great opportunities to pace forward; even with a sprint if the challenge is a great one.

The key question is, how are we responding to each difficulty and suffering we face in life? … 

-Are we cooperating with God’s grace in it?... Seeing it as a steppingstone, an opportunity for growing in greater fullness of who God has created us to be? And an opportunity to participate in redemptive suffering? (“We make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ” [Col  1:24]).

-Or, are we allowing such sufferings to take us from God, a stumbling block drawing us to become pre-occupied with ourself, our situation and the problems and anxieties that come with it?

If we reflect on the scripture of Peter, when Jesus called him out of the boat (Mat 14:28-29), initially Peter was doing well. He was focused on Jesus… trusting in Him and His grace to hold him up. But, then, the problems and anxieties of the mighty wind and waves arose; and, Peter was distracted, and became preoccupied—losing his focus on and trust in Jesus.

THE INTERIOR LIFE

Then we have the scripture of the “sower and the seed” (Mat 13:1-23). Some seed fell on rocky ground, some among thorns and thistles, and some on fertile soil.

It is the fertile soil of our hearts that allows the seed of God’s love and truth to take root; in order to stand, no matter what problems and challenges we face.

And, this is where it is essential that we foster an ever-deeper interior life of prayer and communion with our Triune God.

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity had such a deep communion of life with the indwelling presence of the Holy Trinity, that she would say, “It no longer matters now whether I live or die, I’m living Heaven on earth.”

Scripture tells us, we cannot just give God “lip service” (Is 29:13); We must pray with the heart. And, “not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father” (Mat 7:21).

Our faith life and communion with God must not remain on a superficial, surface level; but it must be one of a journey from head to the ever-deeper heart, in order that we might be purified of any duplicity, “white-washed tombstone” syndrome, blame-game mentality, or any other evil that resides within. “The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). 

Jesus has knocked at the front door of our hearts (Rev. 3:20), and we may have heard and invited Him in. But, we must realize that the “house” of our heart has MANY rooms, closets, nooks and crannies. It is not enough to just invite Him into the “living room” of our hearts where we have a “meet and greet” now and then each Sunday; or even each day. He is always knocking to come in deeper, to the rooms of our work, our relationships, our recreation, and whatever else might fill us.

If this is not able to happen, we remain our own god, and we see things from our own fallen human perspective; not as God sees. “God’s ways are not our ways” (Is 55:8).

SELF-ABSORPTION VS CHRIST-ABSORPTION

As reflected in Dante's Inferno, Satan is total self-absorption.

We on the other hand, who choose Christ, are called to the opposite… to self-knowledge, self-gift and self-sacrifice. As St. John Paul II often quoted, “We do not come to truly know ourselves except through a sincere gift of ourselves;” ultimately with God.

St. John of the Cross had it right. St. John the Beloved, who rested his head on the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus at the Last Supper (Jn 13:23), as well. May we also… entering deeply into Jesus’ Heart, as we invite Him ever-more deeply into ours; into every stage of our life, even to the moment of our own conception; for it is in this that healing lies. For “Love” (1Jn 4:8) is longing to be received, and loved in return; and He came that we “might have life, and have it to the full” (Jn 10:10).

“Oh that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth! Draw me after you…

“The King has brought me into his chambers… While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance…

“I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me” (SS 1:2,12:3:5).

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