"God loves everyone with unique love; he wants to lead them all to perfection, but at the same time has very different paths for different people. This means that the frequency and characteristics of the inspirations of grace will differ from one person to another. We cannot force the Spirit, God is the master of his gifts. That said, it cannot be doubted that God will grant each person at least the inspirations he needs for his own sanctification."(Fr. Jacques Philippe)
Pride can blind us from so many things. Spiritual pride is a dangerous ill that can destroy faith of those around us, and also deprive us of recognizing and being open to the grace(s) that God has given.
To rest in the love of God and to believe that He "loves everyone with unique love" is to begin living well in accordance to His precepts. If we only received two commandments from God, and they were the first two--"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:Love your neighbor as yourself.
Surely we have found enough in that to unpack and a great outline of sorts to living out a Christian life, for from these very important commandments blossoms the essential fruits for living virtuously and how God has called us.
We can not force grace upon another, it is not our place to judge how they are living well, or unwell in our own very limited perception. We are not God and we can not transform hearts.
We witness well, by allowing God to transform ours. To be a sign of grace and testament to what God is doing and has done for us by simply being attentive to our own personal walk with Christ. What we all need for our sanctification is different and the way in which God will manifest this to us as individuals is as unique as we are. He knows what His children need. He knows so much better than us what will aid our sanctification and bring us to full life in Him.
I think often of my former varsity soccer coach and how well he knew each of us. He knew us in character and disposition in such a way that he could lead us to preform to the greatest of our personal ability. To watch him navigate team meetings or conduct himself during some of our most gruesome training sessions was an art at times. He looked at his flock and he knew what each player needed, or didn't need so they could be their personal best. I, was often the victim of serious discipline, yes, ironically quite the team class clown I spent a lot of time running laps, and being victim of some serious , but indeed helpful lectures. He knew I needed that "kick" to become better though, and he knew that the docile teamate beside me couldn't respond to that, and that it would not lead her to excellence or to be her personal best, but destroy her completely.
Now I am not alluding that my coach was by any means like God,for surely he is not. Yet, if God sees us all as players in his field of life, striving for victory and if the end goal is to live with Him eternally, then surely He knows what we each as individuals well need to finish the race victoriously.
I have met many honest people with great zest for the faith and a toxic blazing love of God. They are seemingly "on fire" . I have also witnessed this fire become one of destruction as they blaze around demanding, or preaching, and teaching why everyone should live the faith in the way that they have come to know, and do it in the way that they do, and offer a litany of sorts on how to do it. Frankly, often they do even present papers and papers of litanies and devotions. This can be extremely overwhelming and it is not a helpful thing.
Our personal inspirations, granted to us by God are for our sanctification. Consequently an honest obedience to what the fruits of the spirit truly offers us can flow from our receptivity of them and aid the sanctification process of another by living through the grace we are given with humility.
As teammates on Christ's pitch we strive for the same end. Let us be attentive to the gifts of God in our own lives, and let us aid our brothers and sisters in Christ toward victory by love of God.
"We cannot force the Spirit, God is the master of his gifts. That said, it cannot be doubted that God will grant each person at least the inspirations he needs for his own sanctification."
Sometimes we must bear patiently the burdens of another, and pray steadfastly until the flowering of the soul and the fruits of the spirit are made visible to us. (CC)
No comments:
Post a Comment