Towards a mature relationship with God - Part 4


TOWARDS A MATURE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD – PART 4

Mario D’Couto

            How nice it would be if being good was easy. Sometimes, I think to myself that the greatest battle is the battle within and rightly so because of our fallen nature but we have the assistance of Our dear Lord and His Blessed Mother in our quest to become the person that God our Heavenly Father wants us to be; for in as much as, we are in the world, we are and should be, not of the world.

            There is a difference between ‘the world’ and ‘being worldly’. The world in itself is not bad and whatever God created is good (Genesis 1:31). However, ‘being worldly’ is a mindset. When the things of the world become the centre of our lives, that is not good. Yet, despite our efforts in doing our best to become the person that God wants us to be, we could fall down, for even “…. the just man falls 7 times” (Proverbs 24:16). The main focus of this article is therefore on the virtue of humility. 

            In 2 Corinthians, St. Paul writes, “And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn, was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). St. John of the Cross tells us that sometimes, God leads the ‘amateur’ into the dark night so as to purify him/her of his/her pride. He writes, “Some of these beginners make little of their faults and at other times become over – sad when they see themselves fall into them, thinking themselves to have been saints already; and then they become angry and impatient with themselves, which is another imperfection. Often they beseech God, with great yearnings, that He will take from them their imperfections and faults but they do this that they may find themselves at peace and may not be troubled by them, rather than for God’s sake; not realizing that, if He should take their imperfections and faults, they would probably become prouder and more presumptuous still.” To add to that, it would not only cause them to become proud, but it would lead them to despise their fellow brethren which is nothing by hypocrisy.

            Speaking about dealing with one’s weakness and imperfections, Don Lorenzo Scupoli writes in his book, “The Spiritual Combat and a Treatise on the Peace of the Soul”, that the cause for such a phenomenon could be due to the following reasons,

Ø  Due to the devil who strains with satanic vigour to make us become negligent to lead us from the path of perfection and plunge us anew into the vanities of the world.
Ø  From ourselves, through our own faults, negligence and earthly attachments.
Ø  If not for all the above reasons, the last reason to be assigned for such dryness may be the joy of God seeing us fight with all our strength, utilizing all His grace to best effect.  

            Scupoli warns us that even if it were for no fault of us and we still find an aversion for spiritual things, we should still hold on and never give up as Scupoli would put it, “However barren and insipid your usual exercises may seem, be resolute and persevering in your execution of them, drinking cheerfully the bitter cup the Heavenly Father has resented to you.” Despite the dryness you may experience or that you may feel, despite putting your best efforts in an oppressive cloud of spiritual darkness, it is important to not get discouraged. The devil is too shrewd in getting us into discouragement. When we fall or sin, he takes our sins and puts it right in front of our face and starts accusing us that we are never capable of God’s mercy and love. THIS IS A LIE! HE IS A LIAR AND THE FATHER OF LIES (John 8:44), as has always been the case from the beginning of time. DON’T LISTEN TO HIM!

            At the same time, Scupoli tells us that when we share our spiritual dryness with our spiritual director, we should not do it with the intention of removing it. Rather we should be asking for help on how to bear it patiently. He writes, “Offer not your Communions, prayers or other devout exercises that you may be free of your cross but that you may receive strength to exalt that cross forever to the honour and glory of Jesus crucified.” Remember, even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross felt ‘abandoned’ by His Heavenly Father Whose only beloved Son He was and when you feel that way, say in the bottom of your heart, “Not my will but Your will be done.”

            By uniting patience with prayer in the voluntary immolation of self to God, you will become truly devout. For true devotion consists in an eager and unswerving will to follow Christ and to decide and to bear the cross at whatever time, in whatever way He shall decide, which consists in loving God because He is worthy of our love even if it means forfeiting the sweetness of God for the sake of God.  

            If the multitudes of those who profess piety would measure advancement in the spiritual life by this true standard, rather than by the saccharin effervescences of a purely sensible devotion, they would be deceived neither by the devil nor by themselves; nor would they be so abominably ungrateful as to murmur against their Lord and unjustly complain of the gift He bestows upon them. For such situations in which the virtue of patience may be developed and strengthened are truly gifts.

            To give a contrasting picture of what we have seen, of those that are proud, St. John of the Cross writes, “Those souls, on the other hand, being far from desiring to be the masters of any, are ready to travel and set out on another road than that which they are actually following, if they be so commanded, because they never think that they are right in anything whatsoever. They rejoice when others are praised; they grieve only because they did not serve in the way God did not intend them to. They have no desire to speak of the things that they do, because they think so little of them that they are ashamed to speak of them even to their spiritual masters, since they seem to them to be things that merit not being spoken of. They are more anxious to speak of their faults and sins or that these should be recognized rather than their virtues; and then they incline to talk of their souls with those who account their actions and their spirituality of little value. This is a characteristic of the spirit which is simple, pure, genuine and very pleasing to God. For as the wise spirit of God dwells in these humble souls, He moves them and inclines them to keep His treasures secretly within and likewise to cast out from themselves all evil. God gives this grace to the humble, together with the other virtues, even as He denies it to the proud.

            These souls will give their heart’s blood to anyone that serves God and will help others to serve Him as much as in them lies. The imperfections into which they see themselves fall, they bear with humility, meekness of spirit and a loving fear of God, hoping in Him.”

            While there is more that can be said about maturing one’s relationship with God, I have tried to bring out the essential aspects of a deep-rooted relationship with Our Lord and Saviour. I pray and hope that these reflections may bear fruit in your lives as I see it bearing in mine. May the good Lord bless us and keep us in His bountiful care, now and always. 


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