Complete Confidence

     “The Blessed Virgin teaches us to believe in our vocation to sanctity, to divine intimacy. We did believe in it when God revealed it to us in the brightness of interior light, and the words of His minister confirmed it; but we should also believe in it when we find ourselves alone, in darkness, amid difficulties that tend to disturb and discourage us. God is faithful, and He does not do things by halves: He will finish His work in us, provided we have complete confidence in Him.”                       Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen


     When Mary said “yes” to God to become the mother of His Son, she was not handed a playbook with all the details her “yes” would entail. Once the angel Gabriel departed, she did not receive any more divine visitations revealing life’s mysteries. Mary lived by faith—as we are called to do—in the ordinary day in and day out events of her life, as they unfolded.

Become a Saint

     “Although we have formed good resolutions in our mind, we always feel handicapped by the weakness of sustained effort, which rebels against the weariness of sustained effort, and seeks to free itself from it, or at least to reduce it to a minimum. Our bodies are subject to fatigue; our minds are disturbed by emotions which are always fluctuating. That which at one moment fills us with enthusiasm may, at the next, become distasteful and annoying to such a point that we think we can no longer endure it. This is our state while on earth and no one can escape it. However, God calls us all to sanctity, and since sanctity requires a continual practice of virtue, He, who never ask the impossible, has provided a remedy for the instability of our nature by giving us the virtue of perseverance, the special object of which is the sustaining of our efforts. Though fickle by nature, we can by the help of grace become steadfast.”                                                                             Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.


     Holiness does not come easily. It is an impossible task to carry out on our own. We often forget our weaknesses and become discouraged when we fail. We think we should be able to accomplish the resolutions we’ve made, and when we don’t, we beat ourselves up. Our pride blinds us, making us believe we should be able to do it with our own strength. We had been doing so well. What happened? We really thought we had finally overcome our weakness, but then the fall!

     “Whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall” (1Cor 10 vs 12).

Stand in hope

“Hope is patience with a lamp lit”                                                 Tertullian


     Something stirred within my heart when I read Tertullian’s words,  “Hope is patience with a lamp lit.”       I felt as though I was engulfed in darkness – without any light. His words caused me to entertain the idea that, just maybe, there was a dim flicker of which I was unaware until that moment. The possibility that hope was present in the burden that plagued my soul began to dawn on me.