“We have a real and practical horror of sin, even venial sin. With the stubbornness of the Canaanite woman, we go down on our knees as she did, adoring Him and imploring ‘Lord, help me.’ The darkness will vanish, vanquished by the light of Love.” (Saint Josemaría).
I have been reflecting on some of the writings of Saint Josemaría Escriva. This Spanish priest and saint wrote, in his work, “The Forge”…
“These are the unmistakable signs of the true Cross of Christ: serenity, a deep feeling of peace, a love which is ready for any sacrifice, a great effectiveness which wells from Christ's own wounded Side. And always - and very evidently – cheerfulness: a cheerfulness which comes from knowing that those who truly give themselves are beside the Cross, and therefore beside Our Lord.” (Saint Josemaría, “The Forge”, p.772).
And I have been reflecting on how this peace feels in my life. You see, in the years before my conversion, which occurred through Grace and no merit of my own, I experienced many things – but peace was not one of them. I would become very easily distressed and worried. I would become very easily anxious. I spent my life in a flurry of worry and stress. And then – when my little niece was sick some time ago, while I was praying for her, my Beloved came and found me. And when He came for me – without my even realising that I had been missing Him all along – the firs and most profound change in me was my peace and cheerfulness. I was suddenly – and inexplicably – overcome with optimism. I no longer wanted to plan for the worst or imagine the inevitable. Instead, I was consumed with optimism for the future.
I was suddenly completely sure that everything out “be okay” or for want of a better explanation, I was convinced that everything would turn out for the best. When good things happened it was a sign that God is GOOD. When bad things happened, it was a sign that God turns EVERYTHING TO THE GOOD. All I needed to do was consciously and actively repeat those words to myself and the Holy Spirit Himself did everything else to strengthen me.
And what I found – through this experience – was that others were drawn to this cheerfulness, to this optimism, like a magnet.
And this experience of mine is not unusual. It is common to all of those inspired by the Holy Spirit. Saint Josemaría wrote in “Friends of God” at p.303, “‘We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not without hope,’ or sustenance; ‘we are persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; we carry about continually in our bodies the dying state of Jesus.’ We may even imagine that Our Lord does not hear us; that we are being deluded, that all we hear is the monologue of our own voice. We find ourselves, as it were, without support on earth and abandoned by heaven. Nevertheless, we have a real and practical horror of sin, even venial sin. With the stubbornness of the Canaanite woman, we go down on our knees as she did, adoring Him and imploring ‘Lord, help me.’ The darkness will vanish, vanquished by the light of Love.”
And I have been reflecting on that today – with cheerfulness…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.