Glutton

“A saint is a glutton who is filled with God by emptying himself. A saint is a poor man who makes his fortune plundering the coffers of God.” (Urbano, in “The Man of the Villa Tevere).

Saint John the Baptist with Saint John the Evangelist and Saint James (Icon)

How lucky we are to have this great gift of Faith.

When my children were very small and had bad dreams at night, they were often very frightened to go back to sleep afterwards because they were worried about their bad dreams.  And hen that happened, I would sit with them in the middle of the night and I would pray a little prayer asking their Guardian Angel to look after them.  And then, they would close their eyes and go back to sleep.

That is the faith of a little child.

And I have been thinking about that gift today.  After all, when my children were happy to believe in the faith that we had in the comfort of the prayers that we prayed, they became far less afraid.  And I have been thinking about how my children behaved when they were very young.  For example, if there was some nice food that they enjoyed eating, they would eat and eat and eat without any worry about their health or their future.  They would not think to themselves, “Oh, I shall become very fat or very unhealthy if I eat all this chocolate.”  Instead, they would eat the chocolate and enjoy it and worry about later, later…

And there is a sort of greed in this, a sort of gluttony.  There is a desperation for the thing that brings comfort and makes the person feel good…

And this reminds me of how Christ answered His disciples…

“The disciples said to him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ And he answered them, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away...blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.’” (Matthew 13:10-17).

You will be given MORE…

Urbano wrote in “The Man of the Villa Tevere, “A saint is a glutton who is filled with God by emptying himself. A saint is a poor man who makes his fortune plundering the coffers of God. A saint is a weak man who has walled in God and in Him he builds his fortress... A saint is one who washes his miserable filth at the mercy of God. A saint is a coward who becomes striking and brave, shielded by God's power... A saint is such an ambitious person that he is only satisfied owning an ever bigger portion of God... A saint is a man who takes everything from God, a thief who even steals from God the love he needs to be able to love Him. And God loves to be looted by his saints. That's the joy of God. And that is the secret business of the saints.”

And today, I pray for the Grace to be a glutton for God…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.