“…With one foot only it touches the ground…” (Saint Faustina Diary 114).
One day during the last school holidays – while their parents were at work – I offered to collect my nephew and nieces so that they could spend a fun day at the cinema, playing arcade games and having lunch with my children (after I had finished my own work that morning).
In order to collect the children from where they were waiting at their father’s work, I had to leave my own children at home alone so that I could drive for about 10 minutes to my brother-in-law’s workplace and then drive another 10 minutes back home. You see, I was collecting three children, and with three of my own, we simply did not have enough room in my car for everyone to be transported safely and at the same time. And so it was that I went out to collect three little children, leaving my own children safely at home…
When I drove back up into my own driveway – having been away for about 20 minutes in total – I looked up to see my own three children peering out from the front window of our home, eagerly watching for their cousins’ arrival…
As soon as the car was parked, my children flung open our front door and taking their cousins by the hands they raced around, sharing all their news.
And I have been reflecting on that scene in the front window of our home, because it reminds me of the way that I should be looking to my Beloved…
You see, Saint Faustina, in her Diary 114 wrote, “Oh, how pleasing are the hymns flowing from a suffering soul! All heaven delights in such a soul, especially when it is tested by God. It mournfully sings out its longing for Him. Great is its beauty, because it comes from God. The soul walks through the jungle of life, wounded by God’s love. With one foot only it touches the ground.”
And I have been reflecting on that one foot that “touches the ground” as I have been reflecting on the children waiting at the window, because I have come to see, today, that the foot and the window are somehow related…
You see, when my children were waiting for their cousins, they were fresh and eager with anticipation… They waited with breathlessly and they rushed out joyfully. They did not worry that it had taken some time and inconvenience to me (or to them) to collect their cousins. They did not worry that their cousins may not have been eager to greet them. No! They knew that they loved their cousins, and they knew that their cousins loved them, and no amount of inconvenience was too great to interfere with their excitement and enjoyment that day. And so, if that meant that they needed to sit at home and wait for their cousins to be collected – then so be it…
And it is the same with the “foot”. You see when a soul understands that the purpose of suffering is to purify them – to prepare them – for their Beloved, then no amount of suffering could be considered excessive. When a soul understands that the suffering of the present moment is necessary to ensure an eternity with their Beloved (in PERFECT love) their mind is only half afflicted with the suffered passion of the moment – the other half is focused on the Face of the Lord... And because of this focus it is “With one foot only it touches the ground.”
And that is what I would like to do – keep only one foot on the ground… For what great joy of anticipation I would find in all my sufferings in that way! What great joy!
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.