01/08/2022 – Chapter 16 Discussion: “Faith , Hope and Love Are only One Thing”
Great Christian books are similar to the Bible in that what you highlight for a particular section would change each time you read that section.
But for this chapter, here is my short paragraph favorite, given where I stand today: “God’s remedy for our mistrust is His infinite and all-powerful mercy, which is stronger than all our sins. God’s mercy makes holiness easy because it makes our basic task not hard penances but joyful trust. Our joy (in the form of trust) brings down God’s joy (in the form of mercy).”
And if we just willfully exercise trust, we soon realize that joy trumps worldly pleasure every time. Joy overcomes all circumstances that we find ourselves in this world.
Let’s read again a short excerpt from the top of page #88: “Saint Faustina writes: ‘The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is — trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive.’ “
The opening of this chapter: “De Caussade says: ‘The state of self-abandonment is a blending of Faith, hope, and love in one single act.’ ” Self-abandonment is to reject forever the Devil’s narcissism, is it not? Does this not point again to one of my memory verses, a paradox that I did not solve as a young Christian: “For whosoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whosoever loses his life for My sake and the gospels will save it.” Mark 8:35
Thoughts? How is holy easy? Isn’t it simply that God wants to do the work within us, if only we let him in. “TRUST”. It’s a choice between darkness and light, between hate and perfect agape love.
Once again, it is the quote from this book that I put on this blog’s “business card”:
“God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevloent (He wills our greatest joy); therefore, God loves us more than we love ourselves. God’s deepest desire is for our peace and joy. We can’t lose, because God can’t lose! Insofar as we believe that identity, we will love His will as we love our own. We will then fully embrace it and become holy.”
How sublime!, it progresses logically like those Geometry proofs that we used to put up on the chalkboard in our sophomore year. God’s love connects all ultimate Truth!
Soli Deo Gloria!