1831 The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David.109 They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations.
Let your good spirit lead me on a level path.110
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God . . . If children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.111
(Catechism of the Catholic Church)
Counsel is a gift of the Holy Spirit, one given to us to be able to discern the voice of the Lord and to follow as He leads us. But like all of God’s gifts, they are never for our own benefit alone. Those that are able to discern the times, are often able to be used by God to speak to His other children. We know these people as the Prophets and we set them in a separate category of holiness. What if this special gift was never intended to be separated out, but to be abundantly lavished on all of His children.
Do you feel a little separated from the Holy Spirit at the moment? Here’s a special prayer .
V. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. R. And you shall renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
143 By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God.2 With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, “the obedience of faith”.3 (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
We were created to live a life of faith, with the help of God’s abundant grace through the Sacraments. We were never meant to go at it alone, living depressed, lonely lives filled with anxiety and despair. That isn’t part of the plan. And even though we continually fall short, we can choose this path over and over. It is up to us. That’s the Good News that Jesus died to bring us.
Pray and obey! We are to submit our entire being into doing what we discern as being His will. That’s what it means to pray always. Our actions get turned into prayer because it is a loving response to Him who loves us dearly and wants to guide us along this journey of ours. An in faith, once we have done our best, we know that we can leave the results to Him, that in His hands all will always be for the best.
2716 Contemplative prayer is hearing the Word of God. Far from being passive, such attentiveness is the obedience of faith, the unconditional acceptance of a servant, and the loving commitment of a child. It participates in the “Yes” of the Son become servant and the Fiat of God’s lowly handmaid.
(Catechism of the Catholic Church)
We need to train our selves to react compassionately and mercifully to all ailments…whether within ourselves, others, or society at large. We need to see what we now try to avert our eyes from as merely a symptom, a calling for further healing. The world shows us of its need for God (and for us) in the most undesirable ways. This way of attentiveness that we are encouraged to participate with the world in, needs to begin with ourselves.
How do you view the various symptoms that you experience within your own body? Society and much of the medical industry tries to tell us each of our symptoms are a separate ‘disease’ and needs to be treated as such, with a separate medical specialist, and drug.
But what if I were to propose to you that much of what we suffer from are merely symptoms, a calling to attentiveness, to bring us back to how we were created to function. Yes, I know that many suffer with debilitating illnesses that go beyond the scope of what I’m covering here. This is not what I’m referring to. My aim here is to bring the average person back to trusting their own body and their Creator and then actively participating in their own healing via obedience.
So today’s challenge is.
Be attentive to what your body is trying to tell you. Keeping a journal is a great way to start on this path. Make a list of your symptoms, what are some things that you would change if you could. Then ask the Lord to show you what needs to be done.
2500: The practice of goodness is accompanied by spontaneous spiritual joy and moral beauty. (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
Sometimes it’s hard to control our feelings and emotions, especially when faced with someone who we know doesn’t like or respect us. This is so relevant for us today who live in such a divided world. Even within our own families we are now facing the reality that our world view is not only rejected, but spurned. But through all of the craziness we’ve been shown over and over examples of Christians who reflected nothing but calmness and goodness, even in the face of evil being spat at them.
So although we can’t often change our interior disposition (although God can and we should pray for it), the one thing we can do is be open to emitting Jesus’ own goodness and love through us. One very simple way of doing this is through our smile. As one who struggles with RBF (if you don’t know what this is, you can look it up. 😉 ), I have to intentionally make an effort to do this.
By this simple task, we are not only conveying Jesus’ goodness to others, but it can actually alter our frame of mind and lead us to better health. Our body picks up on these subtle messages…oh, she’s smiling…we must be feeling good…let’s pump out some feel good hormones. 😀 Feel good hormones are great alkalizing agents, and the whole body benefits from it.
1808Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to
overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer
fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to
renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. "The Lord is my strength
and my song."70 "In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world."71 (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
This special virtue is given to us to combat ‘vice’. In Portuguese the word ‘viceo’, means a habit or an addiction, while the English word has taken a more dire twist. But let’s aim to combat all ‘vices’. Even the little things that we hardly ever give a second thought to, can eventually trap us. Luckily we have Fortitude which is a gift of the Holy Spirit to see us through all of it.
Since we are starting our steps with the SELF, begin by listening to your body. What things do you know are causing you harm but you just can’t seem to quit. Ask the Holy Spirit for an extra portion of fortitude.
Meekness is about putting ego a side. We often can think of this as an instruction to ‘stay within our own lane’. But in some ways it’s actually the opposite. It’s about fully realizing that this grand plan of God goes way beyond us and that He’s fully in control, regardless of our limitations.
When we see people out there doing some pretty amazing things we can be tempted to think ‘what an ego maniac’, but how about the person who pulls back and doesn’t follow through on what God is putting in their heart because of not wanting to be seen as foolish? Isn’t the ego way more at work there?
716The People of the “poor”87 – those who, humble and meek, rely solely on their God’s mysterious plans, who await the justice, not of men but of the Messiah – are in the end the great achievement of the Holy Spirit’s hidden mission during the time of the promises that prepare for Christ’s coming. It is this quality of heart, purified and enlightened by the Spirit, which is expressed in the Psalms. In these poor, the Spirit is making ready “a people prepared for the Lord.”88
The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all, how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.
St. Vincent De Paul
What makes humility so powerful? Because it’s what it takes to give our lives completely over to the Lord and be able to live in complete obedience. Jesus said that we needed to become like little children. He didn’t mean childish and immature…lol…He meant humble and open to receiving His graces.
When we are prideful, it is almost impossible to live out a life of grace. We become like the rich young man in the Gospels, we posses too much and become unwilling to let any of it go, in order to follow the foot steps the Lord puts before us. We have our reputation, our friendships, our health, and our wealth to protect. The ‘what ifs’ run through our minds and paralyze us from doing the thing that we are being called to do.
So true humility, isn’t about thinking less of ourselves… we don’t have to become doormats… we just have to think of ourselves less. More of Him and less of us. We must be so confident and trusting in the Lord that we just know that whatever He allows will be for our ultimate good. Yes, we may lose some things in the interim… but that’s just to make room for the real gems that he wants to give us.
Read here about the Precious Jewels, and how letting go can bring greater graces than we can even imagine.
Here we are on day 11 of what was announced to be a ‘wellness boot camp’. Anyone who is still with me may be starting to lose patience a little bit, wondering when are we going to get to actually do something. Maybe start a diet, or an exercise routine. But what we are trying to do here, is different. I want us to work together through the process of being able to fully utilize all that we have been given and receive all that Our Creator still wants to give to us. But…it takes PATIENCE. We need to allow Him to work in us little by little, step, by step.
Patience is trusting not only in God’s Word, but in His timing. Knowing that for now, this present moment and the lessons that it brings, is enough. We are enough! That as all of this really sinks in, the rest will fall into place too. Patience is not sitting back and doing nothing, it’s about ‘praying and obeying’ and then leaving the results to God.
There was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light from the presence of God. The Lord told the man He had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. He explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might — which he did, day after day.
For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, pushing with all his might against this massive, unmoving rock. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
Seeing that the man was getting discouraged, Satan decided to pour salt in the wound by saying to him, “After all these years, and despite your best efforts, the rock hasn’t budged. Why keep torture yourself like this? You’re never going to move it.”
These thoughts disheartened the man even more. “Why am I killing myself over this?” he thought. “I’ll just put in my time, give minimal effort and that will be good enough.” But in his wrestling, he decided to make this a matter of prayer.
“Lord” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do what you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I haven’t even budged the rock a half a millimeter. What am I doing wrong? Why am I failing?”
The Lord compassionately responded, “My friend, when long ago I called you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your might, which you have done. Never once did I mention that I expected you to move it.
Your task was to simply push. And now you come to me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But is that really true?
Look at yourself. Your arms are strong, your back muscled, your hands calloused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and rock hard.
Through opposition and resistance, you have grown much in strength, stamina and ability. You may not have moved the rock, but remember this: Your calling was to obediently push against the rock, to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. This you have done well, my friend. So I will now move the rock for you.”
Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary, very meaningful as we focus on Perseverance. I often like to speak about God’s beautiful and intelligent plan for creation. Well, Mary was a big part of that plan. Not only did she give birth to the Savior, but she’s now united with Him as we hope to be one day and can assist us on our wellness journey and help us to persevere.
There’s a story that I read about some time after the Lord gave me the
insights on the circular staircase, it really confirmed things for me.
It’s attributed to Saint Francis’ spiritual director…Fra Leo. He had a dream
of two ladders, a red one of legalism and the white one of grace.
At the top of the red one stood this solemn Jesus that appeared demanding
and harsh. As hard as the friars tried to climb this ladder, they would only
make it up a few steps and they would back slide and have to continuously
restart. Then St. Francis told them to come to the white ladder instead. At the
top of the white ladder stood Mary, who is full of grace herself and a loving, encouraging Mother to each of us who are in Christ. And they were able to
persevere and make it to the top. Remember, Jesus IS the way! He doesn’t
stand from afar calling us…He is there with us for every step and brings in
all the help we may need.
I took this photo when I visited Portugal back in 2013. This white circular staircase is located at the parish church of the shepherd Children of Fatima.
This week’s Marian Consecration video is on the Rosary. Coincidence? I don’t think so! 😀
St. Adelaide’s
Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death.
