Called & Graced for Sanctity

[BarbTherese]

I was going to post this into another thread, which would have been a hijack  (sort of)- and then thought better of it!  The bipolar mind can make connections where others see none - a bipolar sort of mind can be a gift .........or a curse.   And this bipolar mind gets no rest until it writes and  having written what it has can leave it there and move on peacefully and never look back 

In the realm of Sanctifying and Active Grace to which every single person is called and vocated by God, we all should ideally be great saints recognised or not and revealed only in Heaven, for every single one of us has sufficient Grace for great holiness and sanctity.  That is not a stab into the sometimes confusing and messy bipolar mind, but rather it is as taught by The Church in Her theology.  It underscores the sanctity of all human life, all facets and faces of human life.  Like an Augustine or an Angela of Foligno, one might start out as anything but holy, quite the unholy in fact - but their journey took them to repentance and great holiness.

Sincere and meaningful repentance is, of itself, a great Grace in any journey.  It can be a crossroads and a foundation, the springboard to great holiness.

If one feels that their particular way of life, to which they might feel locked in for some reason, is not a holy way of life while not at all unholy, refer to St Therese of Lisieux and her Little Way ("First Steps on The Little Way" HERE  -  Author Carmelite Priest OCD)- she can teach that nothing is more incorrect and wrong.  Even the most mundane and quite ordinary way of life, totally unremarkably ordinary, can be the only ingredients necessary for very great holiness.   And St Therese of Lisieux is proclaimed by the Church as a Doctor of The Church.

If one does choose to examine St Therese and her Little Way, I read to my great profit at the same time: "Abandonment to Divine Providence" by Jean-Pierre de Caussade HERE.  They are linked in their underlying spiritual theology. 

A quick prayer to The Holy Spirit is the best of all guides to spiritual reading.

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Both books above are linked to online texts

"The present moment is the ambassador of God to declare His mandates. The heart listens and pronounces its "fiat." Thus the soul advances by all these things and flows out from its centre to its goal. It never stops but sails with every wind. Any and every direction leads equally to the shore of infinity. Everything is a help to it, and is, without exception, an instrument of sanctity. The one thing necessary can always be found for it in the present moment." (Abandonment to Divine Providence Chapter 2)

[Gary david]

That was a wonderful posting. Thats an inspiration to so many that are in trouble and just regular people like met that might feel they are not so special. 

Very nice and thank you. God bless....

[Guest]

Thank you, Gary.  In reality, I think that we are all without exception, priest bishop and pope too, always in trouble somewhere or other ( we are all sinners and "useless servants" Luke Ch7 Vatican Bible HERE) and just regular ordinary people sometimes called and Graced to something special even outstandingly special in human eyes.  The honor and glory is to Grace alone and to the Giver of All Grace.

 Most of us will live very ordinary even mundane types of lives -  which are still the only ingredients necessary for great holiness and sanctity as St Therese and de Caussade both illustrate, while it is St Therese who has been raised to the altars and declared a Doctor of The Church and that is pretty special - although in her short lifetime in a French Carmelite monastery, she was regarded by her fellow nuns as an ok sort of Carmelite nun, but nothing special.  Therese is sometimes termed the saint of the ordinary life lived in an extraordinary manner.  She went to considerable efforts to hide from all her interior quite holy life. Personally, I don't think she realised she was living an exceptionally holy life, until closer to her death.  She had fallen in love with Jesus and hers is a love story that is underpinned by a stunning theology very new to her times - and yet as old as when Jesus walked the earth i.e. the Gospels and Scripture.

Goes to show how God can turn our considerable efforts, our hopes and dreams, our expectations - even our logic - inside out and upside down    She would have died at 24 yrs of age as an unknown with no one knowing of her spiritual genius and holiness had she not been bound by a religious obedience from her superior to write about her life.  Her autobiography is available online HERE   Her autobiography can be a difficult read for some unless one can look to what underlies her life in her theology.

Peace and God's Blessings, Gary...........

PS There is another really great read on St Therese and The Little Way "The Love that Keeps Us Sane".  It is available at Amazon and on Kindle for around $5.  It would have to be one of the best reflections and commentary on the Little Way and St Therese that I have ever read.  It is not complex and written with great simplicity by a Carmelite priest, Fr Marc Foley OCD.

https://www.amazon.com/Love-That-Keeps-Sane-Illuminationbooks/dp/0809140020

It is a very small book (5" x 7") of 82 Pages, 93 Pages including the Notes.