tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146626046867730743.post8343196109217826557..comments2023-08-20T02:18:51.060+02:00Comments on Ignis Dei: The "Great Tribulation" (Matthew 24.21)Ignis Deihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437565567176172342noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146626046867730743.post-58587612024511182602013-02-03T12:09:52.076+01:002013-02-03T12:09:52.076+01:00+
JMJ
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
"All Thi...+<br />JMJ<br /><br />Fourth Sunday after Epiphany<br /><br />"All Things Fail, But the Lord of Them All Never Fails"<br /><br />In today's Liturgy, especially the Holy Gospel (Mt. 8.23-27), Jesus Christ appears in our midst as the divine Ruler of the elements, the Conqueror of all tempests. "And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves." Let us think of all the persecutions which have beaten against Peter's barque, the Church, down through our chaotic Conciliar period (cf., also our posts "Anti-Christian Conspiracy: Scriptural Truth and Historical Fact", "A Perilous 'Catholic' Voyage", and "The Year 1929"); or we can think of the trials which God still permits individual souls to undergo. Whatever happens, the spirit of faith tells us that every struggle and tempest is willed or at least permitted by God: "Everything is grace," says our dearest "Little Therese"; everything is the result of His infinite love. God is not a tyrant Who crushes us, but a Father Who, because He loves us, exercises us to a greater and more perfect charity. If He permits sorrow, interior or exterior trials, personal or public vicissitudes, it is only to draw out of them some greater good. Virtue and goodness are strengthened in time of difficulty; the efforts made in bearing trials tend to make us surpass what we would have done had we enjoyed perfect calm.<br /><br />The Lord and Savior was sleeping peacefully in the stern of the boat when the terrified Apostles awakened Him: "Lord, save us, we perish!" He answered them reproachfully, "Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?"<br /><br />If we are disturbed and upset by trials, it means that we lack faith. Even when God conceals Himself, when everything seems to fail us and we feel terribly alone, we can be absolutely certain that God will never abandon us if we do not first abandon Him. Our dearest "Little Therese" used to say, "I count on Him. Suffering may go to its limit, but I am sure He will never abandon me."<br /><br />The Apostles were saved only when they called upon Jesus. As long as they labored and struggled alone, they had no success. Many times we fail to surmount difficulties because we work alone. God wants us to experience our own insufficiency; therefore, He lets us struggle until we have recourse to Him in humility - that is, in truth. Certainly, God wants our efforts but He does not want us to place all our hope in them. This accounts for the small progress so many make on the road to sanctity and perfection - too much reliance and complacency on their own resources, on their or their institution's seemingly formidable and therefore "safest" Catholic position. We must be firmly convinced that "our sufficiency is from God" (2 Cor. 3.5). We must have less confidence in ourselves and more in God. Jesus can do all things but faith, humility, confidence, and prompt obedience work miracles (cf., the Holy Gospel on the Second Sunday after Epiphany). "We receive from God much as we hope for" (St. John of the Cross, "Dark Night," Bk. II, 21.8).<br /><br />"You seem, Lord, to give severe trials to those who love Thee, but only that in the excess of their trials they may learn the greater excess of Your love" (St. Teresa of Jesus, "Life," 25).<br />Ignis Deihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13437565567176172342noreply@blogger.com