[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Wednesday, April 23, 2014

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all on this Wednesday, at least it's still Wednesday for most of my readers.  I hope that your day is going well, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.

For the next several days at least, I'd like to acquaint or, for some of us, re-acquaint, you with a classic work entitled "The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence.  This work was originally penned in 1666 by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, a Carmelite monk who lived in France.  The book consists of letters to various persons and some spiritual maxims, and it is from the latter that I choose to draw your attention to.  The first little discourse has to do with the subject of faith, and now I will turn you over to Brother Lawrence for his discussion on this topic.

All things are possible to him who believes, less difficult to him who hopes, still less difficult to him who loves, and easiest of all to him who perseveres in all three virtues.  All those who are baptized and hold the faith have taken the first step on the road to perfection, and may become perfect to the extent that they persevere according to the following counsel.

1.  We should refer to God and His glory all that we do and say and undertake, setting before us the task of becoming true worshippers of Him in this world, as we hope to be His perfect worshippers in the world to come; and making a strong resolution to overcome by His grace all the difficulties which beset us in the spiritual life.

2.  We must believe steadfastly that such difficulties are for our own good; that it is God's will that we should be afflicted; that it is according to divine providence that we should be subject to all kinds of conditions, to suffer all kinds of chastening, of woe and of temptation, for the love of God and for so long as He pleases:  there can be no true devotion and perfection without such submission of the heart and mind to the will of God.

3.  The greater the perfection to which a soul aspires, the more dependent is she upon divine grace, and this grace becomes more necessary every moment because without it the soul can do nothing.  The world, the flesh and the Devil together wage so fierce and unremitting a war that, without actual grace and a humble reliance thereon, the soul would be dragged down in spite of herself.  Such dependence seems hard to human nature, but grace makes it acceptable and a refuge.

And now we move from the 17th to the 21st century.  I can hear some of my readers contradicting Brother Lawrence in Number 2 of something he said, namely that it is God's will for us to be afflicted.  Maybe in his heart and time period in which he lived, such was the prevailing attitude of the day, but not in ours, unless I'm missing something somewhere.  Anyway I hope you found this first of several spiritual maxims to be a blessing.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord willing, tomorrow we will continue our perusal of these spiritual maxims of Brother Lawrence.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul