“ …When a soul is watered with charity, it brings forth good works seasonably and with discretion.” (Saint Francis de Sales).
I believe that every devout soul has a soul either within their family or among their friends for whom they pray.
I think that the closer we become to God – through our devotion to Him – the more we long to bring others to the same (or even greater) devotion.
In my own family – in the years prior to my conversion – my sisters and father had prayed for peace in my life. All the while they prayed I knew nothing of it. All the while they prayed, I did not have peace in my life. And perhaps – if they had told me that they were praying for me in this special way – at the time I would have told them to stop. Perhaps with all the fury in my soul and all the grief in my heart I would have been unable to bear the knowledge of such a Grace as that…
I only found out about those prayers in the months following my conversion – which occurred through Grace and no merit of my own while I was praying for my little niece who was so sick… And when I found out about those prayers – probably because of the Grace that they had merited for me – I was not surprised at all to hear about them. After all, what could have cured the anguish in my soul other than Grace itself? And what could have brought Grace to my soul other than a request for it? And – being as I was, completely spiritually incapacitated by grief – what could have requested the Grace to my soul other than the prayers that others prayed for me?
This is not to say that my life now is a perfect life and that I am not at times deeply upset or overwhelmed. Of course, I am – I carry my crosses in much the same way that each soul is aske to carry theirs. But rather, it is to say, that there is always a twinge of light now – in the depths of my soul. Yes – it is at times dreadful. Yes – it is at times terrible. But all in all, there remains always a glimmer of hope – once the emotional anguish settles…
And now I pray for the souls of others – people who I love who have not yet received the Grace of Conversion… And as I pray for them – for YEARS – I continue to hold that glimmer of hope. For there was no soul darker and more miserable than mine. And I know that when the time is right, that God will come into their soul as He came into mine and all will be well…
Saint Francis de Sales said in “An Introduction to the Devout Life” at page 117, “The queen bee never settles in her hive without being surrounded by her swarm, and charity never takes possession of the heart without bringing in her train all other virtues, exercising them and bringing them into play as a general his troops. But she does not call them forth suddenly, all at once, nor in all times and places. The good man is like a tree planted by the water-side that will bring forth its fruit in due season, because when a soul is watered with charity, it brings forth good works seasonably and with discretion.”
And today, I wish to pray for those souls that they receive the Grace to become the Good Tree and bring forth works of mercy in their seasonable time…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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