How easy it is for a proud soul to think… what need do I have for God if I can handle everything myself?
I am a high achiever. I do not say this to show off. I say this to explain the dangers of such a thing.
Have a think about the GREAT Saints… Saints like Padre Pio and Saint John Vianney, Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the little shepherd children of Fatima, Saint Faustina and many others…
These saints – from an Earthly perspective – were not high achievers. In fact, many of them struggled to learn academically. Saint Bernadette, for example, experienced a learning disorder that made it difficult for her to study at school. You have only to think also of Saint John Vianney, who struggled to graduate from the Seminary because he found the studies very challenging. The shepherd children at Fatima were illiterate. In fact one of the instructions of the Blessed Virgin to Saint Lucia was to learn to read and write – because God would make use of these skills in her throughout the course of her long life in her writings…
Saint Faustina also was instructed to write down the information conveyed to her by God and spent her life weak and lowly. In fact, the other nuns in her community rarely valued her and mostly considered her a drain on the convent and a pest to have around…
And I have been thinking about the correlation between the lowliness (in Earthly terms) of these few souls and their elevation in SPIRITUAL terms… And of course – it was the lowliness of these Saints which allowed them to be elevated. After all, who cares if you are a high achiever in this Earthly life? Who cares if studies come easily to me or if I am used to feeling successful? The only thing that I should really be caring about should be whether I am lowly enough in this Earth to be elevated in Heaven…
You see, God can transform a humble soul. For a humble soul is like the Blessed Virgin (or all the Saints) because they are able to make themselves as nothing and wait for God to act as He so chooses. And that is something remarkable. It is very hard for a proud old soul like mine to make itself as nothing and wait for God to act. When I pray the Our Father, I say the words, “Thy Will be done”, but I THINK the words, “MY will be done”. And that is the result of pride in my soul…
And that is why I can talk about being a high achiever and not be a show off about it…
It is simply because there is great benefit in being able to fail a little. After all, how easy it is for a proud soul to think… what need do I have for God if I can handle everything myself?
And today, I pray for the Grace to fail. After all, a little failure might humble me enough that God could actually do something with me to secure my salvation…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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