He loves your soul dearly, cling to Him, and trust Him, He so longs to be trusted.
COMMENT: Many of us have a very weak trust in God. The saints were not like us. Their faith and trust in God’s Providence was simple and profound and it was this reliance on God that allowed them to achieve so much.
Lent is a time for spiritual discipline. This discipline is not driven by an adherence to an abstract or arbitrary set of rules. Rather, we follow the discipline of Lent because we love Christ and because we want to show this love, because we want to follow Christ’s command to perfect ourselves and because we want to strengthen ourselves to avoid sin.
Fr Doyle, referring to his then spiritual director Venerable Adolphe Petit SJ, wrote the following in his diary:
The reason, said Fr Petit, why we find our life so hard, mortification difficult, and why we are inclined to avoid all that we dislike, is because we have no real love for Jesus.
As we journey through Lent, let us remember that our penances are really about loving Christ and not just “giving things up” out of habit.
Great reminders above…it is so true that genuine love enables us to accept difficulties and sufferings much more easily. Our Lady accepted her suffering watching her beloved Son suffer. She stood to the bitter end, enduring great suffering with a love that was even greater.
Father Doyle, please pray that we join our love with suffering when crosses come our way; a deep love for our Lord, and for our neighbor will make crosses lighter, making them more of a privilege than a burden.
This is so profoundly true; my trust in Jesus is weak. Father Doyle, intercede for me that I may be more and more like you.