"And when Jesus conceals Himself during grievous interior trials such as dryness, aridity, anguish in darkness, when all the words of love, confidence, abandonment say nothing more to us, do not touch us, do not reach us anymore, what then? What soul has not passed through these nights?
"It is then that we must push confidence to the extreme limits. These trials are graces, beause they are occasions for pure faith. Pure love is realized in pure faith, and pure faith is realized in darkness in the same way as 'strength is perfected in weakness.' Profit, profit from these dark hours when your nature grieves, when your heart is cold, when you believe, wrongly, that Jesus is very far from you and even, perhaps, that He is turning His eyes away from you, because you see yourself to be so imperfect and wretched; profit from them to make heroic acts of faith and confidence out of pure will. These are the most precious acts -- they have immense merit because in those times they are acts of pure faith, without consolation and without sensible aid.
"That is the moment to say to Jesus, 'You may sleep in my boat; I shall not awaken You. You are hiding Yourself, but I know well where You are hidden: You are hidden in my heart. I do not feel it, but I know it. I believe in Your love for me and I believe in my love for You.' "
-- I Believe in Love, p. 78
3 comments:
That was beautiful and I needed to hear it. Thank you.
I needed this.
Thanks.
Awesome post...thank you!
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