Following up on my post from the other day, it reminded me of something a very holy priest said about the virtue of chastity. If you find yourself enmeshed in the opposite vice, it means that your desire for God is great. This may mean we have committed a kind of idolatry, either of sexual pleasure, or even marriage, but it's encouraging in its own way. It means that our desires are disordered. If our desires are disordered, it means that with God's help and friendship, our desires can be properly ordered.
Truly, all we must do is open ourselves to God's love and power, and refuse to give up on ourselves.
When I mentioned prayer in the last post on this, I had a thought as a former Protestant that as Catholics we'd find a way to botch this up. Have you ever known or been the guy who prays the Rosary--maybe lots of them--but if you're honest, it doesn't make a big difference in your life? Maybe there is a metaphorical checklist, and the Rosary is on it. Maybe you've read too many oddball saint stories, about a guy who prayed the Hail Mary X times, and so God relented in some punishment, et cetera. I'm not trying to tell you how many Rosaries to pray or not, but I know this:
Until God and the saints become real to you, you're wasting your time.
The Church gives us formal prayer, so that we learn to believe and do all that will lead us to God. It's never an end in itself. That's why the saints stop praying vocally, at some point. If you're in contemplation and heading toward mystical union, you don't need the training wheels, so to speak. For the rest of us, we need them. But praying with your mouth and not your heart is like staring at the training wheels instead of riding the bike.
God bless you, my brethren.
Truly, all we must do is open ourselves to God's love and power, and refuse to give up on ourselves.
When I mentioned prayer in the last post on this, I had a thought as a former Protestant that as Catholics we'd find a way to botch this up. Have you ever known or been the guy who prays the Rosary--maybe lots of them--but if you're honest, it doesn't make a big difference in your life? Maybe there is a metaphorical checklist, and the Rosary is on it. Maybe you've read too many oddball saint stories, about a guy who prayed the Hail Mary X times, and so God relented in some punishment, et cetera. I'm not trying to tell you how many Rosaries to pray or not, but I know this:
Until God and the saints become real to you, you're wasting your time.
The Church gives us formal prayer, so that we learn to believe and do all that will lead us to God. It's never an end in itself. That's why the saints stop praying vocally, at some point. If you're in contemplation and heading toward mystical union, you don't need the training wheels, so to speak. For the rest of us, we need them. But praying with your mouth and not your heart is like staring at the training wheels instead of riding the bike.
God bless you, my brethren.
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