tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7332117297336636395.post4024509865894868842..comments2023-11-22T11:42:06.780-05:00Comments on Do Not Be Anxious: Becoming More Christ-LikeDo Not Be Anxioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04607616214486933423noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7332117297336636395.post-32418355650211997332016-03-24T13:35:21.170-04:002016-03-24T13:35:21.170-04:00I'm glad for you, Fran. I understand.
There ...I'm glad for you, Fran. I understand.<br /><br />There have been so many blessings for me this week, and I'm sure there are more to come. Already in the quiet of my home my mind is yearning to muse on things of tonight and tomorrow --- the celebration of the feast of the Annunciation: "And the Word became flesh," and on the same date His Crucifixion, and the Life of the world died. It is a rare thing when both feasts fall on the same day, His life's beginning and end. The Joyful and Sorrowful Mysteries will have much meaning tonight.Do Not Be Anxioushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04607616214486933423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7332117297336636395.post-39069351909095896002016-03-14T10:43:15.840-04:002016-03-14T10:43:15.840-04:00Hi Tom --- Fran here,
I've tried a couple of t...Hi Tom --- Fran here,<br />I've tried a couple of times to write something in response to this, but I just can't seem to express what I want to say. This will be my last try.<br />You wrote:<br /> "I think this week it was as if God took His hands and forcibly turned my head to look at those mirrors, and made me see myself, and how I was leading my life on the path to His party. And I was humiliated....<br />Despite all my plans and all my efforts and all my knowledge I clearly saw myself: I am a sinner, and I will always be one. It is a humbling realization, that despite my efforts --- and my progress --- I am still a sinner.” <br /><br />I had a similar experience in the same time frame, in that my sinful core became very, very evident and starkly shown to me: what I am of myself, what I am without His grace. "...I am a sinner, and I will always be one." Not only that, but in my case, I would be as bad as the worst person of the human race if not for Him in my life. Really and literally. That's not just pious hyperbole on my part. It made me sick to know it. It made me horrified. <br />It can make one feel hopeless, except then it comes to mind, hey, as St. Faustina said, He is an ocean of mercy. It's not my righteousness that will get me to Heaven, it's His mercy. If not for His mercy, there would be no hope at all.<br /><br />In my knowledge of this I suddenly understood why St. Francis wept so much in his early years after conversion. He saw himself; what he was of himself; and he had so much remorse and regret.<br /><br />Anyway, I can relate.... :-)<br />FranAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com