My mother told me one time about going to a Holy Old Priest in Confession and placing a problem before him. Before having the first of her ten children she had been able to pray a lot. Not it seemed like she had no time for prayer at all. The old priest laughed and said, 'Your children are your prayer now!' I also remember that when my mother was a great grandmother living with my father and retirement I asked her why she did not use the much greater time she had to go to mass everyday. My mother seemed confused by my question. It is only years later looking back I realise now why. She had a serious cardiac condition from her early forties and did not drive. In order tog et to Church everyday she would have been counting on my father to assist and drive her there. A big ask. I mention this because looking at the Spiritual Lives of others and our own things can very,very often be not what they appear. This can often result in depression, confusion and a feeling of being lost and going backwards. The devil of course, being the devil (and he really really does exist) will of course play on this and paint things in the worst possible way.
I think what places Catholic understanding so far apart from others is the centrality of the Cross in our understanding of how we move forward in the Spiritual Life. This is particularly explicit when we compare Catholic understanding to Protestant or Catholic Modernist (heretical) understanding. I remember one time about three or four nights into the Dark Night standing in a little sea side town and listening to a street side Pastor. After his little homily I approached him to talk about the huge darkness I was enduring. The Pastor was not long putting the finger on what he though the problem was, that I was a Catholic. The normal Christian would feel only joy and peace. If I endured darkness , well then I was not a Christian! This ties in with the old tag, “Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi“. As we Worship, so we Believe and so we Live https://www.beliefnet.com/columnist...-we-worship-so-we-believe-and-so-we-live.html Protestant Worship will often focus on emotional uplifts. The Catholic Mass on the other hand centres on the Eternal Sacrifice, the Cross. But emotionally uplifting events or songs or sermons will only carry you just so far:
So true. Protestant friends don't have any grasp of redemptive suffering. Some evangelicals recently on you tube talked of the Lord sending them trials for purification but couldn't go the next step and see the power of these trials United to the Heart if Christ.
Most Protestant sects have no sense of personal holiness. Holiness means inner spiritual growth. Growth means pain , by its very nature. It means the Cross. By its very nature that which does not grow dies. I remember my own teens . They were a horror picture. But that is the price you pay for becoming adult. The Spiritual Life is an endless pattern of Death and Resurrection ; it is nothing at all to do with remaining static. As we Die with Christ so we will be reborn with Christ. So too as Fulton Sheen said is it with Our Holy Mother the Church herself. She must constantly hang on the Cross, die and be Reborn. At the moment, under Pope Francis the Church is Hanging on the Cross dying awaiting rebirth. Our collective Dark Night of the Soul.
I grew up Protestant, and have had depression since the age of 7. For years I was told that to suffer meant I wasn't really a Christian, that if I really put my faith in Jesus alone then I wouldn't suffer because he had done it all on the cross. I was 34, almost 35, when I became a Catholic back in 1997, and have since learned that Jesus stated in the bible that there would be suffering for his followers. We will not escape it, nor should we try. Sometimes, in my darkest days, I have learned that the quickest way out of the depression is to go through it, not try to get around it. On those days I tell myself the truth, "This too shall pass." It always does. It's been awhile since I had a really bad bout of the depression. But that doesn't mean I'm "cured." I won't totally be cured of my troubles until I reach heaven. Then I can truly praise God for a new body and a new life free from pain and suffering.
I believe if we look at the Hill of Calvary we can see Three Crosses and three Types of Suffering. In the Cross of Christ we can see suffering that is Redemptive. That is offered up for others. The Chalice itself, the Lamb of God is innocent and so the suffering goes out to heal and Redeem others. The Chalice overflows. In the Cross of the Good Thief the Suffering is Salvific it goes to pay for the Thief's sins , it is Purgatory on Earth and enables him to accompany Jesus into Paradise. A personal Salvation story. In the Cross of the bad thief we see wasteful suffering. The doorway to hell. Suffering that is denied, that is not accepted. Hell on Earth.
The Three Crosses also represent the Three Stages of the Spiritual Life. Before Conversion. The Wasteful Cross (the doorway to hell) After Conversion. The Salvific Cross. (personal Redemption the Doorway to Purgatory) The Fullness of the Christian Life. The Redemptive Cross. (The Chalice overflows and Redeems others,, the Doorway to Heaven)
But notice on the Hill of Calvary there is no place without a Cross. All other Religions beside Christianity lead us to escape the Cross. Christianity, True Christianity leads us accept the Cross as a positive. As a doorway to Redemption . No other religion does this. ..and when we look at the lives of the saints we see that the ones who suffered the most were the holiest. Count on it. Look at the Virgin Mary, Queen of Saints. The Mater Dolorosa.
Only Christianity gives us Christ as founder and redeemer. But even Protestants sometimes miss this. They want to see Christ as fulfilling all suffering as well. While his death and resurrection provide for our salvation, it doesn't take away the suffering of this life. He, himself, said that we would suffer as his followers. We will not escape persecution from the enemy. And I believe that our persecution will come even here in the US. As Americans, we see the constitution as protecting us from the persecution of our faith. But in today's society, we are seeing it more and more. When Biden becomes President, I fear we will see an increase in this persecution. How many can truly say they are prepared to face it? I'm currently reading a book called "Preparing for the coming persecution." I can't speak for the validity of it at this time, but it does point out that Christianity is under attack here. Prayer and the bible have been kicked out of public schools, students aren't allowed to have any prayer group or bible study on school grounds, and people are being told they can't talk about it publicly because it might "offend" someone. These are small potatoes for what's coming. Remember recently hearing of the cake decorator who was sued because he wouldn't make a wedding cake for a same sex wedding? Since when is a moral stand something to be sued over? It's coming, and many will suffer for their faith. And it makes me really nervous to think that it will come to a point where we may be publicly asked to either give up our faith or face the consequences. How many are ready for that?
Modern Christians in the west, who have never personally experienced eye ball to eye ball hate at first hand find this difficult to believe. Rather like the poor Jews in 1930's Germany. Many poor people still did not believe even as they were walked into the ovens. True evil is a difficult concept to grasp. We tend to judge others by ourselves.
I could say much more here, but the biggest thing that can be said is I need to improve my prayer life greatly. For in coming days it will be needed.
We are all of us only at the beginning of the beginning. When we have been in heaven praying for a hundred billion years we will still be at the beginning of the beginning. So let us begin today.
Yes, let us begin today. There isn't a moment to waste. The devil is out to "steal souls" from G0d. Of course, only we make that decision when we fall for his lies. The dark days ahead will come soon enough. I pray it won't be in my life time, but it more than likely will be. I wish I could start a real prayer group near me. But with COVID, too many people are staying away from gathering. And our enemy knows this and will try to use it to his advantage.
