As a devotee to my dear Therese, this quote deserves some clarification
"I feel as if I were called to be a fighter, a priest, an apostle, a doctor, a martyr; as if I could never satisfy the needs of my nature without performing, for Your sake, every kind of heroic action at once. I feel as if I'd got the courage to be a Crusader, a Pontifical Zouave, dying on the battlefield in defence of the Church. And at the same time I want to be a priest; how lovingly I'd carry You in my hands when you came down from heaven at my call; how lovingly I'd bestow You on men's souls! And yet, with all this desire to be a priest, I've nothing but admiration and envy for the humility of St. Francis; I'd willingly imitate him in refusing the honour of the priesthood."
She wanted to hold the Lord and to give the Lord to others.... but let's say she did desire something she could not have and so offered this up as a worthy sacrifice instead and by making such a sacrifice of such a desire, became a holy woman and through her union with God came to know deep mysteries of reality to the degree that she became a Doctor of the Church and brought countless souls to God.
If you love Christ, then you don't care ultimately how He wants you to serve Him so long as you DO serve, HIM (vs. serving yourself).
It's not a bad thing to desire to be a priest. But it's a bad thing to desire a good thing if the Lord has asked you to be something better.
The fruit in the garden was good - indeed, all the fruit in the garden was good IN DUE SEASON. The fruit was forbidden because the Lord was testing our parents' freedom: would they choose obedience to His will because it is his will and trusting in His design for them? Or would they insist on their own will, their own wit, their own design?
Won't we all be sifted and tested in this life between doing our will and building OUR KINGDOM over and above doing God's will and serving HIS KINGDOM?
To be a priest is to offer sacrifices. If you cant' even offer little human sacrifices, how can a person step up to the altar and demand to drink from the cup He was to drink?
Wanting something doesn't ipso facto make it good for us or good for us at that time, in that way, according to our dreams and ambitions.
3 comments:
As a devotee to my dear Therese, this quote deserves some clarification
"I feel as if I were called to be a fighter, a priest, an apostle, a doctor, a martyr; as if I could never satisfy the needs of my nature without performing, for Your sake, every kind of heroic action at once. I feel as if I'd got the courage to be a Crusader, a Pontifical Zouave, dying on the battlefield in defence of the Church. And at the same time I want to be a priest; how lovingly I'd carry You in my hands when you came down from heaven at my call; how lovingly I'd bestow You on men's souls! And yet, with all this desire to be a priest, I've nothing but admiration and envy for the humility of St. Francis; I'd willingly imitate him in refusing the honour of the priesthood."
So no, she never wanted to be a priest....
She wanted to hold the Lord and to give the Lord to others.... but let's say she did desire something she could not have and so offered this up as a worthy sacrifice instead and by making such a sacrifice of such a desire, became a holy woman and through her union with God came to know deep mysteries of reality to the degree that she became a Doctor of the Church and brought countless souls to God.
If you love Christ, then you don't care ultimately how He wants you to serve Him so long as you DO serve, HIM (vs. serving yourself).
It's not a bad thing to desire to be a priest. But it's a bad thing to desire a good thing if the Lord has asked you to be something better.
The fruit in the garden was good - indeed, all the fruit in the garden was good IN DUE SEASON. The fruit was forbidden because the Lord was testing our parents' freedom: would they choose obedience to His will because it is his will and trusting in His design for them? Or would they insist on their own will, their own wit, their own design?
Won't we all be sifted and tested in this life between doing our will and building OUR KINGDOM over and above doing God's will and serving HIS KINGDOM?
To be a priest is to offer sacrifices. If you cant' even offer little human sacrifices, how can a person step up to the altar and demand to drink from the cup He was to drink?
Wanting something doesn't ipso facto make it good for us or good for us at that time, in that way, according to our dreams and ambitions.
'She wanted to hold the Lord and give the Lord to others'.
A prototype EMHC?
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