Grace, faith and feelings... It is a principle of the spiritual life that God grants us graces, of various kinds, at all times. Sometimes, He also accompanies those graces with intellectual or even emotional appreciation for the grace. Saint John of Cross wrote that by the time we realize or feel the presence of His action within us, the grace has already been granted, meaning the realization or feeling is secondary to the actual grace. The purpose of those graces is to draw us closer to Himself. All the other stuff is rather secondary. Why? Because being near the Lord is more important than pondering upon that relationship or feeling it. As grateful as we, in our weakness, should be for realizing or feeling God’s presence, to live a life of faith is to accept Him and surrender to Him at every moment; this is especially true when we do NOT have a clear idea of God’s presence within us, or even feel abandoned by Him. To trust Him and love Him when we are confused or suffering is the height of purified faith. After all, our minds and feelings are incapable of comprehending God, and much less of literally feeling Him Who is pure Spirit. Let me illustrate this by a recent experience. On a long trip, I had the insight (realization!) that God used so many natural images for the Holy Spirit in the Bible so that, when we see or feel those things, we should in faith turn to acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit in ordinary and every day things. Being a fan of clouds since my youth, I was particularly moved by the beautiful clouds that floated across the sky and how each one was a reminder of the “Shekinah” of the Lord’s presence, the Cloud that showed the Israelites the way to the promised land, and of the cloud that hovered above the Lord during the Transfiguration showing God’s presence above the Lord Jesus. It was a marvelous insight and lifted my spirits for several hours. . . until I encountered a problem with my EZ Pass. Thanks to an oversight on my part, I found out that not only would I have to pay cash for future tolls, I would probably be fined for some administrative fees for using the pass without the money registering on it. [In other words, since I had had a debit on the pass, the money I put on to cover the debit and add cash would not be effective for 48 hours. Hence, I was flagged for a pass violation.] This was a cause of a bit of, not depression, but a feeling of being bummed out. Somewhere on the Jersey Turnpike, shortly after discovering this oversight and the fines, I looked up at the sky and saw beautiful clouds, gently floating above the earth. I felt, “Big deal.” A negative event had removed the sense of awe I had earlier in the day. Yet, I called to mind the insight I had had earlier, and how those clouds were a reminder of God’s presence. My feelings did not return, but I decided, again by grace, to remember that truth. It was still a bummer of having to pay more for something I had thought I had covered, but I knew by faith that God was still present. It was then a simple step to accept His will for something of which I was responsible, but not culpably so in any moral sense. So, to sum this up, when God grants us a realization of His presence and a sense of closeness to Him at one moment, it is to give us a particular grace. It immediately draws us to Him. But it also has a future reason for its bestowal. It is probably true that the without the insight of earlier in the day, I may not have been as resigned later on with the minor annoyance. That was a grace. And I certainly would not have written this little description with the intention of helping others see God’s grace in their own lives, and how that grace can work to lift them up when things go wack.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 01:58:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015