say yes
Yet one of the most essential conditions for God's grace to act in our lives is saying yes to what we are and to the situations in which we find ourselves.
This is because God is "realistic." His grace does not operate on our imaginings, ideals, or dreams. It works on reality, the specific, concrete elements of our lives. Even if the fabric of our everyday lives doesn't look very glorious to us, only there can we be touched by God's grace. The person God loves with the tenderness of a Father, the person he wants to touch and to transform with his love, is not the person we'd have liked to be or ought to be. It's the person we are. God doesn't love "ideal persons" or "virtual beings." He loves actual, real people. He is not interested in saintly figures in stained glass windows, but in us sinners. A great deal of time can be wasted in the spiritual life complaining that we are not like this or not like that, lamenting this defect or that limitation, imagining all the good we could do if, instead of being the way we are, we were less defective, more gifted with this or that quality or virtue, and so on. Here is a waste of time and energy that merely impedes the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Interior Freedom
Fr. Jacques Philippe
Celeste Cruz shared this quotation in one of her talks at a retreat I attended last weekend, which prompted me to buy the entire book. It's a gem.
Your post intrigued me; there's a song by Elliott Smith called "Say Yes" that is achingly beautiful, and I had to see if you would mention it. You didn't, and on the surface it wouldn't seem that your post and the song have anything to do with each other, however, I think the tie that binds them is the idea of being loved where we are at, as broken people.
ReplyDeleteElliott Smith wasn't a big name in music, but he did most of the music for the movie "Good Will Hunting" (and a version of "Say Yes" might be in the movie, IIRC). In his own life, I think he struggled with this mightily, he died in 2003 of an apparent suicide at the age of 34.
(If you look for his song on Youtube, be advised that there is one profanity in the song, in case you need to be careful for little ears around you.)
Thank you for sharing about the song! I've seen "Good Will Hunting" (many years ago now), but I can't remember either the music or the song if I've heard them. I'll have to do a little YouTube recon.
DeleteAll too often, in the many facets of our life and our many interactions, we tend to wish we were "otherwise." It's good to remember that we're who we are for a reason and to consent to that, while at the same time aiming for growth of character. I'm interested to see where Fr. Jacques takes this theme as I continue to read the slim "Interior Freedom."
Beautiful words -- and a blessed mercy, too, since the "stained-glass saint" is a pursuit destined for failure (as the Pharisees proved). It seems that much of the Christian life is internalizing, over and over, deeper and deeper, that Christ Jesus really, truly came to save sinners -- even me!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this
Blessings,
Shannon
Yes! And at the same time, accepting our reality leaves room for the Holy Spirit to work in us for our good, as the next bit of the book goes on to discuss.
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