Thursday, January 24, 2008

Annihilation of Self VIII

(Catholic priestly ordination)

Topic ~ Fruits of Self Annihilation

"I may add that this way of annihilation, against which nature cries out so strongly, is not really so painful as we imagine, and it is even sweet. For, first of all, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has said so. "Take My yoke upon you," He says, "for it is easy and light." However heavy this yoke may be in itself, God will lighten it to those who willingly take it up, and who consent to bear it for the love of Him. Love does not prevent us from suffering, but it makes us love our sufferings and prefer them to all pleasures."

"The reward, even in this world, of annihilating ourselves, is a peace of heart, a calm in our passions, a cessation of all the agitations of our mind, of all murmurs of interior revolts."

"Let us examine the proof of this in detail. What is the greatest evil of suffering? It is not the suffering itself, but it is our rebellion against it, it is the state of interior revolt which so often accompanies it. A soul that is perfectly annihilated will suffer all the evils imaginable without losing the sweet repose of its blessed state: this is a matter of experience. It costs a great deal to attain to this state of annihilation, we must make the greatest efforts over ourselves; but when we have once attained it we enjoy a peace and repose proportionate to the victories we have gained. The habit of renouncing ourselves and of dying to ourselves becomes every day more and more easy, and we are astonished at last to find that what seemed to us once intolerable, what so frightened our imaginations, raised up our passions, and put our whole nature in rebellion, does not even give us the least pain after a certain time."

(Source: Manual for Interior Souls by Fr. Grou. 3rd Ed. St. Anselm's Society, London. 1905.)

Let us strive everywhere and in all things to practice self renunciation. Jesus said anyone who wishes to follow Him must deny himself and pick up his cross.

When you see self - renounce self. Amen+

1 comment:

Cathy_of_Alex said...

Sanctus Belle: I needed this series. Thanks and God bless you!