Thursday, March 29, 2012

Surrender in Christ

God said,

"Dear child, I have shown you that no guilt on earth can be atoned by experiencing suffering simply as pain to be endured. Only when suffering is accepted with longing, love, and heartfelt contrition does it have meaning. The value is not in the suffering, but in the soul's God-focused desire, while suffering. This desire and all other virtues possess value and life solely through my only begotten-Son--Christ crucified--because his surrender is the power of your love. Through virtue, the soul can follow his sacrificial footsteps. This surrendering in Christ is the only way suffering has value in reconciling the soul to me.

"This reconciliation is accomplished through a gentle, unifying love born from the sweet knowledge of my goodness and generated through the godly sorrow of the heart discovering its sinful nature. This self-awareness gives birth to a genuine contempt for one's sin and for the soul's selfish sensuality. It also creates a vibrant, sustaining humility. So you see, those who know genuine contrition and humility can suffer without growing impatient. In fact, that is how they repent."

~~Catherine of Siena: Dialogue

Butcher, Carmen Acevedo. Following Christ: A Lenten Reader to Stretch Your Soul. Brewster, Mass.: Paraclete Press, 2010. 99.


1 comment:

Terri said...

I love this even though it's hard to read it knowing that Catherine of Sienna used to lash herself, like that albino monk in the DaVinci Code...