Amen. Unfortunately, there are other voices even in the Church that many Catholics prefer to listen to rather than the Good Shepherd. The Holy Spirit is the only one who is the conduit for receiving grace: by His presence within us. Too many are not clear on the concept, and postpone receiving grace by directing their attention elsewhere.
Thank you! This is so true! This is the message the Church needs to constantly proclaim, and I am delighted that Pope Leo has begun his pontificate proclaiming we must listen to the voice of Jesus. He never misses an opportunity to say this every day!!!!
"we must always be led by Jesus’ voice alone". Amen to that!
Discovered long ago that the truly salient conviction that is expressed in this simple statement is not merely that we must seek to be personally led by Jesus, but the shocking included declaration that we actually CAN be. Even a cursory examination of the lives of any of our Catholic Saints reveals this conclusion to be true. We should become aware if we are not of the need to allow a communion of intimacy with the Members of our Triune God to arise from within the practice of our Catholic faith, and in fact personally define our practice. This hardly means that we are free to disobey the teachings of our Church, but defines our obedience for us.
I was fortunate indeed that this disposition occurred for me at a very early age, even before the age of consent. My budding childlike faith simply could not resist the offer of a mutual union with the God present before me then. Of course it was much later that I became able to put these encounters and my responses to them in those terms. This is where I first became aware that our God rarely "speaks" to us in words and when He imparts true and complete knowledge of Himself or His dispositions. He nearly always does so in a manner which is much more like enabling within us the recognition of Him when we consent to our entry into His presence. This encounter reveals to us with absolute certainty that He IS God as he enables us to gaze deeply into his "eyes" and to view the utterly magnificent and compelling expression on His countenance. Since the presence of our God when we encounter Him speaks for Him, and leaves no room for doubt in our mind or imagination as to Who it is that addresses us. In this manner, our truly Unfathomable God speaks directly to our spirit and to our Heart. An individual so disposed in consummate surrender to our God will find that the knowledge of God revealed in these encounters will be so unassailable and so compelling that the words of Catholic Church teaching and even of Scripture, among others, are precisely defined for us, not by our evaluation, but by the very dispositions of God revealed to us. It is truly regrettable that so few of us are aware or even expect that intimate communion with each of the Members of the Holy Trinity and precise knowledge of their dispositions, because of the Salvific acts and acclamation of us to our Father by His Son Jesus, are entirely and incessantly available to each of us when we choose to live in unqualified surrender to Them.
Amen. Unfortunately, there are other voices even in the Church that many Catholics prefer to listen to rather than the Good Shepherd. The Holy Spirit is the only one who is the conduit for receiving grace: by His presence within us. Too many are not clear on the concept, and postpone receiving grace by directing their attention elsewhere.
Thank you! This is so true! This is the message the Church needs to constantly proclaim, and I am delighted that Pope Leo has begun his pontificate proclaiming we must listen to the voice of Jesus. He never misses an opportunity to say this every day!!!!
Thank you Lexis. So true. Keep proclaiming the Gospel clearly and unapologetically.
"we must always be led by Jesus’ voice alone". Amen to that!
Discovered long ago that the truly salient conviction that is expressed in this simple statement is not merely that we must seek to be personally led by Jesus, but the shocking included declaration that we actually CAN be. Even a cursory examination of the lives of any of our Catholic Saints reveals this conclusion to be true. We should become aware if we are not of the need to allow a communion of intimacy with the Members of our Triune God to arise from within the practice of our Catholic faith, and in fact personally define our practice. This hardly means that we are free to disobey the teachings of our Church, but defines our obedience for us.
I was fortunate indeed that this disposition occurred for me at a very early age, even before the age of consent. My budding childlike faith simply could not resist the offer of a mutual union with the God present before me then. Of course it was much later that I became able to put these encounters and my responses to them in those terms. This is where I first became aware that our God rarely "speaks" to us in words and when He imparts true and complete knowledge of Himself or His dispositions. He nearly always does so in a manner which is much more like enabling within us the recognition of Him when we consent to our entry into His presence. This encounter reveals to us with absolute certainty that He IS God as he enables us to gaze deeply into his "eyes" and to view the utterly magnificent and compelling expression on His countenance. Since the presence of our God when we encounter Him speaks for Him, and leaves no room for doubt in our mind or imagination as to Who it is that addresses us. In this manner, our truly Unfathomable God speaks directly to our spirit and to our Heart. An individual so disposed in consummate surrender to our God will find that the knowledge of God revealed in these encounters will be so unassailable and so compelling that the words of Catholic Church teaching and even of Scripture, among others, are precisely defined for us, not by our evaluation, but by the very dispositions of God revealed to us. It is truly regrettable that so few of us are aware or even expect that intimate communion with each of the Members of the Holy Trinity and precise knowledge of their dispositions, because of the Salvific acts and acclamation of us to our Father by His Son Jesus, are entirely and incessantly available to each of us when we choose to live in unqualified surrender to Them.