Looking Beyond

“Be who you are and be that well.” St. Francis de Sales

Recently, I had to organzie an excursion. It was not such a big event, but it was still worthwhile. Upon arrival at the place, there were many instructions that we needed to abide by. My first reaction was to roll my eyes as I usually do at things. Then, upon paying attention as to the reasons why, it all made sense. We need to have an awareness of what is happening around us. We need to pay attention. We need to look beyond what we see and have an awareness.

"It is not hard to obey when we love the one whom we obey.” St. Ignatius

Being obedient and aware are complicated words. They have many connotations that we need to sift through. We do not obey blindly, and we cannot be aware of everything around us at every moment. Yet, that does not mean we cannot try to understand more. St. Thomas Aquinas went against his parents’ wishes when he felt called to religious life. He was imprisoned by his parents with the help of Thomas’ brothers. Some biographies state that his mother sent prostitutes to him while in prison to break his resolve. We need not focus on the disobedience so much as trying to understand who he was trying to follow. He was following Christ. For years, Padre Pio was falsely accused of so many things, and it only became worse as his fame grew. Falsifying his stigmata, misappropriation of funds, and of sexual misconduct.. He had his priestly faculties suspended for a long time until Pius XI spoke. In 1933, Pope Pius XI said, “I have not been badly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed.” Padre Pio was restored to full priestly life, but he still suffered as he followed Christ. Finally, it was Paul VI who cleared his name. What suffering he endured. St. Mary McKillop exposed a priest for sins and the bishop, maybe misinformed excommunicated her for insubordination. She again was eventually restored to the Church but not without great suffering. Sometimes doing the right thing comes with a cost. But we always must do what is right without fear.

“More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.” St. Teresa of Avila

I have prayed for many things in my life. The Carmelites nuns reminded me not to pray for specific things but for the person. Our Lord will answer how He sees fit. This is something remarkable for me. I do not want to approach prayer with some sort of grocery list and then I get what I want. Christ does not work like that. I need to learn how to trust and we all need to learn to do so. Some of us take longer than others but the rewards will be great in heaven. The examples of the saints I referred to above had much courage to trust. St. Teresa of Avila reminded us that praying is an act of love, and we do not need the ‘correct’ words, but we need to enter in to a relationship with the Infinite. That relationship will sustain us always.

“Darkness can only be scattered by light; hatred can only be conquered by love.” Pope John Paul II