Has Lent Pointed You to Your Eternal Destiny? Our Chat Room Members Ponder It

God works in mysterious ways. Sometimes he manifests himself in “signs” or miracles; and as one of our chatters below experienced, a mysterious doodling that she couldn’t explain how she produced it. But the ultimate mystery is in the seeming contradictions in how God works: this is easily seen in the mystery of suffering. 

Although Lent is over, penitential practices are not. Lent gives us a period of remembering that suffering has value, that death can bring life.

However, Lent and suffering are not disciplinary measures imposed by a stoic and distant being. These intense periods of our life and faith are walked with a God we call Father, and with a God who calls us His friends, “I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).

We cannot come to the Father except through Jesus, and to do so requires imitating the life of Jesus, allowing Jesus to live within us, so that we can glory in His Cross and walk toward our eternal destiny.

Walk on the way of the Cross with our most recent chat installment, and come closer to God in this great mystery of our faith.

And join our Living Jesus Chat Room of the Visitation Sisters. Each Sunday we read a passage of St. Francis de Sales and then gather great insights and sharing.

All Things Work for Good?

Question: If, according to St. Paul, “to them that love God, all things work together unto good” (Rom 8: 28). Is this a promise of heaven, or is this a promise for here on earth as well?

Caroline: I think it’s both. Definitely heaven, but we will have what we need for salvation here on earth too.

Sherry: This was my life saving verse for so many years… specially when depression had such a grip on me. I was clinging to this verse that somehow God would use this horribly painful time for good. I think that everything can truly be used for the good of our salvation here or the salvation or sanctification of someone else. We just have to look really deep  and give it time.

Caroline: And He has!

Sherry: Thank you, Caroline.

Caroline: His grace is often more apparent in hindsight.

Sherry: You are so right. I marvel at how God has even used my sins and shortcomings. For healing and sanctification for Peter, my husband, often.

Visitation Sister: It is exciting to let the Lord run our lives and bring us to see how He works.

Caroline: Once I was on silent retreat and was asked to write about eight times in the past that He intervened in my life.

Sherry: Great exercise. I guess we can start with our very creation .

Visitation Sister: An extraordinary intervention?

Caroline: I did. And then the next day I went out with blank white paper and colored pencils for “art therapy.” I drew eight labyrinths of increasing complexity. Someone had to explain to me that I wrote it and then drew it.

Caroline: A remarkably extraordinary intervention.

Sherry: Caroline, I am not sure if I understand. Can you explain a little bit please?

Caroline: I’m not sure I do either. I was “doodling” but could not draw anything else.

Sherry: Was your doodling resulting in actual labyrinths? Because that would be super cool.

Caroline: It did, Sherry, but I didn’t understand what I was doing or what it meant.

Sherry: That is exactly how life with God is. We just live our daily lives (we doodle it), but then we look at it after a while and see that there is actually a pattern in it. How wonderful God has used this exercise to explain your life to you. I am in awe.

Caroline: They were all custom designs.

Visitation Sister: Very fascinating, not sure I grasp all of what you are saying, but we know He was working in you.

Caroline: Just that I didn’t draw anything like the Chartres labyrinth.

Rebecca: I can get The Chosen on my iPad; the first three seasons were free immediately, but seasons four and five apparently were shown in theaters first. It's to help finance this free series so that everyone around the world can see it whether they can afford to contribute or not.

Rebecca: Caroline, Amazon Prime is not necessary. I do have that, and I can access The Chosen on my iPad.

God Is Our Father, Not Just Our God

Question:  What is so significant about God being our Father? Is this just a particular/pious way of denoting God?

Sherry: God being our Father is one of THE most important things for me. I think there is a reason why Jesus said in John 14:6, “no one can come to the FATHER except through me.” He did not say: ”No one can come to GOD except through me.”

Caroline: I think it’s because He created us and is in that sense our Father.

Sherry: The relation to GOD – this utterly different being – is now doable like a Father-child relationship. I mean it is mind-blowing when we think about it.

Visitation Sister: And very comforting.

Sherry: My deepest prayers I bring to my beloved Father in Heaven. Who knows my heart so well. Who sees me. Who cares. And I know that I am heard – because I have the promise and the invitation to do so by Jesus himself.

Rebecca: Amen!

Caroline: It’s staggering just to think about it.

Sherry: I think so too, Caroline.

Rebecca: God is completely transcendent AND closer to us than we are to ourselves.

Visitation Sister: Jesus called God His Father. This is not a metaphor but a mysterious, mystical reality in some way.

Rebecca: Imminence. That is the attribute of God that Jews have difficulty appreciating.

Caroline: Imminence, yes. And we practice being in His presence when we pray.

Devotion and Discipline

Question: Lent allows us to think more seriously about the things we have by practicing discipline of the body and by committing to devotion more attentively. How can this time help us remember that we rely on God for everything?

Sherry: I am so disappointed in myself that I somehow have not at all mastered any Lenten discipline this year. I am trying to excuse myself that my grief about my earthly father weakens me into self-discipline… but I think I can only partly make the grief responsible for my lack of discipline, especially in fasting.

Caroline: Yes, we must always be watchful and discern everything.

Visitation Sister: I think because we are conscious of this special season in general people think more about God during their day.

Rebecca: It is like a missionary sister said, “on the eves of Holy Days, the Divider gets especially active!”

Sherry: So true.

Visitation Sister: And we rely on God also by trusting others. Whom God may be inspiring.

Caroline: Yes, as I go about my day, I have to remember that He is carrying me.

Rebecca: I experienced that, too. I had no trouble praying the Divine Office on Ordinary Days, but as soon as Lent started I was frequently distracted! Better now, but it remains more of a challenge than it was!

Sherry: I realized recently that when I fast, I am not too worried about being hungry, But I cannot stand it when I am feeling weak, I have to learn to trust GOD in my physical weakness. That he is my strength.

Visitation Sister: How do you fast?

Sherry: Well About 16–32 hours, only tea, coffee, and water.

Caroline: That's hard, Sherry!

Visitation Sister: That is beyond what the Church asks, not that you can’t do that, but maybe that’s why you are so weak.

Sherry: I used to be able to do that fasting. When my body was running on protein and fat but ever since I introduced carbohydrates again, I need to eat every 4-6 hours it seems. Actually, that is a good reminder, Sister Susan. I only have to fast what the Church asks. Thank you. I think the church says 2 small meals that do not make one big meal together. Right?

Visitation Sister: Right.

Sherry: I will try this week.

Rebecca: Sherry, if it is physical weakness from fasting then I wonder if you’re not trying to fast more than is reasonable or if perhaps you have undiagnosed diabetes, for example, or some other health condition.

Sherry: I am pre-diabetic, but I will try these two meals this week. That sounds doable to me. Just enough to let me work during the day.

Rebecca: Actually, I think the church says one regular meal plus two small meals.

Sherry: Oh, wow, That is definitely doable.

Rebecca: Sometimes I have eaten two of my home delivered meals, in one sitting and ADDED to practically every home delivered meal and I am still losing weight surprisingly rapidly, without half trying! The fasting regulations are not a requirement for old folks like me, only abstinence from meat. That is easy.

Our Eternal Destiny

Question: How can this time of Lent help us focus more on our eternal destiny, and not just in the temporal things that we are “giving up.”

Sherry: I think the daily readings of the Church are helpful.

Caroline: I try to discipline myself to finish the day’s spiritual reading.

Visitation Sister: Just by praying and reading Christ’s Passion and understanding His eternal actions can help us focus on this for ourselves. As one gets older, too, one focuses more, very naturally on eternity, I think.

Sherry: This might seem like a silly question, but is Lent really the time to focus on eternity? I thought this is more the time to focus on the passion of our Lord and his salvific sacrifice and after Easter until Pentecost we think more eternally. 

Visitation Sister: Yes, Sherry but the Passion brought Christ to Death and Resurrection and He did it for our eternal salvation.

Sherry: I mean one can hardly separate the cross from eternity, but I focus more on the suffering and sacrifice of Christ before Easter and after Easter more on the eternal consequences. Am I doing it all wrong?

Visitation Sister: No, sequentially meditating your way seems fine to me. I don’t like reading during this season ahead of what the days are bringing. For example, reading about Holy Thursday a week ahead is not helpful to me. I would rather wait until Holy Thursday.

Sherry: I notice that my mind – soul – heart – likes to detour the passion, likes to detour the hard parts. The ones where I cringe – because it is so painful to watch, painful to see my sin, and painful to see the cross. So I try to be “brave” in Lent and not allow myself to turn away from what I do not like to see at all.

Visitation Sister: That’s a mortification you practice.

Caroline: I often feel the same way, Sherry. I could not bear to see the Passion of the Christ when I was warned how violent.

Sherry: I still have not seen the movie. Peter watches it every Good Friday. I sit in the room beside it and just listen. Of course, I only understand the “moaning” because the whole movie is in Hebrew. Or Aramaic. But it is hard for me to “watch the cross” internally in my heart too. Even the sorrowful mysteries are very hard for me to pray.

Caroline: I wonder if it is good to see so much violence. I mean, what is it doing in our souls to see such violence recreated?

Sherry: I know my soul cannot process violence at all.

Rebecca: Hmm. I saw the film with fellow parishioners and did not remember that it was not in English.

Sherry: There are subtitles.

Caroline: Oh, I picture myself hugging Jesus in the garden, and then Him protecting me at the scourging.

Sherry: That is beautiful, Caroline.

Rebecca: Powerful, Caroline!

Glory in the Cross of Christ

Question: What does it mean to glory in the cross of Christ?

Sherry: I have a hard time understanding the last paragraph from the letter of this week.

Caroline: We carry my Cross together so he can show me how this side is heavier.

Rebecca: Sweet, Caroline!

Visitation Sister: In our spiritual directory it says Visitandines endure the cross while Jesus carries it or carries the heavier part. Endure vs carry.

Sherry: Oh, Caroline See how much of the Visitation Spirit is in you? Oh, I just realized what you wrote Sister “endure” and “carry” That is good food for thought. It reminds me of when I carried furniture with my dad. He always made me have the “easy part” but allowed us to do it together.

Caroline: Well, now I kind of do. I’ve always thought I'm more Ignatian because of the director Jesus gave me and my use of images.

Sherry: Oh St. Francis was all for images.

Caroline: No one could figure me out, so I ended up Franciscan/charismatic.

Sherry: Here we go; God has His ways.

Rebecca: Simon might have been pressed into service, but it was also a privilege. Elsewhere we learn the names of his sons. Had an impact on his life that at first unwilling service must have had.

Visitation Sister: Quote from a Visitandine of France: “Do I Endure all with love? Do I love to suffer vexation and not have my comforts? If I do this, I can dare to say that I am enduring the cross of Jesus, that I am placing my steps in his bloody ones. If I truly love, I shall continually need to give, and it is mortification that makes one give of oneself.

Sherry: Sister, I copied that quote and saved it on my computer. I will take that quote into prayer this week.

Visitation Sister: That’s beautiful.

Sherry: I am so glad, Sister, that you are OK again. God be praised.

Visitation Sister: I am working on this directory for my Lenten practice.

Sherry: Is that a special directory, or the “normal” one from the Visitation order?

Visitation Sister: Normal one but a special commentary I had never seen before.

Caroline: Thank heavens you are okay! We all prayed for you.

Visitation Sister: Thanks so much for the prayers!

Sherry: Very interesting.

Visitation Sister: I am posting it on this website day by day.

Sherry: What are you posting? The directory commentary?

Caroline: I will have to come back and pray with it.

Sherry: I will have to look immediately.

If you enjoyed this article, why not join us at our Living Jesus Chat Room of the Visitation Sisters. Join us at 7:30 p.m. ET each Sunday! We read a passage of St. Francis de Sales and then gather great insights and sharing!