☘️ We’re holdin’ onto the tattered threads of our former finery.” ☘️ . . and said with a brogue; it’s poetry. Father Brendan is a treasure. I hope he goes viral. His voice is sorely needed over here 🇺🇸. We have the infrastructure for a great revival. But it’s dusty and cobwebbed and the doors squeak and creak like something old and worn out.
Father's teaching on humility reminds me of something St. Francis de Sales said, "We have a false shame for our faults; we can hardly venture to discover them to our confessor. “What idea will he have of me after so many promises, so many assurances, I have given him?” If you declare your faults simply and humbly, he will have more esteem for you. If you have a difficulty in telling them to him, his confidence in you will diminish on account of your want of sincerity. But the worst of all is that we are vexed at being vexed, and impatient at being impatient. What a misery! Should we not see that this is pride, that we are humbled on finding ourselves less holy than we had imagined, that we aspire to be exempt from imperfections and faults only in order to applaud and congratulate ourselves on having spent one day or week without much matter of reproach? In fine, we are discouraged; we abandon our exercises one by one; we give up prayer; we regard perfection as impossible, and despair of arriving at any such height. What will this constraint, we say, this continual watching over oneself, this struggle after recollection and mortification, avail us, since we correct nothing, fall incessantly, and never become better? There is not a craftier snare of the demon than this. Would you wish to be protected from it? Never be discouraged, and no matter what fault you happen to commit, say: Though I should fall twenty times, or a hundred times, a day, I will arise at every fall, and pursue my course. What does it amount to, after all, that you should have met with some accidents on the way, provided you safely reach the journey’s end? God will not reproach you after your recovery." --- From Consoling Thoughts on Trials of an Interior Life" by St. Francis de Sales
Father, can you parse out a bit more what you mean when you said (paraphrasing here) something to the effect of the one who says “I will not serve” is close to (I forget what you said, salvation? I don’t recall). Those are the words of Satan before he was cast out of Heaven by St. Micheal. So those words didn’t quite pan out for him. I’m a mum of 7 and when my kids say anything to the effect of non serviam I remind them of who said that first and how it went for him. Any clarification would be so appreciated. Thanks! Love these podcasts. Listening from 🇨🇦 Canada!
☘️ We’re holdin’ onto the tattered threads of our former finery.” ☘️
. . and said with a brogue; it’s poetry. Father Brendan is a treasure. I hope he goes viral. His voice is sorely needed over here 🇺🇸. We have the infrastructure for a great revival. But it’s dusty and cobwebbed and the doors squeak and creak like something old and worn out.
These podcasts are a breath of fresh air !
Father's teaching on humility reminds me of something St. Francis de Sales said, "We have a false shame for our faults; we can hardly venture to discover them to our confessor. “What idea will he have of me after so many promises, so many assurances, I have given him?”
If you declare your faults simply and humbly, he will have more esteem for you. If you have a difficulty in telling them to him, his confidence in you will diminish on account of your want of sincerity.
But the worst of all is that we are vexed at being vexed, and impatient at being impatient. What a misery! Should we not see that this is pride, that we are humbled on finding ourselves less holy than we had imagined, that we aspire to be exempt from imperfections and faults only in order to applaud and congratulate ourselves on having spent one day or week without much matter of reproach?
In fine, we are discouraged; we abandon our exercises one by one; we give up prayer; we regard perfection as impossible, and despair of arriving at any such height. What will this constraint, we say, this continual watching over oneself, this struggle after recollection and mortification, avail us, since we correct nothing, fall incessantly, and never become better?
There is not a craftier snare of the demon than this. Would you wish to be protected from it? Never be discouraged, and no matter what fault you happen to commit, say: Though I should fall twenty times, or a hundred times, a day, I will arise at every fall, and pursue my course. What does it amount to, after all, that you should have met with some accidents on the way, provided you safely reach the journey’s end? God will not reproach you after your recovery."
--- From Consoling Thoughts on Trials of an Interior Life" by St. Francis de Sales
That is amazing. Thank you for sharing it.
Father, can you parse out a bit more what you mean when you said (paraphrasing here) something to the effect of the one who says “I will not serve” is close to (I forget what you said, salvation? I don’t recall).
Those are the words of Satan before he was cast out of Heaven by St. Micheal. So those words didn’t quite pan out for him.
I’m a mum of 7 and when my kids say anything to the effect of non serviam I remind them of who said that first and how it went for him.
Any clarification would be so appreciated. Thanks!
Love these podcasts.
Listening from 🇨🇦 Canada!
*Michael, hahaha