The greatest gift of God in our life of faith is the grace to overcome ourselves!
"Above all the graces and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ grants to his friends, is the grace of overcoming oneself, and accepting willingly, out of love for Christ, all suffering, injury, discomfort and contempt; for in all other gifts of God we cannot glory, seeing they proceed not from ourselves but from God, according to the words of the Apostle, ‘What hast thou that thou hast not received from God? And if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?’ But in the cross of tribulation and affliction we may glory, because, as the Apostle says again, ‘I will not glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Amen.”
Francis says that the way to achieve Perfect Joy is to 'overcome ourselves'. Are we supposed to fight against ourselves - what we feel, think, want? Do we really have to work so hard to control our own mind and will?
The first step on the 'straight and narrow' path to salvation is to realize how desperately we need God's help. We are incomplete and must acknowledge that there is no way for US to complete ourselves. We must realize that following all of the desires of our heart - result only in death - and whatever satisfaction we get from these things is fleeting. We must realize that sin lives within us and that it has separated us from God. Finally, we must realize that, in regards to 'saving' ourselves, our only recourse is to cry out in sorrow, fear and desperation to the living God who IS ABLE to save us.
St. Paul described "Overcoming ourselves" as "Dieing to our selves". We turn from our knowledge, 'righteousness' and ability because we realize they get us no where with God. We reject ourselves and surrender, in faith, to the will of God. It is a struggle to stay surrendered because it is not like we don't have power to assume control over ourselves again! We never lose our free will or become robots for God. When things are looking bad and we don't see God's help then we want to take control of everything again and depend on ourselves to get us out of the mess. If we do this then we have taken ourselves away from God's protection (and His company as well!)
Jesus knows that this fight to 'let go and let God' is a daily struggle. This is why Jesus said, "Take up your cross daily . . ." In the Lord's prayer he said, "Give us this day our daily bread . . ." Again, Jesus said, "Why worry about tomorrow?! Each day has enough trouble of it's own!" Dieing to ourselves each day, each hour, and surrendering to God in faith, requires vigilance and constant effort.
Francis tells us when we can tell whether we have 'died to self' : our ability, through His grace, to "accept willingly, out of love for Christ, all suffering, injury, discomfort and contempt" from others even when we have done nothing wrong. We have the right to reject the abuse by running away or just saying "No!" In fact, if the person is committing a 'sin' against us we have the right (in the eyes of God) to take "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". Even so, Christ says that if we want to be forgiven we must forgive. If we insist on our rights - demand justice here and now - against our 'enemies', then we don't have the right to expect Jesus to forgive us the wrongs we have done others and to Him! Jesus said, "If you do not forgive others their sins then your Father shall not forgive the sins you have committed."
Christ suffered for us so it is only right for us to show the same love and commitment to Him. At this level of spiritual maturity our focus is not on ourselves; what we want or feel is right. Our focus becomes Christ and what He suffered for love of us. Our desire becomes like His; we also come to see suffering as a way to show love divine. Though it is hard for us, our comfort and safety become secondary to loving and serving Jesus. To accept 'willingly' means that we accept the suffering in a 'welcoming' way. We realize that it truly is the best way to show our love for Jesus.
Francis makes it clear that he believed that whatever good happens in the world comes from God and not from men. If a person is beautiful then it is because God made that person beautiful. Therefore it is God who deserves the praise. That person didn't make himself so how can he claim credit for how he looks? If a person has a great mind he cannot claim credit for his apparent mental accomplishments. After all, God made his mind to work as it does. A man is able to think only because God made him capable of doing so. Therefore, if a man builds things - roads, bridges, buildings, etc.- he cannot claim credit. Wasn't it God who made the hands of men and created him so that he can get ideas and then create those ideas with his hands? God made man like himself - a creative person. Man not only does not deserve glory for these accomplishments but should render God praise for being a human being and for the intelligence and ability to do all these things. In fact, if man doesn't do these creative things then he deserves to be punished! Since God made man to do these very things - it is his responsibility to do them! Francis says that man can glory in 'something' but obviously he can't glory in what he is or what he can do! (It should be noted that just because we can't boast about anything we can be happy about the great job God did in making us. We should realize that we are precious, beautiful and good and so love ourselves and be happy!"
Jesus said , "Unless a man deny himself and take up HIS cross, he cannot follow Me". A cross is an instrument of torture and execution. Torture and execution, in the realm of Divine justice, are the punishments for rebellion against God - for living in sin. However, if Christ died for my sins and through Him I am clean and now guiltless - how come He says I still have a cross? To 'accept' something is another way of saying 'to take responsibility' for it. When we take responsibility for our sins - realize that the punishment for our sin is death - we bear "our" cross by suffering for those sins or by doing (with trust in God's mercy). There is no spiritual reason for those who believe to suffer any longer . . . unless it be to suffer for something truly good - for love.
But Jesus also had a cross . . . and yet was sinless! What was He doing with a cross? Well, the cross He took was OUR cross. He assumed responsibility for our sins and paid the debt we owed with His life. When we follow Christ with OUR cross we can also do the same thing - accept (with Him) the punishment that the world deserves for rebelling against God. By accepting our cross and following Him we are saying we believe in Him, want to help Him bear the cross and, through love of Him in our suffering, reach out in love to the world. Like Him we are not obligated to take on this responsibility. But, like Him, for the sake of love, we take it on willingly.
This is truly something to glory in! Pure love - for Christ and our fellow man - means to put Jesus first and to undergo anything to benefit those He loves. What is the glory we get? The great honor (and joy) of living in love, suffering for love. It is a taste of the heavenly feast of love. This feast of love is open to all those who truly know Jesus, follow Him and love as He loves. How glorious that feast will be and how wonderful to see all the family of God gathered for it! Alleluia! I pray we are all at that feast and that we get little 'snacks' from that table until we get there - by loving others as He loved us, selfishlessly and fully.
Now that is PERFECT JOY!
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