Sunday, August 30, 2009

The Lowest Place

"The one thing which is not open to envy is the lowest place. Here
alone, therefore, there is neither vanity nor affliction of spirit.
Yet, 'the way of a man is not his own,' [172] and sometimes we find
ourselves wishing for what dazzles. In that hour let us in all humility
take our place among the imperfect, and look upon ourselves as little
souls who at every instant need to be upheld by the goodness of God.
From the moment He sees us fully convinced of our nothingness, and
hears us cry out: 'My foot stumbles, Lord, but Thy Mercy is my
strength,' [173] He reaches out His Hand to us. But, should we attempt
great things, even under pretext of zeal, He deserts us. It suffices,
therefore, to humble ourselves, to bear with meekness our
imperfections. Herein lies--for us--true holiness."
St. Therese the Little Flower

5 comments:

Adoro said...

Linda ~ please forgive this totally OT comment. Regarding the comment you made at my blog, one of my readers found the passage you were referring to and gave the proper historical context to what was being discussed. I won't say any more here and if you'd like, just delete this comment o' mine since it has nothing at all to do with your post.

Thanks for an interesting discussion! :-)

Linda said...

Adoro,
Hey I love a good discussion! And I already viewed the reply and it was perfect! You have great discussions on your blog. I was getting a little nervous that I was going to have to scroll through all the writings of St. Teresa to find the answer. Phew!

God bless you!

Adoro said...

Linda, I did some research this morning too, before I left for Mass, trying to figure out what you were talking about! Actually went to some of my friends to ask if they were familiar enough with St. Teresa of Avila to respond or know where that was coming from.

I KNEW that we have ALWAYS been encouraged to read scripture, but of course the problem at that time with translations and the ability to read Latin, etc. was problematic.

On Twitter, PadreJorge (Spanish priest) said that some of her writings have some very problematic scriptural translations in them, which she got from other sources or her own misunderstandings in attempting to translate directly.

They lived in scary times. We see the same problems today with modern translations. :-( I totally see why the Popes of the time did all they could to restrict translation to the vernacular, and without the internet, that meant years and years of work all by hand.

Oh, we are so blessed in our age, aren't we?

Mary N. said...

Hi, Linda
The Lord says,"My strength is made perfect in weakness." I cling to this word. This is what your post made me think of.May God bless you my friend!

Linda said...

Mary,
My favorite too! The start of my reconversion or should I say new life with Christ. God's words to me that changed my life. God was not judging me but loving me and he was showing me how strong He was when I was weak, broken and on my knees.

Hugs!!!