Lessons from Saint Benedict: Finding Joy in Daily Life by Donald Raila

Author:Donald Raila
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Sotina Publishing
Published: 2011-05-10T03:00:00+00:00

[the birth of Jesus] is the clearest proof that God wants to give us all that God has to give: God’s very self given to us in Jesus the Lord. The Savior born for us is more than we could ever want, ever deserve, ever ask for. God’s gift of God’s Son at Christmas was not what the chosen people were expecting—not a political liberator but a Suffering Servant of God who would save humanity from sin and death.

It was in giving up His very life on the Cross that Our Lord gained “all” for us. So, we need not fret that we do not yet have the “all” of spiritual perfection as seen from our very limited perspective.

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When Lent approaches, it is especially appropriate to look to the Cross and to learn from Saint Benedict’s devotion to it. The ashes we may receive are a healthful reminder that although we shall die and return to dust, if we join ourselves to Christ in traveling through this vale of tears, our share in His Cross brings us into a wonderful communion with Him even now. In Christ and with Christ we can ready ourselves to put aside our own concerns, to embrace the cross of obedience, and to gain the everlasting inheritance He has prepared for us. It is with Christ that we suffer. It is with Christ that we prepare for a holy death. It is with Christ that we are ready to die and be purified in Purgatory with total surrender to His ways. It is with Christ that we struggle daily with our crosses and avoid the twin dangers of overconfidence and despair. It is with Christ that even now, amid all our miseries, we live in joyful hope of “hastening on to the perfection of monastic life”[172] and of some day arriving “at that perfect love of God which casts out fear.”[173]

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