Patience Vis-à-vis Our Own Faults and Imperfections (Part 3 of 4)

(The Calm after the Storm - found here)

“. . . The fourth reason for which this sadness and discouragement are not good is that we must not view our own faults too tragically because God is able to draw good from them. Little Thérèse of the Child Jesus loved greatly this phrase of Saint John of the Cross: ‘Love is able to profit from everything, the good as well as the bad that It finds in me, and to transform it into Itself.’

Our confidence in God must go at least that far: to believe that He is good enough and powerful enough to draw good from everything, including our faults and our infidelities.

When he cites the phrase of Saint Paul, Everything works together for the good of those who love God, Saint Augustine adds: Etiam peccata—‘even sins’!

Of course, we must struggle energetically against sin and correct our imperfections. God vomits the tepid, and nothing cools love quite like resigning oneself to mediocrity (this resignation is, by the way, a lack of confidence in God and His ability to sanctify us!). When we have been the cause of some evil, we must also try to rectify it to the extent that this is possible. But we must not distress ourselves excessively regarding our faults because God, once we return to Him with a contrite heart, is able to cause good to spring forth, if only to make us to grow in humility and to teach us to have a little less confidence in our own strength and a little more in Him alone.

So great is the mercy of the Lord that He uses our faults to our advantage! Ruysbroek, a Flemish mystic of the Middle Ages, has these words: ‘The Lord, in His clemency, wanted to turn our sins against themselves and in our favor; He found a way to render them useful, to convert them in our hands into instruments of salvation. This should in no way diminish our fear of sinning, nor our pain at having sinned. Rather, our sins have become for us a source of humility.’

Let us add also that they can just as well become a source of tenderness and mercy toward others. I, who fall so easily, how can I permit myself to judge my brother? How can I not be merciful toward him, as the Lord has been toward me? . . .”

~Jacques Philippe