The LORD is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want
 |
| (Icon found here) |
The LORD is
my shepherd, I shall not want.
In verdant pastures He gives me repose.
Beside restful waters He leads me;
He refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths,
For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through a dark valley,
I fear no evil; for You are at my side
With Your rod and Your staff
that give me courage.
You spread a table before me
In the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Only goodness and kindness follow me,
All the days of my life
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come!
We would like to come back for a few moments to this affirmation
of the Bible, which is ultimately surprising, that God leaves us wanting for
nothing. This will serve to unmask a temptation, sometimes subtle, which is
very common in the Christian life, one into which many fall and which greatly
impedes spiritual progress.
It concerns precisely the temptation to believe that, in the
situation which is ours (personal, family, etc.), we lack something essential
and that because of this, our progress, and the possibility of blossoming spiritually,
is denied us.
For example, I lack good health, therefore I am unable to
pray as I believe it is indispensable to do. Or my immediate family prevents me
from organizing my spiritual activities as I wish. Or, again, I don’t have the
qualities, the strength, the virtue, the gifts that I believe necessary in
order to accomplish something beautiful for God, according to the plan of a Christian
life. . . .
I have the feeling, according to Rimbaud’s expression, that ‘the
real life is elsewhere,’ elsewhere than in the life that is mine. And that the
latter is not a real life, that it doesn’t offer me the conditions for real spiritual
growth because of certain sufferances or limitations. I am concentrated on the
negatives of my situation, on that which I lack in order to be happy. This renders
me unhappy, envious and discouraged and I am unable to go forward. The real
life is elsewhere, I tell myself, and I simply forget to live. Oftentimes it
would take so little for everything to be different and for me to progress with
giant steps: a different outlook, a view of my situation which is one of
confidence and hope (based on the certitude that I will lack nothing). And then
doors would open to me of unhoped-for possibilities for spiritual growth.
We often live with this illusion. With the impression that
all would go better, we would like the things around us to change, that the
circumstances would change. But this is often an error. It is not the exterior
circumstances that must change; it is above all our hearts that must change.
They must be purified of their withdrawal into themselves, of their sadness, of
their lack of hope: Happy are the pure in heart; they shall see God
(Matthew 5:8). Happy are those whose hearts are purified by faith and hope, who
bring to their lives a view animated by the certitude that, beyond appearances
to the contrary, God is present, providing for their essential needs and that
they lack nothing. If they have that faith, they will indeed see God: they will
experience that presence of God which will accompany them and guide them. They
will see that many of the circumstances that they thought negative and damaging
to their spiritual life are, in fact, in God’s pedagogy, powerful means for
helping them to progress and grow. Saint John of the Cross says that ‘it is
very often the case that just when the soul believes itself lost that it gains
and profits most.’ This is very true.
Our minds are sometimes so clouded over by that which is not
going well, by that which (according to our own particular criteria!) should be
different in our situations, that we forget the positive. Moreover, we are
unable to profit from any aspect of our situations, even the aspects that only
appear to be negative, in order for us to draw closer to God, to grow in faith,
love and humility. That which we lack is, above all, the conviction that ‘the
love of God turns to profit all that he finds in me, the good as well as the
bad’ (Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, inspired by John of the Cross). However
many imperfections we may have, rather than lament them and try to rid
ourselves of them at any price, they could be splendid opportunities to make
progress—in humility as well as in confidence in God and His mercy—and thus in
saintliness.
The fundamental problem is that we employ too much of our
own criteria as to what is and what is not good and we don’t have enough
confidence in the Wisdom and Power of God. We don’t believe that He is capable
of utilizing everything for our good and that never, under any circumstance,
would He leave us lacking in the essentials—that is to say, lacking anything
that would permit us to love more. Because, to grow or to enrich one’s spiritual
life is to learn to love. Many of the circumstances that I consider damaging
could, in fact, be for me, if I had more faith, precious opportunities to love
more: to be more patient, more humble, more gentle, more merciful and to abandon
myself more into the hands of God.
Let us then be convinced of this and it will be for us a
source of immense strength: God may allow me to occasionally lack money,
health, abilities and virtues, but He will never leave me in want of Himself,
of His assistance and His mercy or of anything that would allow me to grow
unceasingly ever closer to Him, to love Him more intensely, to better love my
neighbor and to achieve holiness.”
~Jacques Philippe
Comments