[W]e don’t truly comprehend any spiritual thing until we give it away. Spiritual gifts increase only by 'using' them. For James, to 'actively put it into practice is to be happy in all that one does' and 'if good works do not accompany faith, it is quite dead.' -- Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, July 26, 2024
That first sentence is daunting to me...we don’t truly comprehend any spiritual thing until we give it away.
The fact of the matter is that fairly often we are praised for our spiritual share or of-God advice, and we have not a clue what we are being praised for.
The paradox is that if we are aware of what we are being praised for, no doubt we are at least a tish proud of it. On the other hand, claiming that we do not know invites a suspicion of false modesty. That is not only a quandary, but also an example of Truth wrapped in an enigma punctuated by Huh?
For a long time, I felt that the deeper I dug, the closer I got to you're going down that wrong road again. Actually, that wasn't a feeling, that was a fact.
That's when Fr Richard came to my aid with his, we don't get to God by doing it right, we get to God by doing it wrong. That erased the long-time bane of my life, my rues, regrets and remorses, and gave me love and laughter, the assurance of God in my life.
That was also the birth of my realization that God's will is counterintuitive. When we have a "good idea" (as in, "I'll pray about this, and God will make it so"), count on it...we're heading down that wrong road again. That is how we learn the difference between a self-determined objective and the perfect objective which is of God.
We go to God for God and that is all.
Thank you.
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