Confidence & Abandonment - #4/4 St. Therese's Little Way - Fr Terrance

[Music] so why don't we start our last conference for the evening we'll start with a prayer hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen Saint Terez pray for us the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen we know that st. Therese wrote and this this conference is going to be on confidence and abandonment that's what we're gonna talk about in this conference st. Therese wrote that my way is the one that's was full of confidence and love full of confidence in love and she also said that God measures the gifts that he gives us and this is a good line she says God measures the gifts that he gives us according to the amount of confidence that he finds in us the amount of confidence that we have in him well how can me why can we be confident of God we can be confident of God because of two things because of one because of who he is very simply he is God he is all-powerful he is all good he is all loving and we can also be confident because of who we are because of who God is and because of who we are God is our all-powerful all good all loving Heavenly Father we are his beloved adopted children that was the foundation of all of Saint Teresa's confidence that was the foundation she was confident in her God in her heavenly Father and not in herself she was confident God not in herself I should be confident in myself only to the extent that I can see myself through God's eyes and to the extent that I can entrust myself to him the most part need to be confident in the Lord not in myself father Jamar in his book on st. Therese wrote this he said if God is a father he must possess the qualities that are proper to paternal love such as tenderness devotion watchfulness since he is God these attributes are infinite infinite means no limits unlimited all the good that you can see or imagine that we know of God has every good in an infinite degree you can't even possibly measure the goodness of God he is infinitely wise as father Jean ma he's infinitely wise and infinitely powerful he knows all things he can do all things and his attributes are at the service of his merciful love it follows that the confidence of a child of God knows no limits as the priest says father Jamar so it follows that our confidence knows no limits should know no limits because of who our Heavenly Father is I have a picture here of saint Torres does anyone know who she's dressed as in this image great ok you asking what is this what's it what's a sister doing and dressed as Joan of Arc who knows what is she doing was in a play even in even in the monastery even the Carmelites have fun as well they put on plays as well she was dressed as Joan of Arc after she had read the life of Saint Joan of Arc I don't not sure how old actually I think Joan of Arc she was probably younger was she 18 or 19 when she died yeah when she died after reading her life st. Joan of Arc st. Torres wanted to imitate her she wanted to imitate who st. Joan of Arc is called the maid of Orleans the maid of Orleans in her heroic glorious and glorious exploits Saint Torres wanted to imitate Saint Joan of Arc but instead God made her understand that her glory that Saint Teresa's glory wouldn't consist in leading armies into battle as fun as that sounds wouldn't consist in that but her glory would consist however in becoming a great Saint - God made her understand that she too would become a great Saint there are even those famous photos and this is one of them there are a few of them have her dressed up I like this one this one's she looks scary she's actually she's ready to cut your head off yeah she looks she looks confident there she dressed up as Joan of Arc in a play that they acted I when she was a nun in Carmel so she wanted to be just like Joan of Arc kind of the the irony or the good sense of humor or the Providence of God however you want to look at it you know both of them st. Torres and st. Joan of Arc they're both the patron saints of France ever no think about that both of them are patron saints God God is not outdone in his generosity even the little desires of his little flower he fulfills them this desire said st. Torres to become a saint may seem presumptuous and one who is as weak and perfect as I am yet I always feel the same audacious confidence that I will one day be a saint she said I do not rely on my own merits for I have none but I hope in him who is virtue and holiness itself it is he alone who being satisfied with my feeble efforts will raise me to himself and covering me with his infinite merits will make a saint of me will make a saint of me covering me with his infinite merits and then she added this she says if all souls that are weak and powerless felt as I do Who am the smallest of all none would despair of reaching the summit of the mountain of love for Jesus does not demand great actions but only abandoned ment and gratitude abandonment and gratitude she says she makes it sound so easy very beautiful but like I said she is tough as nails she's more like that in the picture than she is the sweet little flower she is tough very tough how was st. Therese able to have such confidence in God one of the reasons is because she always focused on his mercy show is focused on His mercy when she was a little child she understood the infinite mercy of her Heavenly Father and she grasped that even more as she progressed spiritually in her life she contemplated everything about God in the light of his mercy in the light of God's mercy all of his other attributes his goodness his power his unity is transcendence his beauty all of his attributes appeared to her to be radiant with love and that love inspired confidence in her someone may object they may throw what about God's justice how do you reconcile that how do you can't see any mercy in that can you well st. Terez did can and did she said this justice itself and justice II more than any other divine perfection seems to me clothed in love for st. Therese God's justice also takes into consideration our human weakness our human wretchedness as well it takes into account our ignorant or weakness in all the circumstances which lessen the guilt of the sinner so even hurt even God's justice takes into account all of our weaknesses she wrote this she wrote that justice which frightens so many souls wrote st. Therese is for me a source of a source of joy and confidence to be just means more than just to be severe in punishing the guilty it takes into account of right intentions and wishes to reward virtue as well I expect as much from the Justice of our good Lord as I do from his mercy she said and she also wrote it is because he is just that he is compassionate and full of mildness slow to punish and rich in mercy for God knows our weakness he remembers that we are but dust as a father is tender towards his children so is the Lord compassionate towards us she's either echoing or citing one of the Psalms or the from the Psalms there as well so whether we contemplate God's mercy which makes yea him always will our good and inclines him always to have pity on us that's his mercy or if you consider as justice according to st. Torrez we have all the reasons in the world for putting the most complete trust in him mother Agnes who again was her sister Pauline st. Teresa's sister Pauline mother Agnes said that confidence quote constituted a special mark as a special mark of her soul when our Saint tried to impress this confidence in God on everyone affirming that quote weak never have too much confidence in the good Lord who is powerful and merciful and again that we obtain from him as much as we hope to receive from him that's something to reflect on she says we obtain from him as much as we hope to receive from him that's what I like I said that in homily a couple of weeks ago I said our spiritual problem isn't that we aim to too high it's that we aim too low you know God wants us to aim high in the spiritual life not low what about a lack of confidence so if love if God loves to see our confidence in him you can imagine that that is what hurt what hurts him a lack of confidence in him st. Torres said that a lack of confidence offends Jesus and wounds his heart she said and she even went to so far as to say this she said to put limits on our desires and our hopes means that we reject the infinite goodness of God isn't that interesting to put limits on our desires and our hopes is to reject the infinite goodness of God that's shocking it's quite an amazing statement if you think about it how about this what if I'm always committing serious sins is that an obstacle to my having confidence in God Torres would reply this way she said this she said quote I know for certain that even if I had on my conscience all the sins that came be committed I would go and cast myself in the arms of Jesus with a heart torn by repentance for I know how much he cherishes the prodigal child who returns to him it is not because the good Lord in his providential mercy has preserved my soul from mortal sin that I ascend to him on the wings of confident love it's not because she never sinned seriously that she is so confident of God's love and mercy she says again our confidence was based on was not based on herself or on the virtues that she practiced in life it was based on the character of God on the mercy of God I wrote so that's something you're gonna have to correct in your notes page three I said I get her confidence was based on herself or on the notes was not based on herself so just uh when you're reading through these just try to have mercy on the author of the notes listen to this she says I assure you she told her sister that the good Lord is much kinder than you can imagine I assure you he's much kinder than you can imagine he is satisfied with a glance with a sigh of love in regard to myself I find it easy to practice perfection because I have learned that the way to Jesus is through his heart the way to Jesus is through his heart she said consider a small child who has vexed his mother by a display of bad temper or disobedience I'm sure none of you have had ever had that problem those are the mothers here that you can't relate to this but she said imagine that as a child whose affects their mother was upset their mother by disobedience or a bad temper if the child hides in a corner through fear of punishment she says he feels that his mother will not forgive him but if instead he extends his little arms toward her and with a smile cries out love kiss me mama I will not do it again she says will not his mother press the little one to her heart with tenderness and forgive what the child has done and yet she says though she knows very well that her little dear one will misbehave again at the first opportunity she says that actually the first opportunity that means nothing if the child appeals to her heart he will never be punished she said I think you should sometimes punish it's it's actually healthy not physically necessarily and necessarily but punishment is not always a bad thing but this is st. Teresa's application of God she's basically applying this to God God is not harsh with us as what she's saying in the same vein she says with a naive sense of humor she says this our Lord has one great weakness he is blind and he really knows nothing about arithmetic he says he does not know how to add but to blind him and prevent him from adding the smallest sum you must take him by his heart that is his weak spot she says thank you it's cute it's true to what she's referring what is she referring to here I think you can understand what she's saying if you think back on st. Margaret Mary Alacoque I don't remember if it was her confessor or who it was but someone is that she was confining her revelations to you know she it was one of the priests and he didn't believe her and he told her you know if Jesus is really appealing appearing to you then ask him what sins I confessed in my last confession I wouldn't I want to know what what did I confess then tell me what I confessed and she did she asked Jesus and do you remember what Jesus's response was do you remember what he said he actually responded the same Margaret Mary said he said I don't know I don't remember I don't remember that's actually very profound if you think about it God doesn't remember what is he saying he says he casts our sins away from us as far as the East is from the West that's the kind of blindness I think st. Torres is referring to that's when we take Jesus by the heart as it were when we we do that it melts his heart he doesn't even think about our sins obviously if we have serious sins we have to confess him yeah that's what he wants us to do but that's not the point of what she's saying the point is never lack confidence in God's love never lacked confidence in His mercy for you how about discouragement discouragement if you listen to those videos of father of instant Lampert's the ones the exorcism videos I think it's the second video second or third he says that's one of the tactics of the devil and the ordinary means of the devil is temptation so he mentions the extraordinary means he says you know that's that's the obsession that's the vexation that's the possession that's the infestation he says other extraordinary oppression as well oppression story of job oppression he says those are extraordinary so the ordinary means of attack of the devil or temptation and he includes in those division also a discouragement as well discouragement is not from God how about discouragements interests taught that to brood over our in own imperfections in a gloomy way paralyzes the soul she didn't actually like when we did that she didn't do that herself believe it or not we do more harm to ourselves by yielding to discouragement than by falling through weakness because we deprive ourselves if we become discouraged we deprive ourselves of the resilience that we need to rise up after our Falls if you're always discouraged you tend to prefer to stay on the ground if you fall off the horse I don't want to get I just want to stay on the ground discouragement takes away our energy to get back on that horse if we've fallen off if we've done anything sinful if we just fallen off the path obviously her messages don't be discouraged this is God's message to us admit our fault confess our fault but then we have to get right back up to get back on the horse to not stay on the ground she wrote this she wrote I am NOT always faithful I often fail to make one of these those little sacrifices which gives so much peace to the soul she said I often fail to make that she said but I do not get discouraged instead I abandoned myself in the arms of Jesus I endure the trial of having less peace at that moment and try to be more watchful next time when she wrote up to her sister oh my dear mother how sweet is the way of love we can fall of course we can commit many infidelities but she adds quoting st. John of the Cross but love knows how to draw a profit from everything man it quickly consumed whatever might have displeased to Jesus st. John of the Cross and she says all then that remains at the bottom of our hearts is a humble and profound peace when we learn to really entrust ourselves to the Lord not get discouraged all that remains at the bottom of the heart is a humble and profound peace she says and I believe this is her as well I don't have a doesn't say her name but I've got quotation marks here it says a glance of love cast toward Jesus and the knowledge of our profound misery makes reparation for everything she said we have only to beg pardon and all is repaired by that act of love Jesus opens his heart to us he forgets our infidelities and does not want to recall them he will do even more he will love us even better than before we committed that fault she said and then she wrote I entrust my infidelities to Jesus for in my audacious abandonment to him I believe that I shall in this way gain greater power over his heart and attract more fully the love of him who came not to call the just but sinners basically she's referring she's reflecting what st. Paul says in Romans 8:28 does anyone know what st. Paul says in Romans 8:28 does anyone remember I think that's the right letter I don't think that's I think it's too large the Romans I don't know if that's Chapter five or not I'm not sure but Romans 8:28 when he says all things work for good for those who love God and who are called according to his purpose now is that your baby or is that uh okay okay oh my god daughter okay so I was just thinking I haven't seen you with a baby before well I was gonna congratulate you if between the last conference and now you wasn't sure she's reflecting basically st. Paul's thought everything works for good translation a discouragement is not from God it's a waste of time it's a waste of energy so when we see ourselves getting discouraged we should recognize okay that's not from God and we should reject those thoughts we don't want to focus or feed thoughts which are discouraging I don't want to focus on them or feed I want to feed them we need to tell ourselves that they're not from Ghana remind ourselves so the truth of God's infinite love for us and how much he promises that he's going to accomplish the good that he's already begun in us and this is another example when I throw this out there because this might be helpful I probably mentioned this to someone during the confession but you know those those negative thoughts we don't want to feed those those are not healthy I gave the example of when I was living on my own and I had an apartment for a few months and I was on the third floor and those little balcony off of the third floor and there was a little door there was like a little veranda and somehow one day there was little there was a cat there I don't know how the cat got up I was on the third floor I have no idea he must have climbed up somehow and so I said okay well that's cute I like cats that's so I'll give it some food that was a big mistake giving the cat food what happens the cat doesn't leave never leaves I gave it food a couple of times more you know a few days go by I said okay I'll give it food again then a few days go by and I say okay I haven't given it food but it hasn't the cat is still there it actually so I had to make a resolve so it was about a week I didn't give the cat any food cat didn't move it was getting just skinnier and skinnier as the days go by said I can't give the cat food because I can't to have a pet eventually it left after about a week the cat left and then a few weeks later I did see the cat walking along the street and he had found a benefactor he was huge she was actually very big it was it was it was quite comical what do I why do I say that you know if you feed the bad thoughts they don't go away when you see the bad thoughts in your in your head say you know what that's not from the Lord I don't want to focus or feed that thought because it'll be like that cat it just won't go away so we need to learn to starve out the bad thoughts on the eve of her first communion Torres wrote in her diary she said I will never I shall never be discouraged a resolution which she firmly kept throughout her whole life her childlike confidence in God was never weakened by external circumstances nor by her imperfections nor even by her faults rather she learned from such things to recognize the weakness of her own nature and to judge the defects of others with greater understanding charity and mercy that's one of the benefits of having defects is that we can learn to say you know if I have defects and I'm making an effort how much more those who don't even make an effort mother to have mercy towards others and their defects when God is merciful to me something to keep in mind in all this is that God actually looks for feeble and weak souls he tends to prefer those who are a protester prefer the weak over those who are strong and capable and have it all together it doesn't seem to make sense does it but God turns everything he turns life upside down seit res wrote this I feel certain that if though this is impossible you Lord found one soul that is more feeble and insignificant than mine you would inundate it with even greater favors provided that this soul would abandon itself an app with absolute confidence to your infinite mercy she said if you found someone who's even weaker than me I'm sure you'd give it even greater favors than you've given me so if you're weak and you can't accomplish great things you're exactly God's type that's a good thing it's a good thing we're st. Therese rapid progress in the way of love depends on remaining little and placing our confidence in God she says it is Jesus who does everything in me I do nothing except remain little in weak she says and she there she was really basically just restating what st. Paul himself had taught when he said in 2nd Corinthians 12 verse 10 he said when I am weak then I am strong said st. Paul when I am weak then I am strong he also says in 2nd Corinthians 2 and 3 verse 5 our sufficiency is from God our sufficiency is from God not from myself and they also said it's by grace that we're saved letter to the Ephesians by grace you have been saved and that not from yourselves for it is the gift of God not as the outcome of works lest anyone should boast Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9 so God's grace and his gifts are a free gift they literally are something that I have not earned doesn't mean that st. Torres considered good works useless no of course not she did she understood their value to consider good works useless would be contrary to God's revelation he says that many times in Scripture will be judged by what we've done God does say that many times by the works that we've done st. Torres desired that we should make every effort to correct our faults make every effort to attain acquire virtues make every effort to become holy she said we must do all that lies in our power we must give without counting the cost we must constantly renounce ourselves in one word we must prove our love by all the good works we can perform but since all that we can do is very little it is of the greatest importance that we put our confidence in him who alone sanctifies those works and that we recognize that we are indeed useless servants hoping that the good Lord will give us through grace all that we desire towards the end of her life someone said to her they said you must have struggled very much to reach your degree of perfection it was probably one of the sisters who said that she replied with an indefinable tone in a voice said the one who recorded it she says it's not that at all sanctity doesn't consist in this or that practice it consists in a disposition of the heart which makes us humble and little in God's arms conscious of our weakness and confident even to the audacity in the goodness of our father is what saying that he is what about those what about when we lack confidence in God what can we say about that I want to show that we do want to address is that which I've addressed in other conferences and sometimes in homilies you know why Catholics even faithful Catholics why sometimes we can have difficulty trusting God while we can have difficulty having confidence in God this brief reflection won't reflect won't address all the problems of trust but hopefully it will be helpful to some typically if someone does tell me that they have problems trusting in God you know my first question usually is to them is and this is where I my psychology counseling training comes in I typically ask you know what was your if I have the time the opportunity what was your relationship like with your parents growing up why would I ask that question well it seems unrelated and yet it isn't it's very common for children when they're growing up to associate the characteristics of their authority figures with the characteristics of God that's actually very very common for children God who is the ultimate authority figure children are very literalists they're concrete they don't have you know understand abstract things so if you explain to a child you know God is the Creator is the Supreme Being and he's the big authority figure and the only one that they have to kind of make any connection with that usually is the authority figures in their life so if the authority figures are someone like a saint Torres is dad and their mom that's very helpful because they were very saintly people but if the authority figures are people who are less trustworthy that can be a very big obstacle to trust in God when people grow up if you tell the neck okay God is the Heavenly Father for example one of the reasons that again it was very easy for Saint Torres to grasp God's goodness his loveliness was her earthly father was just a very loving very kind literally a saintly person if someone grows up in a home for example if there's abuse that there's an abusive parent a father or a mother or there's harshness or there's alcoholism you know what's that it's prioritizing alcohol it's prioritizing a substance over the family or if their dad was overly demanding or even absent or harsh or uncaring or even the mom if that was the case as well it's very easily and very common for children to project all those defects on the God the Father it's very very common it can also be said again if the the mom was the dominant figure in the child's life if she wasn't loving or if she was easily irritated or unpredictable what children will often do is they'll project on to God those characteristics so for example if dad doesn't show much love or attention toward the child the child can very easily grow up think God doesn't care about them God doesn't care about ya what do you mean God care it doesn't quite Karis mom he doesn't care about me if mom was perfectionistic if mom wanted everything done without making mistakes the child can grow up thinking that I have to be perfect I can't make any mistakes or else God it's not going to accept me it's not I'm not gonna be acceptable to God obviously and whenever there's an abuse of power there's trust is broken as well so in cases of rape cases of molestation it can be very hard again for people to regain trust in others and even regain trust in God as well so what happens is often people can grow up we all grow up physically we all grow up we mature physically but intellectually and emotionally some people can be stuck in the past that's actually very calm and it can be stuck in the past so we can still be immature because of wounds we've received either again from our parents or it could be other authority figures could be priests could be teachers could be coaches other relatives for young people I don't know if you remember when you were growing up but when I was young I know someone who was an authority figure was the you know if I was in third grade if they were in fourth grade they're like wow you know that's this is a big person right it can be someone even just a few months older than you if you're a young child right what's the solution for that if that is one of the problems well part of the solution that we talked about is what we mentioned last time in the last conference having the right mindset embracing the truth about who God is the truth about Who I am so embracing the truth which means getting rid of the lies that I have in my head st. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 13:11 he says when I was a child he says I thought like a child I reasoned like a child I spoke like a child but now that I am an adult he said I put aside childish things what does that mean it means now that I'm older I need to be able to make distinctions I need to be able to say you know okay on the one hand my wife my family my authority figures at home or whoever it was my father mother they had these defects right they had certain good qualities but they had defects as well on the other hand my Heavenly Father has no defects he has no bad qualities as well you don't want to mesh the two because they aren't the same you need to be able to make distinctions when we get older my Heavenly Father is all good he's all loving he's perfect he's patient he's kind he's understanding he's compassionate he's always near me as well he's omnipresent he's everywhere a couple examples from Scripture just to prove my point in case you aren't convinced I refer my words I will appeal to the Lord himself and the Holy Spirit in the scripture as my words don't mean a lot but I will appeal to someone who knows what they're talking about God is not distant how do I know that Psalm 148 145 verse 18 says this 145 18 the Lord is close to all who call on him the Lord is close to all who call on him acts 17 verse 28 says in him we live and move and have our being in God we live and move and have our being translation God is not distant God's not harsh either how do I know that Psalm 103 verse 8 said the Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and abounding in love says the psalmist st. Paul says in Ephesians 2 verses 4 through 5 he says God who is rich in mercy out of the great love which he had for us even when we were dead through our trespasses made us alive in Christ translation God is merciful not harsh God is also not unpredictable and he's not abusive either how do I know that well Malachi chapter 3 verse 6 God says I the LORD do not change I do not change what does that mean one moment I'm not half the next moment I'm ripping your head off I am and always constant I'm always I am Who I am I don't change I'm not unpredictable so 3 verse 2 verse verses 2 & 3 says many are saying to me there is no help for you in God but you O Lord our Shield about me my glory and the one who lifts up my head lamentations 3 verse 25 says the Lord is good to those who wait for him to the soul who seeks him or Jesus's words which were mentioned in an earlier conference Luke 4 verses 18 through 19 when he said the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim Liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord translation God is not abusive God is not unpredictable he is loving and caring God's also not overly demanding believe it or not Isaiah 41 verse 13 for I the Lord your God hold your right hand it is I who say to you do not fear I will help you in Matthew 11 verses 28 through 30 one of the best lines Jesus says come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls from my yoke is easy and my burden is light God is not overly demanding I think it's father Lampert in one of his conferences he says if you look in the scriptures it says do not be afraid you'll find that phrase in the scriptures 365 times you said he said is that a coincidence you know 365 times in the scriptures you'll see do not be afraid what does our Lord trying to tell us there every day we shouldn't be afraid every day another part of the solution to healing problems of trust which could be from the past is basically to open up about them to be able to talk about them to someone counselor that I listen to she cycles she says all the time pain expressed is pain released so if if I'm always holding on to the hurts if I'm not releasing them in a healthy way that just does damage to me spiritually it's not a good thing if past abuses of trust or past wounds aren't brought to light if they don't come to the surface then we can't heal from them and sometimes that fear and those wounds can have control over us as well God doesn't want the past or the wounds to have control over us the fear of facing the hurts of the past can even cause many other problems as well it causes people for example to turn to things like alcohol or drugs or to numb the pain it can lead to obsessive compulsive disorder as it can lead to the need to be excessively in control to be in control of more things than God wants us to be in control of so learning to open up about past wounds bringing them to light is actually a big step towards healing thirdly also learning to share our hurts and fears with the Lord is very important as I've said I probably said I think I said that to you someone this evening but I say that all the time in confession I say you know if if David if King David instead of writing the Psalms when he was in distress if he would have gone and raided the fridge we would never have had the Book of Psalms right so I've got a choice I can turn to comfort food or I can turn to the Lord and open my heart to the Lord if he would have turned the comfort food we would have missed out on a lot in a certain sense the Lord wants us to turn to him not to substitutes there Psalm 142 begins so sharing the hearts and fears with the Lord is very important Psalm 142 says with all my voice I I to the Lord with all my voice I entreat the Lord I pour out my trouble before him I tell him all my despair distress while my spirit faints within me but you O Lord know my path so that's something oh we need to learn to be able to open up our hearts and pour out our sufferings to the Lord st. Peter 1st Peter 5 verse 7 adds cast all your anxieties on the Lord because he cares for you very simply because he cares for you Psalm 10 verse 17 says O Lord you will hear the desire of the meek you will strengthen their heart you will incline their ear so open up our hearts so sharing our hearts with the Lord is a big step to trusting and to healing as well we know the Lord is our loving Heavenly Father the more we share our hearts and our lives with him the more we will experience his consolation and his assistance as well lastly this is the last of the suggestions of things for helping to heal problems of trust and confidence in God is learning to simply forgive those who have wronged us learning to have a spirit of forgiveness toward those who've wronged us through forgiveness we release our offenses and their offenses to the lure and that's spiritually very very healthy for us you know the opposite of that is holding on to unforgiveness all that does is do damage to us spiritually so when the Lord commands us to forgive keep in mind anything he commands us to do it's for our good it's not just because I say so do it sometimes you have to do that with the kids you can't explain everything to them I said so do it no with the Lord it's you know do it because it's good for you because it's healthy for you because it's the best thing for you so forgiveness is very very healthy for us unforgiveness is like carrying around a ball in a chain on honor your leg you're not gonna get very far and it's a spiritually it's not healthy Jesus himself modeled that on the cross when he said to those who were in front of him and who weren't even repentant of their sin he said Father forgive them for they know not what they do Jesus himself everything that he taught he modeled for us in his life so if you find that releasing your offenders to the Lord if you're able to do that that's actually very freeing for us as well too it's very freeing for us these are all things that we can work on as far as learning to have that unbounded confidence in God that st. Torres had these are all things that we need to put into practice we need to understand the true character of God of who he is we need to understand who we really are in God's sight and we need to be able to if necessary heal from any difficulties in the past any past wounds we need to work on doing that if we have difficulty in trusting the Lord believe it or not that is where we finish this conference on confidence and abandonment to God glory be to the Father to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is not never show world without end amen to the intercession of the Immaculate and st. Torres may Almighty God bless you the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

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Keywords: Abandonment, confidence, conversion, forgive, God, Grace, Heal, Lisieux, little way, love, love of GOd, past wounds, sanctification, sin, spiritual childhood, St Therese Retreat 2020, St. Therese, Story of a Soul, trust God, understand, Conferences, Fr. Terrance Chartier, Franciscans of the Immaculate, Religion, Christianity (Religion), Catholic, Spirituality, Salvation, Faith, Church, Gospel, Catholic Church, Jesus Christ, Christ, Jesus

Id: rhB9kWQLtW4

Length: 44min 15sec (2655 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 18 2020