The Right Mindset - #3/4 St. Therese's Little Way - Fr Terrance - CONF 537

[Music] so this afternoon's class will be entitled the right mindset the right mindset we said in our last conference that according to father and Jean MA hope they pronounce that that way in in France the fundamental characteristic of st. Torres doctrine her little way is a special attitude of mind and everything is based and on and flows from an attitude of spiritual childhood so we're gonna use this conference to talk about the right mindset in order to have st. Torres would approve of and then in the last conference we're going to talk about confidence in the Lord in the final conference today so the key to living the new the little way is having the right mindset Jesus of course gave us eight Beatitudes on the Sermon on the Mount so here we're going to give eight verses from the New Testament on how to use our minds how to use the gift of our mind according to God's plan for us we know that Jesus first of all said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength and he also added with all your mind it's one verse Luke 10 verse 27 Saint Paul himself has a lot to say in his letters about how we use our minds and what we focus our thoughts on for example he says in Romans 8:5 he says those who live according to the flesh he says set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit in that same letter a few chapters later Romans 12 verse 2 the Apostle exhorts us he says do not beacon formed to this world or to this age he says but be transformed by what the renewal of your mind right the renewal of your mind so that you may know what is the will of God what is good pleasing and perfect in 1st Corinthians 2 verses 15 through 16 he says the spiritual man judges all things but is himself to be judged by no one for who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him but we says the apostle but we have the mind of Christ we have the mind of Christ so we have the ability to judge what is spiritual in Ephesians 4 verses 22 through 24 the Apostle says this put off the old man that belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the new man created after the likeness of God in truth and holiness and then in Philippians he has a few verses which are very beautiful about what we should do with our thoughts what we should do with our mind he says in Philippians 4 verses 6 through 7 he says have no anxiety about anything first thing he says have no anxiety about anything we would say no easier said than done right Apostle Paul he says have no anxiety about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be known to God he says and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus so their prayer and supplication instead of worrying prayer supplication asking the Lord revealing the Lord the needs of our heart and then one verse later he adds which I this is a verse that I always quoted and I do quote a lot and in the confessional one of my favorite verses Philippians 4 verse 8 he says finally brethren whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is gracious if there is any excellence if there is anything worthy of all praise he says what is you say who knows what do you do think on you set your mind on these things exactly think about these things literally set your mind on what is good and what is true on what is pure and when it's honorable what is lovely Colossians 3 verse 2 the same apostle says set your mind on the things above not on the things of the earth how important it is the gift of our mind the gift of our intelligence what we focus on really determines everything about our life those are eight verses I said eight verses I would actually throw in a ninth one throw in one more the one that I have written down which in the handout which you'll see afterward which I'll put on the the chair here afterward the handout the first it's the verse the first words of Jesus out of his mouth when he began his public ministry the first thing he actually said to the crowds when he began preaching does anyone know the first words out of his mouth when he began his public preaching what was the first thing he said no clue what's that okay said that at Nazareth and that's it's good you're close he said that at Nazareth in his hometown when he was in the synagogue there when he began his public preaching though what was a there's a specific verse auto-awesome I'll share it to you there are two different places that you'll find this verse one is in matthew 4 verse 17 which is what I have in the handout which is he says Jesus says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and even better a rendition of that it's the same basically saying the same thing but from st. Mark's perspective mark chapter 1 verse 15 says Jesus his first words were repent and believe in the gospel repent and believe in the gospel does anyone know so we know that the the New Testament was written in Greek does anyone know what that word repent in Greek is someone should probably should know this what's that turn back that's that's that's that's somewhat of a translation you're getting but do you know what the actual word is in Greek okay my Greek scholars here no one okay good translator it's actually Metanoia Metanoia is the Greek word what does metanoia means with repent is Metanoia what does it mean it means change your mind change your thinking change their mind change your thinking even change the path that you're walking on so you're heading in one direction you have a metanoia you actually turn around and head in a different direction it's something like what happened to Saint Paul and his road to Damascus he was heading to Damascus with the intent to persecute the Christians he had a metanoia a changing of his mind he went there with the with the hopes of preaching the gospel with the hopes of meeting with the Christians and beginning to share the gospel so repent repent and believe in the gospel believe that word in in Greek is pissed a Oh piss Dale what does it mean it means believe but it also means trust and in trust so it's not just believe up here it's also trust and entrust yourself to God so literally what Jesus said when he began to preach was he said change your mind and trust and trust yourself the Lord those were his first words when he began his public ministry so our Lord has given us a mind and of course he wants us to use it the right way there are two main faculties which our souls have often you'll hear people say three and that's not wrong you know the intellect the memory and the will but the two main ones that we'll focus on on the intellect and the will at least that we'll mention here though the intellect what does the intellect do the intelligence our intelligence looks for what's true so it's basically what God has given us as a guide to find what's true to look for what's true in life the will is our ability to choose the will looks for what's good so the intellect looks for what's true the will looks for what's good Jesus said in John 8:32 he said that what the truth will do what you know will set us free sorry so the truth will set us free so if it's the truth that sets us free because it sets our minds free what do you think it is that keeps us in bondage if the truth sets us free what is what keeps us in bondage Satan lies yeah the truth sets you free a lie is what keeps you in bondage a sin is what keeps us in bondage of course because Jesus said that anyone who sins is a slave to sin John 8 verse 34 so yes sin keeps us in bondage but in truth lies keep us in bondage as well Jesus calls Satan a liar and the father of lies the father of lies John 8 verse 44 so when we tell our things self things that aren't true according to God's perspective that does keep us in a spiritual bondage when we hold on to what's what's not true when we hold on to wrong beliefs they keep us in spiritual bondage when we say that we need to embrace the truth we mean that the that we need to embrace the truth again from God's perspective not just from them not from the perspective of other people what you think what you feel what you choose to do so we want to have the right mindset we also we want to know that what we think in our mind and if some of these things if you've gone to confession to me before I repeat a lot of these things in confession so you use some of you will say father I've already heard that one not too long ago but it's it's good too the repetition does help you know what you think in your minds has a direct impact on your emotions as a direct impact on how you feel it's a direct connection between your thoughts and your feelings if some someone is very positive and upbeat and optimistic and happy you can be sure that you know for the most part they're thinking thoughts which are positive which are optimistic someone who's sad or depressed or anxious or angry you can be sure things that they're thinking about are leading to that to sadness to depression to anxiety anger they can be rehearsing wrongs from the past or they can be fearful about the future or they can be thinking that there's no hope for them or focusing on what's negative is what what what happens there when your mind what you focus on in your mind again has a direct impact on your emotions and that has a direct impact on the choices that we make as well and we can't control every thought that comes into our minds but we can control what we dwell on in our minds what I focus on in my mind I do have the ability to control that that's why st. Paul says in Philippians 4:8 he says whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is gracious if there is any excellence if there is anything worthy of praise he says think on these things think about what is good think about what is lovely think about what is gracious so we need to learn to focus on what is good focusing on what is good will transform us more and more into the good will transform us more and more into becoming a reflection of Christ and I also hope for a light of faith and of hope for others as well there's an old saying you know it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness you've probably heard that before it's better to actually do something which is edifying and positive rather than just complain about everything that's wrong some people some of us are very good at complaining about everything that's wrong with the only problem with that is it it's never really edifying it's not really edifying the more you focus on the darkness the more the darkness can overtake us I can swallow us up so we want to be careful about that the more you focus on the light the more you become transformed into that light so that's why we need to be vigilant about our thoughts any thoughts which are discouraging or our thoughts which are negative or unhealthy you know obviously we have to deal with some of some of these things in life but we don't want to have that be the focus of what we're always thinking about because it's not healthy spiritually in the spiritual life st. Teresa of Avila and this is something that we mentioned yesterday when we talked about the two types of areas where people begin to grow and they're on the spiritual path when they're actually having a conversion when they're making an effort to grow closer to the Lord remember we said there are two types of knowledge that they begin to gain do you remember what those two types of knowledge were all right knowledge of yourself and knowledge of the Lord this is something that we begin to grow in the more we grow in the spiritual life that's what st. Teresa of Avila would say another spiritual writers would say st. Teresa Avila also of course stressed something that we mentioned yesterday it's important to know God it's important to know ourselves but it's even more important to know ourselves from God's point of view from God's perspective and in a certain sense that was the genius of st. Torres she focused her mind she focused her thoughts on how God saw her and he saw her and treated her as his beloved child and she knew that and she took it to heart so for us for us to be able to understand and to take to heart the little way of Saint Torres we need what st. Paul says is that renewal of our mind we need that transformation of our mind there's an illustration of this which st. Torres I believe it's does she share in her spiritual autobiography or maybe in the council's or the spiritual councils book which are basically saying is which other sisters recorded of st. Torres based on one occasion there was a novice who entered her cell and the novice was struck because she saw st. Torres and she interests had a very beautiful heavenly look on her face and the novice noticed that she was sewing she was sewing very industriously and yet she was lost in deep contemplation she was doing an activity but also focusing on the Lord - and the enormous asked her what are you thinking of interest' said i'm meditating on the Our Father it's so sweet to call God our Father she said and tears glistened in her eyes another time she said I cannot well see what more I shall have in heaven than I have now I shall see God it is true but as to but being with him I'm already that way on earth she said I'm already with God that way on earth her mine was constantly focused on being in the presence of the Lord so there can be an objection let's see if we can answer the objections that some of us will have obviously one of the objections will be well life's not a bed of roses right so we can't just go around pretending that everything is is wonderful and great and also we can't focus on always what's good because that's not realistic that's not realistic what about all the problems in the world the problems in our lives the problems in the church what about all that my first response of course is that yes life is not a bed of roses that's true and Jesus said in this world you will have tribulation he said that John 16 verse 33 so it's a fact that there are difficulties and even unpleasant and even awful things that we'll have to experience and even go through at times that's true but remember what Jesus said after he said to his apostles he said in this world you will have tribulation but who remembers the last part of that line the last part of that sentence very good yeah in this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world says Jesus yes great great great that's what st. Paul says and says to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ he says now if you know the verse there that I'm gonna ask you to start giving the conference because I don't remember the verse and that one but he says specifically it's in Corinthians he says take every thought captive in obedience to Christ that's great that's exactly what we're supposed to do actually that was the one verse that I had forgotten to mention that right before I started this presentation I was going to mention that verse but then I forgot it again so you helped remind me of that take every thought captive in obedience to Christ that is the victory it is the the recipe for success with dealing with our thoughts Corinthians Corinth we can watch this [Music] second Corinthians 10 verse 5 we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ 2nd Corinthians 10:5 as we were saying yes Jesus said we will have tribulation but he said be of good cheer for I have overcome the world also we ought we know that God wins in the end and God has already won the victory for us on Calvary by dying for us and then rising from the dead so the outcome of the war is certain that is certain yes obviously the battles have to still be fought but I can focus on the good I can focus on the victory that we I have that we have in Christ rather than focusing on the negative and I agree that we can't always focus on what's good in a sense that there are difficulties that we have to face there are difficulties that we have to endure and as well chapter three and the book of ecclesiastes in the Old Testament says for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven it says in verse one that includes a time to weep and a time to mourn but I can do at least two things with the difficulties especially with the difficult thoughts I can release all the things that I can't control I can release it to the Lord what I can't control I can release to him because he's the one who really is ultimately in control and he wants me to allow him to be in control he wants me to release and trust my cares and my difficulties to him too I can also learn to see everything from a supernatural point of view for example there will be times when we're overwhelmed with grief and those times I can take refuge by going at going to church by visiting our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament I can remind myself of what Jesus said he said blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted Matthew 5 verse 4 I can remind myself of what the psalmist says the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit Psalm 34 verse 18 i can use life's moments of suffering and difficulty to draw closer to our lord and to our lady and that's what god wants us to do that's why he allows difficulty because he wants us to use it to draw closer to him I know the trials that God sends me are they could be meant to correct me if I'm on the wrong path they could be meant to purify me purify me of my selfishness and of my self will we talked yesterday about the selfishness that still remains even in souls who are advanced in the spiritual life they're still self seeking sometimes God sends difficulties to purify that in my soul God also sends trials to prove me as well they're meant to demonstrate my faithfulness to him they're also meant to increase the merit that I gained for the good works that I perform as well so we know nothing is wasted with the Lord so having the mindset of st. Therese and living her little way also means learning to see everything as coming from the loving hand of our Heavenly Father everything is coming from his loving hand if we're not there yet we just persevere and we'll get there we'll get to the point where we're able to do that some examples of st. Teresa's right mindset I want to give a couple of examples and I put them on a PowerPoint so it'll be a little bit easier to follow let's see here let's do that these are in the handouts as well so this this is their first thing first example st. Torres had realistic expectations about her vocation first thing she had realistic expectations let's read through the quote she says everything in the convent when she entered Carmel everything in the convent delighted me especially our little cell I fancied myself transported to the desert I repeat that my happiness was calm and peaceful not even the lightest breeze ruffled the tranquil waters on which my little bark sailed no cloud darkened the blue sky I felt fully recompense for all I had gone through and I kept saying now I am here forever mine was no passing joy did not fade like first illusions from illusions God in His mercy has ever preserved me she said I found the religious life just what I expected and sacrifice by assortment of surprise yet you know well that from the beginning my way was strewn with thorns rather than with roses it's kind of interesting there you see she's got both romantic and a realistic view of things at the same time she manages to have both of those those two perspectives for her work in opposition they weren't in competition her outlook was romantic in the sense that she saw the supernatural and everything that she did and and she even cultivated a childlike romantic perspective you know going to the desert and her soul is a little bark and the water is the same time she was very realistic as well she had realistic expectations regarding her calling she said from illusions God in His mercy has ever preserved me she expected sacrifices she expected thorns she expected difficulties in religious life that's exactly what she got as well but she always had the right outlook on them which was the supernatural outlook unrealistic expectations are something we want to avoid in life unrealistic expectations one counsel that I listened to she said she counseled thousands of married couples and she said that what sabotages marriages is not unforgiveness or lack of communication or financial problems she says for the most part the biggest problem is unrealistic expectations she says expecting too much from the spouse expecting the spouse to give too much more than they can actually wouldn't than God Himself even wants them to give in her vocation saint torres rightly expected everything from her spouse so she was right about that because her spouse was god but she knew that her part involved sacrifice her part involved thorns it involved misunderstandings involved a spirit of service as well having a spirit of service towards others when she chose religious life she was realistic about that road that lay ahead of which is a big deal for someone who's 15 that's a big big deal we too need to be realistic in our expectations of others and our understanding of people's faults and their limits and we need to cultivate a spirit of mercy toward them I have a spirit of service and mercy towards them at the same time we need to be like st. Therese and that we shouldn't expect and that we should expect everything from God so that's never being unrealistic to expect everything from God we should do that because God Himself promises to not disappoint us our hope needs to be in the Lord not in hoping that my spouse or anyone else in life will meet the needs all the needs of my heart no one is meant to meet all the needs of our heart except for the Lord Himself second example st. Therese resolves to love her spouse more than her cousin loves her spouse she says here eight days after I had taken the veil my cousin Jean Kareem was married to dr. la Neil I didn't put that one in google translator so I'm not sure how they pronounced that yeah in France when she came to see us afterwards my cousin and I heard of all the little attention she lavished on her husband my heart thrilled and I thought it shall never be said that a woman in the world does more for her husband than I do for Jesus my beloved and filled with fresh ardor I set myself more earnestly than ever to please my heavenly spouse the king of kings who had deign to honor me by divine alliance she said so st. Torres was very good at looking at earthly realities and applying them to the spiritual life she was very good gifted in that she never wanted to be outdone in the love that she would give to Jesus this is something we can even turn into a prayer for ourselves that we'll have a heart that loves Jesus above all a heart that loves others in him as well st. Torres was always looking for ways to please her spouse I think that some of you can take that to heart regarding your own spouses in the sense that whenever there's a spirit of service and sacrifice in a marriage that's when love can really flourish in a marriage if there's a spirit of service and sacrifice spirit of service and sacrifice asks constantly how can I help my spouse how can I encourage them what can I thank them for what little acts of kindness can I appreciate in them what can i what good words can I share with them and whenever we're focused on on the beloved whenever we're focused on loving them we're doing what Jesus did in a certain sense we're laying down our lives for the beloved that's what Jesus did for his church that's the road to happiness into sanctity having a spirit of service and sacrifice wherever there's a spirit which is the opposite the spirit of selfishness which is focused on what I think or what I feel or what I want or my disappointments or frustrations wouldn't whenever there's that spirit in in a relationship in a marriage what happens is love deteriorates love tends to diminish so we have to be clear to be very careful about that so a good resolve can be for those of you who are married a good resolve can be to love your earthly spouse as Jesus loved his spouse the church if you do that that will help you grow in holiness and in hope it'll help your spouse as well offer the love that you give to your spouses we can offer that to Jesus as a sacrifice for those of you for those of us who aren't Mary we can pray to st. Torres that she would really help us cultivate in our mind and in our heart a tremendous love for the Lord like she herself had during her life this is the next example the third example title of this one is not beating herself up over falling asleep at prayer this that's also something I say a lot in the confessional don't be yourself up this is what she said she said that I fell asleep so often during meditation and Thanksgiving after communion should distress me well I'm not distressed I reflect that little children are equally dear to their parents whether they are asleep or awake that in order to perform operations doctors put their patients to sleep and finally that the Lord knoweth our frame he remember that we are but dust as she said she's the genius the way she but I mean this she wasn't giving herself in the sense she wasn't relaxed but she was a she learned to see everything from a supernatural perspective she's just she's unbelievable she lived a very hard life at caramel the caramel the caramel eight or REM their daily schedule was very rigorous actually I was gonna post it here but I'd found the website with a head the or REM when she where she was at the time when she was living at Karma what the ER REM was and it was really tough I mean really really tough in the times of quiet prayer like meditation like she says she wasn't able to stay awake but she didn't beat herself up about that Center as always main Dwight I was she able to do that because she always made the right intention Joe has wanted to give her best she always wanted to do the best that she could show us wanted to please her Lord and she was generous in her desire for serving him her right intention or generosity and her charity more than made up for these defects they more than made up for those st. Peter says in first Peter 4 verse 8 he says charity covers a multitude of sins right some of these things aren't really wouldn't really be sins if you can't stay awake you can't stay awake and she was realistic about that as well she knew that her Heavenly Father loved her infinitely and she literally rested in that love she literally rested in that she didn't trust in her performance she didn't trust in what others thought or said about her she embraced her weaknesses instead of beating herself up for them she embraced her weaknesses she didn't see it as an obstacle or as a problem she wasn't lukewarm or lazy either she was realistic about her limits she was realistic and she was never distressed about her limits never distressed about limitations that she had that's an attitude that I think we really need to learn to take to heart as well the fourth example title this one is little penances and mortifying our self-love she wrote above all I endeavour to practice this is before I think this is before she entered Carmel the the summer or the few months before she entered she said above all I endeavour to practice little hidden acts of virtue thus I took pleasure in all no this is actually this is when she's in Carmel ok thus I took pleasure in folding the mantles forgotten by the sisters and I sought for every possible occasion of helping them one of God's gifts was a great attraction towards penance but I was not permitted to satisfy that the only mortification allowed me was consisted in mortifying my self-love and this did me far more good than bodily penances would have ever done and she said my first victory was not a great one but it cost me a great deal a small jar left behind a window was found broken no one knew who had put it there but our mistress was displeased and thinking I was to blame and leaving it about told me I was very untidy and must be more careful in the future without answering I kissed the ground and promised to be more observant I was so little advanced in virtue that these small sacrifices cost me dear and I had to console myself with the thought that at the Day of Judgment all would be made known even in the little things she had the right mindset as far as practicing virtue for her it was important what God saw so much important what others saw that was more important to her what the Lord said when we get to the point the point of doing good just because it's great to do in the Lord sees that we're doing it when we get to that point then we can reach a very high level of interior freedom also our relationship with the Lord becomes more profound and more solid less superficial so if I worry more about doing what's right because the Lord sees me there's actually a lot of freedom in that if I'm always worried about doing what's right or being careful about what others think or say there's uh there's not the freedom there that God wants me to have we see her here also that she knew which mortification was the most important it was the mortification of her self love her selfishness we should love ourselves of course because God loves us and so whatever God loves he wants us to love as well we should love ourselves and typically we love ourselves with what's called in a disordered way meaning that we put ourselves ahead of others and sometimes even ahead of God as well someone told me recently I got for my virtue this year we do the extraction of the Saints here every year on the Epiphany you get your patron saints for the year you get a virtue you get a title of Our Lady you get a verse from Scripture from some some spiritual book and the virtue I got was joy and I said to myself does this mean that I'm going to get be given joy do I have to practice joy and understand which because if it was like the virtue of mortification okay I've got a more to find myself it was joy said well how do I practice joy someone said oh you know what that means it means Jesus others in you right Jesus said you've probably heard about that so they first you put Jesus then you put others and then you put you I said all that was clever I hadn't thought of that for practicing the virtue of joy Jesus said in the Gospels If any man would come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me Luke 9 verse 23 so denying ourselves for love of others and for love of God denying ourselves and things that's true charity it's what's called agape love and so I have here whenever I talk about whenever I mention love and I say agape love the first thing that clicks to my mind and of course the Super Bowl if any of you saw the Super Bowl it was actually an ad there so that took that took a bit of my thunder away actually I had written this before the ad even came out so there are four types of love in the Greek and so we'll just briefly go over that the Super Bowl ad wasn't quite exact in it some of its description so we'll correct some of that for the ancient Greeks love was either eros or storge or philia or agape so I thought here when we just mentioned those four types of lava eros is what we call passionate or romantic love it's the instinct that we share even with the animals to mate and to procreate to have children the main good that comes from eros is that it does lead to children being born into the world and so it helps fulfill the commandment that God gave when he blessed Adam and even said be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it Genesis 1 verse 28 that's eros the next one is storge storge is the love that would refer to affection or familial love so loved for example of a good parent towards their child the love of a child toward their parents it's a certain affection that you have you can even think of it as anything that's familiar to you and anything that you have a certain fondness for that's typically a store gay type of love it could be a person it could even be a favorite family pet you know someone who you have a certain affection for could it's sto rge sure it could even be a place or a thing or an activity something that you have an affection for it's a natural emotional affection towards someone or something third type of love is philia the love of friendship which of course includes affection as well but it's higher than that in his letter to the Romans st. Paul says Romans 12 verse 10 he says love one another with brotherly affection brotherly affection do you know what the word brotherly affection is in st. Paul's letter do you know what that the Greek word is Philadelphia Philadelphia brotherly affection right yes Philadelphia this actually comes from a st. Paul from the Greek brotherly affection the love of philia is the love that exists between close friends between people who share common values common interests and activities believe it or not for the ancient societies this was considered the highest form of love the highest form is the love of a filial it's the hap consider the happiest and the most human form of all loves all of those three have their defects those three different types of love have their defects eros can easily turn into mere pleasure seeking or selfishness it can lead also to the sins against life as well storge can remain simply on an emotional or a feeling level just an emotional or feeling level so that what happens when the good feelings disappear the love quote-unquote disappears as well philia the love of friendship can become too exclusive it can even become possessive and jealous as well it's easy to have someone who's a good friend of yours and that person finds another friend and what happens you can become little jealous you can become a little possessive why because the love of philia that love is imperfect it's imperfect so there has to be a form of love which is higher and there is that's the love of agape the highest and truest love it's what we call charity that's what we call charity st. John the Apostle says in his New Testament letter he says in first John 4 verses 7 through 8 he says this beloved let us love one another for love is of God he who loves is born of God and knows God he who does not love does not know God for god is love if you notice in those two verses Saint John uses that we're in love five times and each time it's that word agape agape God is love Oh Theo sistene agape for those of you who speak ancient Greek you know exactly what I said that's that's a translation that's the elasti Greek god is love agape love what is it it's unconditional love it's a love which always wills and acts for the good of the other always wills and acts with a good of the other it's selfless love st. Terez knew that she had to die to her own self love and order that the love of God in order that agape love would be able to operate within her that's where she found her opportunities for mortification mortifying herself love or disordered self love what we call selfishness so that she could love the Lord and others with a pure love if we stop and think about it I think there are probably dozens of ways that we could even do that every day in our lives the last quote will give this one's entitled embracing crosses for Souls st. Torres writes our Lord made me understand that it was by the cross he would give me souls the more cross as I met with the stronger grew my attraction for suffering for five years this was month this way was mine but I alone knew it this was precisely the flower I wished to offer to Jesus a hidden flower which keeps its perfume only for heaven suffering opened her arms to me from the first and I took her to my heart that's why I say st. Therese is tough you know she is sweet but she's tough she's very very strong she has a will of Steel she understood the value of crosses she understood the value of suffering she saw them as God's gifts to her something that she could offer back to the Heavenly Father for the conversion of sinners for the sanctification of souls just as Jesus and Mary offered their sufferings for us on Calvary for our Redemption the intimate sharing between spouses includes the sharing of sufferings as some of you well know since saint torres understood that crosses were a blessing and not a curse crosses are a blessing not a curse we think we've done something wrong it's no the Lord says no this is good for you it's not you that you've done something wrong she embraced them with a grateful heart and that's something that of course our Lord wants us to learn how to do as well but it also has to be we have to embrace them with a loving heart but with a right mindset and also with a right intention goes back to what we said at the beginning of the conference the metanoia the changing of our mind we need to be able to change our way of thinking and change our perspective to be able to see things more and more from the perspective of our Lord if you change your mind that changes our choices and it also changes our heart as well it changes our heart as well I've got one other thing I want to mention here it's on a different sheet let me see here okay and this is I've got another I've got another design here for for you this one I actually drew myself it's not to manat too impressive but I said you know we said at the beginning of at this conference that the soul has two faculties mainly you know we can say three the memory as well but the intellect and the will when the spiritual writers speak and the soul is indivisible so you don't really properly speaking you can't say the soul has parts you know like I've got an arm and foot and a head the soul doesn't have parts but they say in a certain way when the spiritual writers write they do write about two different parts of the soul they say the soul has a sensitive part and a spiritual part what does that mean well I thought of the example of the ocean so if you look at the picture here though the top the water the lines on the top that's the top of the ocean the bottom where there's at the bottom of the the design where there's kind of little hash marks there that's that's the bottom of the ocean notion is one body of water from top to bottom right so it's one body of water but you can say that there's a part of the ocean that's near to the surface that's near to where we are that's near to the sky that's susceptible to changing weather and susceptible to other changes and there's a part in the bottom that is more deep it's where the weather and the waves don't have much effect on the soul so I think if you want do you want to explain the rest of this just to be great oh no I mean I think this if someone can explain this is great I think the first time I tried to explain this I didn't do very well so this is gonna be the second time if you understand it and that's that's a good sign spiritual writers will look at our soul in that way as well they will say that what's called the sensitive part of the soul is the part that we have that's more in contact with our senses with our hearing or their touching with our tasting and also the internal senses with the memory the imagination even our emotions as well so the sensitive part of the soul they would say is that the part of the soul that's has more contact with the outside world and with our body our bodily senses as well so it's the part that's more susceptible to the things that happened to me on the outside the events of everyday life you know what things happen to me what events where I am with people my interactions with others what the weather is like all the my imagination even it's the part that has more contact with the material world with the external world it's like the top the top part of the ocean here which has direct contact with the air and the waves and the weather and all that whereas the spiritual part of the soul the spiritual writers would say that's the deeper part of the soul that's the part of the soul where God Himself resides for those of us who are in a state of grace obviously and that's where he communicates with the soul it's like the deeper part of the ocean st. Teresa of ávila said that the external region of her soul this is the st. Teresa of ávila speaking so she's actually very fun if you want to read her and st. Torrez st. Teresa of Avila is very wise but she's also very entertaining at the same time she said that the external region of her soul is the one that ordinarily is the most agitated it's where images and thoughts bounce around in her head and where we have all sort of she has all sort of internal discourses that's the part of her soul where you know all the activities happening it's like New York City almost but she says that the other region the one that's more interior is where things are more peaceful it's where the essence of the soul is where the will and the intellect reside and she says it's here where the soul is closer to the source of grace more in the in the depths of the soul more in the spiritual part of the soul it's here where the soul is more docile to the action of God and more under God's submission despite the fact that the soul can be more agitated in the more external regions so what can this teach us about the spiritual life and having the right mindset well first of all I applied this to Our Lady and I think we can find an example to apply this to Saint Terez Our Lady responds and this is the diagram on your left-hand side that would be Mary's soul so that blue that first blue post-it note there with a design is Mary's soul how does she respond she responds to what's happening around her she responds to her feelings and emotions and thoughts and imagination by focusing first on the Lord on God within her on God inside of the dwell in the depth of her soul her focus is first on her loving relationship with the Lord who lives inside of her when when she said at the Magnificat at the Annunciation she said my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant Luke 1 verses 46 through 48 my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord sir her focus isn't so much first and foremost on the waves on the weather on what others think what others say or how she looks in the mirror or where her feelings are or she's not trying to necessarily think and control other things that she's she can't do that or focus isn't so much on those things it's more on first on the lord dwelling inside of her a person and from that it's basically from her relationship with the lord from the lord dwelling within her then she responds to the outside world that's where she responds to what comes to her it's how she responds to the angel that's how she responds to everything that happens in her life so that's what the arrow there is pointing at so from from inside of her soul that's how she responds to the external world to what's outside of her someone who's not in God's grace her person who's not virtuous tends to be the opposite is what the dynamic is it's more of everything that's external or a superficial or what others think or say or do or all of that tends to be more controlling of me you know instead of me responding to what is going on in a way which is reflecting God's character I let everything else control me and I get tossed around essentially like the wind and the waves on the top of the sea there's a beautiful illustration if we had time we could even throw in the illustration of the disciples in the bark on the Sea of Galilee and the wind and waves are tossing about you could even apply that here as well Mary and those who strive to imitate her well our Lord excuse me our lady she's controlled by the Lord she's controlled by what he thinks what he says she's controlled by his spirit she's controlled by virtue rather than being controlled by everything else even her emotions our feelings those things are under the Dominion of God's control of her I thought of an example of this for Saint Terez Saint Torres and this is the famous those of you who know a little bit about her the Kris miss miracle that she had in 1886 this was when she was 13 years old and will read this just this is from her autobiography she was 13 years old and up to that point she had stubbornly hung on to the Christmas traditions of a child and this is what she writes she says when I got home - and I didn't actually look this one up on google translator it says lay bluestone a they Busan ayats if you look at the writing you'll never actually figure that out from midnight mass I knew that I should find my shoes standing this is so that the tradition that she had I knew I should find my shoes standing at the fireplace filled with presents as I had always done since I was little so you can see I was still treated as a baby she says even at 13 years old I was still treated as a baby father used to love to see how happy I was and hear my cries of delight as I looked at as I took each surprise packet from my magic shoes and his pleasure made me happier still but the time had come she says but the time had come for Jesus to cure me of my childishness so you're gonna there's a lot of paradoxes right you said wait a minute spiritual childhood but she needs to be cured of childishness we'll try to follow what she's saying here even the innocent joys of childhood were to go he allowed father her father to feel cross this year instead of spoiling me and as I was going upstairs I heard him this is what hurt the most she said I heard him saying Terez ought to have outgrown all this sort of thing and I hope this will be the last time she heard her father say that as she was going back upstairs from midnight mass she says this cut me to the quick and Selene who knew how very sensitive I was whispered to me don't come down again just yet you'll only go and cry if you open your presents now in front of father so this is her biggest chore tremendous trauma and in a sense it is important because everything that's a trauma in our life everything that's important in our life is important to the Lord so even though this is kind of a silly thing but even in the law sighs it's not silly cos for her it's not too silly typically Terez what have done that she would have just cried like a little baby in her usual way however this time was different she writes this but I was not the same Terez anymore Jesus had changed me completely I held back my tears and trying to stop my heart from beating so fast I ran down into the dining room I picked up the shoes and unwrapped my presents joyfully looking all the while as happy as a queen father did not look cross any more now and entered into the fun of it while Celine thought she must have been dreaming she couldn't believe that her sister actually managed to overcome this but this was no dream Torres had gotten back her former back forever the strength of mine she had lost at four and a half when her mother had died stress called this the Christmas miracle and it really marked the turning point spiritual turning point in her life it propelled her forward in her relationship with the Lord and two years later she would join the Carmel with the nuns I interpret that as more of the model here of Mary's soul in the sense that instead of letting what's happening on the outside infect me and traumatize me so deeply she was able at that moment to rely on God's grace and to react in a way which would be edifying and which would be beneficial and it was a proof that she was now able to be in control of herself she was now able to be in control not not letting her emotions or not letting the circumstances around her control her but now she was able to rely more on the Lord in her responses and in her in her life as well this is at 13 and from that moment on basically she continued to grow in grace and holiness from that moment on the tremendous Christmas gift that the Lord had given her and believe it or not that's where we end finish with a prayer glory be to the Father to the son to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end and st. Terez pray for us name the father and of the son of the Holy Spirit amen you [Music]

Channel: franciscanfriars

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Keywords: anxiety, change of heart, conversion, Grace, Lisieux, little way, love, love of GOd, Metanoia, mindset, Prayer, repent, Right, right mindset, sanctification, sin, spiritual childhood, St Therese Retreat 2020, St. Therese, Story of a Soul, trust God, vigilance, Conferences, Fr. Terrance Chartier, Franciscans of the Immaculate, Religion, Christianity (Religion), Catholic, Spirituality, Salvation, Faith, God, Church, Gospel, Catholic Church, Jesus Christ, Christ, Jesus

Id: ESpAMsapz_8

Length: 57min 13sec (3433 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 17 2020