Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from You.”

Saint Benedict in his Rule is no exception to the frightening (to some, disgusting) conviction that spiritual growth requires that the serious Christian regard her/himself as “poor and worthless." Or, "that a man not only admits with this tongue but is also convinced in his heart that he is inferior to all and of less value." (Chapter 7 on Humility.) Conceivably the same point could be made otherwise.

Personal experience tells us that such a conviction only comes with a great deal of self-knowledge and a great number of years! Rightly, I think, loving and thoughtful adults don't crush the exuberance and high spirits of the young by telling them they are worthless. (How would you phrase that on a resume!) Another side of the issue is the advice Saint Francis de Sales writes to a young correspondent: "While we must have patience with others, we must also have it with ourselves." In fact, if we are really serious about developing our love of God, he says we need to be more patient with ourselves than with others!

However we describe it, spiritual maturity will not be a squelching of all self-worth. It will be a liberation from stress and straining, freedom to surrender ourselves fully to trust in God's love, forgiveness and initiative. We are not masters of the universe—or even masters of everything in our little lives. We can relax: finally, it's up to God. Further on in the same letter, Saint Francis de Sales says: "Our imperfections are going to accompany us to the grave." The goal of Christian life is not to sculpt some interior equivalent of a Greek god but to embrace the truth in the words of the hymn that God "calls and claims us as his friends and loves us as we are."

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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