9781644135945

The Light of the World
perceive His nearness, His hand working in all things. That we see God in all things is the first
and most important step to an interior life. Our very purpose on earth is to know God, to see
Him in everything, in all happenings and experiences, be they small or great. We should see
the hand of God in all our trials, whether they come directly from God or by means of men.
Nothing can happen to us without God’s permission. If we wish to reach God, we must learn
to see Him working in every creature. We must see in Him a Father who loves us, and then the
way to the love of God will be open to us.
We should love God in all things. If we live only according to the suggestions of our
fallen nature, then we love only ourselves in things about us. If we seek only our own pleasures,
our own honor, our own interests and enjoyments, we make ourselves the center of
life and accommodate ourselves to things and men that we may get the most with the least
effort. That spirit is our own depravity and egotism expressing itself, that spirit is the result
of a deeply ingrained pride. The grace of the Holy Spirit will destroy this depravity in us and
teach us to pursue a higher aim, the love of almighty God. To love God in everything is to
accept everything that life may have in store for us as coming from the holy, all-wise, benevolent
hand of God. It is to submit our will to the dispensations of divine providence with
humility and a loving devotion, and to surrender unconditionally to the will and commands
of God, as expressed in the sufferings, losses, inconveniences, and disturbances which befall
us. Thus we acquire an honest desire never to follow our own will, our own whims, our own
wishes, but to accept and do whatever pleases God and whatever corresponds to His holy
will. We must embrace our sufferings and difficulties, first of all, because such an acceptance
of suffering is pleasing to Him. We accept them because they come from His hand, knowing
that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. When we attain this spirit, we can truly say that
we love God in all things, that we embrace His will in all things, that we will only what He
wills. In this manner we shall truly live for the honor and glory of God.
The feast of Pentecost teaches us that we must see and love God in all things. God wishes
to lift us above all that is purely human, above all human desires and ambitions, and to establish
us in the realm of the spirit. When once the soul has been stripped of its blindness
and egotism, it is impervious to restlessness, worry and excitement. It is then no longer
conscious of anything but the love, honor, and interests of God. It finds peace and rest and
protection in God, and prays: “Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful. Teach us
to see and love God in all things.”
Let us, therefore, try to see and love God in all things and to surrender to His will in
all things. Only in this way can we be freed from our inordinate attachment to men, from
undue attention to our work, from an unseemly devotion to the things of this world. Only
in this way can we achieve freedom of soul and shake off our dependence on the joys and
pleasures of this life. Only in this way can we acquire a holy indifference to the sufferings,
difficulties, and trials of this life. We must seek to acquire fortitude for the sufferings,
sacrifices, and difficulties that may befall us. We must achieve complete domination over
all our natural inclinations, over our impatience, our sensuality, our pride, our ambition,
and our lack of charity. We should walk continually in the presence of God, speaking to
Him from a heart that is free, calm, and united to Him. “Come Holy Ghost, fill the hearts
of Thy faithful.”
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