Help
With Your Rule
Reliance on God
"Precisely in my present position, my strength is far from equal to what I am really supposed to do. And the older one gets, the more one suffers from the fact that one simply doesn't have sufficient strength to do what one is supposed to do; that one is too weak and helpless, or not up to situations. And then one says to God - "Now you must help, I can't go on."
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, "Salt of the Earth", San Francisco, Ignatius Press,1997, p13
posted by Holly at 9:53 AM
2 Comments:
See? Even Cardinals can feel overwhelmed! But I think there is a distinction to be made here.
Before my Mother's Rule I felt overwhelmed, but it was a despairing type of thing -- a feeling that there was too much to do and that it was all impossible.
But after my Mother's Rule, I felt a different type - a sense of being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the mission - striving for union with God, bringing order to my person, truly supporting my husband, molding the characters of my children, maintaining a functioning home. Here though, while realizing my vocation had such sublime and supernatural goals, it wasn't that it was depressingly too much, but that I didn't have the power to fulfill these on my own steam.
I think this is what the Cardinal is talking about, which is really humility. His solution is to rely on God. Since God has given us this task, He must surely plan on giving us the grace to do it. Our Rule helps us to do all WE can, and then,we quite simply place the rest in God's hands.
I often find that I struggle with feeling "overwhelmed" when a new baby is introduced into the balance of our family. I find it helpful to reflect often on the gospel passage where Jesus feeds the 5000. He took what little food was available, offered it to the father and it more than met the need. When I am overwhelmed with the task at hand, I must offer all of myself to the Father and watch as He ensures that the needs are more than met. I am continually amazed....
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