Oct 29 Tue
Will my pride obstruct the Spirit?
"If you become the riverbed, I will become the stream of water," God whispered to St. Catherine of Siena in her ear. First, the spring gushes forth, the stream carves a riverbed on the flat terrain, and then the riverbed carries the stream.
To build a house, the scaffolding is set to reach the floors above. Yet the ultimate purpose of this deployment of railings, and planks is only to finish the house properly so that, one day, it can be inhabited.
To make a cake, a mold will always be needed. When the oven takes effect, the mold will be removed.
How does one become a riverbed, a conduit for God’s grace?
In the Easter Vigil, we are told to reject Satan and his envy and hatred, tepidity and cowardice; the priest says aloud: "Do you renounce all his works, all his empty show, the lure of evil, so that sin may have no mastery over you, and live in the freedom of the children of God? The people answer in unison, "Yes, I renounce!"... to be the central character, and allow the Spirit of God to shape me and become a riverbed that carries water.
Yet the most important thing is not the riverbed, but that water which, if you drink, you will never be thirsty again. The ultimate goal that should move us is the salvation of souls, and not our personal prestige, position of honor, or any temporal scaffolding, all consequence of our pride.
"The madman of God", St. Francis of Assisi, was told to "rebuild my Church", not the one made of stone but the spiritual one. Thus, Father Damien, on his island of the lepers of Molokai, Mother Teresa, walking bent over a slum in Calcutta, St. Josemaría, and so many saints did not hesitate to renounce their fame, to put aside their pride, to become an instrument, a riverbed of God’s grace. Thus, God provided water to the riverbed, and they kept it clean of branches. The river provided irrigation for the fields, and this produced abundant harvest. Should we not prefer that He becomes the stream... and we stop enslaving the river?
We should not try to re-direct the Holy Spirit to our own preconceive ideas or plans. Let Him decide.
The logic of a Christian should never be the logic of the world, where everything is based on offering a round, hollow speech that looks nice, and where, even worse, everything depends on how others consider us. Because, honestly, don't we already know that there is no worse "reputational crisis" than dying on a cross like a real criminal? We have been called “to hide and disappear”, as St. Josemaría said, so that “He who is" may be in us. Only thus, can we come to be instruments of His grace. What a pity if we remain barren, spending the day polishing the scaffolding, clogging the riverbed... and one day, when the Bridegroom arrives... passes us by!