Jun 26 Mon
The goal of sanctity, the fullness of life in union with God, is totally beyond our capabilities. For us, men, this is impossible, but for God all things are possible. God himself is engaged in building up the edifice of our sanctity; he says, ‘Without me, you can do nothing.’ Thus, if discouragement were ever to threaten us in our struggle, because of some difficulty we encountered, we would have to ask ourselves whether we were not trying to sanctify ourselves by sheer will-power alone. We can never manage on our own. The more keenly we feel this helplessness, the more docile we will be to God's grace.

Just put yourself in God's hands like a small child in his father's arms. It is a surrendering of oneself to him that requires hope, faith, confidence and love.

We must never forget that we can do nothing supernatural without the aid of grace. No one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.

But feeling the power of God's hand in our lives is not enough. We have to make sure we respond by stretching out our hand to grasp his hand. When God's finger, his grace, meets with a full response, he works wonders.

And how can we respond more fully? With the help of prayer. It is true that we have nothing, and our strength is insufficient. But we are children of God , and that is the best possible guarantee and the firmest pledge for our hope. If we pray, our Father God will hear us. And so, we turn to prayer with confidence. We do not pray in order to make our needs and wishes known to God, but in order to realize for ourselves how much we need his help.

Together with prayer we must do penance. We say, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ But to identify our will with God's Will, we need to be purified by means of mortification, to get rid of whatever separates us from him. In this way, our life will be effective, with a fruitfulness which God will produce through us, in spite of our personal nothingness.

Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it.
True love is love that causes us pain, that hurts, and yet brings us joy. That is why we must pray to God and ask Him to give us the courage to love.