{"id":24237,"date":"2024-10-01T10:57:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T14:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24237"},"modified":"2024-10-01T11:17:53","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T15:17:53","slug":"24237","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24237","title":{"rendered":"Embracing the Little Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Simplicity&quot; from Rend Collective (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d8p3n5wzFpM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>\u20142 Corinthians 12:9&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am glad for weaknesses, constraints, and distress for Christ\u2019s sake, for it is when I am weak that I am strong.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>\u20142 Corinthians 12:10\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard describes how Francis, Clare, and later,&nbsp;<\/em><em>Th\u00e9r\u00e8se<\/em><em>&nbsp;of Lisieux (1873\u20131897), found a direct experience of God through humility:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his letters to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul, following Jesus, <strong>forever reversed the engines of ego and its attainments, <\/strong>and it is this precise reversal of values\u2014and new entrance point\u2014that Francis and Clare of Assisi understood so courageously and clearly. Seven centuries later, St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun who became the youngest, least educated, and most quickly designated doctor of the Church, also sought this downward path, which she called \u201ca new way\u201d or her \u201clittle way.\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Th\u00e9r\u00e8se\u2014lovingly called the Little Flower by most Catholics\u2014was right, on both counts, since her way of life was indeed very new for most people and very \u201clittle\u201d instead of the usual upward-bound Christian agenda. Doing \u201call the smallest things and doing them through love\u201d was the goal for Th\u00e9r\u00e8se. [1] The common path of most Christianity by her time had become based largely on perfectionism and legalism, making the good news anything but good or inviting for generations of believers. [2]&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Th\u00e9r\u00e8se, almost counter to reason, declared: \u201cIf you want to bear in peace the trial of not pleasing yourself, you will give me [the Virgin Mary] a sweet home.\u201d [3] If you observe yourself, you will see how hard it is to be displeasing to yourself, and that it is the initial emotional snag that sends most of us into terribly bad moods without even realizing the mood\u2019s origins. To resolve this common problem, both Francis and Th\u00e9r\u00e8se teach us to <strong>let go of the very need to \u201cthink well of yourself\u201d to begin with! \u201cThat is your ego talking, not God,\u201d<\/strong> they would say.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Only someone who has surrendered their foundational egocentricity can do this,<\/strong> of course. Psychiatrist and popular writer Scott Peck told me personally over lunch that this quote was \u201csheer religious genius\u201d on her part, because it made the usual posturing of religion well-nigh impossible. It mirrors these teachings from St. Francis:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><strong>Show your love to others by<em>\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0wishing that they be better Christians. [4]\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can patiently accept not being good. What we cannot bear is not being considered good, not appearing good.<strong> [5]\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Until we discover the \u201clittle way,\u201d we almost all try to gain moral high ground by obeying laws and thinking we are thus spiritually advanced. Yet Th\u00e9r\u00e8se wrote, \u201cIt is sufficient to recognize one\u2019s nothingness and to abandon oneself as a child into God\u2019s arms.\u201d [6] P<strong>eople who follow this more humble and honest path are invariably more loving, joyful, and compassionate, and have plenty of time for simple gratitude about everything.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>==============================><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Psalm 131: Faith on the Other Side of Complexity<\/span><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"auto\" height=\"15\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9\/images\/b66516eb-1f2d-8d90-0e02-d4223f78f6f7.png\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=a5eb628007&amp;e=f52fc38132\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=cfaa1d9253&amp;e=f52fc38132\" target=\"_blank\">Click Here for Audio<\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=69f2bb24f2&amp;e=f52fc38132\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"auto\" height=\"35\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9\/images\/b66516eb-1f2d-8d90-0e02-d4223f78f6f7.png\"><br>In the gospels, Jesus rebuked his disciples for their pride and ambition. They had been arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, so Jesus called a child over and said to them, \u201cUnless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven\u201d (Matthew 18:3). Later, however, the Apostle Paul rebuked the Christians in Corinth by calling their \u201cworldly\u201d behavior childish. He said they were \u201cmere infants in Christ\u201d (1 Corinthians 3:1-2).I have heard Christians say their lack of interest in learning the Bible or doctrine is because they want to \u201cpreserve their childlike faith.\u201d In other words, they\u2019ve made biblical ignorance into a Christian virtue. Is that what Jesus intended when he commanded his followers to become like little children? And what did Paul mean when he said, \u201cI put the ways of childhood behind me\u201d (1 Corinthians 13:11)? Is a childlike faith good or bad? Is it a mark of innocence as Jesus implies, or of ignorance as Paul suggests?<br><br>Psalm 131 can help us solve this puzzle. The short poem contrasts a proud, haughty heart with a weaned child quietly resting in its mother\u2019s embrace. It\u2019s an image of frenzied anxiety juxtaposed with a picture of quiet contentment. What\u2019s important to notice, however, is that David is comparing his previous state of striving and grasping for control, with his current posture of trust and surrender. He has passed through that chaotic season to discover peace in God\u2019s presence on the other side.I believe this is what Jesus meant when he told his disciples to \u201c<em>change<\/em>\u00a0and become like little children.\u201d <br><br>      He was inviting them to surrender their pride and their lust for control, and instead entrust themselves to God\u2019s good care. But <strong>notice that Jesus frames this posture as a choice. This is what separates us from actual children<\/strong>. A child has no choice but to trust. They are small, weak, ignorant, and therefore incapable of independence. But <strong>we can choose to entrust ourselves to God or continue in the illusion of our pride and power.<\/strong><br><br>What makes Psalm 131 so impactful is that David has gone through his prideful, haughty period. He has tried to grasp control, he has attempted to understand all the mysteries of life and faith, and he has struggled to take hold of great and wonderful things. But he failed.<strong> His striving was fruitless. So instead he has chosen trust. He has given up, surrendered, and collapsed into the arms of God and put his hope in YHWH rather than himself.This is the childlike faith Jesus values\u2014the kind that emerges on the other side of pursuing control. <\/strong>As Oliver Wendell Holmes said, \u201cI would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity the other side of complexity.\u201d Paul criticized the Corinthians for being childlike because they lacked maturity and wisdom. Their simple faith was not a choice but a necessity. It was grounded in their\u00a0<em>lack<\/em>\u00a0of experience.<strong> But the childlike faith Jesus celebrates emerges\u00a0<em>from<\/em>\u00a0our experience. It is the simple wisdom we discover on the other side of complexity.<\/strong><br><br>DAILY SCRIPTURE<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=cda9a38758&amp;e=f52fc38132\">PSALM 131:1-3<br>MATTHEW 18:1-5<\/a><br><br>WEEKLY PRAYER  Thomas Wilson (1663 &#8211; 1775)<br>Forgive me my sins, O Lord; the sins of my present and the sins of my past, the sins of my soul and the sins of my body, the sins which I have done to please myself and the sins which I have done to please others. Forgive me my casual sins and my deliberate sins, and those which I have labored so to hide that I have hidden them even from myself. Forgive me, O Lord, forgive all my sins, for Jesus&#8217; sake.<br>Amen.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.&nbsp;&nbsp;\u20142 Corinthians 12:9&nbsp; I am glad for weaknesses, constraints, and distress for Christ\u2019s sake, for it is when I am weak that I am strong.&nbsp;&nbsp;\u20142 Corinthians 12:10\u202f&nbsp; Father Richard describes how Francis, Clare, and later,&nbsp;Th\u00e9r\u00e8se&nbsp;of Lisieux (1873\u20131897), found a direct experience of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24237"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24237"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24242,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24237\/revisions\/24242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}