- Feb 5, 2002
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am an extremely strong-willed person. I’m not nearly as strong willed as when I was younger, but it is still an ongoing battle. Our Lord, in His mercy, has had to break me repeatedly. Strong-willed people are incredibly independent and we often think we can go it alone or do it ourselves. This makes us prone to deep-seated sins in relation to pride. Pride is the heaviest of sins and is a major stumbling block on the path to holiness, which is why Christ does indeed have to break down certain souls, including me.
The path to holiness cannot be won through pride. We only attain it through the humility found in a willingness to place God at the center of our lives and to submit to His will above our own. For willful people this is a struggle, since so often we want to do it our own way or to know why God is asking us to do something before we do it. The Holy Spirit cannot work freely within us and through us, as long as we are seeking to remain in control and to place our will at the center of everything. At some point we all have to say, as Our Lord did in the Garden of Gethsemane, “not as I will, but as You will.”
All of us are weak. Every single person is capable of incredible darkness. Part of what leads to becoming judgmental of the sins of others is the false belief that we would never commit the grievous sins another person commits. We forget that in the right circumstances, we are all capable of terrible sins. The belief that we would never enter into such darkness comes from pride and the false belief that we are in control of everything.
Fr. Ignatius of the Side of Jesus in The School of Jesus Crucified states:
Continued below.
catholicexchange.com
The path to holiness cannot be won through pride. We only attain it through the humility found in a willingness to place God at the center of our lives and to submit to His will above our own. For willful people this is a struggle, since so often we want to do it our own way or to know why God is asking us to do something before we do it. The Holy Spirit cannot work freely within us and through us, as long as we are seeking to remain in control and to place our will at the center of everything. At some point we all have to say, as Our Lord did in the Garden of Gethsemane, “not as I will, but as You will.”
All of us are weak. Every single person is capable of incredible darkness. Part of what leads to becoming judgmental of the sins of others is the false belief that we would never commit the grievous sins another person commits. We forget that in the right circumstances, we are all capable of terrible sins. The belief that we would never enter into such darkness comes from pride and the false belief that we are in control of everything.
Fr. Ignatius of the Side of Jesus in The School of Jesus Crucified states:
Continued below.
Lent Is an Opportunity To Let God Empty Us of Our Pride
I am an extremely strong-willed person. I’m not nearly as strong willed as when I was younger, but it is still an ongoing battle. Our Lord, in His mercy, has had to break me repeatedly. Strong-willed people are incredibly independent and we often think we can go it alone or do it ourselves. This...
