What Suffering In Secret Can Do
The empire of self-love is not something that is easily demolished. Often the idea that a man falsely has of his own spirituality and of his own progress in the Divine life, makes him want to be seen and known by men.
There is a way of gifts and graces - a holy life - in which the believer himself appears admirable in the eyes of those who do not have the purest light. But one who goes beyond this, to a walk of faith, to a life lived before the face of God alone, will find himself unrecognised and despised by others, as Jesus Himself was.
The path of suffering in secret, unseen by men, is the surest way of mortifying the flesh, since it does not leave it any prop to lean on for support. The impure and selfish believer is thus purified, as gold in the furnace. One who was full of his own judgement and his own will formerly, now obeys like a little child, and finds his delight in nothing but the will of God.
Formerly, he would have fought for any little thing. Now he yields at once - and that, not with reluctance and pain, as if practising some virtue, but naturally. He was so vain before. Now he delights in poverty, littleness and humiliation. Formerly, he preferred himself above everyone; now, everyone above himself. He now finds a boundless love for his neighbour, to bear with his faults and weaknesses, in order to win him by love - which he could not have done earlier, except under compulsion. The rage of the wolf in him has changed into the meekness of the lamb.
-- Jeanne De La Mothe Guyon
The empire of self-love is not something that is easily demolished. Often the idea that a man falsely has of his own spirituality and of his own progress in the Divine life, makes him want to be seen and known by men.
There is a way of gifts and graces - a holy life - in which the believer himself appears admirable in the eyes of those who do not have the purest light. But one who goes beyond this, to a walk of faith, to a life lived before the face of God alone, will find himself unrecognised and despised by others, as Jesus Himself was.
The path of suffering in secret, unseen by men, is the surest way of mortifying the flesh, since it does not leave it any prop to lean on for support. The impure and selfish believer is thus purified, as gold in the furnace. One who was full of his own judgement and his own will formerly, now obeys like a little child, and finds his delight in nothing but the will of God.
Formerly, he would have fought for any little thing. Now he yields at once - and that, not with reluctance and pain, as if practising some virtue, but naturally. He was so vain before. Now he delights in poverty, littleness and humiliation. Formerly, he preferred himself above everyone; now, everyone above himself. He now finds a boundless love for his neighbour, to bear with his faults and weaknesses, in order to win him by love - which he could not have done earlier, except under compulsion. The rage of the wolf in him has changed into the meekness of the lamb.
-- Jeanne De La Mothe Guyon
