靈魂的心堡-林順明神父主講
Second step: Perseverance
子曰：「吾十有五而志于學，三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳順，七十而從心所欲，不踰矩。」為政 （4）
Confucius said, “At fifteen, I had my mind bent on learning. At thirty, I stood firm. At forty, I had no doubts. At fifty, I knew the decrees of Heaven. At sixty, my ear was an obedient organ for the reception of truth. At seventy, I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right.”
Learning is a lifelong commitment. Without setting our minds and hearts on the goal, we will never reach it. The confession by Confucius of his continual quest for learning and self-improvement is a fitting reminder of the necessity to persevere in prayer.
Getting into our interior castles is just the beginning. The journey does not go into an autopilot mode, leading us to the goal. Temptations to turn us away from God can deviate us from him, and difficulties in keeping focused discourage us. These are real human experiences of which no one is exempt. We have started on our interior journey after having tasted some of the sweetness of the Lord through prayer. We have to persevere in our resolve so that our efforts will be rewarded.
St Teresa counseled ‘determined determination’ in our pursuit of prayer. She is advising that under no circumstances should we even think about giving prayer up. The Lord is with us to help us along the way and we need to keep our eyes always fixed on Him. We cannot do this on our own and the reasons and temptations to turn away and give up are countless.
This is especially important for the beginners of prayer when the soul is still rather immature in the ways of the Lord. They do not understand themselves and the Lord well enough. Consolations and graces received from the Lord through prayer keep the beginner interested in continuing along the path of prayer. We must not let our guard down as we progress deeper into our interior castles.
« First step: beauty and dignity of the soul, self-knowledge | Third step: Aridities in prayer, good to be fearful of ourselves »
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