A Little Encouragement

I was reading a book by one of my all time favorites, Archbishop Joseph Raya+, entitled, "Christmas". Simple enough title, eh?

In response to many of my blog friends', as well as my own, concerns with becoming the people God intends us to be, letting go of our pasts, and letting Our Lord fashion in us new hearts, I offer this segment I came across just now.

"This is the divine pedagogy of God, the psychological means God uses to educate humanity. He patiently waited until humanity became spiritually mature and able to accept Him before He manifested Himself in the face of our humanity. God always measures His manifestations to the degree of our capability of accepting Him. He is patient and serene with our human intellectual limits.

In His Gospel, before revealing any of His divine reality to His contemporaries, He first carefully prepared it in His heart, warmed it with His love, and wrapped it in parables, stories, and human games. He directly revealed Himself as God only once to only three of His apostles on the mountain of Transfiguration.

Christ our Lord is never in a hurry to resolve all problems at once. He gives us time for maturation and growth and then shows us the way to solve the problems by ourselves."

So what do you think? I don't think Archbishop Raya meant God doesn't help us once He has shown us the way to solve our problems, but that he respects our will and our efforts and our openess to His grace. I especially like the idea that Christ our Lord gives us time for maturation and growth. That, my friends, is hopeful.

I put a new Advent reflection on my sidebar. This is about as innovative as I get with my blog template. Maybe someday all those letters and symbols will mean something to me, but for now, it's all trial and error!

Many blessings to you all!