Spiritual infancy with repentance
3rd
Epistle
My
beloved child,
You keep
telling me how much you would like to follow the path of spiritual infancy in
order to reach God’s embrace, but you are afraid that you may not be able to manage
it because you commit many mistakes and sins.
Do you
know anyone who doesn’t make any mistakes or sin? I truly say to you, there is
no man living on earth even for one day that doesn’t commit a mistake, because man’s mind
is continuously being tempted by evil and sin. Although our Lord is well aware of
this He encourages us to: "Be holy because I am holy" (1 Peter 1: 16)
So,
could He encourage us to do something if He knew that this would not be
feasible? No. He
encourages us to do something that is feasible and a great victory over Satan.
So you,
who believe in the words of our well-beloved God, I want to help you with the
grace of the Holy Spirit, to learn the correct way through which you will reach
the path of spiritual infancy as a young eagle reaches the high peaks of holiness.
We will
run along this path together like little children but with the awareness of grown-ups.
Our Lord wants us to be little children
in our hearts, but grown-ups in wisdom and prudence of mind.
Besides,
as grown-ups we have gained experience by either doing good works or making various
mistakes and sins. For this reason, our merciful Lord gave us a great gift with
which we can purify our souls from the filth of sin whenever Satan will deviously make us fall into a mistake. This gift is repentance.
Repentance
is the key that opens the door to God's blessing and the blessing of God is
necessary to get close to Him. Without His grace none of us is anything and
without it we cannot achieve anything.
Even when a soul is walking the path of infancy it will
not be able to avoid falling into a mistake, because Satan will always be
waiting somewhere. This mistake will not be committed as an infant of God but
as a grown-up.
So in order to return the soul to the more desirable spiritual
infancy, it has to pass through the purgatory of repentance, so that like a
baby it will face God again. It is essential for man to learn to control
himself, to feel his sinfulness, to apologize to God and then like a baby to hope for his God the Father’s help.
Don’t be upset if, despite your best efforts, you fall
into various mistakes. Do you
know how many times a baby falls and gets up again until it learns to walk
properly? Your
mistakes don’t make you less a child of God and don’t reduce the infinite love
that your sweet heavenly God Father has for you, in any way.
Every time you will struggle and endeavor and try to
rise up with repentance from your various falls, you will make Him glad and He
will be very proud of you as your Father.
Once a very little child who had not yet learned to walk
properly, wanted to climb a ladder to reach his mum. Whenever he tried he
failed but he didn’t give up and he continued his efforts. His mother watched
him with obvious anxiety to see what he would do in the end. He didn’t stop
trying.
In one instant, however, tired and disappointed by his
constant failures, he fell down on the ground and cried. Then his mother, after
she went down the ladder with much concern, she took him into her arms, covered
him with precious caresses and kisses and then both of them went up the ladder
together.
Remember, my beloved child that God does exactly the
same thing to us every time we confess our weakness as children and we want to
get up from our mistakes and falls. The true
repentance of heart, our tears and our pleas from our crying, don’t make our
affectionate Father indifferent.
That’s why repentance is the spiritual elevator which
lifts us up from the fall of sin and brings us into His divine embrace.
On the path of spiritual infancy repentance is the precious
jewel which beautifies the childish soul. For
a child is not difficult to say sorry for a mistake he commits, on the contrary,
a grown-up uses a thousand excuses to avoid apologizing.
So, the difference is between the humiliation of
little child and the selfishness of the grown-up. A grown-up scarcely wants to
admit that he made a mistake because he doesn’t want to show others that he was
wrong, while a child isn’t concerned about showing his weakness.
When you
will see that your soul easily learned to apologize, then, I am telling you the
truth, you have made the first correct steps on the path of spiritual infancy. If you
see, however, that it's hard for you to apologize every time you make a
mistake, then be sure that you haven’t even started walking the blessed path of
spiritual infancy.
Humility
is the paddle which is steering the boat of our soul into the harbour of
serenity, while selfishness is the rope which is keeping the boat tied up in
the bonds of anxiety and stress. The choice is up to everyone.
Repentance is the blessed fruit of humiliation;
therefore it quickly brings many blessings of God into our soul, while
spiritual hardness, obstinacy and stubbornness are the fruit of devilish
selfishness, which deprives us of these blessings.
From the depth of my heart I wish you to continue
walking the path of spiritual infancy, despite all the mistakes you will
commit, using the blessing of your spiritual father and the valuable virtue of
repentance to help you. This will help you to walk even quicker and more easily
this path which will bring you safely into the arms of God. Soon I will return
to speak with you about another serious matter of the soul, which is the
thoughts of the mind. Until then my prayers will accompany you to love our
sweet God with all your heart.
