Little Kids

Saint Francis just “blows me away” sometimes.  Yesterday I read one of his admonitions in which he wrote:  “There is no one who does good.  Not even one.”

My take on that spontaneously is:  but I do good sometimes, and I even compliment others when they do good.   Oh, Rose Mae, how far you are from full faith!

Francis had preceded the above statement with a reference to something Saint Paul had said:  “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.”  What is this mystery that only God is good and that any good we see in creation comes from God?

Is it like a little kid who is learning for the first time to hit a ball with a bat?

The little kid’s father holds the bat with the little kid and when the ball comes near, the father (with the little kid holding on) swings the bat and hits the ball.  I dare say that the little kid thinks that he was the one who made the ball go!

It seems that God tolerates our misconceptions that we are the ones doing good.  I would guess that God would prefer an openness on our part to give credit where credit is due.  Our union with God is there but we are still like little kids.

Sister; Brother

Hello!   I would like to be a mystic.  A mystic sees every creature as brother/sister.  That would be cool!  Instead of a dead landscape out there, a mystic sees (and feels?) the relationship between him/her and the squirrel, the trees which have their sap in the ground , the bird, that stranger who no longer is stranger, etc.

Saint Francis even called death his sister:  “Sister Death from whom no one can escape. . ..”  I would be content right now if sleep were my sister and came to me all during the night.  Maybe if I were a mystic, she would relate with me better.