Latest Catholic Stand article
Laura DeMaria
Last month I spoke and wrote about the Church’s 10 newest saints, and now I present to you a special article on this very topic! Meet the Church’s 10 Newest Saints
I do also like to call out my fellow CS writers when they’ve got a good article, and I particularly enjoyed this today from Cynthia Millen, When the Least of These Become the Most:
In my pride, how often have I decided to ignore the smallest and the least to implement what I feel are God’s plans? I am reminded of my constant need to pray Fr. Mychal Judge’s simple yet powerful prayer: Lord, take me where you want me to go; Let me meet who you want me to meet; Tell me what you want me to say; And keep me out of your way.
Truly, unless I become like the least myself, I will never be most useful to Him.
It is much like one of my favorite lines of scripture: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25). Similarly: “He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3:30).
It is a profound truth of the spiritual life, and an extremely hard lesson. Not just because it’s hard from the ego perspective to “die to self” but it’s hard to even know what that means. If we’re called to co-create with God - to bring back to him our gifts - what does it mean to sort of annihilate the self? How do these two things work together?
Well, I think the best starting point is to not look at it as giving up what is good, from the eternal perspective, in our lives, but giving up what does not serve us from the ego perspective. One’s own will, plans, pride, need to control, need to be right. Let those false parts of self die, and let Him water the parts of you that are child-like, curious, creative, serving, willing, loving.
It is a painful image: the grain of wheat falls to the ground, dies, is cracked open, and becomes something else. But that something is so much more beautiful: tall, golden, soaking up sunshine, giving life to others.
Link it to today’s Gospel reading, from Matthew 9:14-17:
“…No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,
for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.
People do not put new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.
Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Until you are ready for what God has to show you and fill you with, you will otherwise burst. It won’t work. This is why I think the process of becoming closer to God is life-long - He always gives us opportunities to grow and stretch and leave behind the old, if we are willing. And the way we do that is by dying to self, and seeking knowledge of God with a sincere heart.
One important note: when I say “die to self” I very much do not mean a literal dying of the body. Not at all. And, I do not believe in “enlightenment” as may be professed by those of a Gnostic system. Many today believe the body is a hindrance, something to be shed and overcome, at which point one achieves that coveted state of enlightenment. To be dramatic: this is a heresy. To be a little calmer: this worldview will bring you nothing but pain, as we see in so many people today struggling with identify. Your body is a gift; it has God’s own imprint in it. Christ himself had a body, and through this body achieved great things (the greatest of all things). Our body is a means to our own salvation, not the obstacle. This is, of course, a very large and sensitive topic, but I want to be very clear that to die to self does not mean to die or mutilate the physical body. Just the opposite - it’s about overcoming the pursuit of your own will.
Thank you to Cynthia for prompting these meditations! God is good in all he gives us.