It's Not About What You've Done

I've been thinking about my morning's post, Another Pere Lataste Sermon. You can tell it's been translated from the French--too many "the". But the theme is pure Lataste. This sermon exemplifies his spirituality. It's about living in the moment. You can't fix the past. It's done. Yes, it has formed you and made you what you are. Understand that, and move on. Accept it and use it, but don't let it define you.

If you have a bad jacket, hang it up. It's there in your closet, but you've outgrown it. Don't worry about it. Didn't Jesus say, "..there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine just who have no need of repentance." Luke 15: 7?

You can't undo the past. And there's nothing you can do about the future. So why worry about something that may never happen? My very first spiritual director assigned me Flannery O'Connor's The Art of Being," to read. I still pick it up, now and then. I'm still learning to live in the moment. It's too easy to forget. It's easier if you put it all in God's hands.

Another important theme in my morning meditation, was the idea of using the very vices that were used to sin, into tools to serve God. Pere Lataste said "And as you employed all your body for the service of impurity and iniquity, employ it now to serve justice, for you to become saints."

What is there for you to do now, as you decided to convert yourselves? -- Will you try to get rid of all things because they were used to sin, will you damn your youth, your health, your blazing soul, will you try to kill your heart and imprison your brains... No, no, a thousand times no; without mentioning that you could some way eschew that goal, this is not what God asks of you -- All what you were given, you were given by God and He wants you to use them for doing good.

This quote also reminds me of something else a spiritual director once told me. He pointed out that my sins were abuses of my God given gifts.

This what Pere meant Will you try to get rid all things because they were used to sin... Well I sinned and have been absolved. It is time now to use my talents for good.

Merci, Mon Pere, for a beneficial meditation.