Avoiding discouragement in our relationship with God

Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:7–13

When we gather round Jesus, it is also because we follow him and wish to love him. But our weaknesses reveal our limitations and call us to humility, for our Christian life also consists in striving for a life of humility. God humbled himself so much that he took on the form of a servant (Phil 2:6–11). Recently, Pope Francis has been placing great emphasis on humility. He says that humility is not a weakness. As disciples, we are called to follow his example of humility. We are all tempted by the sin against humility.

Very often we want, at all costs, to be respected, valued, exalted and, ultimately, glorified. At the same time, we are confronted with our own limitations. This dilemma lurks even in our relationship with God. We would like to love God with all our hearts. We would like to be able to pray a great deal, live out the Word, perform acts of charity, teach others and be approved by everyone, and read the Bible. Yet we are confronted with our own weakness – with inner resistance to responding to God’s call. We do not always manage to pray according to our own schedule, even though we have drawn it up ourselves. We are confronted with our own inability and our limitations. Time and again, we make resolutions that we do not always keep; promises that we do not always honour. It is certainly true that during Lent, we have made resolutions that we do not keep very well. We even find ourselves committing sins or faults unworthy of us.

Discouragement

All this discourages us. So many people think they’ll never manage it. So many young members of the group want to give up! So when they hear talk of the need to be like Jesus or to be holy, they no longer feel it applies to them at all. How can I imitate Jesus when I cannot even manage to do the bare minimum I would like to do? Many people have, as a result, left the Church or abandoned the group; or, even if they do come and take part, it is without any real commitment. Others no longer make enough effort to maintain their union with Jesus and live out his Word.

For example, I know many people who struck me with their intimacy with Jesus and their faith and commitment; they have faced some material or spiritual difficulties and are now experiencing spiritual weariness.

A young member of the ‘Parole’ group had struck me with his commitment at the Strasbourg retreat. I praised God for him. A year later, he asked to leave the group. To this day, I still pray for this young man, as I tell myself that he had fallen and believed he was no longer worthy of being with us. Yet Jesus has always welcomed sinners.

People like this have simply become discouraged in their faith and in their own spiritual lives, and perhaps some, without giving up entirely, carry on without the same enthusiasm or zeal they had at the start. Rev 2:4: ‘I have this against you: you have abandoned your first love.’

Discouragement in the spiritual life is the work of the evil one. He is even called ‘the accuser’. He drives us to condemn ourselves; to see ourselves as unworthy of doing anything more for God. He magnifies our sins in our own eyes and, like Adam, we flee from God’s presence, even though God Himself wants us to remain with Him; to purify and sanctify ourselves. We spend our time dwelling on our limitations instead of contemplating God’s greatness. We have the example of Peter, who, whilst walking on water, began to sink when he fixed his eyes on himself. The Bible calls on us to fix our eyes on Christ (Heb 12:2).

God has given us great spiritual gifts, but He knows that we are weak. ‘We carry this treasure in earthen vessels, so that this surpassing power may be from God and not from us…’ (2 Cor 4:7–13). ‘My grace is sufficient for you; my power is made perfect in your weakness’ (2 Cor 12:7–10).

Imagine someone who comes to the ‘Word of God’ group and, from the very first day or the first retreat, is deeply moved. They go home and start praying for an hour a day, then two hours, and even three hours. They live out every word. They love everyone, never get angry, and forgive everyone. When they teach, everyone is moved; they evangelise everyone and never have any spiritual problems. He passes all his exams, has no major problems, and the person his heart loves loves him back. That would be extraordinary, unheard of. It is impossible not to face difficulties

The normal spiritual journey involves material difficulties and spiritual problems, just as in physical life, every normal life experiences illness at one time or another. When one does not know a path, how can one help others to follow it?

In the spiritual life, according to St John of the Cross, there are the following stages: moments of intense good feelings, moments of purification, ‘nights of the senses’ and ‘nights of the Spirit’. All of this is permitted by God to strengthen us and draw us closer to Him. The problem is that when this happens to us, we tend to become rather discouraged. A child whose parents are teaching to walk will fall a few times; yet if they became discouraged and refused to carry on walking, they would one day find it difficult to walk. Jesus Himself, on the Way of the Cross, fell several times and got back up. The problem in itself is not having fallen or having shown weakness, but getting back up with even greater vigour. We will always fall, but the essential thing is that we get back up promptly. A spiritual writer once said: ‘A saint is not someone who has never fallen, but someone who gets back up promptly after every fall.’ If the Parolians resisted discouragement, we could count on a strong movement. In this way, we would help to strengthen the Church.

May this encouragement from God help us not to lose heart, but to revive our spiritual life. This, too, is the meaning of Christ’s resurrection, which helps me because it enables me to move from a dead Christian life to a living one. Let us, too, rise from the dead and come back to life.

Recommendation

Pray to the Holy Spirit to help us overcome discouragement in our spiritual life and make resolutions to get back on our feet.

Henri Bayemi