Gus prefaces his “Imitation of Christ” daily Lenten reading and reflection by sharing a conversation he had with his spiritual director the other day about the spiritual desolation he’s been experiencing lately. When he told him that part of his Lenten offering is reading and reflecting on “Imitation of Christ,” and his spiritual director responded with, “Well, no wonder!” He takes listener calls who’ve gone or are going through the same thing.
Also, in today's edition of Friday w/the Fathers, Gus begins St. Augustine's "Treatise on the Holy Spirit." And Gus engages in his normal Friday Prayer Time with listeners.
Beating oneself up when one fails, and when does it turn unhealthy? All I can do is refer to myself, and it was at a point when I viewed the beating up on myself was on akin to a teenager cutting themselves. It really helped me when I realized I was supposed to fail, I was going to fail, that was the only thing I could do was fail, I am wired to fail, and I view the reason for failure(for me, that is) is to remind myself that I am completely and absolutely dependent on God. In the past, I have gone into Lent, going, “I’m going to do A, B, C”, and when I failed, my thought was, “Oh, woe is me, I have failed….”. I’ve gone into this Lent praying, “Lord, I want to walk with You by doing A and B”, knowing I won’t be able to do it. Since I fail more often than actually accomplishing it, I offer my failure as a gift to Christ, asking Him to be there with me going forward to try again the next day. If I’m beating myself up, it’s my pride saying that this is something I had the power to do and failed, not realizing that I don’t have the ability to do it. My success is in my failure, and then offering that failure as a gift to God.