Keep on Trying!

By Youth Minister Craig Gehlhausen

I'm sure I've told you about the book that I am, slowly, reading but it's called Searching for and Maintaining Peace. I highly recommend it. It’s an easy read and very short, although I am taking a long time to read it.

Yesterday I was reading it during my short time in Adoration and I would like to share what impacted me. I'm currently in the chapter over how to react to that which causes us to lose our peace.

"The fourth reason for which this sadness and discouragement are not good is that we must not view our faults too tragically because God is able to draw good from them."

Although we must struggle energetically against sins and temptations we should never get to the point where we are so upset about sinning that we stop trying. These thoughts are not from God and will drive us farther away from Him. This mediocrity to remain sad and distraught over our sins is a lack of confidence in God and His ability to sanctify us! We also shouldn't be happy to sin knowing that God is able to draw good from them. It is a delicate balance but know that more often than not the good that God draws from our sin is humility that we aren't perfect and that we need God.

God has found a way to make our sins useful, to change them into instruments of salvation. Again, this shouldn’t make our fears of sinning shrink but should give us confidence that even in our sinful mess, God still loves us and is taking care of us. And if God is being so merciful to us in our sins, why are we not just as merciful to those around us who fall like us?

So this Lent I challenge you to immediately go to God when you fall and thank Him for His mercy to you. I also challenge you to be more merciful to those around you who are falling just like us. Remember what St. Josemaria Escriva said: "A Saint is a sinner who keeps trying."