Lectio:
“Dear spiritual friend in God, examine your life. Pay careful attention to the way you live out your calling. With all your heart, thank God for your blessings, and his grace will help you stand strong in the face of subtle attacks from within and without, until you win the everlasting crown of life.”
— Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing
Meditatio:
The spiritual life is not without its difficulties. We will still face the same suffering, the same provocations, and the same trials we did when we lived in darkness. The difference is that now we face them from within the light of God (John 8:12).
The devil does not stop attacking us simply because our hearts have been opened by grace to God. On the contrary, his attacks become more subtle and deceptive the closer we move toward perfect union with God.
We must, therefore, remain ever diligent in our walk with the Lord. We must bring all doubt, disbelief, and temptation to confession and to God. This requires humility, faithfulness, and prayer — but it also requires practice.
Every day is a new opportunity for the devil to draw us further and further from the light, one thought, word, or action at a time. Likewise, every day is another opportunity for us — fueled by grace, in obedience and fidelity to the One who freed us from the darkness and death that once held us captive — to practice faith, hope, and love, and also gratitude for all the Lord has done (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
Gratitude is not merely a feeling, but an action taken in response to the Spirit of new life we have received through Christ. It is the act of self-emptying love directed toward God and our neighbors, offered in thanks for all we have been given and all that has been stripped away.
And yet even this capacity for gratitude is itself a gift — it is grace recognizing grace. Gratitude, like faith, hope, and love, is something we must practice, but it is grace that makes the practice possible and grace that makes it fruitful.
Through this practice, we begin to put on the full armor of God that Saint Paul writes of (Ephesians 6:10-18), which will allow us to “stand strong in the face of subtle attacks from within and without, until we win the everlasting crown of life,” as the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing and Saint James beseech us to do (James 1:12). Not by our own actions, however, but by the grace that makes those actions possible. And not for our own sakes, but for the sake of the God who saved us from the devil’s snares (2 Timothy 2:26).
Oratio:
Thank you, God.
I love you.
I don’t say that enough.
I take your love —
your abundant,
faithful,
eternal love —
for granted.
I forget that I am created in,
sustained by,
and returning to Love.
I forget to tell you,
to show you,
that I, too, desire to be made Love —
that in spite of my flesh,
my limitations,
my failings,
I long for perfect union
with Love.
And when I fall short,
when I forget,
please know
that in my heart I long
to long —
to abandon myself to Love
for Love’s sake.
Contemplatio:
What is one thing I can thank God for today — not because it feels easy, but because I have been given the grace to try?
Related Scripture:
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
— Ephesians 6:11
For Further Reading:
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Blessed Are the Afflicted: Bearing Suffering With Thankfulness, which explores gratitude and trust in the face of suffering — and the way thankfulness, like the armor of God, becomes a practice of faith rather than merely a feeling.
~Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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