"I give my life to take it up again": The Christian Meaning of Sacrifice (I)
The reason Christians are willing to go against their desires, fast, and make sacrifices for others; the reason they are able to bear suffering with joy, without making too much of it, is that they do not want to leave the Lord alone with the weight of the world’s evil and suffering.
"Greater than your heart": Contrition and Reconciliation
Only God is greater than our heart, and therefore only He can heal it and reconcile it to its depths. The sixth installment in the "Combat, Closeness, Mission" series.
“I will not let you go unless you bless me”: The Combat of Contemplative Prayer
Entering into paths of contemplation means realizing that we need God, to the point of needing to "wrestle" with him... And to ask him, again and again, for his blessing: "I will not let go until you bless me."
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit”: Lukewarmness
Lukewarmness is a disease of the heart, by which the things of God become distasteful to us, and we may even convince ourselves that life, true life, is elsewhere.