New Thing- Read "Appreciating God's Grace" from Thomas 'a Kempis' The Imitation of Christ
Inspiration: The Feast of Thomas 'a Kempis
Time: About 10 minuets
Bottom Line: Humbling- which is the point.
Reflection: Today is the feast day of the infinitely quotable Thomas 'a Kempis who was a priest, monk and writer. His most famous work is The Imitation of Christ which is a jewel of the canon. If you have not read it, you can find the whole thing on line here. Since it has been years since I read it, I chose to re-read his small section from Book Two entitled "Appreciating God's Grace" since Grace will be St. David's theme this fall and I am getting back to work today. So of course, here was the first line:
Why do you look for rest when you were born to work? Resign yourself to patience rather
than to comfort, to carrying your cross rather than to enjoyment.
OK- I get it! Vacation's over! But seriously, he goes on to talk about the need for humility and thankfulness in receiving God's GRACE. It is truly worth the read and the ponder.
Here are some more thoughts from this section:
God does well in giving the grace of consolation, but man does evil in not returning everything gratefully to God. Thus, the gifts of grace cannot flow in us when we are ungrateful to the Giver, when we do not return them to the Fountainhead. Grace is always given to him who is duly grateful, and what is wont to be given the humble will be taken away from the proud.
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