Convents and monasteries are not places where we find saints but a
place where we hope to form saints. A religious sister, in her
article in the Catholic Digest, confesses how she found her way back to a heartfelt spirituality, after five years
of hating a sister who entered the convent the same year.
This emotion toward the Sister got so serious that she was even thinking of leaving. In one of her visits to the Blessed Sacrament, she decided to go to confession to an unknown priest. She spent two hours not confessing her sins but complaining about the sisters of the convent, the community she belonged to, and the problems with the Church, and how difficult life was for her.
After her recital, the confessor asked her, "Sister, do you know God?" She answered silently by reminding herself it was because she knew God that she wanted to become a religious. The priest continued, "Sister it seems to me that you do not know God. You think you know God, so you do not desire to become more familiar with him, and you are not sad for not knowing him better. If you knew God, you would not be living in this way. A person that knows God grows, matures; you, Sister, have not grown. Once you realize you do not know God and are sorry, you will be on the way to knowing God."
The Sister felt the priest's words were undeserved. "What right did he have to say that I didn't know God." Having no opportunity to refute what he said, and being upset, she made her way back to the convent. On the way, his words began to resonate within her in a manner that brought pain: "One who knows God grows." Is it a fact that I haven't grown? she asked herself. Is God really unknown to me? What in the world am I to do?" On the bus, on her way to the convent, she began to agree with the priest that she didn't know God.
Back in the convent, she not only heard the words of God with her head but her heart. She began to live with the God who lives and breathes with her, and relates with her as a person. No matter what the problems, God is always with her and loves her. For the first time in life, she began to see others as more beautiful than any flower. Everybody, all the sisters were loveable and beautiful. And the sister who she thought was giving her all the trouble turned out to be her patron. She was enabled to upgrade to a different level of living.
In life, she knows there are many other battles to fight but is looking forward to the encounter, for she knows that it is God's will that will be realized, and she trusts.
This emotion toward the Sister got so serious that she was even thinking of leaving. In one of her visits to the Blessed Sacrament, she decided to go to confession to an unknown priest. She spent two hours not confessing her sins but complaining about the sisters of the convent, the community she belonged to, and the problems with the Church, and how difficult life was for her.
After her recital, the confessor asked her, "Sister, do you know God?" She answered silently by reminding herself it was because she knew God that she wanted to become a religious. The priest continued, "Sister it seems to me that you do not know God. You think you know God, so you do not desire to become more familiar with him, and you are not sad for not knowing him better. If you knew God, you would not be living in this way. A person that knows God grows, matures; you, Sister, have not grown. Once you realize you do not know God and are sorry, you will be on the way to knowing God."
The Sister felt the priest's words were undeserved. "What right did he have to say that I didn't know God." Having no opportunity to refute what he said, and being upset, she made her way back to the convent. On the way, his words began to resonate within her in a manner that brought pain: "One who knows God grows." Is it a fact that I haven't grown? she asked herself. Is God really unknown to me? What in the world am I to do?" On the bus, on her way to the convent, she began to agree with the priest that she didn't know God.
Back in the convent, she not only heard the words of God with her head but her heart. She began to live with the God who lives and breathes with her, and relates with her as a person. No matter what the problems, God is always with her and loves her. For the first time in life, she began to see others as more beautiful than any flower. Everybody, all the sisters were loveable and beautiful. And the sister who she thought was giving her all the trouble turned out to be her patron. She was enabled to upgrade to a different level of living.
In life, she knows there are many other battles to fight but is looking forward to the encounter, for she knows that it is God's will that will be realized, and she trusts.
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