Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me. Amen. -Suscipe (Receive) by St. Ignatius of Loyola
Do you sometimes struggle to do what you know is right? Have you ever wondered why you don’t feel more love for God? If so, you are not alone. I know that sometimes, in frustration, I wonder why did I do the very thing I did not want to do!. Saint Paul wrote about this frustration.
“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
-Romans 7:15
We know what is right. We want to do what is right. But, we don’t. Instead, we choose what is wrong. And, maybe you wonder why you do not love God more. Help me Lord to love you more each day!
The answer is simple. The answer is Jesus. In the New Covenant, Jesus equips us to not only desire holiness, but to will it, to live it. He transforms us.
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
-Romans 7:24-25a
What am I afraid to lose? What the Lord offers is so much more than anything I have. So let go! Do not be afraid! Let go! Jesus shares with us the way to progress.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
-John 15:1-4
In these few short words, Jesus explains the way to spiritual progress is through Him. Our path is to say yes, to surrender. When I remain in Christ, I acknowledge that God is the source of all that is good, including the good that He calls me to do. Apart from Jesus, I can do nothing.
In the image of the vine and the branches, we see clearly that our life is from the Lord. Everything that is good comes from Him. If we surrender and bear fruit, the Father will work in us to produce more. So surrender already!
Here is a translation I really like of a prayer that helps me surrender to Jesus each day.
Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me. Amen -Suscipe (Receive) by St. Ignatius of Loyola
Into the deep…
Image credit: Victor of Crete, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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